Re: Body parts and hyperlexia - Salli?

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/20/2003 11:34:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,

thebyks@... writes:

> wondered if anyone else has found that in trying to communicate with their

> hyperlexic child, a spelled word was better understood than a spoken one?

I can say something to , and he will give me that blank off look or

mumble some nonsense back to me, but if I write the same thing and he reads

it, he'll do the thing I said or answer my question. It's been like that

since he was 3.

Tommi

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/20/2003 11:34:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,

thebyks@... writes:

> wondered if anyone else has found that in trying to communicate with their

> hyperlexic child, a spelled word was better understood than a spoken one?

I can say something to , and he will give me that blank off look or

mumble some nonsense back to me, but if I write the same thing and he reads

it, he'll do the thing I said or answer my question. It's been like that

since he was 3.

Tommi

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/20/03 11:34:26 AM Eastern Standard Time,

thebyks@... writes:

> But he still can't find his own eye. I'm quite sure he knows WHAT it is but

> is unable to find WHERE it is on his own body.

didn't get this until we did it in front of a full length mirror. That

made a huge difference.

[Guest guest]

, do you all use the descrete trials program? And what do

you think of it if you do?

> body parts was the ABA program that took rowan the longest by

far!! it's that whole awareness of self thing. eyes were the

hardest for him to learn

> which makes sense really- he makes poor eye contact. he can do it

now! rowan isn't hyperlexic but if you are interested in what worked

for us, here goes....

> the program started out as a " point to " program. he worked on it

for ages - he was able to identify correctly the therapists facial

features but not his own. everyone was reay to give up - he just

wasn't getting it! it seemed to me a shame to let it slide when he

had worked so hard for so long and was really halfway there. so i

decided to try a different approach instead of being a " point to "

program we made it a " matching game " which rowan is good at. so in

the he learned it through matching. i took a close up picture of

rowan's face and got two colour photocopies made of it(full 81/2 x11

sheets). one sheet i laminated, the other i cut out the eyes, nose,

ears, mouth etc and laminated the pieces. with stick tac on the back

we did a matching program. initially i would pass rowan a piece and

say " put with same " - i should point out that this was a direction he

was familiar with and understood well because of previous successful

ABA programs. once he mastered this, we didn't pass him a piece and

we used the actual body part names " put nose with nose " . it wasn't

long before he would select the right piece and match it on his own.

we then faded the picture promt and he was able to do it onhis own

face. after months of work on this once i made the picture matching

game he had it within a week and a half or so.

> michelle mg

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

, do you all use the descrete trials program? And what do

you think of it if you do?

> body parts was the ABA program that took rowan the longest by

far!! it's that whole awareness of self thing. eyes were the

hardest for him to learn

> which makes sense really- he makes poor eye contact. he can do it

now! rowan isn't hyperlexic but if you are interested in what worked

for us, here goes....

> the program started out as a " point to " program. he worked on it

for ages - he was able to identify correctly the therapists facial

features but not his own. everyone was reay to give up - he just

wasn't getting it! it seemed to me a shame to let it slide when he

had worked so hard for so long and was really halfway there. so i

decided to try a different approach instead of being a " point to "

program we made it a " matching game " which rowan is good at. so in

the he learned it through matching. i took a close up picture of

rowan's face and got two colour photocopies made of it(full 81/2 x11

sheets). one sheet i laminated, the other i cut out the eyes, nose,

ears, mouth etc and laminated the pieces. with stick tac on the back

we did a matching program. initially i would pass rowan a piece and

say " put with same " - i should point out that this was a direction he

was familiar with and understood well because of previous successful

ABA programs. once he mastered this, we didn't pass him a piece and

we used the actual body part names " put nose with nose " . it wasn't

long before he would select the right piece and match it on his own.

we then faded the picture promt and he was able to do it onhis own

face. after months of work on this once i made the picture matching

game he had it within a week and a half or so.

> michelle mg

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n began

when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18 month

well baby visit. I looked at the nurse like she was nuts, I knew n had

no clue and was myself innocent that other children his age would respond to

this request.

