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[Giraffe]

I posted a while ago wondering about my DD and possible hearing/processing issues. She had a proper hearing test yesterday and an audiologist examined her ears carefully. Her hearing is fine. She has a "little pressure" in one ear. We'll go back in a month for a re-check: if it's still there, he'll take action, but he suspects it's just a passing thing. He totally understood what I was concerned about and why, but he assures me (through two translators) that she hears. When we go back next month he is considering doing a "reading test" to see how she says various sounds, since I am concerned about how she says "t" is "p, b, or d".

 

She's only 5 (turning 6 in May) so it's too early to test for APD, right? But if I wait another year or two she will have been struggling that much longer and not getting the help that would benefit her.

 

She wants to read - NOW. In both languages. She wants to write. She wants to do so much. She's devouring books even though she can't read (and my Turkish isn't that great). But she can't sound out words. She can't blend. She's getting frustrated.

 

I don't know what I want here - to vent, advice? Is there anything I can do NOW to ameliorate a possible APD without knowing there's an APD? How do I wait for so long to figure this out? This isn't fair! I know something's going on - I just can't prove it.

 

I'm going to go take a few deep breaths and tackle something else to try and take my mind off this. I'll go crazy if I don't.

[geodob]

Those particular letters are what are called; 'plosive sounds'.

They are called plosive, because they involve a sudden release of air.

Their are 2 types: Voiced: b,d,g and Voiceless: p,t,k.

 

Though the question is whether it is a difficulty with hearing the sounds, or with saying them?

Perhaps you could try printing those letters on a page, and then say them to her in random order and have her point at the letter?

But do it without her looking at you, as you say the letters.

If she is able to point at the correct letters, then it would indicate that she can hear them fine.

[Lecka]

There are things you can do to see if it is hearing or speech. Not like they are perfect, but to get an idea. One is to repeat words back to her as she has said them (in a sentence) and see if she correct you ---- no mommy, I said x, when you are saying the word the same way she did. Another thing is to say 2 words and ask if you have said one word or two different words (sometimes saying 2 the same and sometimes 2 different). But if you basically know she can't ------ don't torture her and let her know she is getting the wrong answer. (I did that with my son without realizing.) My son had this issue with multiple consonants having substitutions. The ones that are similar in some way (mouth position, blowing air, whatever the terms are) then those are the most easy to confuse. There are charts showing how different and similar speech sounds are to each other (sorry, I don't know what they are called). My son has shown 95% improvement with speech therapy, now he only has the occasional confusion. Before he could not distinguish sounds well enough to reliably learn the letters of the alphabet. He obviously could learn them, b/c he knew lots of his letters. But some letters he just could not get, and this turned out to be the reason why. Even if she is not that severe it can still be a problem, though. I think it would be good for you to look at dyslexia resources. Auditory processing is very broad, and many children do not have this actual issue who have auditory processing difficulties (my understanding). On the other hand, this is fairly commonly seen with dyslexia. Also -- I think you might have more luck looking at "phonological processing" or terms with "phonological." My son's difficulties (along these lines) were called "phonological processes" by his speech therapist, but I have never seen that used. I got lucky with the speech clinic that was suggested to me -- they recognized all this, I didn't realize until I saw him doing picture sorts with them, and getting 50% wrong (for things like -- put the pictures of a word that start with k in this pile, and the ones that start with g in this pile). But they were able to teach him. He was in group speech for 2 years previously and made no improvement, it was just not their specialty or they didn't have the time to spend. At-home options include Earobics and Lips. I know for my son -- he had to have speech therapy. But he also had a severe articulation delay (he was over 3 years behind when he was 6, and non-stimulable for multiple sounds). At a certain point, too, a good reading program helps these skills. But there can be a catch-22 where the skills are so weak the child can't make any progress, even with a good reading program. But once there is some success, it does build with more practice and it helped by a good reading program.

