Good days, bad days. What do you attribute it to?

[momsuz123]

So, with my dd who MAY have a mild CAPD, among some other issues, we do have good days with her phonic work. We are working with an SLP trained in OG method. She has us doing OG homework daily at home as her phonics/reading program. Some days we are chugging along good, not great, but good (which I am thrilled with).

 

Then, bam, bad day. I mean really, really, bad day. Like today, for the word "Bob", she kept wanting to spell it "Bumb". She got so frustrated, she said, "but that is what I am hearing". Poor girl. My heart just wants to break for her sometimes. We took a break and came back later, and she was better.

 

Just curious, have you had these really on and really off days too? (Since I am thinking most of you will say, YES), then what do you attribute it to? With my dd, we all just went gluten free about a month ago. You know, same time that we moved - yep, I know how to torture myself.

 

Thanks.

 

We are also just starting TLP at home now too. Don't know if that adds to all this or not.

[dancingmama]

Oh yeah. My son is having a string of good days and its sad to say that we're just amazed, thrilled, and waiting for the ball to drop. I haven't seen 3 good days in a row to that boy in two years. *sigh* I have no idea why though. We have started a new system, an idea from his OT, which I think is an idea from the Winner books. He gets a purple stick for every.single.positive/appropriate.thing he does. Everything. And an orange popsicle stick for any inappropriate behavior. On days he gets more purple sticks than orange sticks, he gets a reward such as being able to watch the football game before bed, or going to his class that evening. But I have no idea if that's what's making it work. I do know that if he's tired, hungry, overwhelmed, stressed, watched too much tv or bored he's more likely to act out or can't figure something out. It's like his brain turns off. Usually, if I see its really bad, and a break doesn't fix it, we just pack it in for the day and try again the next. I honestly think that sometimes he is spending so much brain energy dealing with all the above that he really couldn't spell "bob" correctly. Gee, I'm no help but I'll commiserate with you, if that's ok?

[Mukmuk]

Yes this happens a lot in my home, although much less so in the recent year. I certainly know the feeling of waiting for the ball to drop :(. Sometimes, I worry that I might jinx it if I talk about his recent improvement, but this uptake has been very solid so far. The few reasons why it may be improving is because the effect from the various therapies may have reached some tipping point, he's reaching developmental milestones, and/or it may just be that I've gotten a better handle over myself. What I typically do is go for the basics - is he hungry? Did he sleep well? Is the environment noisy? Sometimes too, DS has an idea in his head that he can't let go, so he can't connect with what's going on outside, like someone telling him to spell "bob", for example. He may actually be trying to, and coming out with "bumb" because he's not thinking deeply enough, if you know what I mean. I just let it go. Over the years, the positives and the times he *does* connect have added up significantly.

 

I'm all for commiserating too! :grouphug:

[dbmamaz]

i always look for allergy connections . . . some pollen and stormy weather gives youngest headaches, some foods (like eggs) can make him kinda crazy. we already cut gluten, dairy and all artificial everything because it was making him nuts. but still, dont we all have good and bad days?

[Mukmuk]

One other thing. I heard this from Dr Linda Silverman in a talk - good days and bad days happen because kids with LDs naturally try to compensate. And compensation takes a lot more energy and working memory than for regular kids who don't need to compensate. So their ability to cope gets frayed as they become exhausted quickly. She says to tell your child to understand and expect this, and it isn't their fault. This advise has been useful for us.

[SonshineMama]

At 7, She is still so little. I have found that double digits have been significantly better for our LD child. But sometimes he Still has a week here and there when he mixed up b's, d's, p's, and q's. its hard but im learning to hang on and ride along with it. I'm not saying to ignore it but learn to wait it out and keep persisting. Some times it feels like 1 step forward one step back but then it moves to 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Then 3 steps forward 1 step back, etc. it gets better and better.

 

And i do think,its partly age. Even my advanced neurotypical child still has lots of off days w school work at age 7. Today she had a fit over doing spelling which is usually fun for her. ....

 

Ack just realized i turned off my autofill and this is sloppy *blush*. I turned off autofill so ds could use the iPad for spelling LOL but I'm not so good at editing in iPad.....

[PeterPan]

With what you described, she also could have had low blood sugar (from the diet changes) and just have been tired. When we got the processing speed scores on dd, a LOT finally made sense. (echoing mukmuk)

[Tiramisu]

When hormones hit, we saw a new version of bad days. Just giving you something to look forward to. :tongue_smilie:

[Scoobymummy]

i always look for allergy connections . . . some pollen and stormy weather gives youngest headaches, some foods (like eggs) can make him kinda crazy. we already cut gluten, dairy and all artificial everything because it was making him nuts. but still, dont we all have good and bad days?

 

Your the first person I've found to mention weather!!! I've asked so many people if weather changes are an issue and never found anyone who had experienced that. Both my ds and I have severe anxiety, aches and pains, muscle knots, foggy brain and fatigue with weather changes. HEre in Ontario, the weather has been changing daily. I signed up for migraine alerts on my computer (which follows weather patterns) and over the last 2 months, they've been daily, sometimes twice a day. It's so frustrating. It makes a huge difference -- ds can write his letters in the right direction one day, then the weather changes and they're all backwards the next. We've done a lot with diet, but haven't found the magic bullet yet. For me, a candida diet helped a lot, but it's a long term thing - I was on it for a year and then, as soon as I went off it, all my symptoms came back. So ... not just candida. I just had ds do igg blood work for allergies .. we'll see if we can pin down some more exact information.

