Advice needed

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Ok... ds has tourettes and ADHD. He was supposed to have a full eval the first weds of Jan but dh lost his job in Nov and we lost insurance. So at the moment an eval is not possible (they told me the range of how much a single visit could cost- we just can not afford it at the moment)

 

So I am wondering if anybody more experienced than I am could give me some idea of how to proceed. My ds is 6 1/2 and he just can not recognize his numbers. At first I thought he was just being lazy and stubborn but now (6 months later) I am almost certain its not that. We have been working on this for 6 months and we are no closer to him being able to do this. We use MUS and I am looking into getting Right Start. Does anybody have any ideas at all? Any advice-- phonics is going about the same way if that helps any. He does finally know all his letters except U and W and he knows MOST of their sounds (he does not say U, W, Y, X, Q and Z correctly)

 

I tried the school district and I will not go back :glare: It was when ds was 3 and was still not talking. They treated him like he was dumb and that it was our fault for homeschooling. That we just did not work with him. The lady was short with him and just plain mean to him. he started having behavior problems (he wasnt talking so he couldnt tell me how he was feeling. He started finally talking at about 3 1/2 (or so)

 

Any ideas what to do with a kid who can not recognize his numbers? Any ideas of what could potentially be causing this? :confused: I just want to figure out what I can do to help my little guy :001_huh:

[PeterPan]

Have you had his eyes checked? He might not even be seeing the numbers correctly.

[Guest]

This is not a guess about the number issue; just trying to throw out some ideas and give you a sense that there are still possible options.

 

If you have a university nearby, look into their psychology department. Often grad students are conducting research or neurological studies of some sort will be going on for which they need data, and they will offer free basic testing to kids to get the data.

 

Dd's first WISC, and a few other basic tests, came about in this way (she was seven). You'll need to have someone help you interpret the results (there are people on these boards who can do that) and it certainly won't give you the full answer, but it may give you some base information.

 

Another idea is to contact a graduate program of education -- teacher training program -- in a local university. One of our two universities has a lot of programs in special ed, and again, there's always the possibility that students are looking for chances to get data or work with unusual kids for their thesis. Post a note on the department bulletin board, ask if your note can be put in the department news letter, and in general just try to get a request out there. You may find someone who will do some basic evaluation on your child as part of their research.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We have not done an eye exam. We didn't even think about that... hmmmm. We will be making an app.. $65 is alot easier to cough up than the $1,500-2,100 for the eval

 

 

We do not live near a university. We live in an extremely rural part of Wyoming. We are the biggest city for more than 2 hours (and we have just 3,000 ppl in the entire county) BUT.... I am wondering if we could possibly schedule a time? I wonder if we stayed for a day or two if they would work with that?? Something to look into... thanks ladies :D

[PeterPan]

Don't do a regular eye exam. You want an exam with a developmental optometrist. When you know there are issues (sensory, tone, learning, etc.), you might as well go all the way and get a thorough exam. The developmental optometrist will test thoroughly things that a regular optometrist only screens for. http://www.covd.org Hopefully you can find one. If not, fly to Ohio for our convention and visit an optometrist while you're here. Seriously. You want to visit us. You know you do. :)

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Don't do a regular eye exam. You want an exam with a developmental optometrist. When you know there are issues (sensory, tone, learning, etc.), you might as well go all the way and get a thorough exam. The developmental optometrist will test thoroughly things that a regular optometrist only screens for. www.covd.org Hopefully you can find one. If not, fly to Ohio for our convention and visit an optometrist while you're here. Seriously. You want to visit us. You know you do. :)

 

That would be fun :D We have family in Michigan so who knows what could happen :001_smile:

 

I will look into it. I know that would be a drive to find one but I have to figure out something to help him.. poor kid

[PeterPan]

BTW, I assume you've done this, but have you read books like "The Out of Sync Child"? It has lists of very practical things you can do. Have you tried any nutritional changes? I'm not sure the evaluation is as important as the changes you make as a result of the evaluation. If you already know he has certain problems, you could start making those changes. I was reading "The Out of Sync Child" again last night and realizing how much I had failed to see how I could do things with dd the night before that would dramatically affect her stim level and focus the next day. We're making some changes, and it's definitely helping! It's not like these things they do in OT, etc. are out of reach for you. Put up a single line swing, make a weighted collar, and start getting vestibular input. Have him do heavy work. Do things for tone. Put him on something for fatty acids. Remove junk from his diet and clean out his gut (more fruit and veges, ditch the white flour). I have a friend whose boy totally dropped his tics just with diet changes like I'm describing. GONE. When he eats bad, they inch back. So there are definitely things you can do at home to start helping him.

[PeterPan]

BTW, if I sound overly optimistic, it's because of what I've learned in working with these professionals. They aren't used to homeschoolers. We want to learn how to do it so we can do it ourselves. The therapy game is them doing it for you, and some things they DEFINITELY do better or more efficiently or effectively than us. But there's a lot of it we CAN do at home. We just don't realize that till we get into it. I'm finally seeing that with OT, mercy. I thought it was some mysterious thing, and now I understand it's what we do ourselves, day in and day out, that pushes the sensory system into a better place of balance. And while I need the learning and guidance from the OT, it's not like I can't do ANY of that at home. And it's not like you can't either. You can start making changes and get things to move. He wasn't talking at 3? Did they diagnose him with apraxia? Did you try fatty acids? I definitely see surges in ds's talking when I'm faithful to the oils. It might even make a difference now. Not like he stopped needing plenty of dha... Can't go wrong with flax oil, and you could even do fish. My friend had her boy on Brain Nourisher, a product from http://www.foodform.com I take it myself on occasion. It has special fats that get into the brain to help it work better.

