Need advice for my 8 year old 3rd grade son. He has apraxia of speech, LD in reading, ADD, and weak fine motor skills. Has an IEP, goes to Resource Lab 2 hrs every morning for lang arts, speech tx twice week and OT once at public school.. He has been on Concerta 18mg mornings for 1 month so far, has helped some with focusing and attention, although this week his weekly report stated he had some difficulty maintaining focus, had to be called back to task several times. He has tried other meds, Ritalin 5mg helped approx 9 mos, then ?wore off, so tried Metadate- did not help. Struggles with temper tantrums and whining when things do not go as he planned or he is frustrated (thankfully only at home). He has several friends, gets invited to b-day parties.. Very uncoordinated so hates sports, but we have him in a therapeutic karate class which he tolerates. Is tutored in reading (OG) in summers and we work with him a lot at home. Am concerned with his inattention and reading; he will sound out the fist 3-5 letters of word and then forget so just guesses. We are working with him on flashcards, teacher has given us 1000 most commonly used words, and with word families as he does in school..
Any feedback, support would be greatly appreciated .
Thanks,
Karen
Re: 8 y.o.son, need advice..
It sounds as if your son’s issues are receiving excellent attention all the way around. I’d say swimming can also be good for a lack of coordination. I’d also say that the 1000 most commonly used words is a very long list actually for such a young child and I’d hesitate to go to deep into that list just yet. I’d like to see him be very certain of the words he does know before introducing him to many words he does not know. I’d also say that flashcards can sometimes do as much harm as good and deserve sometimes to be used sparingly. I think they are a better testing device than they are a teaching device. Flashcards present words in isolation which is the opposite of reading where words are presented in context. They test what words a child can recognize very effectively but I think there are better ways to teach a child to read new words than flashcards.
I’d encourage your son or any child to read independently 15/20 minutes every day in a book they find to be easy. ‘Easy’ reading builds fluency and allows for the growth of self-confidence in the reading task. Reading out loud to him from a book you both enjoy for another 15 minutes a day never hurts as well.
Good luck.
Re: 8 y.o.son, need advice..
I suggest that you go to a website called www.drstordy.com to learn about Jacqueline Stordy’s book that popularizes research about the need for essential fatty acids to treat ADD, dyslexia and dyspraxia (including apraxia of speech).
There is also an organization called Cherub that sponsors research on apraxia of speech and has many resources for parents. They have a web site too. So many families have seen great improvement in their children after using omega 3 Fatty acid supplements that now Cherub is formally involved in recruiting families for double blind studies being conducted by scientists.
Re: 8 y.o.son, need advice..
Thanks for replies. (He’s actually in 2nd grade, don’t know why I typed 3rd!) We did try dietary modifications with fish oil for one month last year, didn’t see any iimprovement. I do still though give him the eggs containing omega 3 figuring they can’t hurt. We do also have him read, or read to him almost daily. We keep a log for school. On the flashcards, we are working on the 2nd 100, only about 20 at a time. He seems to like using them to see how many he knows.. Will check out IM.. Also will encourage swimming more, we have a hot tub he can use..
Thanks again.
Karen,
My son’s inattention was greatly improved with interactive metronome. www.interactivemetronome.com
IM can help his coordination issues as well.
I really didn’t fully understand how many of his issues were related to his inattention until his attention was remediated. It seemed before he just didn’t get it then I saw that he fully got things when paying attention. His attention still slips at times but I have found that a high protein diet especially eggs that contain omega 3 trans fatty acids really help him. He can’t swallow the fish oil pills.
I had actually let that diet slip for 4 days and I noticed his attention slipping so we are back to the eggs every morning and his attention is back.