language processing disorder

[Guest guest]

Hello--

I'm currently working with a 15 year old to improve focus (he started

with 50% slow wave frontal activity). However, his receptive and

expressive language processing deficits are drawing the attention of

his teachers (His teachers describe him as " scary smart " and " wicked

bright " , but there's general concern about the C's and D's he gets on

tests, as well as the poor quality of lab reports and other written

work.) It seems to me that improving focus, which has been slow for

him, will not be sufficient to help language processing. Please share

any insights or experience that help me know how to approach this

situation. One website I looked at said that dealing with poor focus

is essential before addressing auditory or language processing

issues. From that perspective, I'm on the right track. Also, if

there's something that might hamper the reduction of frontal slow

wave activity, please let me know about that, as well. Those delta

and theta waves have been very sticky.

In the next couple of weeks he will be wrapping up a bunch of

sessions. We'll take a break, run a new assessment and set new

goals, as Pete suggested in an earlier post.

Thanks,

Jane

[Guest guest]

Jane,Maybe during the break he might be willing to start keeping a journal - writing everyday for 10-20 minutes, in cursive, not printing ... even if all he writes are complaints about doing the activity or how difficult it is, and add illustrations to the entries.Writing is a wonderful activity to help with integration, using many different areas of the brain. I strongly recommend it to all the age groups with whom I work.Happy HolidaysDonnaDonna Troisi, LCSW-C dmt_lcsw@...

Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.

[Guest guest]

Hi Donna--

Thanks for the suggstion. He will be writing over winter break. His

relentless English teacher has assigned an essay and another writing

assignment over vacation. Like many of his peers he gave up cursive

long ago, and now nearly everything is typed on computer. However, I

will keep your suggestion in mind, as we might be able to initiate it

another time.

Thanks,

Jane

braintrainer , Donna Troisi wrote:

>

> Jane,

> Maybe during the break he might be willing to start keeping a

journal - writing everyday for 10-20 minutes, in cursive, not

printing ... even if all he writes are complaints about doing the

activity or how difficult it is, and add illustrations to the entries.

>

> Writing is a wonderful activity to help with integration, using

many different areas of the brain. I strongly recommend it to all the

age groups with whom I work.

>

> Happy Holidays

> Donna

>

> Donna Troisi, LCSW-C

>

> dmt_lcsw@...

>

>

>

>

>

> ---------------------------------

> Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.

>

[Guest guest]

I often had good success with teaching kids/adults tic-tac-toe writing.

Given an essay assignment, I would have them draw a tic-tac-toe matrix. Then came the hard part: coming up with two different ways of breaking up the topic. For example: what did you do last summer? Break it up into what I did that was fun and what I had to do that was boring. Break it up into what I did with my friends and what I did with my family. Put one category in each of the second and third columns, top row. Then put the other set of categories in the first column, second and third rows. Now there are a set of boxes. What I did that was fun that I did with my friends; what I did that was fun that I did with my family, etc.

2nd step is brainstorming things from the summer and making notes about them in the appropriate box. e.g. We went to Disneyland; that was fun and I did it with my family.

Then simply wirte an overall summary sentence/paragraph: " Last summer I did a bunch of stuff. Some of it was fun and some was pretty boring. I spent time doing things with my family, and I also got to spend a bunch of time with my friends. This is the story of what I did. "

Write a paragraph for each box.

Write a closing summary sentence/paragraph.

The biggest problem lots of kids have with these writing tasks is organizing the material. If you get them to organize and speak to you about it, they are okay. Tic-tac-toe is a simple outline that is visual, so it makes more sense for slow-wave processors.

Pete

Hi Donna--Thanks for the suggstion. He will be writing over winter break. His relentless English teacher has assigned an essay and another writing assignment over vacation. Like many of his peers he gave up cursive long ago, and now nearly everything is typed on computer. However, I will keep your suggestion in mind, as we might be able to initiate it another time.Thanks,Jane

braintrainer , Donna Troisi wrote:>> Jane,> Maybe during the break he might be willing to start keeping a journal - writing everyday for 10-20 minutes, in cursive, not printing ... even if all he writes are complaints about doing the activity or how difficult it is, and add illustrations to the entries.> > Writing is a wonderful activity to help with integration, using many different areas of the brain. I strongly recommend it to all the age groups with whom I work.> > Happy Holidays> Donna> > Donna Troisi, LCSW-C> > dmt_lcsw@...

> > > > > > ---------------------------------> Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.> -- Van Deusen

pvdtlc@...http://www.brain-trainer.com305/433-3160The Learning Curve, Inc.