Guest guest Posted February 25, 1999 Report Share Posted February 25, 1999 Hi, Well I finally figured out what Alycia means when she says " I want to watch Mocha Dawn! " . Believe it or not, she means The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Of course she is dreaming if she thinks I am going to let her watch that as I don't like the message it sends about how people who are different are treated even though in the end the Hunchback is accepted by the townspeople. Anyway, I am not sure what the problem is here. Instead of saying Notre Dame she is saying Mocha Dawn. If you think about it there is a similarity in the sounds. Notre (i.e. Noe-tra) could sound like Moe-cha to someone who can't decipher similar letters like N/M and tra/ca. Dame (i.e Daum) could sound like Dawn (Daun). I know for a fact that Alycia has a sensory hearing loss. Once I realized what she was saying (this took me months to decipher) I tried mouthing the word out slowly for her. She tried to copy my mouth movements as best she could. Then I spoke the words into her bad ear and she came out with Mocha Dawn again. I tried speaking directly into her left ear (the good ear) and she came out with Notra Daum (closer to the correct words). I am wondering if her hearing problem is impacting her speech more than I realized. Or is this her facial paralysis causeing her spoken words to be unclear? Or it this an auditory processing thing? With so many handicaps layered one on top of the other it is making me crazy trying to figure out what her problem is and fix it. FYI...she is having difficulty speaking in coherent sentences and conversing with her classmates. I don't know if it is a social/emotional delay, mild PDD, auditory processing (she exhibits a noticeable delay between hearing and response), poor hearing, poor vision, poor speech articulation???? Arggggg!!! Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 1999 Report Share Posted February 25, 1999 Lori- I don't thing waiting will be harmful and it may be helpful. In our state, we label kids like Alycia as PPI (Preprimary Impaired) until they are six. This gives them time to grow and develope and have the needed therapies and it gives the special ed folks time to observe and get to know the child. She sounds like she is getting lots of help at this time. Normal classroom play and activities is what she needs if she is to live in the real world. Laurie > > > My instinct is to leave the IEP as is and just watch Alycia closely to see it these changes help her. Will > I do any damage if I wait until next year to get more serioius about possible CAPD/LD issues? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 25, 1999 Report Share Posted February 25, 1999 Sooo.....If I elect *not* to address these issues as learning disabilities on Alycia's next IEP (this April) then she will probably be ok? In otherwords, do you think it is ok to take a " let's wait and see " attitude for the following year to see how much of this she grows out of? The director of Alycia's school made an interesting point. She said " if you start giving Alycia too much therepy they become " therepist " savvy such that she will direct more communictation toward adults that peers because it is more rewarding to talk to adults (i.e. they recieve praise for achieving a therepy goal). " Essentially she is saying that more therepy could back fire and make the social/emotional peer issues worse. I think her theory makes sense. Currently Alycia is getting 1 session of OT, 1 session of Oral Motor OT, 1 session of PT, 1 session of Vision Orientation and Mobility training, 1 session of Computer Keyboard training, 1 hour long session of Sensory Integration Therepy plus the pre-school teacher is consulting with a behavioral specialist to create a social/emotional curriculum in the classroom. Also, they are making classroom modifications to adapt to Alycia's hearing difficulties. It seems to me that there is plenty of therepy going on here thus I am reluctant to ask for a Speech/Language therepist to come on board if the speech issues are hearing related or developmental (i.e. given time she'll grow out of it). I hate the idea of labelling anything as LD this early in the game and I don't want to pull her out of class too much because she misses important learning/social time if I do this. My instinct is to leave the IEP as is and just watch Alycia closely to see it these changes help her. Will I do any damage if I wait until next year to get more serioius about possible CAPD/LD issues? Laurie wrote: > > > Lori- > > You don't have to figure it all our over night. This will be a continual process. I would think that her > hearing might be affecting her speech. Also, speech sounds are acquired in a normal progression. Some of > her articulation difficulties could also be what is called developmental sounds - sounds that come