 

I was reading another book on ADD and homeschooling that suggested homeschoolers do better with a homework-focused therapy method. We really can do a lot at home and want to.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

BTW, if I sound overly optimistic, it's because of what I've learned in working with these professionals. They aren't used to homeschoolers. We want to learn how to do it so we can do it ourselves. The therapy game is them doing it for you, and some things they DEFINITELY do better or more efficiently or effectively than us. But there's a lot of it we CAN do at home. We just don't realize that till we get into it. I'm finally seeing that with OT, mercy. I thought it was some mysterious thing, and now I understand it's what we do ourselves, day in and day out, that pushes the sensory system into a better place of balance. And while I need the learning and guidance from the OT, it's not like I can't do ANY of that at home. And it's not like you can't either. You can start making changes and get things to move. He wasn't talking at 3? Did they diagnose him with apraxia? Did you try fatty acids? I definitely see surges in ds's talking when I'm faithful to the oils. It might even make a difference now. Not like he stopped needing plenty of dha... Can't go wrong with flax oil, and you could even do fish. My friend had her boy on Brain Nourisher, a product from www.foodform.com I take it myself on occasion. It has special fats that get into the brain to help it work better.

 

I was reading another book on ADD and homeschooling that suggested homeschoolers do better with a homework-focused therapy method. We really can do a lot at home and want to.

 

Yes he was diagnosed with DAS when we lived in Michigan. I LOVED LOVED LOVED his SLP there. Then we moved here. The one we got (the only one in our county) is just horrible. I really hope its not just her, maybe she just truly has a dislike for homeschoolers, I dont know but she did not work at all. We moved here 27 days after he turned 3. He was in speech for a year and a half in Michigan. He was doing wonderful but all that came to a screeching hault here.

 

We are working on diet changes- a good friend of mine sent me info about a company that we are looking into. We just started fish oil. Would you recommend flax oil as well as fish- or one over the other???

[Renee in NC]

We have not done an eye exam. We didn't even think about that... hmmmm. We will be making an app.. $65 is alot easier to cough up than the $1,500-2,100 for the eval

 

 

We do not live near a university. We live in an extremely rural part of Wyoming. We are the biggest city for more than 2 hours (and we have just 3,000 ppl in the entire county) BUT.... I am wondering if we could possibly schedule a time? I wonder if we stayed for a day or two if they would work with that?? Something to look into... thanks ladies :D

 

I drove 1.5 hours each way for my dc's testing - we went 4 times total.

[PeterPan]

You might look into Prompt. http://www.promptinstitute.org Call or email them and get a listing. There's no one in Michigan (if you have to travel), but there is in Cincy, hehe, which just HAPPENS to be where the convention is. :) You could come to the convention and stay for a week, letting him get intensive therapy every day. It would cost you a hunk upfront, but you'd learn a ton that you could carry over and do at home. Just an idea. The lady I'm using is at http://www.teachtofeed.com Hopefully there's someone closer to you. Again, it's the idea of the parents being able to do things at home. PROMPT is very conducive to that.

 

It was the SLP who first said we should be doing fish oil. There's also a product Nutriveyda she recommends. You can read more about it on the childrensapraxia yahoo group. I decided not to do the NV at this time, but I'm not opposed to it. I was just so overwhelmed, I decided not to. On the fish oil, I'm conflicted. My nutritionist is pretty opinionated (understatement of the year), and she says I'm going to give him liver cancer and irreversible damage if I do it, that I should only do small, 2 oz. servings of actual fish that has enzymes in it to help process the goodies. The flax DOES give us a surge, a noticeable surge. At this point I think we're going to try to be more diligent and try both, breaking them up with flax in the morning and fish oil at night. I need to get more fish into him. At first he couldn't/wouldn't even chew meat, because of the low tone. Now he can eat harder foods, so it's more realistic. I figure if I feed him fish for dinner and just HAPPEN to give him the oil as well, hehe, that can't be so bad.

 

Is that wishy washy enough? It's so hard to sort through these things, I know. And I hate when I have these outside voices telling me what to do, even if it's not their responsibility for the outcome. THAT I hate. It just leaves me so conflicted. You as the parent are the final buck and have to deal with what happens, kwim? They don't. I've had people tell me my dd has low energy because she was an only and hated being homeschooled (ie. it's my fault, she must be depressed, blah blah). I've had people tell me my ds can't have problems because I ate well during pregnancy, that he's just going to be an engineer, blah blah. I'm so sick of it. My dd's energy is low because of the sensory issues, and she's like night and day with doing these OT things the night before. I mean she actually got up and DID HER SCHOOLWORK!!!!!!!!! So I don't know what to think on the fish oil. It feels like it's my fault that he can't talk, and it's my fault if I chose wrong either way. I get sick of it.

 

So there, a bunch of nothing.