Hi This was my first year with a child in spl ed. I have read many past posts and learned so much. I want to thank you all . When you help one person out there you help all the others to come who read all the old posts and feel they can come to this board and ask for help[ nad not be judged. I do have a question. At the beginning of this school year my dds reading level fell to an 8 , being at a 16 at the end of last year (first grade) She also seemed very lost, looking around at the other kids to see what to do. So they tested her.
She tested with a 7th grade level for auditory processing and a 5th grade level for phonemic awareness but her processing speed was k.6 .Naturally they taught her the first 400 most used sight words.Had goals like States facts like who, what, etc…Expressing main facts and idea of a story and so on. What can I do to help her with her speed? Her iep meeting for next year is next week, and she is reading at grade level and the teacher said they and going to decrease her time because she is doing ok. I wont say well. My problem is they did nothing about her processing , her hand writhing is very bad, she has a hard time breaking larger words apart, and has a very hard time writing a story with supporting facts and some even sentances with her spelling words. I thought I might request an assistive listing device or a tape recorder. I dont know if she needs these yet but Im afraid for the future.Ive seen you guys talk about fast forward Etc. but I dont know what one to buy or how to get the schoo; to provide it. Do you have any ideas what to ask for next year ?
THANKS
Re: iep
Try Vision builder. Look under google for vision builder and reading.
It helps with visual processing speed. It is pretty inexpensive. It is not a complete vision therapy program but does deal with one important aspect of vision.
The writing issues are a red flag for a vision issue. You may want to consider vision therapy.
processing speed
PACE works on both auditory and visual processing speed. Unfortunately, the many hours of one-on-one work with a trainer make it very expensive. That would be my first choice, if you can afford it. Website is http://www.processingskills.com
A much less expensive option is Audiblox, a home program you do one-on-one for an hour a day five days a week. This is what I would suggest starting with over the summer. Website is http://www.audiblox2000.com
Both Audiblox and PACE work on multiple cognitive skills relating to auditory and visual processing, output skills (handwriting), logical thinking, etc. Even though Audiblox doesn’t specifically work on processing *speed*, just improving a wide variety of skills should automatically help with speed as well.
Nancy
Re: How old is she?
We did PACe after second grade, and in retrospect, it was a mistake. I think the program works better with older children, because the floor is age 6. My son also had unrecognized remaining (we had done considerable therapy) sensory motor issues which resulted in progress stalling about half way through the 12 week program.
Personally, I’d do Audioblox with a younger child just because it can be done even with preschool children, even though it doesn’t specifically target processing speed.
Beth
Vision Builder question
Linda,
I liked what I saw on the website (www.visionbuilder.no) and the $40 price you’ve quoted sounds great too. It looked very good for someone like my ds who can read just fine but is slow. My question: how did you buy this? I can’t get onto the ordering page on the site, which appears to be Norwegian. I’m hoping it can be purchased retail domestically.
Agree.....
PACE works best with age 8 and up, in my opinion. I forgot about the age factor when I posted.
Nancy
Try this www.babousa.org/VBuild.htm
It is sold through vision thearpists.
I agree that is would be good to speed up processing and reading speed.
If that doesn’t work let me know.
Re: How old is she?
There is one component of audiblox that I think directly targets visual processing speed. It involves showing word cards very fast.
Vision builder does this piece by computer as well as a few other exercises. I think it is better by computer because you can get very objective information on the exact speed of processing both with single words/groups of letters or written text.
I think that Audiblox exercises...
can be set up with time limits to increase speed. Go to their site and ask them on their boards. They will give you a truthful answer.
www.audiblox2000.com
This would be my choice to use as it covers many foundational skills and just doesn’t work on a few.
Re: How old is she?
She is 8 and a half . Are you saying audioblocks is to babyish or pace is to hard and for older kids?
Re: How old is she?
My son was 8 when he did PACE. The issue is the floor is 6 and so there isn’t much room between the easiest level and what is appropriate age wise. Audioblox is not babyish—just is designed to be used with younger kids (as well as older ones).
PACE is very expensive and I would be reluctant to do it with an 8 year old again. I was trained in the program and saw a teenager doing it. There just is more room for age appropriate progress with an older child.
Beth
The Audiblox exercises can be set up with time limits.
This is explained in the Audiblox supplementary manual.
Is indicative for ADD and some of the other behaviors you have mentioned like organizing her wriitng with supporting facts, paying attention to break the words apart, poor spelling and handwriting, distractibility, looking around the room at what everyone else is doing besides what she is doing.
Have you had a continuous performance test done auditorailly and visually? My own daugher had a gifted processnig speed in kindergarten but by 5th grade it had continually dropped over the years to an extremely slow speed and that was the one thing the ADHD speciailist noted as he looked over her records the declining processing speed and then to see it that low was a red flag.
I would definitely look into this aread.