at an > older age. > > Laurie > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 26, 1999 Report Share Posted February 26, 1999 Hi Laurie, Thank you for sharing your knowlege. You have been instrumental in keeping me grounded and dealing with these new developments with patient watchfulness. Actually, I saw a sudden spurt in pre-writing skills improvement today. Alycia drew a line within a maze with a good degree of accuracy which is a major milestone for her. She was drawing on her dry erase board with her dad and actually drew a circle with a complete face (and hair too!) for the first time. Two weeks ago she couldn't do this and we were panicking about her lack of pre-writing skills. Now she has decided to work on this I guess. Last year she couldn't maneuver scissors and this year she has fine tuned this skill on her own such that she is age appropriate in this area. It is like she decides for herself what skill she wants to master and once she masters it she moves on to the next one. I think patient waiting will produce some great surprises for all of Alycia's team (teachers and parents). BTW, Any of you who are working on developing fine motor stability it is a good idea to encourage the child to do work using an arm postion perpendicular to the work. That is, use an easal for coloring/painting. We have the dry erase board screwed onto the wall at Alycia's shoulder level so it forces her to hold her arm up to use it. Another great idea (we have this on our " to do " list) is to tack carpeting to the wall and velco toys to the wall. For example, velcro a magna doodle on the wall or a color-forms scene. Jeff has been " playing " (he is actually working with her but we won;t tell Alycia that!) with Alycia using the dry erase board and it has really helped! Lori Laurie wrote: > > > Lori- > > I don't thing waiting will be harmful and it may be helpful. In our state, we label kids like Alycia as PPI > (Preprimary Impaired) until they are six. This gives them time to grow and develope and have the needed > therapies and it gives the special ed folks time to observe and get to know the child. She sounds like she is > getting lots of help at this time. Normal classroom play and activities is what she needs if she is to live in > the real world. > > Laurie > > > > > > > My instinct is to leave the IEP as is and just watch Alycia closely to see it these changes help her. Will > > I do any damage if I wait until next year to get more serioius about possible CAPD/LD issues? > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 26, 1999 Report Share Posted February 26, 1999 Lori- Kids know when they are neurologically ready to do things. Kids at this age don't rebel against learning new things to be difficult, it is because they aren't neurologically ready yet. I wish early childhood and kindergarten teachers would remember this when some kids aren't up to the " norm " . They are often fine tuning another skill such as gross motor or language development. When you think about all the things a child learns to do in the first eight years, the rate is amazing. I'm glad you are seeing gains with Alycia. Laurie > > > Hi Laurie, > > Thank you for sharing your knowlege. You have been instrumental in keeping me grounded and dealing with these new > developments with patient watchfulness. > > Actually, I saw a sudden spurt in pre-writing skills improvement today. Alycia drew a line within a maze with a > good degree of accuracy which is a major milestone for her. She was drawing on her dry erase board with her dad > and actually drew a circle with a complete face (and hair too!) for the first time. Two weeks ago she couldn't do > this and we were panicking about her lack of pre-writing skills. Now she has decided to work on this I guess. > Last year she couldn't maneuver scissors and this year she has fine tuned this skill on her own such that she is > age appropriate in this area. It is like she decides for herself what skill she wants to master and once she > masters it she moves on to the next one. I think patient waiting will produce some great surprises for all of > Alycia's team (teachers and parents). > > BTW, Any of you who are working on developing fine motor stability it is a good idea to encourage the child to do > work using an arm postion perpendicular to the work. That is, use an easal for coloring/painting. We have the > dry erase board screwed onto the wall at Alycia's shoulder level so it forces her to hold her arm up to use it. > Another great idea (we have this on our " to do " list) is to tack carpeting to the wall and velco toys to the > wall. For example, velcro a magna doodle on the wall or a color-forms scene. Jeff has been " playing " (he is > actually working with her but we won;t tell Alycia that!) with Alycia using the dry erase board and it has really > helped! > > Lori Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 