parents of kids with CAPD or language processing difficulties

[razorbackmama]

I'm wondering if I'm onto something or if I'm just way off in left field (which would not surprise me LOL!).

 

I'm wondering...how much did you read aloud to your child when they were young? Are they the oldest? How much TV did they watch (or I guess how much was the TV on, whether they were watching it or not)?

[wapiti]

All three of my older kids have varying degrees of unidentified language processing issues, primarily having to do with reading comprehension, and all three have a history of speech delay/problems. The oldest, dd10, seems to have the biggest "glitch" (though ds8 is now competing for that title - we regularly have arguments over the meanings of words and phrases in his reading :glare:, which is getting a lot harder now that he plans on becoming a neurosurgeon when he grows up :lol:). Where does being the oldest fit into the theory you're cooking up? (I'm all about cooking up theories, LOL!)

 

DD watched almost no TV whatsoever until she was around 3. I read to her all the time, much more than to any of the other five :tongue_smilie:. So no, I don't think amounts of reading or TV has anything to do with any of my kids' language processing issues.

 

If I had to speculate on a cause, I would guess it is a combination of genetics and prenatal history - without going into more detail, there were various things going on in each case related to a possible insufficient flow of nutrients/oxygen in utero. In contrast, my younger three do not have the speech delays that my older three had. They are also the results of more intensive prenatal care. They're too young to say whether they'll have a language processing issue of some kind, but so far I see no signs.

[VinNY]

I have 8 children to compare. The ones with CAPD (language processing/impairment etc) were #'s 5 & 6. We have a very language enriched home and monitor TV use. My older 4 children consistently score in the 95% with language..their ACT scores and SAT language scores were in the top 5% . These two CAPD children in particular did not enjoy being read to at an early age nor were easy to discipline. It seemed from the start they had more sensory issues and delays in language. The boy didn't speak until 3, the girl spoke but was unintelligible. The girl had alot of outside therapies. I discovered though that as they got older..more towards 6 or 7 they began to enjoy read alouds (but limited). Now they both enjoy being read to and seem so delighted as if it is all brand new to them. My husband's family has CAPD and expressive language delays. My husband said he totally relied on visual for information..lets say John Wayne taught him history. Now he also loves being read to. I truly believe it is something decided in utero and in my dtr's case exascerbated due to the cord being around her neck the last trimester (she was born a full 2 lbs lighter than the other 8 full term). My youngest #8 has had to spend more time in front of the TV because of all the time I spend with my SN dtr..yet he has the richest vocabulary, best articulation of the bunch..go figure..and thank you LORD!.

 

I was asked once by the Special Ed Chair of our school system if I read to my child:confused:...but I do know that they deal with alot of language deprived students..meaning no books or discussions in the home so the children come woefully unprepared for learning. That is not the case in my house and I have had extensive testing done and family history to prove otherwise. I doubt that is the case in your home,too.

 

I also believe that therapies and reading aloud or books on tape help..but CAPD is a glitch that makes our kids unique.

[razorbackmama]

So here's what we have going on here.

 

#1 has CAPD, the auditory associative deficit subtype. His CAPD testing did show that he has masking difficulties too and doesn't block out extraneous sounds well. He got a filter to help with that, but neither he nor I have noticed a difference at ALL, plus truly he has never displayed the behaviors associated with the masking difficulties either. His main trouble is the associative deficit.

 

Because of this he also has mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, specifically trouble with idioms, figures of speech, and vocabulary. Basically how words are used together.

 

His history - totally normal prenatal care and delivery and was completely normal developmentally. Talked at age 12.5 months, etc. He was absolutely, perfectly FINE until around age 9-10, when both in school and in real life people just start to expect more advanced language out of a kid.

 

We almost never read to him. I am definitely not proud of that. My dh does not read at all and definitely never read to him. Prior to ds's birth, in order to hang out with dh, I pretty much gave up reading (although I had been an AVID reader prior to marriage), so I was out of the habit. Plus I thought reading to your kids was just something fun to do, and we chose to do other fun things instead. I didn't realize the importance of it.

