Reading Comprehension and Distractions

When he fluently reads he could be word calling, which I have seen with NVLD kids… they know how to read the words but they can’t create the pictures or make the connection for true comprehension. I would do Visualizing and Verbalizing with him to help him create the pictures for comprehension. Also, he could be daydreaming about something else when he is reading. What about earplugs to help him keep from getting distracted, is he on meds?

My daughter (grade 7) did Fast Forward this fall along with the Lindamood Lips program. Her site word recogition went up 2 years, the decoding nonsense words went up an amazing 13 years, (due to the lips more than the Fast Forward, though her teacher found she made greater gains in the lips after she finished FF). Comprehension didn’t improve at all, which surprized me. She is much more confident and finds she can follow the classroom instructions better than before which may be due to FF. Hope this helps.

My son is in fourth grade and Sue the child you describe sounds like my son to a t. They use an fm field system in his classroom for distraction and refocusing and his teacher loves it. She says it works great in bringing him back when he is off in his own world. For comprehension the fastfoward is a waste. My son’s compreh did not improve and he went through the first and then the second part. I am considering trying PACE or Lindamood Bell v/v this summer. Good Luck

FFW would not help with comprehension. Lindamood Bell V&V or IdeaChain from http://www.mindprime.com would be better bets. After one of those programs, I would also try working with him using “How To Increase Your Child’s Verbal Intelligence” by McGuiness, available in most bookstores.

You might want to try Interactive Metronome for attention. It has a pretty good track record for that. Website is http://www.interactivemetronome.com.

Incidentally, you could train yourself to be a FFW provider in about a week using the company’s self-training tutorial kit (CrossTrain, about $100). You use the kit to learn the system, then take an on-line multiple choice test (pretty easy) to become a certified provider. You are then able to order FFW yourself and do the program at home. This is what I did, so I am familiar with what is in FFW. It does not work on the kind of comprehension problem you are describing, though.

I also think the auditory trainer idea is a good one to try in the classroom setting.

Mary

I would agree with Pattim, a nonverbal LD is NOT a phonological processing LD. Generally programs that work on that area will do little, if anything for children who often can read words in K, but who never have Language comprehension skills. The disorder may be somewhere in the visual-spatial processing area of the brain. Teaching visualization may be a good place to start. Screening for ADHD and visiting a doctor may address the focus issues. ADHD is almost always a concommitant disorder in NLD.

FFW addresses how your mind processes sounds themselves — *not* how your mind processes what words and phrases mean. So, if that sound processing is at the base of his problems, it would help — but if he’s basically ironed that out with PACE, then focusing on the reading and comprehension itself is better than more work on the sound processing. Verbalizing and VIsualizing is a good program for that. If you can find somebody to work in it that’s got some experience under his/her belt, that person could probably tell you whether your kid needs more work at the word recognition and fluency level to make comprehension easier, or whether the focus really should be on making those words and phrases more meaningful.

Does he have comoprehension trouble with oral language? Does he take things totally literally… or does he get hints and nuances? HOw’s is oral vocabulary?

You indicate that he is below average in expressive and receptive language and that he loses focus and can’t remember what he is supposed to do. I found that with my son, FFW greatly increased his ability to attend auditorily and his scores for both receptive and expressive language improved significantly. Those improvements made the program worthwhile in his case. Seen from this angle, FFW did improve his oral comprehension because he was attending much more to what people said. But this was just true for comprehension for everyday level conversational exchanges. It did not translate over to better comprehension in more diffcult reading or higher level spoken language. (He still tells me, “Mom speak in English” when I slip in a less common word or employ a more complex sentence structure.) In sum, I think that the FFW is well worth looking into in your son’s case but don’t expect greatly improved reading comprehension. LMB’s V/V or Ideachain would be better for that.

Hi Sue,

FFW does address some reading/language comprehension issues, in their following directions (I think it’s called Block Commander) exercises, for example, and concentration/focus is also addressed in some exercises. If CAPD is part of the problem for him then it definitely might help him, but it’s hard to know for sure without a clearer diagnostic picture…

Neuropsychologists used to think that NLD kids didn’t have phonological processing problems, but now they seem to be changing that opinion, and I have personally seen some cases of pretty classic NLD where PA issues were definitely a part, at least in the early years. Speech and receptive language are often involved, but not always. So since your son has many of those components, I don’t think you should rule out FFW as a possibility. I agree with the suggestion that you try the Crosstrain alternative, I think that course has recently been discounted still further, in fact, and is now largely web-based, making it even more convenient for parents to do. Right now there is a discount on the licensing fee ($750 instead of $850) so you could save money in two ways, and not have to wait until next summer.

My sense with reading comprehension is that the underlying phonological issues should be addressed first, to make sure it isn’t just slow processing that is getting in the way of comprehension, and once you’re sure that’s been corrected, you could try V/V or Idea chain. Since PACE helped him, and it’s very heavy on the auditory processing exercises, that may be an indicator that more auditory work could very well help to synthesize and cement his progress. And if you see gains on FFWI you can then decide to continue with the next level… I believe the company offers a discount for those who do so within a certain time frame also.

Hope this helps!

Sharon

What is PACE? What problems does it address and how?

Hi Robin,

PACE stands for Processing and Cognitive Enhancement. It was created by Ken Gibson, and originally started out weighted toward visual processing, but now is pretty balanced, if not weighted toward auditory areas. It works on a variety of processing weaknesses (some of them simultaneously), including auditory processing, visual processing, working memory, processing speed, attention and logic/reasoning. There’s more info on their website, www.processingskills.com and www.learninginfo.com, as well as provider listings by zipcode. You can also purchase a version of this for home use, called “Brain Skills” but I don’t know as much about that. I’m doing it with several kids right now, so I can give you a more complete review in a few months, but I’ve heard good stuff from others on this site and elsewhere, so it’s worth checking out, I think.

Sharon

Thanks to everyone to responded!! I just got time to get back on. Its really hectic during the week with homework and everything that goes on.

The neuropsych did say that he does have problems with visual-spatial processing which is one reason math is difficult for him. He said his attention was intact, however that was when he was working alone on the computer with no distractions around. The V/V sounds like a good idea while I’m waiting on the FFW. If the FFW can help with following multi-step directions and improve his language then that would probably be worthwhile to help those areas. I would like for him to be better able to function more independently in the classroom. The teacher says that she often has to tell him to get started or just get his attention because he loses focus and maybe “shuts down”.
The audiologist did recommend the FM system but his teacher and I were afraid he would feel different and maybe get laughed at. That would crush him!

By the way he does take things very literally. He’s also extremely sensitive. His behavior is perfect at school but he loses his temper over little things at home a lot!!! He is not on any medication. Does this mean anything?

Sorry this is so long but its difficult to know what to do to help him. Thanks again for everyone’s help!

Please keep me posted on your students progress. My son had been diagnosed with processing dificulting due to problems in 2 of his exectutive functions, along with SLD, and possible mild ADHD (this was overlooked due to the fact he has not been a behavior problem per se, but his is figity and very distractable). We had good progress in decodeing/language skills with the LB lips program and he has some good visual processing skills from V/V but he still struggles with oral and written expressive language and math (very slow). He is also a slow but accurate reader but still has problems with comprehension. He also has a hard time retaining and processing verbal information. I am looking for any kind of help I can get. Thanks