Both my kids need help in learning. Ones highly intelligent but always spaces out and forgets things constantly and my 5 year old whos been going to school sense she was 3, just has trouble all around. When she was 3, she couldn’t understand a simple question like “Whats your name” or “How old are you?”. She would just repeat what you said to her over and over again. Well she has past that point alongtime ago and totally understand questions. MOST of the time anyway. But when you ask her her whole name, she doesn’t know even though I’ve told her a million times over through the years. She will say her first name and last but won’t her second. Getting her to understand her A,B,C’s, the sound of letters and words is the MOST difficult thing I’ve EVER done though. I always end up loosing my patients and giving up which I know is BAD and sets a BAD example for her learning and I try so hard to be patient but I always end up acting like ,well, a Giant Ass to be honest. And my oldest can never consentrate in school, always looking off in a distant,is VERY easily distracted and forgets EVERYTHING EVERYDAY! She is in 3rd grade, my youngest is in kindergarden/easrly intervention. I want to be a better teacher and more patient with them. I just feel so overwelmed and frustrated I guess.
Well
They haven’t be diagnosed with any learning disorder YET. I guess I just keep waiting for things to get better and I’m under the impression that SOME teachers and Doctors are so fast to want you to put your child on drugs,I’m not willing to sacrifice my child to what they THINK they need right off the bat. If they NEED Ritilin, then I might consider it but at this point, I’m still debating over to use the stuff. My husband and I feel our oldest might have ADD and youngest might have ADHD. Unfortunatley we been put on a waiting list to see any professional about it untill November!!! We can’t afford to pay for these tests on our own though so we have to go through public services to help us out alittle. I”m a stay at home mother and my husband works for a security company. I’m basically looking for UNrelated medical assitance in helping my children to be able to consentrate better. thankyou :)
Re: Well
I think it is a good thing that you have asked for testing of your children. Many times schools will say “don’t worry, he (or she) will grow out of it,” and quite often that is simply untrue. Testing will help you know the best way to help your children because it will help to pinpoint what exactly is causing their difficulties. For example, inattention is one of those symptoms that shows up in a variety of contexts ranging from ADHD to central auditory processing disorders, to depression and even to seizure disorders. How you deal with the inattention depends on what is causing it and testing will help you to know what that is. The description that you give of your younger child seems to me (mom to a child with a language-based disability) highly suggestive of some kind of language-based learning disability, so the sooner you can get the testing and start advocating for the appropriate interventions at school, the better it will be for her. Early intervention is extremely important and probably the very best thing you can do to help your children.
Andrea
Re: Well
A teacher can not, and should not, make any request that a child
be put on any kind of drugs.
But not all teachers know that… but you do now ;-)
The school can test your child to see if there is any gap between
your children’s intellectual capacity and their ability to preform.
They can not diagnose ADHD or ADD.
But if they find that your children are significantly behind they
can start doing things for them now.
(And still follow up with outside professional diagnoses.)
You would then have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan)
mtg. and they will lay our strategies
to help your children. You can also request things. Such as helping
your older child be organized.
(After you do that we’ll give you all our best tips to see that
it is followed ;-)
Also what state are you in? You might find someone here that
is in your state and may have more information to help.
When my son was in kindergarten we started this whole
ADHD merry-go-round. I took him to three different doctors
and got three different answers! My advice is to head to the
library and start reading. I knew my son best of all and after
lots of reading I was able to disagree with two of the doctors
and keep pressing. The more information you have the better
you will be able to deal with this issue.
And it does take a lot of time so treat yourself well. I made
many changes in my life to be able to help my son and some of
them are to be ready, rested and able to tackle the job.
Re: Here's my suggestion......
Invest about $80 in Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com) and start both children on that program at home. Audiblox works on developing a wide variety of cognitive skills, including focus and attention (some aspects of attention are trainable). The youngest would probably benefit from the language component of the program (discussion about this elsewhere on the board).
Mary
Re: How do you become a good teacher for your child?
We live in such a busy world that it’s hard to be patient sometimes. I see in other responses to your posts that you’ve discussed the possibility of ADD/ADHD. Your family doctor or pediatrician should be able to give you advice there without the need to seek other expensive professional opinions.
Consider getting in touch with some local support groups. CHADD is a group of parents that has chapters in most cities that helps parents to help themselves to greater patience with children with short attention spans.
The local library often has books on tape for lending. I’d have the younger one listen to recorded books so she gets as much experience as possible in listening to spoken language - the area where she has trouble. You can rent some video tapes of the alphabet and many other learning tapes that both your children can watch these days.
I still don’t like to say my middle name, by the way. I wouldn’t be worried about your daughter’s refusal to say her middle name. She’s not the only one.
Good luck.
Re: following up on an earlier thread MaryMN
Hey MaryMN,
You posted this a couple months back, and I’m wondering if you might be able to hunt this down:
There is a
*wonderful* book on
oral-motor speech therapy (often makes regular speech therapy remediate
faster) at ITI. I will
come back later and post the website. Anyway, the book is written for
professionals but is laid out
in a way that makes it easy for a parent to use.
Thanks.
Here's the website for the book on oral-motor speech therapy
http://shop.azstarnet.com/cgi-bin/iti.storefront
The title of the book is “Oral-Motor Exercises for Speech Clarity” by Sara Rosenfeld-Johnson. It’s new, published in 2001, and comes hardcover with a spiral, lay-flat binding.
If you’re interested in the therapy, I recommend buying just the book first. There are a lot more manipulatives you can buy than are listed on the website, and the book tells you which manipulatives to use for specific problems. The manipulatives can start adding up in terms of $$$, so you want to just buy those you will use.
Mary
Sounds like your children have been tested? You mention kindergarten/early intervention.
What are their disabilities. I think it would help the folks here give you more specific answers
as all our children face different challenges.
The hardest thing in the world is to try and be a teacher and a parent all at the same
time.
School can be so frustrating and bewildering for these children.
Home needs to be a safe harbor.
If school and home seem all one and the same to Learning Disabled children
the stress level can become unbearable.
And the strain on you can also become too much to bear.
Concentrate on your mother/child relationship right now,
let us know more specifics about your children’s LDs
and what is being done at school for them.
I work as a sub SE aide and have seen simple things such
as an aide popping into a classroom to help organize a backpack
at the end of the day - takes a huge load of the mom to know that
her child will be coming home with all his ducks in order.
Anne