 

While I can't say that ds watched TV all day long, my dh is a big fan of the Veggie Tales, so my ds watched a LOT of those. Probably 2-3 a day by age 2 at least. Also the TV was often on just in the background.

 

As the oldest, while of course I did talk to him, there is just naturally a lot more talking going on around my younger ones because we have olders. So that's where the oldest factor comes in. For example, my younger 3 kids understand WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY more than my older 4 did at the same age, and I think it's just due to all the talking they hear on a regular basis, even though it's not to them.

 

So my ponderings are...I'm wondering if perhaps not reading aloud to my oldest perhaps caused the deficiencies in his language processing. Since there weren't many people around, in order for his language to fully develop properly he needed read alouds to develop his vocabulary and how language is actually used on a more advanced level. (Which is exactly where his problems lie.) Perhaps his masking difficulties are mild enough to not really cause trouble (as they do my #4 child...more on him in a minute) but just severe enough that normal, everyday stuff (without reading aloud) wasn't enough to develop his language skills properly.:confused:

 

Then when #2-7 came along, even though we didn't read to them either (sigh), since there were older children they were exposed to more talking. So they don't have the language processing issues that #1 has. Except for POSSIBLY #4.

 

#4 child was tested for CAPD also. He has pretty severe masking difficulties, and that's about it. He received a filter, and it's making a HUGE difference. Now when I talk to him or read to him, he's able to follow what I'm saying. I guess before he couldn't hear me over the heater or a plane flying overhead or the hum of my computer or something.:tongue_smilie: HIS CAPD I don't think I had anything to do with. I think even if I had read to him when he was little he wouldn't have been able to hear me very well because of a dog barking 3 houses down LOL. BUT I wonder what would have happened to his language development overall had we not gotten the filter and he had continued on like this. He just turned 9, and I have started to see the same sort of language confusion. So I'm hoping the filter helps since he'll now be able to hear and understand me. I'm hoping we've headed something off at the pass.

 

Oh, medically, I was on Zoloft while I was pregnant with him. He was the only one of my kids who came early (6 days, so not a preemie). He also had light meconium in the fluid, but he didn't have any complications from that. So medically there are definitely some things that might point to his masking differences, but of course it's hard to say.

 

Anyway, that's my theory on my oldest. I told him that I'm planning to read a LOT to him, much to his dismay. With the filter in, even though we can't really tell a lot of a difference. Maybe it will be enough to at least help something click as I expose him to richer language than what he encounters in our normal environment.

Edited May 2, 2011 by razorbackmama

[LizzyBee]

We read A LOT to my oldest dd. She began reading early with very little direct instruction and always had a good ear for phonics without explicit teaching.

 

We read less to my middle dd. She has mild APD, the binaural integration subtype. I'm sure that if she'd been tested younger, she would also have been diagnosed with phonological awareness deficit. Her ear emissions show that her hearing is off the top of the chart (iow, her hearing is better than can be measured with a standard hearing test), which makes sense because she has always been super sensitive to sound. Fireworks and such would send her over the ledge when she was younger; but even when we'd make the house quiet during schooltime, she complained about things like the refrigerator making noise. I suppose it's her sensitive hearing that makes it hard for her to filter background noise, and we used Earobics to help with that. I was on turbutaline for about six weeks with her because of preterm contractions, and it is now known that there is a link between that medicine and LDs. OTOH, if she'd been premature, that could have caused much worse problems.

 

We didn't read to my youngest nearly as much as we should have, although she was in the middle of the mix during school time and heard the older girls' read alouds. When I tried to read to her, I couldn't engage her. She has APD - all four subtypes at age 7 and two subtypes at age 9. Phonological awareness and something else have been remediated. Based on the types she still has, her audiologist said she will always have APD, although it will likely continue to improve with maturity. In addition to APD, she has SPD, ADHD-combined type, and dyslexia. She also had severe articulation delays and probably verbal apraxia. After six years of speech therapy, I still see some mild expressive language and motor planning issues, but her speech is so much better than it was. Expressively, she does fine with social language output, but not as well with telling stories or other things that are more involved, so I'm a little concerned about how that will affect her schoolwork as she progresses beyond reading to writing. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. During labor with dd, she was in distress, then we ended up having a C-section and the cord was wrapped around her neck. I sometimes wonder if oxygen was cut off just enough not to cause major problems, but her LDs. But then the human genome project has shown us that dyslexia is associated with seven specific chromosomes; the more chromosomes that are involved, the more severe the dyslexia is and the longer it will take to remediate. There is also emerging evidence that dyslexia is set by 4-5 months of pregnancy. There is some degree of comfort in thinking that this is the way she was made and we didn't do anything wrong to cause her LDs.

