Resources for learning English (7yo) for possible LD boy?

[Chris in VA]

He is adopted and comes from a country with another alphabet. Having trouble retaining letters, both in his native lang and in English. I was thinking sandpaper letters and writing in salt box, but any ideas or curricula would be good.

[PeterPan]

Since I have it, I would use LIPS with letter magnets and sandpaper letters.  Unfortunately, doing that will make an SLD harder to diagnose.  How long has he been in the US?  It sounds like he's going to need a psych eval.  The psych could tell you how long he should be here before a CTOPP would be really valid.  If he's, for instance, from Russia, then it would be very concerning to be 7 and still not able to connect sound to print.  Russian is highly phonetic and kids usually go to school already reading.  Just depends on where he's coming from.  I don't know how they test ESL kids or how long they want him here.  An SLP or psych could tell you.

 

Meanwhile, read him lots of picture books, things with rhyme and language play.  Have you had his vision checked?  Kids with nutritional deficiencies from living in an orphanage can have serious vision problems.  I would get him screened by a dev. optom.   If you ask a basic question like what's bat without the /b/, can he answer it?

 

I *think* what I've read is that phonological processing crosses boundaries, so a delay and low score wouldn't be because your'e testing in his 2nd language but because of the lack of skill.

Edited April 16, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[Chris in VA]

He's got very little English. I guess they will have to test him in his native lang.

Thanks, Elizabeth.

[PeterPan]

An SLP is trained (from what I understand) to do a speech eval even on an ESL speaker.  However for IQ, etc., definitely they're going to need someone who speaks his language.  Have you had his hearing checked?  That's something they can do in spite of the language barrier.

 

A child should become functionally fluent pretty quickly in an immersion situation.  For him not to is concerning.  That's when you go back to what the barrier is (hearing, whatever).

Edited April 18, 2016 by OhElizabeth

[kbutton]

If testing is taking place through the school district, they are REQUIRED to track down someone qualified to test him in his native language. I had a friend who had to do this, and she had to raise a stink to get it done. Sometimes they do it more willingly, and I would nicely point out that it's the law.

 

[Daria]

If he's internationally adopted, and arrived recently enough that he hasn't learned English, I would hesitate to do any formal testing, or apply any kind of label.  

 

Not that I don't know that LD's and other issues are very common among internationally adopted kids, but the cognitive load in learning a new language, a whole new set of customs, dealing with an environment that is likely way more stimulating and confusing than an orphanage setting, and learning how to be in a family, is huge.  It's not surprising that his brain is having difficulty holding on to abstract things like the names of letters.  

 

On top of that, any kind of testing, even in his native language, will be normed on kids who have had very different experiences from him.  It won't be reliable at all.

 

I'd check hearing and vision, and then I'd stop there, unless I needed him to be in school, and I felt that the gen ed environment was so stressful that I needed special ed eligibility.

 

If he's not in a brick and mortar school, then I'd probably back off on academics and spend the year focusing on language, and on figuring out what print is, how it works, why it's important. I'd read a million stories, and have a million experiences like park trips and baking cookies and playing and sandbox and pair them with lots and lots of rich language.  In a year, I'd start again with academics.