26, 1999 Report Share Posted February 26, 1999 Laurie, does Alycia sound like she has marbles in her mouth? Shenan had perfect articulation and vocabulary by the time she was 18 months. People couldn't believe how she talked like an adult, then suddenly when she had a bad spell her speech went muddled. Of course, the Dr.s wouldn't listen to me when I took her to several saying she talked like a normal child of 3 or whatever it was then but I said NO she DID talk perfect and even our friends and relatives have asked me what happened to her speech? At another point they thought maybe she had a thyroid tumor or something but no. She still at 26 has the speech problems now. And a grandson has done the same thing-he is 4 now. S. Re: Hearing/CAPD > > >Lori- > >You don't have to figure it all our over night. This will be a continual process. I would think that her >hearing might be affecting her speech. Also, speech sounds are acquired in a normal progression. Some of >her articulation difficulties could also be what is called developmental sounds - sounds that come at an >older age. > >Laurie > >> >> >> Well I finally figured out what Alycia means when she says " I want to >> watch Mocha Dawn! " . >> >> Believe it or not, she means The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Of course >> she is dreaming if she thinks I am going to let her watch that as I >> don't like the message it sends about how people who are different are >> treated even though in the end the Hunchback is accepted by the >> townspeople. >> >> Anyway, I am not sure what the problem is here. Instead of saying >> Notre Dame she is saying Mocha Dawn. If you think about it there is a >> similarity in the sounds. Notre (i.e. Noe-tra) could sound like >> Moe-cha to someone who can't decipher similar letters like N/M and >> tra/ca. Dame (i.e Daum) could sound like Dawn (Daun). >> >> I know for a fact that Alycia has a sensory hearing loss. Once I >> realized what she was saying (this took me months to decipher) I tried >> mouthing the word out slowly for her. She tried to copy my mouth >> movements as best she could. Then I spoke the words into her bad ear >> and she came out with Mocha Dawn again. I tried speaking directly >> into her left ear (the good ear) and she came out with Notra Daum >> (closer to the correct words). >> >> I am wondering if her hearing problem is impacting her speech more >> than I realized. Or is this her facial paralysis causeing her spoken >> words to be unclear? Or it this an auditory processing thing? >> >> With so many handicaps layered one on top of the other it is making me >> crazy trying to figure out what her problem is and fix it. >> >> FYI...she is having difficulty speaking in coherent sentences and >> conversing with her classmates. I don't know if it is a >> social/emotional delay, mild PDD, auditory processing (she exhibits a >> noticeable delay between hearing and response), poor hearing, poor >> vision, poor speech articulation???? Arggggg!!! >> >> Lori >> > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >We have a new web site! >http://www.onelist.com >Onelist: The leading provider of free email community services >------------------------------------------------------------------------ >Brought to you by www.imdn.org - an on-line support group for those affected by mitochondrial disease. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 1999 Report Share Posted February 28, 1999 Hi, this is from Kathy, NOOOO my advice is to get what she needs now in her IEP now, do not wait!! So waht she, I think does need to be seen by a speech therapist also. Providing you have a good one. That will be your decision. Err, on the side of help now not wait. That's just my advice. Kathy .. Mom to 8 year old son with autism. ---------- > > To: Mitoonelist > Subject: Re: Hearing/CAPD > Date: Thursday, February 25, 1999 5:47 PM > > > > Sooo.....If I elect *not* to address these issues as learning disabilities on Alycia's next IEP (this April) > then she will probably be ok? In otherwords, do you think it is ok to take a " let's wait and see " attitude > for the following year to see how much of this she grows out of? > > The director of Alycia's school made an interesting point. She said " if you start giving Alycia too much > therepy they become " therepist " savvy such that she will direct more communictation toward adults that peers > because it is more rewarding to talk to adults (i.e. they recieve praise for achieving a therepy goal). " > Essentially she is saying that more therepy could back fire and make the social/emotional peer issues > worse. I think her theory makes sense. > > Currently Alycia is getting 1 session of OT, 1 session of Oral Motor OT, 1 session of PT, 1 session of > Vision Orientation and Mobility training, 1 session of Computer Keyboard training, 1 hour