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Long/short term memory deficit

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Any suggestions for a 14 yr old grl with long/shrt term memory probs (diagnosed at 5)? She can read and decode, she has problems with context and comprehension.We are reading out loud every night. Once she writes several paragraphs, her hand no longer works well. She seems sensitive to sound, able to hear things I wouldn’t notice (very high and very low sounds) but asking us to repeat words and phrases more than once (sometimes two or three times). Extremely musical. Highly anxious, trouble sleeping. Can’t handle mayonnaise or milk products. I’m a new comer to the therapy end of this but I’m not sure where to start. I’m going to ask the Psychiatrist to test her for depression, sensory overload. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 1:02 AM

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sounds like shes bi-polar.
once known as manic depression
bipolars are sensitive to sound and highly musical and creative

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 1:17 PM

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please visit this web site, and pay particular attention to the CAPD information.
www.geocities.com/denisev2

what you are talking about is common for my son. He has auditory sensitivity, memory issues, dysgraphia, etc etc etc. He also has perfect pitch (a bit hard to describe if you don’t are not musical).

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 1:49 PM

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I too thought of CAPD. Has she ever been tested by an audiologist for this? Memory problems are often part of the same profile.

My son did the same thing with writing and we got a major change in endurance through Interactive Metronome. He now doesn’t “wear out” the way he used to and has been able to keep up with writing demands at school this year (he is in 4th grade).

Beth

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 3:36 PM

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There are some ideas for comprehension at my site at http://www.resourceroom.net, as well as info about dysgraphia at LD OnLIne at http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/writing/writing.html .

I’d look into learnign to type — computer, alphasmart, whatever — and don’t let anything keep her from developing the musical skills & talents (work with those strengths!).

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 6:03 PM

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She has been given one test for CAPD, the district used an audiologist from the outside(rather like freelance), to provide the tests. I thought my daughters problems might have to do with integration. Her tests were:
raw score % SS
Filtered words 36 63 11
Auditory Figure Ground 36 75 12
Competing Words 92 84 13
SCAN Composite 164 86 116

The composite supposedly was +3.50 above standard deviation. However, what usually happens is that she will score very high in one task which brings the composite score up. Although I asked for all of her scores before the IEP meeting. This one was not given to me until the meeting. The expert turned out to be a language, speech and hearing specialist (which might be the same thing, I don’t know) wasn’t present to answer questions. I brought along an article regarding CAPD Subcategories which I gave them and I asked for an analysis of the various areas (auditory decoding deficit, Prosodic deficit, and integration deficit) via the test she was given. I got no response other than she doesn’t have central auditory processing problems. They agreed to respond to the article after the meeting but don’t respond to phone calls at this point. I’m having her reassessed at Kaiser. The schools response was that they thought she was depressed, which she may very well be but I don’t think she’s been depressed since she was 3 yrs old. Maybe so. Her behavior doesn’t fluctuate wildly like one would expect from a bi-polar but she will be assessed for all the depression disorders. Thanks one and all. I appreciate your feedback.

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 6:08 PM

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How long was he able to write before his hands quit working? I never realized this was a problem until recently when she took an assessment test and didn’t core well. She said she just got too tired to write and ended the essay. I get the sense with my daughter that she just tires out all over thus isn’t able to put the effort into her work. Any other results from EM? Comparitively what were the before and after changes?

Submitted by Anonymous on Tue, 11/05/2002 - 9:28 PM

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My son only wrote a few sentences—maybe three before he would get too tired to go on. It was a real problem. Noone at the school (and he had an IEP) could teach him to write a coherent paragraph. He was getting OT as well.

My older daughter, who is not LD, has some of the same issues with endurance. She learned to type last year and immed. her grades went up.

We saw improvements in attention (he was diagnosed ADD last summer but we haven’t medicated due to school reports), moved through some barriers we’d reached in other therapy we were doing, coordination (went from middle of the road to one of best soccer players on team). He is in general much happier and able to learn.

Beth

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 11/06/2002 - 1:43 PM

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Your daughter may be depressssed. I, of course, don’t know. But I don’t buy that is all that is going on.

Personally, I wouldn’t trust the school district to test for CAPD. It is fairly specialized and I would do it privately, if it all possible. Lots of people have insurance that cover it—mine did not, however.

Beth

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/07/2002 - 7:17 PM

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Your daughter could benefit from some type of music listening program that exercises her ear muscles. This will help modulate her hearing so low and high frequencies won’t be as bothersome and she will be able to discriminate speech better. Two of these programs are Auditory Integration Training and The Listening Program. They use specially filtered music that exercises ear muscles similarly to how lifting weights exercises arm muscles. The music will probably help with her memory, too.

Additionally, have her evaluated to determine if the PACE program (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement) would be beneficial. Another good program to look into is Interactive Metronome which affects auditory processing, processing speed, neural timing and has been proven to help with reading.

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 11/07/2002 - 7:37 PM

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My son has done TLP, IM, and PACE–I would do them in that order. We didn’t and it made things much harder. In fact, we didn’t get much out of doing PACE because there were too many unresolved sensory issues.

Beth

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