Fast forward one year ... I have been trying to teach n the " where's

your nose " trick non-stop (every time n has been formally or informally

evaluated they all ask " where's your nose? wtf?). I am determined. But for

the life of me, I cannot get him to touch his own nose. Occasionally he

will touch my nose. He loves to sit in my lap (or dh) and point to our

eyes, nose, mouth, etc, and have us name them, and then we always touch his

face, or move his hand to touch his face, but he cannot seem to identify his

own parts.

When n was completely non-verbal, I worked hard to teach him a sign for

" hungry " obviously his most important need (or so I thought). Not using a

formal method of signing, the sign was for him to put his hand to his mouth.

After months of working with this, n learned the sign, but not as I

intended. I would ask him if he was hungry and he would approach me and put

*my* hand to *my* mouth. This worked well enough for a long time. He still

cannot say " hungry " but he has learned to make the sign himself, but I would

point out that his hand never actually touches his mouth, he just seems to

aim for his face, and more recently is has been his ear, or even the back of

his neck.

I really think that he lacks some sort of sensory awareness of his own face.

Something in his brain isn't making his mouth work the way he wants to.

Like apraxia, he can make sounds when he isn't thinking about them, but more

often than not, cannot make them voluntarily. Just recently he has started

on the echolalia from tv, but again, I think he is able to do it because he

isn't thinking about it. He also seems to crave to feel things with his

face: textures, objects, the cat, my clothing, the cheese grater, the

Christmas tree ... weird, but all part of his facial sensory disorientation

(so I think of it).

Anyway, I am 100% certain that n knows what the body parts are, but

something is getting lost in his brain when translating this information to

his own body ...

----- Original Message -----

> But he still can't find his own eye. I'm quite sure he knows WHAT it is

but

> is unable to find WHERE it is on his own body.

[Guest guest]

Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n began

when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18 month

well baby visit. I looked at the nurse like she was nuts, I knew n had

no clue and was myself innocent that other children his age would respond to

this request.

Fast forward one year ... I have been trying to teach n the " where's

your nose " trick non-stop (every time n has been formally or informally

evaluated they all ask " where's your nose? wtf?). I am determined. But for

the life of me, I cannot get him to touch his own nose. Occasionally he

will touch my nose. He loves to sit in my lap (or dh) and point to our

eyes, nose, mouth, etc, and have us name them, and then we always touch his

face, or move his hand to touch his face, but he cannot seem to identify his

own parts.

When n was completely non-verbal, I worked hard to teach him a sign for

" hungry " obviously his most important need (or so I thought). Not using a

formal method of signing, the sign was for him to put his hand to his mouth.

After months of working with this, n learned the sign, but not as I

intended. I would ask him if he was hungry and he would approach me and put

*my* hand to *my* mouth. This worked well enough for a long time. He still

cannot say " hungry " but he has learned to make the sign himself, but I would

point out that his hand never actually touches his mouth, he just seems to

aim for his face, and more recently is has been his ear, or even the back of

his neck.

I really think that he lacks some sort of sensory awareness of his own face.

Something in his brain isn't making his mouth work the way he wants to.

Like apraxia, he can make sounds when he isn't thinking about them, but more

often than not, cannot make them voluntarily. Just recently he has started

on the echolalia from tv, but again, I think he is able to do it because he

isn't thinking about it. He also seems to crave to feel things with his

face: textures, objects, the cat, my clothing, the cheese grater, the

Christmas tree ... weird, but all part of his facial sensory disorientation

(so I think of it).

Anyway, I am 100% certain that n knows what the body parts are, but

something is getting lost in his brain when translating this information to

his own body ...

----- Original Message -----

> But he still can't find his own eye. I'm quite sure he knows WHAT it is

but

> is unable to find WHERE it is on his own body.

[Guest guest]

Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n began

when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18 month

well baby visit. I looked at the nurse like she was nuts, I knew n had

no clue and was myself innocent that other children his age would respond to

this request.

