MERLD

[MomtoMERLD]

I need some help. I have an 11-year old daughter who has Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Disorder. I am wondering if I have the ability to homeschool her and use some software program to do it or if I should pay for a private tutor (certified teacher) to homeschool her or if I should leave her at her small private classical school where she needs ALOT of help. Does anyone else have a child with MERLD? Does anyone with a child with Language Learning Disabilities use a software program or do they use books and workbooks. I work full-time and would have to quit to teach. I just don't know if she needs professionals such as SLP and certified teacher or I would be okay with the use of Linguisystemsm SRA, etc. Can anyone help me?

[Tokyomarie]

Can you tell us a little more about your daughter's most significant difficulties with language? Does she have tremendous difficulties with both receptive & expressive language or does one set of challenges dominate over the other? Has your daughter also had an evaluation for auditory processing disorders (APD/CAPD)? Such an evaluation needs to be conducted by an audiologist, but CAPD may sometimes be found when there are receptive language difficulties.

 

My middle daughter was diagnosed with receptive/expressive language disorder when she was 10.5yo. At that time she was being educated bilingually- Japanese at school & English at home. We left her in school part-time, and gave her extra time at home for language remediation. Given our location, we only had private therapy options open to us. We hired an SLP for oral language therapy & later a writing tutor for written language expression. I also researched materials to use myself; I used materials from Linguisystems and Superduperinc.com. We used the Earobics CD-ROM program to help with the auditory processing difficulties. I also used regular homeschool curriculum. A small part of our therapy time included me spending time bouncing ideas off the therapist; we were able to come up with about two hours a day of remediation work which helped tremendously.

 

I wasn't in a position of having to make a choice between work and homeschool. But we were able to customize a program that allowed our daughter to stay in school part-time, while using professionals to augment what I did at home in the afternoon hours.

 

My daughter also happens to be very bright- which was best seen on non-verbal kinds of cognitive testing. Once we had a couple of years of remediation under our belts, it was easier to see those strengths on a daily basis. When she was in middle school, we didn't know what to expect for achievement in high school or whether she would be able to go to college. With continued targeted teaching in language all the way through high school, she was well prepared for college. She will graduate from college this spring!

 

It would definitely be possible to homeschool your daughter. It would be best to combine it with language therapy & perhaps some weekly academic tutoring. If you want to share more about her specific difficulties the group may be able to recommend materials that might be appropriate for your consideration.

[razorbackmama]

My almost 14yo son has MRELD. I have an appointment on March 1st to have him tested for CAPD as well, since I suspect that is what is CAUSING his MRELD.

 

He has been receiving speech and language therapy once a week for the past few months, but he will have his last appointment on Monday. It has not been verbalized, but the gist I'm getting is that the SLP isn't quite sure what else to do to help him (which is another reason I suspect CAPD - we're kind of spinning our wheels right now).

 

What areas showed up as her weak spots in her speech and language evaluation? For example, my son's biggest areas are idioms, figurative language, and using vocabulary properly. He often will know the definition of a word but cannot actually USE that word in a sentence. So I work on those things with him a lot, and it is what the SLP has been working on with him.

 

I'm not familiar with the computer programs you mentioned, but my son may have different areas of weakness than your daughter as well.

 

Homeschooling my son can be very difficult at times because he is so old and "should" be more independent than he really is. However, his problems are so subtle that I know he would completely fail out of school (if they actually failed kids anymore LOL).

[MomtoMERLD]

She has issues with auditory memory and listening skills, critical thinking skills, expressive vocabulary and semantic abilities, word retrieval skills, expressive language and verbal organization skills. Any help?

[moriah]

I have a son age 10 that has high functioning autism. He had speech and language delay when he was younger and he is not an auditory learner. He learns either hands on or visually.

