Saille Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 I've been very, very busy and haven't been posting much (we're in the middle of a move and various other things). However, this has been bothering me for a really long time, and I wonder if the Hive has any insight. My daughter sometimes seems to have some sort of odd receptive language issue. I've looked it up before, and couldn't find anything that matched what she's doing. Here's an example: We were going through Grammar Town today, reviewing subject and object pronouns. We repeated the "A subject is always a subject and an object is always an object" rule several times. We ran through the subject and object pronoun chants, as well. Then, I said: "So, if you have a subject, or a subject complement, it should be a subject pronoun, and a direct object or indirect object should use an ________" Insert frowny stress face. "Predicate?" I went through the question again, slowly, emphasizing "subject" and "object". After a couple of times, she got it, but was very annoyed. I've thought and thought about it, and I really don't believe that it's an issue of not wanting to do the work, or getting impatient. It's more like she's impatient because she knows she's wrong and she wishes I'd stop asking. I haven't gotten far when I've asked her about it, which makes me feel like she doesn't know how to articulate the problem. This kind of random response happens most often when we're doing sentence analysis or math. She's testing at grade level. She takes longer to really "get" math and grammar concepts than her brother, but he's got a VERY structured way of thinking, which is sometimes its own problem. :D I just can't help feeling like she's having to work harder than normal to process what I'm saying, and it affects how she feels about her own intelligence. If it's some kind of odd processing thing, I'd like to know how to say things in a way that is accessible to her. Has anyone heard of anything like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted February 24, 2012 Author Share Posted February 24, 2012 No ideas, huh? Me either. :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamonaQ Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 OK, I will throw in some thoughts to let you know I read this and am trying to think this through with you.... If you think there are issues with language you could always go to an SLP. I am imagining that receptive language issues could be the result of many possible things. For example, perhaps there are retrieval issues? Maybe attentional issues? I don't know, I can't evaluate much from your example. I can say that your intuition is everything and you should trust it. Ultimately, if you think there is something going on, the best place would be a neuropsych. It is the most expensive option but it seems that the battery of tests that they offer often are the most elucidating. All my best- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostSurprise Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 No idea if is this is related to my son's speech problem (or exactly what that is yet), but we had an evaluation from a neuropsychologist last week and he referred my son to a Speech Language Pathologist. Basically, he 'tunes out' somewhere in the sentence and therefore gives odd answers to questions that are more complex. He focuses on key words but misses out on important nuances. This is considered an SLP issue, so we go in for an evaluation next month. Your issue, I'm not saying its the same, but it might be similar enough to justify a SLP evaluation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Yes, start with the neuropsych. It could be as simple as that she has some attention and processing speed issues. You totally droned me out with that explanation of the grammar, so she might have drifted too. Attention and low processing speed issues go together, and they don't preclude being BRIGHT. So she could really get it, when she finally does, but take a long time to get there. Sure there could be something more, to where you need the SLP or auditory evals, but maybe it will be something more straightforward. The neuropsych is a good starting place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saille Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 You totally droned me out with that explanation of the grammar, so she might have drifted too. :lol: OW! I do keep sentence structure *that simple* now, b/c any elaboration seems to throw her even more. My point was that SUB-ject, SUB-ject, SUB-ject made OB-ject, OB-ject, OB-ject pretty doggone obvious, and she still said "predicate". I will talk to dh about neuropsych. We're in a three-month job change insurance gap right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 Well I'm just telling you, *my* kid can't handle explanations like that. She doesn't process fast like that, can't learn like that, and would totally drone out to boot. Ouch to not having insurance. Sometimes it covers though and sometimes it doesn't. Are you able to find out if the neuropsych eval would be covered when the insurance kicks in? Some do, some don't. And some neuropsychs are private and tell you to file the insurance yourself. But some, those in a hospital, etc. sometimes have the prices go down considerably. There's usually a wait to get in for evals anyway. Three months won't be the end of the world, because you're just to May or June there. At that point you get on the list and still have your results by fall. In the mean time, slow down, ditch the verbal explanations, do things more hands-on, and move toward simpler things with more repetition. Shurley worked wonders for my daughter on grammar. She has a plenty high IQ. It's just with the way she's wired, that type of grammar (MCT, R&S, etc.) was never going to get her there. Ironically, her verbal IQ is higher than her perceptual, go figure. There's no reason that MCT explanation has to be so verbal. You could make manipulatives with each type of thing. Besides, I missed the age of your child, but you're asking for logic level thinking. Even some 10 yos won't be ready for that, let alone an 8 yo. Read about ADHD and auditory processing problems and starting changing things you would change *if* those are the problems, kwim? Certainly won't hurt anything and might help. For instance, my daughter's processing speed is at the 30-something percentile, and her IQ is 90-something. With that kind of disparity, I basically have to bite my tongue three times over before anything processes. It means I can't ask her questions upfront, without warning, because she CAN'T process that fast to spit out an answer. So just do some reading (there are gobs of ADHD books listed here on the SN board and the info will probably be helpful no matter what her final label) and just start making some changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 You know, that particular example seems pretty age-appropriate to me. Yeah, to us it seems totally obvious, like there is no way to make it more obvious. But she's hearing the clue subject and jumping straight to predicate, because, well, obviously subject and predicate go together. Sort of like peanut butter and jelly. Subject and object are not the words she's programmed to think of as going together. I don't know if there are general receptive language issues, of course, but that example would make me want to throw things, pull my hair out, and eat cookies and drink wine in the bathroom, but it would be pretty normal. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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