when do you become concerned?

[snickerplum]

Hi! I don't think I've ever posted in this part of the forum before, but I wanted to get some opinions.

Our 6 year old has some learning delays. She can't count to 10 on her own, she doesn't know her letters, stuff like that. (Our 4 and 3 year olds have passed her on some things.) She has seen an OT (dealt with processing issues) and has had a speech path, and we saw a huge change with the OT. She was very sick her first year/two years of her life, so we've been told her body and mind will be playing catch-up for a while. She also (not that this is necessarily relevant to this post) has many severe food allergies.

We work with her learning, we count EVERYTHING, talk about letters, etc. When do we become seriously concerned that there's something more? Do we keep giving her time to catch up? What can we be doing for her to help (like a math program more at her level)?

A few examples (thank you for tolerating my ramblings): for a while she struggled with colors. I'd give her small colored blocks and if I held out any particular color she could group all like colors, but if I asked her to name the color she couldn't. One day it just clicked and she's been great with her colors ever since. Another example - today we were working on pattern. I gave her a pattern of two green, a purple, two yellow, a purple, two red. She put out two green, two purples, two yellows and two reds. The right amount of each, but she couldn't place them in order correctly.

I don't mind working at a slow pace with her, I want to help her grow at a rate that is good for her (I love homeschooling). But I want to make sure I'm doing all I can for her.

Do you have any thoughts or ideas?

Again, Thank you for listening. Not many people "get" where I'm coming from when it comes to my sweetie. She's so smart and quick-witted and kind. :-)

[OneStepAtATime]

Welcome!  I understand your concern.  My DD13 was sending me red flags at 4 but I didn't understand what was happening and didn't really get her the help she truly needed until 5th grade.  DS10 didn't have the same red flags and in fact had virtually no red flags, except for a couple of tiny naggy kind of things that in hind sight should have tipped me off but didn't.  If your mommy instinct says something more is going on then pursue it.  Find some answers.

 

Have you looked into getting an assessment through a neuropsychologist?  That might net you more concrete answers and should give you a much better idea of strengths as well as specific weak areas.

 

As for working with her right now, well, it depends what the issues are, really.  But it is great that you are willing to go at a much slower pace.  The eval would probably be the best route since tweaking out the problems on your own may be extremely difficult, if not impossible.  Strengths can mask weaknesses and vice a versa so a layman would just basically be guessing.

 

For some help right now you might look at reading up on a few things:

 

The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide

How the Brain Learns Mathematics by David Sousa

Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner by Kathy Kuhl

 

Sandra Cook, who posts on this board, has published books and has a blog that might be of assistance:

http://www.amazon.com/Sandra-K.-Cook/e/B00BFSXWWE

 

http://learningabledkids.com/

 

There are other resources but that would get you started.  Each of the above will maybe help give you a better understanding but they can't diagnose your child.  You still need a professional for that.  They will just help you to hopefully ask more informed questions.

 

You might start writing down your observations.  Keep a journal or record your thoughts verbally.  It will help you to better answer questions when talking to a professional.

 

Hugs and best wishes....

[Crimson Wife]

I agree with seeing if you can get a neuropsych eval. If she has had medical issues, you might be able to get some of the tab picked up by your health insurance.

[PeterPan]

Even if it's a developmental delay, that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do to help the process.  A psych eval will help you target your efforts, especially if they do a good job digging in on how she thinks.  Find one who does thorough testing and is known for giving helpful feedback.  

 

Also, this is sort of out there, but with her food allergies have you consulted with a nutritionist to make sure her fat intake is high enough?  You might.  Developing brains need enough fats, especially good ones.  Flax oil (for the omega 3) makes a big difference in my ds' speech.  He's not a serious eater, so I have to make sure he gets enough fat.  I give him nuts, all he wants, out of the bag, half an avocado, eggs, that kind of thing.

[snickerplum]

Thank you for your thoughts! I appreciate it all!

[Heathermomster]

If you are looking for math resources, check out Ronit Bird e-books. They are filled with subitizing activities. I started using RB materials with my DD before she turned 4 years old since I knew that her brother has math issues. I played short games with DD, and she loved it. Now that she is 6, we are realizing the benefits of the subitizing activities.

 

Since your child has a health history and there are delays, you could go ahead and start using materials the are multisensory and explicitly taught.

[wapiti]

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[Pen]

Agree with others about getting evaluations that may give you help in finding how to best help her.

 

I think severe food allergies would be very relevant. And there may be other such things that are also affecting her even when they are not at an anaphylactic shock level and an immediate threat to life, there may be a continual chronic level of irritation to her system. I am currently learning about the possibility of very small amounts of methanol in foods being an issue--and possibly causing what looks like immune system dysfunction. We already have to be careful about all sorts of additives, non-organic ingredients and related and they definitely do impact academic performance. 

[Alessandra]

Based on what you have said, I would want an eval sooner rather than later. Since your dd seems to have multiple issues, I would suggest getting your pediatrician to recommend a hospital based eval. That type of eval usually involves a developmental pediatrician as the point person and then other evals can be added -- OT, PT, speech, psychological, genetic, and so on. The evaluators get together and compare notes -- much better IMO than you going from specialist to specialist with a bulging file, kwim? With a team, it is also easier to rule out various scenarios than if you go to one practitioner at a time.

 

In general, I would err on the side of evaluating, rather than waiting. Giving dd 'time to catch up' is not as good as giving her tools/help in catching up.