good news with new goal

[swellmomma]

Ds11 had another assessment with SLP and OT last week.   It had been a few years since he worked with SLP or OT, they had ended services because he had adhd (that they could see) but the therapist refused to refer us to a shrink to start meds because he didn't believe ds had it.  Well he has a shrink now has been Dx with adhd and has been on medication for about 6ish months so the shrink told us to resume SLP and OT.  When we first started with SLP son was 3, he was nonverbal, and had weak muscle tone in his tongue and mouth and was Dx with a severe speech delay.  He refused to work with the therapist, so instead we would go for an assessment, she would make up a bundle for us to work on at home and 6 months later we would assess again.  Eventually his speech hit normal range but his phonologic skills remained consistently 2 years behind.  Given that his speech was 2 years behind they said that he was making good progress and staying consistent.  Due to visual issues along with that phonologic delay he was slow to learn to read.  He was 10 before he was fluent and now at 11 loves to read though I was worried about his reading comprehension.  He has done an online lit class every year for the last 3, we read the required reading together, discuss it and then when it is discussion time in class I scribe for him since he still struggles with spelling, typing and writing.  TUrns out it was just what he needed.  The assessment last week put him at grade level for reading ability and comprehension.  However, he really needs to work on inferencing, he could not answer questions like "what if ........... happened?" or in one story they had to discover what it was about based on the description and he could not do it.  

So looking for ideas to boost that skill with him at home.  We still have a long way to go to get the penmanship and spelling happening and caught up but this was a huge win in my books.  

OT we still have a slew of issues, he ranked only in the 5% for the tasks she had him do.  SHe is putting in a referral for PT due to his leg injury and long term effects from that because she wants to assess if his gross motor functioning was off due to him guarding that leg or due to inability.  So more screening yet to come, plus the neuropsych once it gets booked.  

FOr now I will take the reading win, and look for ways to strengthen his inferences.  I have to also make a point of including him in the discussions I have with ds16 about idioms, metaphors etc because he doesn't "get" those either.  I suspect ds16 could benefit from focused practice on inferencing too as I have seen some weakness there.  

Also the win for reading changes a lot of my plans for the fall, this year he has been doing a 2nd grade curriculum across the board because that is where he seemed to be, and I have no regrets especially with the phonics instruction.  But as a result I had planned to do a 3rd grade across the board next year but the SLP thinks I should go right to 5th/6th grade level materials next year and just keep scribing and do the appropriate level of spelling and penmanship that he is currently at.  THat is awesome but means I need to take another look at what I was planning.  Some can stay (like Konos) but some will have to change.  He is also not at grade level for math, but not as far behind as his writing.   

[prairiewindmomma]

Yay!

[AmyontheFarm]

That's Great!