language disorder - word finding issues

Take a look at NeuroNet (http://www.neuroacoustics.com). This is the only therapy I know of that claims it can help word retrieval, and your son is a good age for it. This is the therapy I would pursue.If your son has difficulty with Earobics, take a look at FastForWord (http://www.scilearn.com). FFW deals with auditory issues on a more fundamental level, and often a child who cannot do Earobics is able to handle it after doing FFW. FFW does not help all auditory problems, but is usually very helpful with phonological type CAPD and auditory memory problems.LMB can help develop phonological awareness, but it doesn’t remediate the underlying CAPD and word retrieval problems. If you can afford LMB, it could be very worthwhile. I would think the V/V work would be most appropriate at this age, but I’m not sure. (You can also do V/V yourself at home using the book.)At 5 years old, I would concentrate heavily on sensory/motor development. I would enroll him in gymnastics, which stimulates vestibular development, and possibly swimming. Keyboarding (piano lessons) can also be very helpful, fostering sensory integration.Mary: My 5 yr old boy has been diagnosed with a language disability,
: specifically he cannot word find. His brain files the word, but
: when time to retrieve the word/thought, his brain cannot locate
: the filed word. He has tested positive for a portion of CAPD
: (tolerance fading memory). I am currently trying to find a
: language professional to assist in his remediation. I purchased
: earobics. Are there any other forms of at-home and/or professional
: remediation that I should consider? Lindamood-Bell? Many
: thanks.ana

I just ran across this in my bookmarks: http://members.tripod.com/~Caroline_Bowen/wordretrieval.htmlIt has some word retrieval activities for children, and a link to another website that deals with word retrieval.Check out the book “How to Increase Your Child’s Verbal Intelligence” by Carmen & Geoffrey McGuiness. This book has many language-based activities that can be fun to do, and are likely to be helpful.Mary: My 5 yr old boy has been diagnosed with a language disability,
: specifically he cannot word find. His brain files the word, but
: when time to retrieve the word/thought, his brain cannot locate
: the filed word. He has tested positive for a portion of CAPD
: (tolerance fading memory). I am currently trying to find a
: language professional to assist in his remediation. I purchased
: earobics. Are there any other forms of at-home and/or professional
: remediation that I should consider? Lindamood-Bell? Many
: thanks.ana

Could you elaborate on the sensory/motor link. It came up two days ago w/ a language therapist telling me to look into it. I am not educated on this link…would love to learn more. Great suggestions about gymnastics/swimming. I live in Florida…swimming will be a great avenue I believe. By reinforcing these “motor” skills…how does that improve memory? He has some minor gross motor issues (toe-walking, a bit stiff when running)…but nothing that jumps out at you. His fine motor is pretty bad. Thanks again….just so eager for more information. ana

Your best bet is to spend some time reading the information at the NeuroNet site (http://www.neuroacoustics.com). It’s not a simple connection. Reinforcing motor skills does not have a direct effect on memory. I’ll try to explain a bit.There is a model that views development as a pyramid. The lowest and broadest layer of the pyramid is genetic inheritance, about which we can do nothing. The next layer is sensory/motor development. Cognitive skills develop on the foundation of sensory/motor development. The small peak of the pyramid is academic learning, which rests on the cognitive skills layer.CAPD is a problem on the sensory/motor level of development. Auditory problems in particular are likely to cause disruption in other areas of sensory/motor development — especially the vestibular system, although vision and motor skills can also be affected. Any problem on the sensory/motor level will limit cognitive skills development (picture a chunk out of the lower portion of the pyramid) which will in turn limit academic learning.At age 5 there is still a tremendous amount of sensory/motor development taking place, so you have the opportunity to intervene and strengthen that layer of development very effectively. This is likely to positively impact cognitive development and, later, the ability to learn academics (such as reading).With a CAPD problem especially, you need to strengthen vestibular system development (timing, balance) — so you want gymnastics. Swimming is good too, but it is not a substitute for gymnastics.Children who have a problem on the sensory/motor level (and CAPD is this kind of problem) often have problems with sensory integration. Sensory integration has to do with the part of the brain that “coordinates” auditory, visual, and motor skills. Toe-walking can be an indication of a sensory integration problem. An OT trained in sensory integration can assess for this, and provide a lot of activities designed to stimulate sensory integration. The language therapist is probably indicating that sensory integration needs to be checked out, as integration problems can interfere with learning.Hope this helps some. I would encourage you to research everything on the net, as it is a very complicated subject. A good search engine is http://www.metacrawler.com.Mary: Could you elaborate on the sensory/motor link. It came up two days
: ago w/ a language therapist telling me to look into it. I am not
: educated on this link…would love to learn more. Great
: suggestions about gymnastics/swimming. I live in
: Florida…swimming will be a great avenue I believe. By
: reinforcing these “motor” skills…how does that improve
: memory? He has some minor gross motor issues (toe-walking, a bit
: stiff when running)…but nothing that jumps out at you. His fine
: motor is pretty bad. Thanks again….just so eager for more
: information. ana