Suggestions for ds#1

[MyLittleWonders]

I've been debating posting, but I thought I'd throw this out there and see if I can get some suggestions. ;) Ds#1 is 9 1/2. He was a very early talker (9 months) and is very verbal. He's also very logical in his speech. He seems to have very good auditory comprehension (is that what it is called when someone can hear something and comprehend it well?), though sometimes he gets tripped up if there is too much in terms of distraction around him.

 

He hit every developmental milestone pretty much on target. He sat at about 6 1/2 months, though he didn't hands/knee crawl until he was almost 10 months. He did start walking at 12 months. He has always had a weak core though. He also is probably the messiest eater, still, of the three boys. He typically has food on his face, on the table, on his clothes at the end of meals.

 

He learned to ride a bike just after he turned 6, but it took dh months of working with him to get it (ds#2, by comparison, learned how to ride a bike one week after ds#1 learned how to, when he was 3 1/2). He didn't get tying his shoes until he was 7 1/2.

 

He seems to have some dyslexic tendencies (dh was diagnosed as dyslexic as a child, though not severe). He still reverses b and d (even after he applies his own strategy of identifying out loud which he needs and then running through the alphabet [a ... B; or a ... b ... c ... D] before writing). I would say he reverses them at least 75% of the time, if not more. He can do copywork, but he makes spelling mistakes. He does alright in AAS (he's in level 5), but there are times, especially if the words are getting more complex, that he'll spell them great in the lesson and then totally forget how to spell them a few minutes later for dictation sentences. He was also a very late reader (fought tooth and nail to learn how ...). He's never liked writing, but does respond quite well to IEW (we are using a theme book this year every couple weeks).

 

I'm realizing that he struggles with reading to learn (though this could just be a developmental issue - he has only been reading well for less than a year). He tantrums, though, and fights tooth and nail when he's asked to read anything to himself for learning (though he does enjoy reading his current book when I tell him to go read a chapter). He does very little reading outside of what is asked of him.

 

He is very disorganized; he has very little concept of where he is in space. Lately he's been yelling at me when I tell him something like, "You need to do page 73 as well" because to him, I said he only had to do page 72. I think it's an attention thing ... he seems to hear the beginning of whatever I say but not the end. He does. not. transition. well. at. all. He never has (he was a pretty easy baby/child except when it came to transitions). He cannot keep a beat what-so-ever, and more than that, he has a very hard time copying me to keep a beat.

 

Amazingly, he can play baseball pretty well and he's a good swimmer. What's amazing to me about that is he can cross the midline and have his body work together to do some complex stuff. When he was younger, we did Enki Education (at home) for K. Though he loved the vestibular movement exercises, he would. not. do. the proprioceptive ones. I think he would really struggle in a regular classroom, though he is a smart kid. He loves listening to stories, but doesn't like reading them. He conceptually gets math, but sometimes has problems with the execution of math.

 

I'm not necessarily looking to label him with anything (though when I looked at this checklist from another thread, he was about 65-75% on the visual processing checklist and almost 100% on the timing/motor/concentration checklist. My goal is to figure out what I/we can do to help support him, strengthen him, and help him at home. Our insurance doesn't pay for anything, so I'm not sure we can even swing getting him eval'ed by an OT (I've kicked myself for not doing that when he was young). But, we are open to bringing things/curriculum/etc. into the house that can help (we often talk about redoing the garage and turning it into our own OT gym, though I'm not sure what would be good to have in there). Any ideas on how I can help him? :bigear:

[OrganicAnn]

these are just suggestions...

 

The disorganized sounds like ADHD Inattentive (used to be called ADD). I can't remember what 'doesn't know he is in space' is called, but I think it is in with sensory issues and may go along with weak core and muscle tone. An OT evaluation may be able to tell you more.

 

If the issue is hampering learning, then it may be worthwhile pursuing testing. You can find suggestions for all of these issues, by searching on this site as well as OT sites. It sounds like you are pursuing these type of activities already.

 

We have some of the same issues. We have a couple of things that help develop core strength that are also fun.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

Edited November 21, 2012 by Shari

[MyLittleWonders]

Oh wow, your ds sounds exactly like mine. :) The disorganization thing is not necessarily an ADHD trait, but a Visual Spatial Learner thing. I highly recommend the book Visual Spatial Learners by Alexandra Golon or (if you can find it) Upside Down Brilliance by Linda Silverman. The Upside Down Brilliance book is sadly oop, but you can find a used copy if you are persistent. Dr Golon worked under Dr Silverman, and her book contains a lot of the same information (and is cheaper and is easier to get ;)).

 

My ds was eventually diagnosed with dyslexia in spelling (though NOT in reading). He was a late reader and still struggles to read-to-learn, but he will sit and listen to me read all day long. He listens to audiobooks for hours. The b and d reversal thing went on until fifth grade. He consistently will spell words correctly in one part of a spelling test and misspell it in a later part.