The way I would decide about homeschooling is not whether you can access the appropriate materials, because you can. I would evaluate two things. Her oppositionality with you, and friendships. first, does she openly oppose you, have temper tantrums, hit you etc etc etc when you are trying to teach her or when you tell her its time for school? My son does alot of complaining (alot is an understatement) but he does the work. Friends I know who homeschool a challenged child do fine as long as the oppositional behavior is manageable. Challenged children can use control and oppositional behavior to manage their world, they are not naughty kids. My son earns money each week for school work and extra for finishing workbooks, reading a book etc. My son schools year around, when we take a break, I pay with the complaining. Secondly, friendships. does she have alot of good friends at her school? If she does, I would think hard about taking her out.

Resources galore are at superduper.com. for her issues or you could take her to a therapist and you do the school part. There are many options for curriculum and after trying many different ones, I piece mine together. I would not do online curriculum holistically. I like being able to sit down with my son and do it together. Our world is different because my son takes breaks, jumps on our tramp, goes for a bike ride. We school as a lifestyle, there is no "its time for school" more like "lets get geography done so we can go to gymnastics". Its challenging but do-able. I would highly recommend not working if you choose to do this. My son is able to be a part of school plays and gymnastics, things he would be too tired to do without homeschooling. Additionally, he is learning much more at home than he would in a school classroom because he is distractible.

If you keep asking questions on this message board you will get lots of help. You can PM me if you have sp. questions. God bless you and may He guide you in your decision! Moriah

[razorbackmama]

Is she receiving any sort of services right now? Has she been tested for Auditory Processing Disorder? I HIGHLY suspect that is the root cause behind my son's MRELD. I also am wanting to have some cognitive testing done on him. What all evaluations has your daughter gone through?

 

If she is receiving services, then I would work alongside her therapists to find out what you can do to work with her at home. There are a myriad of different resources to address certain types of problems. Some you'll be able to find out about here, and some you might find out about from your therapists.

 

My son struggles with critical thinking as well. He is almost 14 and supposedly in the "logic" stage. That makes me laugh every time because "logic" is NOT how I'd describe him AT ALL LOL. He had a VERY difficult time making connections and such. That is something we work on anytime I can - in real life, through curriculum, in therapy, etc. Critical Thinking Company has LOTS of resources to work on that skill. They are somewhat tortuous for my son, but I'd like to think they have helped a bit. It's hard to say, really.

[MomtoMERLD]

She is receiving SLP and some V/V intervention but not at a clinic.

[peacefully]

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[MomtoMERLD]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have been most helpful! I am definitely not getting that much information out of my SLP and we've worked with her for years. How do you find a good one like that?! I will check out that book you mentioned. Thanks again!

 

PS We decided to get a private tutor...someone who could push her who is not Mom. She's the sweetest thing there is, which I always fall for how cute she is and let her get away with it. My husband decided this for me, so for now I will go with it. Now, I would love to get homeschool curriculum guidance. Any thoughts on that?

[razorbackmama]

Just another note: Our SLP recommended the book Auditory Processes by Pamela Gillet. It's an older text, and some of the diagnostic terms have changed, but it's easy to read. She also recommended this specific book, knowing that we homeschool, because each chapter lists several activities (both remediation and accommodations) to help with auditory and expressive language issues.

 

I JUST picked this book up at the library yesterday. So glad it might be helpful with my son!:D

 

MomtoMERLD, what I have typically done curriculum-wise is to attempt to figure out what level my son is at language-wise and then get him curriculum at that level. It really varies though, depending on his particular skills. For example, he's doing grade-level grammar since grammar is very cut and dry and "just the facts." But anything that requires him to comprehend what he reads, I aim for the grade level of his language. So he's doing 6th grade science this year, even though he's in 8th grade. We do a lot of vocabulary work.

 

Another thing I have just started to do is to record myself reading the material he's supposed to read, so he can listen while he reads. This takes quite a bit of time, but he says it helps him understand better. I just started doing it, so I can't definitively say it makes a difference, but we're trying.