[Lecka]

Oh, I meant to say "phonological disorder' might be a term you could look at. If it is not helpful, it can be good to rule things out sometimes, too. But if you lived in my town and she seemed to really struggle, I would recommend going for a speech evaluation at this speech clinic. If it seemed less severe, I would suggest looking at doing a phonemic awareness program and seeing if it would help, or going to the Barton reading website and seeing if she could pass the screening. If she could pass the screening, I would think, she had a good chance at making progress with a dyslexia-style reading program. Just so you know, too -- dyslexia-style reading programs can really work for a lot of kids.

[Giraffe]

Thank you both! I did what I said and walked away, worked on something else, took a few deep breaths. I will try the letter test with her tomorrow that Geodob recommended, and I'm exploring the Barton site. I also found a firm here that works with kids who are dyslexic, gifted, also child psych, sleeping issues, the works. It comes recommended so I will check it out and try to get DD in there.

[Lecka]

That sounds like a good deal!

[Tiramisu]

I think a speech language pathologist can help sort out the issues before a child is ready for a full APD evaluation.

 

I think the reason they wait to do APD evals is because there can be great variation in the timing of the maturation of the auditory system, so you are likely to get a "false positive" for APD if you test too early. I have heard stories of youger kids being diagnosed with APD who later seem to grow out of it. I'm not suggesting that's the case with your dd, but I think that's the reason they wait. Also, a true APD evaluation is rather strenuous. It is long and requires concentrated attention. It would be difficult for many younger children, but not all. I did have one of mine screened at 6, I think, but that testing session was short. I didn't have auditory concerns for her but the OT recommended it because of the presence of other sensory processing issues.

 

:grouphug: Hugs from another mom who lived abroad where there weren't the resources we have here when her dd with APD was young.

[Lecka]

I was able to start phonemic awareness with my son while he was still doing speech therapy, just using sounds he was good with. There are two kinds of consonants, one kind can be held, and one can't. You can hold/drag out the sounds for letters like s, m, n, f. Those are usually easier for starting with blending. Other consonants that can't be held are c,d,g,k,p,t and they are harder to teach blending with, b/c they can't be held. There are reading programs that take this into account in the order that they teach introduce sounds. Programs designed for dyslexia should, and others might. I would not say to buy it, but if you could check out Phonics A-Z by Wiley Blevins, it has a lot of information along these lines, if you are curious about it. But it is just interesting, it is not a reading program. If you are looking into dyslexia, then the program should be designed this way already. Learning to blend and segment took a lot of practice for my son, but he did get it eventually. There are a lot of resources, but if you are looking for things for dyslexia, they will probably be appropriate. Or, if not dyslexia, then a program that will really teach phonemic awareness skills and blending and segmenting skills.

[Giraffe]

Those particular letters are what are called; 'plosive sounds'.

They are called plosive, because they involve a sudden release of air.

Their are 2 types: Voiced: b,d,g and Voiceless: p,t,k.

 

Though the question is whether it is a difficulty with hearing the sounds, or with saying them?

Perhaps you could try printing those letters on a page, and then say them to her in random order and have her point at the letter?

But do it without her looking at you, as you say the letters.

If she is able to point at the correct letters, then it would indicate that she can hear them fine.

 

 

She did it! She waffled a little on G and K but I think that is more not remembering than a phonological problem.

 

But if I put the letters in front of a cvc word she can't remember the sound.

 

DH thinks I'm making too much of this.

[Lecka]

It is really good she can do that! Then you can probably practice with her.

 

Do you know very much about phonemic awareness? It is like a hierarchy of skills, and it goes from easier to harder. I think that might be where she could benefit. She could just need practice before being asked to make the jump to cvc words.

 

She could be having a hard time segmenting/blending, which might be why he doesn't make the jump to those more complex skills.

 

There are a lot of things out there for phonemic awareness you could do with her.

 

Barton Level 1 teaches phonemic awareness skills, but there are many books of activities written for children your daughter's age. It is even very appropriate for her age.

 

If she can do those things and build her skills that way, that is great.

 

It sounds like she may be on the path to reading, and just need to back up a little.