Fast forward one year ... I have been trying to teach n the " where's

your nose " trick non-stop (every time n has been formally or informally

evaluated they all ask " where's your nose? wtf?). I am determined. But for

the life of me, I cannot get him to touch his own nose. Occasionally he

will touch my nose. He loves to sit in my lap (or dh) and point to our

eyes, nose, mouth, etc, and have us name them, and then we always touch his

face, or move his hand to touch his face, but he cannot seem to identify his

own parts.

When n was completely non-verbal, I worked hard to teach him a sign for

" hungry " obviously his most important need (or so I thought). Not using a

formal method of signing, the sign was for him to put his hand to his mouth.

After months of working with this, n learned the sign, but not as I

intended. I would ask him if he was hungry and he would approach me and put

*my* hand to *my* mouth. This worked well enough for a long time. He still

cannot say " hungry " but he has learned to make the sign himself, but I would

point out that his hand never actually touches his mouth, he just seems to

aim for his face, and more recently is has been his ear, or even the back of

his neck.

I really think that he lacks some sort of sensory awareness of his own face.

Something in his brain isn't making his mouth work the way he wants to.

Like apraxia, he can make sounds when he isn't thinking about them, but more

often than not, cannot make them voluntarily. Just recently he has started

on the echolalia from tv, but again, I think he is able to do it because he

isn't thinking about it. He also seems to crave to feel things with his

face: textures, objects, the cat, my clothing, the cheese grater, the

Christmas tree ... weird, but all part of his facial sensory disorientation

(so I think of it).

Anyway, I am 100% certain that n knows what the body parts are, but

something is getting lost in his brain when translating this information to

his own body ...

----- Original Message -----

> But he still can't find his own eye. I'm quite sure he knows WHAT it is

but

> is unable to find WHERE it is on his own body.

[Guest guest]

Yes, yes, yes to all of this. Do you have an OT? Read up on sensory

integration dysfunction. The usual beginner book is The Out Of Sync Child

which is not specific to autism but will doubtless seem very familiar.

Sorry if you know all this; I am horrid at keeping people straight & I don't

know how old n is or if you have a dx or if you've been doing this for

a long time or what!

-Sara.

> Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n began

> when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18 month

[Guest guest]

Yes, yes, yes to all of this. Do you have an OT? Read up on sensory

integration dysfunction. The usual beginner book is The Out Of Sync Child

which is not specific to autism but will doubtless seem very familiar.

Sorry if you know all this; I am horrid at keeping people straight & I don't

know how old n is or if you have a dx or if you've been doing this for

a long time or what!

-Sara.

> Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n began

> when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18 month

[Guest guest]

Yes, yes, yes to all of this. Do you have an OT? Read up on sensory

integration dysfunction. The usual beginner book is The Out Of Sync Child

which is not specific to autism but will doubtless seem very familiar.

Sorry if you know all this; I am horrid at keeping people straight & I don't

know how old n is or if you have a dx or if you've been doing this for

a long time or what!

-Sara.

> Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n began

> when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18 month

[Guest guest]

I appreciate all the advice. We are newbies! n is two and a half.

His current dx is " severe expressive/receptive speech delay. " No one has

mentioned autism yet from any of his evaluations, but he is still young ...

He has many autistic traits, but is also normal in many other aspects. I

suspect also some fine motor delays and he is emerging as hyperlexic.

We have not looked into OT. Honestly I don't know much about it. Our

insurance sucks and without a formal dx our options are limited. We are

paying for private ST ourselves. I have heard of the book you mention - -

will surely look into it. Thanx!

RE: Body parts and hyperlexia - Salli?

> Yes, yes, yes to all of this. Do you have an OT? Read up on sensory

> integration dysfunction. The usual beginner book is The Out Of Sync Child

> which is not specific to autism but will doubtless seem very familiar.

>

> Sorry if you know all this; I am horrid at keeping people straight & I

don't

> know how old n is or if you have a dx or if you've been doing this

for

> a long time or what!

>

> -Sara.

>

> > Ah yes .... sometimes it seems to me that all my trouble with n

began

> > when the nurse asked n " where's your nose? " This was at his 18

month

>

>

>