[Scoobymummy]

i always look for allergy connections . . . some pollen and stormy weather gives youngest headaches, some foods (like eggs) can make him kinda crazy. we already cut gluten, dairy and all artificial everything because it was making him nuts. but still, dont we all have good and bad days?

 

Your the first person I've found to mention weather!!! I've asked so many people if weather changes are an issue and never found anyone who had experienced that. Both my ds and I have severe anxiety, aches and pains, muscle knots, foggy brain and fatigue with weather changes. HEre in Ontario, the weather has been changing daily. I signed up for migraine alerts on my computer (which follows weather patterns) and over the last 2 months, they've been daily, sometimes twice a day. It's so frustrating. It makes a huge difference -- ds can write his letters in the right direction one day, then the weather changes and they're all backwards the next. We've done a lot with diet, but haven't found the magic bullet yet. For me, a candida diet helped a lot, but it's a long term thing - I was on it for a year and then, as soon as I went off it, all my symptoms came back. So ... not just candida. I just had ds do igg blood work for allergies .. we'll see if we can pin down some more exact information.

[Scoobymummy]

i always look for allergy connections . . . some pollen and stormy weather gives youngest headaches, some foods (like eggs) can make him kinda crazy. we already cut gluten, dairy and all artificial everything because it was making him nuts. but still, dont we all have good and bad days?

 

Your the first person I've found to mention weather!!! I've asked so many people if weather changes are an issue and never found anyone who had experienced that. Both my ds and I have severe anxiety, aches and pains, muscle knots, foggy brain and fatigue with weather changes. HEre in Ontario, the weather has been changing daily. I signed up for migraine alerts on my computer (which follows weather patterns) and over the last 2 months, they've been daily, sometimes twice a day. It's so frustrating. It makes a huge difference -- ds can write his letters in the right direction one day, then the weather changes and they're all backwards the next. We've done a lot with diet, but haven't found the magic bullet yet. For me, a candida diet helped a lot, but it's a long term thing - I was on it for a year and then, as soon as I went off it, all my symptoms came back. So ... not just candida. I just had ds do igg blood work for allergies .. we'll see if we can pin down some more exact information.

[Lecka]

Yes. I think it is just two steps forward, one step back for my son. He is not so much totally random. It is more, he does not have it down, and will be going along, and then make a series of crazy mistakes and not be able to see it differently at that moment.

 

I take a break or try to go back to something I think he can get right. When I come back to it I give examples.

 

Now he is much more consistent in hearing the sounds the correct way, and with sounding out words with the right sounds. But it still happens sometimes. For him it is happening much less, though, overall.

 

He would also get confused sometimes with things he was working on in speech. Like -- if she has been doing o/u, maybe she has to get confused and then re-learn it. I think my son was that way a little. It would seem like he would get worse as he did some things in speech, but 2-3 months later, he would be better than before. His speech therapist said that for him that was a normal thing to see and part of the process. If he had been hearing one sound and then was going to hear 2 sounds, he was going to make mistakes sometimes but as part of learning.

 

It sounds like she is doing well overall! The SLP sounds like a good deal, too!

[Violet Crown]

Bad (non-talking, afraid of everyone, let's-invent-a-new-phobia) days for us are usually lack of sleep, change in routine, or Mommy Is Stressed. I spent November at maximum stress (see new username? thank Mr. Creepy Stalker!) - and even though it's all dealt with now, Wee Girl has lost so much of the progress she'd gained. My goal now is to spend Advent as if nothing exciting or different is happening in December, and get her back to where she was two months ago. :(

[momsuz123]

Thanks all for you input. I love hearing all the different ideas. Yes, I have to remind myself something that her SLPs said. They both said that she is spending so much of brain power even on something as simple as play. For her, play is also work. She is trying to "hear" everything that she needs to hear, tune out what she doesn't need to hear, etc. That all requires brain power. Then, there I am trying to do something that I think she should "get". But, if she only has a little bit of brain power left, well, there you go.

[Tiramisu]

Thanks all for you input. I love hearing all the different ideas. Yes, I have to remind myself something that her SLPs said. They both said that she is spending so much of brain power even on something as simple as play. For her, play is also work. She is trying to "hear" everything that she needs to hear, tune out what she doesn't need to hear, etc. That all requires brain power. Then, there I am trying to do something that I think she should "get". But, if she only has a little bit of brain power left, well, there you go.

 

 

This is so important and something we've found to be so true.

 

We were told about our dd with CAPD that the things that take no effort for others are like "pushing a medicine ball uphill" for her.

 

Our neurologist said that some kids won't really care if they don't hear, but dd does, so she's under extra stress. So, the individual personality might be another thing to take into consideration. The stressors won't be exactly the same for every kid.

[Dmmetler]

For my DD, fatigue is the biggest contributor, but I'll also add diet, changes in schedule, weather, the full moon, and, I swear whether a butterfly flaps it's wings in China!