 

PS: Unfortunately, my kids watch a lot of TV because my dh is a total TV addict.

Edited May 2, 2011 by LizzyBee

[merry gardens]

These two CAPD children in particular did not enjoy being read to at an early age ....

This.

 

My 9 yo now enjoys it when I read to him, but he used to hate it. I read outloud to my children often, and he'd run away and hide when it was time for chapter books or bedtime stories!

 

I limited tv too and I'm picky on what I let them watch. He would even run away from some of the language and phonics based educational shows on tv that my other children enjoyed. But he really liked the old-fashioned cartoons like Tom and Jerry that had pictures and music but no words.

[VinNY]

We almost never read to him. I am definitely not proud of that. My dh does not read at all and definitely never read to him. Prior to ds's birth, in order to hang out with dh, I pretty much gave up reading (although I had been an AVID reader prior to marriage), so I was out of the habit. Plus I thought reading to your kids was just something fun to do, and we chose to do other fun things instead. I didn't realize the importance of it.

 

.

 

I am sure you had to read aloud to him when homeschooling..teaching a lesson, reading instructions etc. Either way..it is never too late to start (like my husband) and don't forget there are great books on CD/tape,too.

 

Now I love to read aloud..but I am not great with games and puzzles...that is something I need to work on because it was recommended for my SN child.:tongue_smilie:

 

We just keep on keepin' on!

[EmilyinND]

We're very much readers in this family. My daughter (8) has CAPD. We've read to her since she was an infant. She was an early reader & is still the strongest reader in her class. She is the baby in the family. Dh's family has a history of CAPD, he was not read to as a child & struggled with reading. My daughter's issues are expressive & receptive language, some auditory memory, sensory issues. I would say she had 'moderate' amount of tv.

[razorbackmama]

I am sure you had to read aloud to him when homeschooling..teaching a lesson, reading instructions etc. Either way..it is never too late to start (like my husband) and don't forget there are great books on CD/tape,too.

 

Yes, once we started homeschooling I read aloud to him, but until he was 4/5, nada.

 

Yes, I have given him a heads up that there will be a lot of reading aloud going on.:D

[merry gardens]

Yes, once we started homeschooling I read aloud to him, but until he was 4/5, nada.

 

Yes, I have given him a heads up that there will be a lot of reading aloud going on.:D

It's great that you plan to read out loud to him more, but don't blame yourself for his language processing problems. As a couple of us wrote, at younger ages our children with language issues didn't even want us reading to them! I was reading chapter books to my older children back in the days when my little guy was a newborn baby. He's had lots of exposure to language--but he still had problems. (We probably all talk too much, too fast, and all at once. :tongue_smilie:) It's kinda funny that you blamed the problems being the oldest and not being read to enough, because for a while I blamed my son's problems on his being a middle child and not having enough one-on-one attention from me like my older children did. Anyway, don't beat yourself up over this.

 

Do you have the read-aloud books picked out already? You might try selecting a couple then let your son choose which book he wants you to read to him. When my child was hesitant to listen when I read out loud, it went much easier when he picked the story! Also, chapter books seems to go better I get out the crayons and blank paper then ask my children to illustrate a scene from the story while I read.

[razorbackmama]

Do you have the read-aloud books picked out already? You might try selecting a couple then let your son choose which book he wants you to read to him. When my child was hesitant to listen when I read out loud, it went much easier when he picked the story! Also, chapter books seems to go better I get out the crayons and blank paper then ask my children to illustrate a scene from the story while I read.

I had him go through a couple of book lists and pick out something he'd want to hear. I plan to have a "boys" read-aloud time and a "girls" read-aloud time every night.

 

Thanks for the encouragement.:001_smile: