How do you know *it* is working?

[emonline]

My children have struggled with certain issues over the years, and we have tried a lot of different therapies/programs. Overall, I would say my children have made tremendous strides. However, as I was trying to give my opinion on one particular program, I realized there has never been an AHA moment with any of them -- that is, I never said -- Wow -- this therapy/program/supplement is making a dramatic difference. I often read about such dramatic improvements, but have never experience one. Just wondering -- have others experienced an AHA moment -- a time when you knew a particular *something* was causing a quick, significant difference? I can tell you whether my child enjoyed/hated a program, or whether they did well at it or found it difficult -- but even though I've tried to watch closely (and even worked many of the programs with them) -- I have a really difficult time saying exactly how, or if, it helped my child. (Something did, obviously, or they wouldn't have experienced the growth they have experienced over the years. I just don't know what it was!)

[EKS]

I've found that I've never known for sure if a particular thing was working. What I do know is that something in the past 7 years has worked. Thank goodness.

[merry gardens]

My children have struggled with certain issues over the years, and we have tried a lot of different therapies/programs. Overall, I would say my children have made tremendous strides. However, as I was trying to give my opinion on one particular program, I realized there has never been an AHA moment with any of them -- that is, I never said -- Wow -- this therapy/program/supplement is making a dramatic difference. I often read about such dramatic improvements, but have never experience one. Just wondering -- have others experienced an AHA moment -- a time when you knew a particular *something* was causing a quick, significant difference? I can tell you whether my child enjoyed/hated a program, or whether they did well at it or found it difficult -- but even though I've tried to watch closely (and even worked many of the programs with them) -- I have a really difficult time saying exactly how, or if, it helped my child. (Something did, obviously, or they wouldn't have experienced the growth they have experienced over the years. I just don't know what it was!)

I have had some "AHA" moments that I can link back to specific programs and approaches. The moment that stands out clearest happened just about a year ago. I could practically see that my son finally made some critical brain connection that he had previously lacked.

 

We had the first part of done LiPS at home, then we moved onto Barton's level I. He was trying to break apart a word in Barton's that had a /k/ sound in a consonant blend. He could not hear the sound, so I went through the LiPS steps of feeling what his mouth was doing, look in the mirror, blah, blah, blah. He still could not detect the sound. Finally, I told him to stick his finger in his mouth over his tongue and feel what his tongue was trying to do when he said that word. He did that and pulled his finger from his mouth shouting, "K! It's a K!"

 

He's generally been able to detect those fast /k/ sounds in blends ever since that day. It wasn't just the /k/ sound in a blend that he discovered that day either. He turned a corner, and all that I had tried to teach him about letters representing sounds within words somehow clicked. It was a major break through that day.

 

We worked really hard to get to that point, and we've continued working hard since.

[Guest]

We had some fairly big moments with both OT and VT. In OT, dd finally learned to ride a bike at age nine; learned to walk on stilts; learned to jump on a pogo stick; learned to knit. These were huge, concrete things she had not been able to do before, or had even been afraid to try. And I learned how to work with her while teaching her to do physical things, which is very different than how I work with her on intellectual tasks.

 

In vision therapy, after two weeks she was able to throw and catch a ball and actually to dodge a ball coming at her instead of freezing and screaming. That was also pretty spectacular. It was also clear that in VT she developed peripheral vision and could see in 3-D for the first time.

 

Other skills which are slower to develop have not been linked to one particular moment, but I am morally certain that her improvements in handwriting and social skills are directly connected to VT and to therapeutic horseback riding.

[emonline]

I've found that I've never known for sure if a particular thing was working. What I do know is that something in the past 7 years has worked. Thank goodness.

 

 

I feel this way too! Though a true AHA moment would be nice.

[emonline]

We had some fairly big moments with both OT and VT. In OT, dd finally learned to ride a bike at age nine; learned to walk on stilts; learned to jump on a pogo stick; learned to knit. These were huge, concrete things she had not been able to do before, or had even been afraid to try. And I learned how to work with her while teaching her to do physical things, which is very different than how I work with her on intellectual tasks.

 

In vision therapy, after two weeks she was able to throw and catch a ball and actually to dodge a ball coming at her instead of freezing and screaming. That was also pretty spectacular. It was also clear that in VT she developed peripheral vision and could see in 3-D for the first time.

 

Other skills which are slower to develop have not been linked to one particular moment, but I am morally certain that her improvements in handwriting and social skills are directly connected to VT and to therapeutic horseback riding.

 

Sounds like AHA moments to me!!

[RamonaQ]

With vision therapy, it literally felt like a New Testament moment. One day ds just stopped skipping words, and skipping lines. His handwriting became neater and smaller. It was because his eyes began to focus together, finally forming a single image for close up work.

[Mom0012]

I've had at least 3 experiences with therapy/dietary changes where we had AHA moments. When we did LMBs V/V, my son went from not being able to tolerate a 10 minute audiobook (because his receptive language was so poor) to listening to and enjoying the Beverly Cleary series within a matter of weeks. He was 5 years old when we did this program.

 

When we began OT, my son made a number of dramatic changes within a few weeks -- learned to pump himself on a swing, suddenly was willing to jump into the water at the pool, began climbing and fighting to get to the top of the floating hippo at the pool whereas before he wouldn't go near it, suddenly learned to ride a bike when we'd been trying to teach him for quite a while, no longer minded other children touching him or hanging on him. He was 7 or 8 years old when we began this.

 

When we removed gluten and dairy, my son went from a child who basically had oppositional defiant disorder to a sweet, loving, compliant child. He went from a child who could not play with anything for even a few minutes without getting upset, to engaging in imaginative play for hours. He also experienced a language explosion. He potty trained within weeks as well. I had put off the diet for over a year after hearing about it because I kept wondering how I would know if it was helping. Well, it was so incredibly obvious within a few days that there just was no question. For the first six weeks he was on that diet, every day was a joy and a new adventure because he was changing so rapidly and in such positive ways. He was a couple months past 3 years old when he started this diet.

 

He was in a social skills group for a year and while it wasn't a clear day/night experience, one of the reasons I put him in the group was that he was playing with children that were younger and younger than himself. He was about 7 or 8 and he'd seek out 4 year olds to play with. Not that I thought it was wrong to play with a younger child, but he stopped playing with children his own age. After a number of months with the social skills group, he started to make friends his own age again. (He really needed explicit help with conversational skills because he has a language disorder.) Now, he has lots of friends his own age and while he still is very good with younger children, it is in more of a big brother way rather than an equal relationship like before. Again, the first time I began seeing this change was at the pool.

 

And one more -- We did Neuronet (another OT program) and prior to doing this, you could talk about him with him standing 3 feet away and he would never notice or tune into the conversation. He wouldn't hear it. He was probably about 8 when we began this program. A little while into the Neuronet, he started commenting on conversations I had with my husband two rooms away. That kind of blew us away. He really began listening.

 

I've also done other therapies where I never saw any improvement. Some of them we did for years when my son was really young, like speech therapy. In our case, because I have learned that I usually do see clear changes when something is working, I have a policy of discontinuing the therapy within "X" amount of time if I don't see improvements. Berard Auditory Integration Training was another flop for us. I did complete the full program because we'd paid for it, but it did nothing for him.

 

And my son may be a special case in that I believe he was born typical and his intolerance to gluten actually damaged his development. So, every bit of help he gets often seems to have a big impact. He still has language issues and I believe he always will, but he has come a long, long way.

 

Lisa

 

ETA: And I just thought of another. When he was first learning to write, he had no strength in his hand and could barely hold the pencil and could only form light shaky lines on the paper. We learned of a program called Rhythmic Writing (which involves writing in large motions on a chalkboard) and again, within a month, the change in his writing was incredible. I kept before and after samples because it was so dramatic.

Edited November 2, 2010 by LisaTheresa

[emonline]

The AHA stories are all very inspiring. I admit that I am a little jealous! We have had a lot of improvement -- but it is all so gradual. I do have one question -- how long is too long to wait for improvement with a particular program, Lisa? Are you talking weeks, months or years?

[Mom0012]

The AHA stories are all very inspiring. I admit that I am a little jealous! We have had a lot of improvement -- but it is all so gradual. I do have one question -- how long is too long to wait for improvement with a particular program, Lisa? Are you talking weeks, months or years?

 

Well, if you are making progress and seeing improvement, that is what is important! I can't give a specific amount of time because it would depend on what the time and financial commitment of the therapy was, you know? But, it would probably be closer to a couple of months than weeks in most cases.

 

Basically, I don't let professionals string me along indefinitely if I don't see improvement. A lot of times I have found that even if we do have big improvement, I will be the one that has to eventually cut off the therapy. Most of the therapists we have worked with never want to stop even though we are no longer seeing improvements. With the social skills group, the OT, the speech therapist and Neuronet, I had to make the decision to stop because I was really being encouraged and, in some cases, pushed, to continue.

 

Lisa

[SuperMum]

We have had such a long hard slog that there have not been many aha moments at all EVERYTHING is gradual and I mean years kind of gradual no I mean you must be Mother Theresa to have the kind of patience waiting for aha moments from my child.

1. Visualising and Verbalising gave us an AHA moment yet we walked out of the program after 3*months full time at high $$$$ cost at age 13 still only reading at a prep - grade 1 level but at least through VV she could now comprehend text read to her.

2. The speechie spent way way way too long and I mean years on LIPS if VV had been done straight away the impact would have been enormous!

3. After VV maths became easier not simple simon but at least the barriers weren't as great.

My advice forget EVERYONE who says don't worry one day they will just get it. Some kids won't ever just get it they will only get it after it has been broken down into a million pieces and some-one patient enough shows them each piece and practices with them regularly.

Stay strong - laugh a lot and get loads of support oh yeh and eat cake (gluten free of course) I find that helps in so many ways!!!

http://ltuilc.blogspot.com/

[Hikin' Mama]

my daughter is now attempting to read harder books on her own "for fun." Before she would only listen to the harder books on audio.

 

We began using IEW for writing this year, and she has told me more than once that she "really likes writing this year." She can crank out a multi-paragraph piece with not much problem.