Language Processing Disorder ?

[Mere2]

My DS, soon to be 5 has a variety of medical issues....one of them being a muscle disease. He has always been delayed in his speech and it hasn't helped that we lived in France between the ages of 1 - 3yrs. Yesterday he had another assessment with his ST who is concerned about his lack of progress (none) in the last 12 months (since returning to Oz).

 

His intelligibility (sp?) is about 20% on a good day. Obviously I understand more as long as I know the context of what he is talking about. He can parrot back to you relatively clearly when you correct his speech, however when he has to formulate a sentence himself everything is jumbled; the sentence structure and all the phonemes in the word are mixed or eliminated. I will be taking him to see another ST for a second opinion.

 

What can I expect with a language processing disorder? I have found lots written about it, but not much written on how to deal/ school with it.

 

What do I need to know for the future? Currently he goes to Kindy for 12 hours a week (has an aide for 6 of those hours). I hs DD(7) and I had a rough plan on hs DS in 18 months time. (when he starts compulsory school).

 

If he does have a language disorder, is he better being hs or being in the school system? Fortunately we are in a very good public school area, who are very proactive....but I just wonder whether they will say its to hard and just let him sit and do nothing. He has a smart little brain in his head, its just stuck in a body that doesn't work very well.

 

If I do hs, what kind of resources will I need? Sounds silly, however I know money is going to be tight in 18months, so if I can preplan/ prebuy then I would prefer to buy now than later. I currently use Dancing Bears and Apples and Pears with my DD....so hopefully that will work?

 

Finally how easy is it to hs two high needs kids when you are a solo parent?

 

TIA

Fi

[Ottakee]

What muscle disease does he have? We have 3 mito mutations here with my 13dd.

 

Have seizures been ruled out? For some ODD reason, Lamictal really helped my dd's speech and language skills. Not sure how or why but it does.

 

For teaching reading, I use and LOVE the I See Sam books.

http://www.teacherweb.com/CA/PomeloDriveElementary/Mrssakamoto/printap2.stm is where you can print them out for free

 

http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html is the US site but also click on the link to the UK site for lots of great information.

 

Then after they can read the first 3-4 sets of the books, I start with the Apples and Pears Spelling. We have also used the Dancing Bears for drill work but the I See Sam books are much more interesting for kids as they are STORIES to read.

[Mandamom]

I work at a school that has a lot of children with language processing problems. I work with one of them (she also has ADHD/bipolar and hearing aids). I think it depends on the school as to whether or not it would be a good fit -- it would be better to find a school that specializes in problems with language processing. I would homeschool before I would send to my child to a school that doesn't know how to remediate a language processing problem.

 

The 10 year old student I'm working with now requires a lot of modeling of language, which is something that I worry that a public school without a good program won't be able to handle.

 

As far as materials you will need you can modify existing programs by teaching the material in such a way that your child learns. We use Orton-Gillingham methods, Wilson Reading, salt trays, language modeling, INstitute for Excellence in Writing as soon as they are reading on a 3rd grade reading level (no matter what their actual grade is), Math-U-See (supplemented with a traditional textbook because our students are transitioned to other schools after 1-3 years). We over teach everything and then teach it again as soon it seems to disappear from their memories which happens when there are memory deficit). As you see our list of programs is on a lot of homeschoolers' bookshelves.

 

I also think that a lot of the methods' WTM recommends like copywork, narration, etc. can really be beneficial with the child who struggles with language. You will, of course, need to modify for your own child but I think it can be very helpful.

 

I'm not an expert on language processing problems but this has been my experience. We have gone through a lot of training in order to even work at the school and are constantly going through more to understand the deficits that our students face.

[Mom0012]

Mandamom -

 

Is there something specific you mean by "language modeling"? Is this a special method of working with the kids? Or are you just referring to modeling proper language skills around the students by using correct grammar, etc.

 

 

Lisa

[Mandamom]

Mandamom -

 

Is there something specific you mean by "language modeling"? Is this a special method of working with the kids? Or are you just referring to modeling proper language skills around the students by using correct grammar, etc.

 

Lisa

 

That's exactly what I meant. We do a lot of dictation where she tells me the sentence that she wants, I repeat it with the correct words in the correct order and then I write the sentence and she copies it. Depending on how much time we have I do have her write sentences after we get the corrected words and language down instead of going through the dictation step and she is definitely improving. .

[Virginia in Tx]

I have a high schooler with language processing disorder and muscle myopathy as well as some cognitive processing delays. We have done lots of therapy programs for language, reading, and writing. He has done Fast ForWord and Visualization and Verbalization as well as private speech (since the age of 3). His articulation is now clear. His receptive language skills are normal range but his expressive skills are still low. His social skills are below normal - I attribute this to his expressive language skills. On the positive side - his reading comprehension and math are at grade level. He does a standard curriculum - although it takes longer than most to complete, but since he is homeschooled it doesn't really matter. He has friends and is generally a happy teenager.

 

As to the questions of homeschooling or school - he went to public school through elementary. I was generally pleased with the school, but I did alot of "afterschooling" to keep him at grade level - especially in reading where he struggled. He did get special education services for reading, speech, writing but I don't think they really helped. His real advances came from what we did privately. I pulled him out at middle school because of the amount of teasing had grown to where he hated school, the amount of time reteaching material had become excessive, and the middle school was not very accomodating to less severe special need kids. He has enjoyed homeschooling and we have made good progress.

 

If you put your child in public school, don't only look at the academics. Kids can be pretty mean - be a room mom or volunteer so you can see how other kids are treating your child.

[Mere2]

Sorry about the delay - computer problems

 

Thank you so much for replying, I just love this board :001_wub:

 

There is still debate as to whether my son has a mito myopathy or a muscle myopathy.......the biopsy is still be analysed.

 

Thank you so much for the I See Sam link. I have wanted to purchase them for awhile, however with the postage costs is was way too expensive. This will be a great help.

 

We have put forth an enerolment into a private speech and language school. ...however his name will be on the waiting list to see if any vacancies arise. For just two days a week it costs $6500; I cant believe its so expensive.

 

I think I will homeschool him when he hits the official achooling age. I just cant see him surviving the rough and tumble of an Aussie school. However he is such a social fellow it will be interesting.

 

Once again thank you for all your help.

[Ottakee]

Try the I See Sam books.

 

We had to wait over 1 year for my daughter's biopsy to come back. She actually has 3 different mutations---making her the only one known in the world with this combo. Of course, that means no one really knows how it will affect her long term, etc.