wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Ds has his eye app today where we found out he needed vision therapy. The eye dr said he thinks his academic delays are just part of his cognitive delays and nothing that requires glasses. I know he has cognitive delays and acts MUCH younger than he is (I would say about 2 year or so just by my guess) but what do I do to work on that? He is going to OT and we are doing speech therapy at home and will be starting V.T but is there anything else to help with cognitive delays? Or just work on age appropriateness and social skills? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 ABA can teach asd kids how to learn. It can be hard to find in rural areas, but I'd do my best to find a provider and find a way to cover the cost (depending on your state, you may be covered by private insurance or medicaid or a CHIP). ETA: Or you might be out of luck and your state doesn't cover it or mandate coverage, it's a crapshoot unfortunately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 ABA can teach asd kids how to learn. It can be hard to find in rural areas, but I'd do my best to find a provider and find a way to cover the cost (depending on your state, you may be covered by private insurance or medicaid or a CHIP). ETA: Or you might be out of luck and your state doesn't cover it or mandate coverage, it's a crapshoot unfortunately. What is ABA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wy_kid_wrangler04 Posted August 31, 2011 Author Share Posted August 31, 2011 I'm in a similar situation with my youngest (dx PDD-NOS). He's functionally ~2 years behind actual age. This year he is repeating first grade and we are focused on therapies, ST and OT, and the three R's. This DS went through VT this past spring and he wasn't even on the charts visually when he began. He did 8 weeks of VT, progress stalled at 6 weeks we really should have stopped then. He is now at his age level or above in all areas visually. The doctor didn't imagine he'd get the gains he did. We just started speech therapy and are waiting on contact info for OT. Our NP suggested a social skills class and also either regular play dates with kids his age and older or signing him up in an activity that would cover that. I'd love to sign him up for martial arts, it's just not in the budget right now and I'm having to triage needs. As far as the cognitive delay, he wants to reassess ds in 3 years as he says they often have a sudden jump somewhere around 3rd or 4th grade and their diagnosis can also slide, Aspergers would be the next marker on the spectrum. DS is very inattentive, but at this age he didn't want to label him with ADHD. The sensory diet I've also seen as key, I increased that following the results and he's made a lot of gains during that time. I also changed how we "school" by dropping all formal work and focusing on hands on, games, and interaction since that's how he learns best. We use the iPad (he doesn't care for the computer or tv though), lot's of math games, he's enjoying the Brain Quest cards and Fun Decks (Super Duper), we're also counting coins, playing with a Judy clock, living out loud, he's helping in the kitchen, with the garden, we do play doh, alternative writing (chalk, in sand, on white board, on the iPad), etc. We do a lot of prep going through what may happen while in route to new places. He's just really opened up the past 2 months. My oldest actually said, he liked it more when youngest ds used to be quiet. (That's because oldest likes to have the spotlight.) We are kinda doing Kindergarten again. I am calling it 1st grade but he is still doing K phonics, K math and is barely able to write anything. We do MFW though so I took the 1st grade work and put it away for now. If we get to it we do, if not I will put him in the family cycle next year and use the 1st grade work for my now K'er next year. I am really hoping to get him up to par in the 3R's this year. If not at "grade level" then atleast not severely behind. Right now he struggles, I mean STRUGGLES to sound out CVC words. I hate to say it but I wish he needed glasses, that might have been an easy fix but no such luck (I hope that does not sound horrible of me to say :001_huh:) I am hoping to get him doing basic math without my prompting. To get the hour hand and minute hand without confusing them. To learn the correct name and amounts of coins. To learn 20 does not come after 10 and 11 :001_huh: To learn what 11 and 12 look like. For some reason he just does not understand those 2 numbers. He counts perfectly to 10 then says 11 rarely then 20 or sometimes he goes straight from 10 to 20 then back to 13. He can go from 13- 20 relatively well. (MOST of the time) but beyond that is just not happening. Attentive? What is this attentive you speak of? :001_huh: Even my 4th grader can not stay focused. My 8th grader can. I feel its to young to tell if my 5 year old is or not, BUT if I HAD to say now, well :glare: My biggest concern is if my son realizes that his brother who is a year and a half younger is catching up to him. My 5 year old is ALMOST caught up to him in phonics already. So far he does not notice or care but my concern is later on he might. Maybe he won't. What is the sensory diet you mentioned? Ds has HFA, SPD, SID, tourettes, low tone and visual/spatial delays- so I am looking into a gluten free diet. He also has issues with weightloss (he is less than the 1% for his height/weight) I have an app to get that looked into before I make any diet changes but I am doing ALOT of research until then. This is all still new and sinking in. We JUST found out about the HFA, SPD, SID, low tone and visual/spatial in April. Now all this :willy_nilly: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 Applied Behavioral Analysis is a method used to teach autistic kids HOW to learn. If you can find a service provider near you that you can find a way to pay for, I'd highly recommend trying it even before you do ST, OT or VT. We did ST and OT with my oldest when he was first diagnosed, but he didn't make much progress until we moved and put him in an ABA program. Here are some links. The first is a detailed description of ABA from Autism Speaks: http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/treatment/applied-behavior-analysis-aba The second is my ds1's school. It's amazing and I hope you can find something similar near you: http://includingkids.org/ Even if you can't access a full time program, you may find a Behavioral Analyst who will work with you to implement ABA techniques in your home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer-72 Posted August 31, 2011 Share Posted August 31, 2011 You must be feeling so overwhelmed! :grouphug: When I read thru this and your vision therapy thread I thought of a book that might be helpful to you: The Learning Tree - Overcoming Learning Disabilities by Stanley Greenspan. Here is a link to a review: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-the-learning-tree-overcoming/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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