 

You can see our curriculum choices in my siggy. I do as much hands-on and visual stuff with him as possible. He responds well to letter tiles, flashcards, vocab cartoons, graphic organizers, and history/science books with lots of visual images (as opposed to lots of text). For now, I read all of his "gravy" subjects to him; the only thing he is required to read is his actual reading assignment. This is incredibly time consuming for me, but has made a world of difference in his retention / comprehension. I hope that maturity will help in the transition to textbooks in high school. If not, we will look to Kurzweil or something similar. Best wishes :grouphug:

 

ETA: My ds was also slow to learn to ride a bike, and I still don't think he can tie his shoes at 10 1/2. Thank God for velcro!!

Oh wow Shari, our boys do sound very much alike! Does your ds love Legos by chance? Ds#1 has a love for all thinks Greek and yesterday got on a Percy Jackson kick again (I think he has listened to each book at least 3 times through) and had the iPod in his ears most all day.

 

I will look for at least one of those books. I remember a few years back wondering if he was a visual-spatial learner; now I'll have to do more reading. I do believe AAS has been a God-send for him, so I am glad to have that resource. And for some reason he does like what we do with IEW, so I think I'm going to take the plunge and do it fully next year. Sometimes he'll surprise me with what he can do, and then the next minute tantrum about what he can't do. (And I think that pre-pre-teen hormone kick thing isn't helping right now either.)

 

Thanks again for your suggestions and insight. ;)

[MyLittleWonders]

these are just suggestions...

 

The disorganized sounds like ADHD Inattentive (used to be called ADD). I can't remember what 'doesn't know he is in space' is called, but I think it is in with sensory issues and may go along with weak core and muscle tone. An OT evaluation may be able to tell you more.

 

If the issue is hampering learning, then it may be worthwhile pursuing testing. You can find suggestions for all of these issues, by searching on this site as well as OT sites. It sounds like you are pursuing these type of activities already.

 

We have some of the same issues. We have a couple of things that help develop core strength that are also fun.

We do have an OT who comes here for dd; I might have to bite the money bullet and ask her if she does private evaluations, and if so, how much she charges. I would like to get ds#2 evaluated as well, but for different things. I enjoy putting puzzles together, but sometimes it's a lot more stressful when it's your children who are the puzzles.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[MyLittleWonders]

Oh my gosh!:svengo: I think our children must be clones! :lol:

 

Does my ds love Legos ?!? Are you kidding ?!? He does Legos constantly. I couldn't begin to tell you how many hundreds of Legos are in my house. Right now, ds is in the living room watching the NASA pre-launch, completely surrounded by Lego pieces and building various space vehicles (of his own design, of course LOL). And Percy Jackson ?? Ds can recite from memory entire passages from all five books of that series, all learned by listening to the audiobooks over and over and over.

 

That's too funny. :D

Oh my goodness, you are scaring me! :lol: I have a feeling our boys would get along spendidly! :D

[PeterPan]

Little Wonders--There are what are called splinter skills, so that you really can't conclude a whole lot from being able to do one thing from a huge list of nots. If you start something young or work at it consistently, yes you can get that *one* thing to improve (the splinter skill). The rest will still be off, reflecting the larger problem. That's what an OT will do, looking at them as a whole neurologically.

 

My dd had splinter skills (unexpected strengths) from ice skating and horse riding. She was low tone everywhere else, save for her legs. Her core got stronger with a summer of horse riding, where before she couldn't even do a sit-up. But when you started looking at her upper body, hand strength, etc. it was pathetic. Neurologically, that's where she was at, low tone. You just wouldn't have guessed it by looking only at *one* body part. You had to consider her as a whole.

 

Now this is just my two cents, but if you're going to pay for an evaluation, I'd find one who has experience with sensory integration issues. Talk with them, call around, and find one who does sensory stuff who will work with you less frequently, with a homework model. We learned a TON through the evaluation process, but really felt like we could do a lot of the stuff at home had the OT just been willing to work that way. Some of them are really adamant about every week. Homeschoolers are willing to set up equipment and do things with our kids, so less frequent sessions with homework can be better.

 

You might also do a board search for posts by Yllek. She has described in detail the OT routines her ds of similar age has been doing.

 

The other thing I'd do, just as a matter of course, is get his eyes checked. A developmental optometrist does a more thorough exam than a regular. It would let you eliminate the eyes as a cause of the reversals. Our dev. opt. will do a regular exam and screen for the issues, going deeper only if they find red flags. In other words, it doesn't have to cost more. You're just starting with a doc who can go deeper if they find the issues. It would be something to eliminate. http://www.covd.org is where you find a developmental optometrist.

 

It's actually a psych or neuropscych that diagnoses the ADD/ADHD, executive dysfunction, etc. Our OT screened for it and told us what she "suspected". That's as far as the OT can go. There are quite a few books on it, and people on the board here have posted lists. Interactive Metronome is one of the therapies for it, so if you find an OT who does IM, you're sort of in that loop, if that makes sense.

 

You really just have to take steps, one at a time, and see what you find. I think an OT eval and a vision screening would be sensible places to start. Then see where those lead.

Edited February 25, 2011 by OhElizabeth

[SailorMom]

A lot of what you have there sounds like my DS 13 (see below for the very long name of his diagnosis).

Not saying it is- but think outside the box on this one. I had to push to see a neurologist. I thought it might be the corpus callosum, and I was close - what he has is very closely related. Will your insurance pay for a neurologist if you are referred? If the neurologist then refers you to a neuropsychologist - then will they pay?

Sometimes you have to really work the system :)