 

I have to work one-on-one with him WAY more than I should with an 8th grader, but I guess if it's what he needs, it's what he needs....:tongue_smilie:

[peacefully]

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Edited November 20, 2012 by yllek
typo

[MomtoMERLD]

Great idea! I am calling around as we speak. We have three universities in the area. Surely one of them can help!

 

Oh...to the one who asked about CAPD - she was tested for that and does not have that.

[razorbackmama]

AH I just remembered something when I read about the visual support. Here are some things my MRELD kid has said are helpful:

 

1. Having someone actually PRESENTING something to him. I can't just give him a book and expect him to read it and understand it. He also doesn't do well to listen to an audiobook or be read aloud to. But having a teacher actually TEACH the material, which then is reinforced by a book he reads or hears, helps some.

 

2. Listening to someone read a book while he is reading it with his eyes. It's especially helpful if the person reads it with a lot of expression. So I've started recording myself reading the material he is to read for school.

 

3. He has some classes on DVD and online. I asked him if he does OK with a teacher talking but you can't see his/her face - they are using a whiteboard type of screen, where they write stuff out. He said that that doesn't work as well as being able to see the teacher's FACE when they are talking. He said it really helps to be able to see their expressions.

 

Not sure if that will help at all, but there ya go.:D

 

And I'm BUMMED about the CAPD - I hope I don't get a similar answer whenever I get ds tested! I think the audiologist may have to carry me out the door LOL!

[Leonor]

It depends which type of capd testing they do and what type of model they follow.

 

As long as it is as detailed and conducted as explained in "When The Brain Can't Hear", you should be fine.

 

Some audiologists do not follow that model and may not think of Auditory Associative Deficit as a subtype of CAPD.

The child with said type does manifest MERLD which is why some professionals will only want to think of it as a speech condition when in reality it is both.

[razorbackmama]

It depends which type of capd testing they do and what type of model they follow.

 

As long as it is as detailed and conducted as explained in "When The Brain Can't Hear", you should be fine.

 

Some audiologists do not follow that model and may not think of Auditory Associative Deficit as a subtype of CAPD.

The child with said type does manifest MERLD which is why some professionals will only want to think of it as a speech condition when in reality it is both.

 

Ah - good to know. I just looked that up, and that is EXACTLY my son - TO A T.

[razorbackmama]

It depends which type of capd testing they do and what type of model they follow.

 

As long as it is as detailed and conducted as explained in "When The Brain Can't Hear", you should be fine.

 

Some audiologists do not follow that model and may not think of Auditory Associative Deficit as a subtype of CAPD.

The child with said type does manifest MERLD which is why some professionals will only want to think of it as a speech condition when in reality it is both.

 

Ah - good to know. I just looked that up, and that is EXACTLY my son - TO A T.

 

He'll be getting tested by an audiologist who works with Joan Burleigh, if that name happens to ring a bell. I'm clueless LOL.

[razorbackmama]

I e-mailed the place that I have scheduled for testing. This is the reply I got:

 

Our diagnostic center’s test battery focuses on central auditory nervous system (CANS) function. This test battery does not target theoretical subtypes of auditory and language function. Our comprehensive testing of central auditory processing function provides critical information for our compensatory and acoustical management.

 

Sigh. Is there a way to know before I get there if the testing is the same sort of thing that is described in that book? It SOUNDED like it when I made the appt., but now I don't know. I am absolutely convinced that my ds has the Auditory Associative Deficit. He literally has every single symptom and none really of the other forms of CAPD. Might I just be wasting my money if I take him for this test?:confused:

[MomtoMERLD]

I would make 1000% sure that they test for what you think your child has. It would be a waste of time and money otherwise. You don't want to put your child through two tests, especially for a listening test. You never know if they learn any of the tricks of the trade, if that is even possible. Don't know. But my philosophy has always been that it's worth it to drive a little ways to get the right kind of testing done.