long session of > Sensory Integration Therepy plus the pre-school teacher is consulting with a behavioral specialist to create > a social/emotional curriculum in the classroom. Also, they are making classroom modifications to adapt to > Alycia's hearing difficulties. > > It seems to me that there is plenty of therepy going on here thus I am reluctant to ask for a > Speech/Language therepist to come on board if the speech issues are hearing related or developmental (i.e. > given time she'll grow out of it). I hate the idea of labelling anything as LD this early in the game and I > don't want to pull her out of class too much because she misses important learning/social time if I do this. > > My instinct is to leave the IEP as is and just watch Alycia closely to see it these changes help her. Will > I do any damage if I wait until next year to get more serioius about possible CAPD/LD issues? > > Laurie wrote: > > > > > > > Lori- > > > > You don't have to figure it all our over night. This will be a continual process. I would think that her > > hearing might be affecting her speech. Also, speech sounds are acquired in a normal progression. Some of > > her articulation difficulties could also be what is called developmental sounds - sounds that come at an > > older age. > > > > Laurie > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > We are proud as punch of our new web site! > http://www.onelist.com > Onelist: The leading provider of free email community services > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Brought to you by www.imdn.org - an on-line support group for those affected by mitochondrial disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 1999 Report Share Posted February 28, 1999 Hi, this is from Kathy, NOOOO my advice is to get what she needs now in her IEP now, do not wait!! So waht she, I think does need to be seen by a speech therapist also. Providing you have a good one. That will be your decision. Err, on the side of help now not wait. That's just my advice. Kathy .. Mom to 8 year old son with autism. ---------- > > To: Mitoonelist > Subject: Re: Hearing/CAPD > Date: Thursday, February 25, 1999 5:47 PM > > > > Sooo.....If I elect *not* to address these issues as learning disabilities on Alycia's next IEP (this April) > then she will probably be ok? In otherwords, do you think it is ok to take a " let's wait and see " attitude > for the following year to see how much of this she grows out of? > > The director of Alycia's school made an interesting point. She said " if you start giving Alycia too much > therepy they become " therepist " savvy such that she will direct more communictation toward adults that peers > because it is more rewarding to talk to adults (i.e. they recieve praise for achieving a therepy goal). " > Essentially she is saying that more therepy could back fire and make the social/emotional peer issues > worse. I think her theory makes sense. > > Currently Alycia is getting 1 session of OT, 1 session of Oral Motor OT, 1 session of PT, 1 session of > Vision Orientation and Mobility training, 1 session of Computer Keyboard training, 1 hour long session of > Sensory Integration Therepy plus the pre-school teacher is consulting with a behavioral specialist to create > a social/emotional curriculum in the classroom. Also, they are making classroom modifications to adapt to > Alycia's hearing difficulties. > > It seems to me that there is plenty of therepy going on here thus I am reluctant to ask for a > Speech/Language therepist to come on board if the speech issues are hearing related or developmental (i.e. > given time she'll grow out of it). I hate the idea of labelling anything as LD this early in the game and I > don't want to pull her out of class too much because she misses important learning/social time if I do this. > > My instinct is to leave the IEP as is and just watch Alycia closely to see it these changes help her. Will > I do any damage if I wait until next year to get more serioius about possible CAPD/LD issues? > > Laurie wrote: > > > > > > > Lori- > > > > You don't have to figure it all our over night. This will be a continual process. I would think that her > > hearing might be affecting her speech. Also, speech sounds are acquired in a normal progression. Some of > > her articulation difficulties could also be what is called developmental sounds - sounds that come at an > > older age. > > > > Laurie > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > We are proud as punch of our new web site! > http://www.onelist.com > Onelist: The leading provider of free email community services > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Brought to you by www.imdn.org - an on-line support group for those affected by mitochondrial disease. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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