Next step?

Sometimes you just have to teach the skills, whatever the diagnosis may be.

I do not accept the “normal hearing but cannot hear phonics” theory — if he can’t make the distinctions between sounds, it’s because he **hasn’t yet learned** to distinguish, which is quite different from being unable to learn; and that means he needs *more* help in this area, not less. If you give up and define a person as “incapable” every time you have a difficulty and are behind the average in a skill, nobody will get very far.

Clearly he needs more speech therapy — if he isn’t progressing with the therapist he has, is there any possibility of trying someone different?

There are programs mentioned often on these boards such as The Listening Program and Tomatis and FastForWord and others; I don’t know them personally so you should search old posts and message parents who have used them for advice.

When he is ready, maybe now and maybe after some other interventions, the program called LiPs from LindaMood Bell seems very appropriate; it was originally used with speech and hearing impaired children and is one of the few proven scientifically based reading programs readily available.

As far as the writing backwards and so on, I work on this all the time. You have to actually *teach* how to write, as opposed to the common habit of handing the kid a pencil and saying “copy this” which is *not* teaching. You need to get a good writing model and actively teach directionality and require the student to follow it at all times. It is harder to unteach badly-learned habits than to teach in the first place, so you have to supervise a lot at first to turn this around — but it *is* possible to turn around.

I have posted a lot previously about teaching reading and writing. In order to avoid reposting the same long things all the time, I have saved them down and email them to anyone on request. Please ask me either for the writing post or for the whole batch/book in progress.
Request at [email protected]

Thank you for responding. The audiologist said w/ intense therapy Shon may learn the phonics. She says he missed them as an infant due to all the fluid on his ears. He has been to different speech therapists/pathologists. They all take the same approach w/ him which is obviously not working. They dismiss the audiologist’s suggestions that they focus on the phonics of each letter and not whole words.

As far as his writing goes. I would really appreciate some direction to help him. I have taken him by the hand and wrote his name MANY times along w/ the entire alphabet. And even though he writes bottom to top he gets them correct most of the time but for some reason after he has wrote it 20 times he will flip it backwards. Then he will say oops and erase to correct it and turn right around and write it backwards again.

He is able to read some but they are teaching him to read by memorizing the words instead of sounding them out. The teachers I have dealt w/ are at a loss as how to approach him to help him. If you read him a paragraph he will answer questions correctly. But for him to read and respond is another story.

My thing is I want to help my child and will do whatever it takes. I have always and will continue working w/ the teachers and will work w/ Shon at home. But right now Shon is falling through the crack at school. I will never give up on Shon he is an intelligent little boy just needs help in finding what works for him. He is not my only child I have an older son that does well in school w/ no form of speech problems or anything similar to Shon. Shon knows he is not like all the other kids and he has even as a toddler shyed away from others and prefers to play by himself. I would also like to help him build his self confidence. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

Well, the memorization approach appers to work for a while, and then down the road people act terribly shocked when the kid “suddenly develops” (ha!) reading problems. Not a route I recommend.
Please do send a request for my notes — I have detailed lesson plans on teaching letters and sounds.
LiPs would also addrsss this.

Thank you! I sent a request for the notes. I have never had faith in the Memorizing teaching method for reading.

It sounds like the audiologist is suggesting auditory processing deficits. There is a book called “When the Brain Can’t Hear” that you might find useful. Victoria is right that you can be taught to distinguish sounds but for some kids that is mighty difficult. We did a program called Fast Forward which made a big difference for my son. Before it, he tested as not being able to distinguish sounds significantly. After he was in the normal range. It still has been a struggle to teach him to read but for some kids auditory programs can make a big difference. Others have done sound therapy such as “The Listening Programing. We also did it but after FFW, but would have done it first had I known then what I know now.
Another option is Earobics which is much cheaper than FFW but my son could not do it before doing FFW.

I personally would work on improving auditory skills separate from reading because it will make reading instruction come faster.

It also sounds like your son has some developmental vision issues which also will complicate reading. Read some posts by Nancy—she suggests how to find someone to help with this.

My son has had a complicated set of issues both auditory and vision as well as motor and the approach we’ve followed is to continuously work on reading but addressing underlying sensory deficits at the same time. It is more efficient to do sensory deficits first but if the child must function in school at the same time, it is hard to do that.

Beth

Thank you Beth…..you said exactly what the audiologist described me that I was unable to make clear. We went through a 2 hour test session for her to come to that diagnoses.

Yes Shon does have eye issues also. When you make him follow your finger w/out moving his head his eyes “bounce” when he crosses his midline.

Shon has “fine motor skill” issues. I have been told many times all this ties together but the specialists I have had Shon too dont give much hope of correcting the problem……or say it will only be a minimal correction possiblity. Also the school systems in Missouri will not take any results from outside testing. They say he dont meet criteria to have special education but turn right around and say he has a problem.

Shon is being reevaluated by the school w/in the next couple of weeks. I am hoping they dont do the same testing they have done previously. Keeping fingers crossed that he will get some help.

My son has much the same profile and he is doing quite well, although he has had tons of therapy. He is 12, he repeated fourth grade when we switched him from public to parochial school. He is now in fifth grade and doesn’t receive any services from school. He had all B’s on his last report card. He reads at grade level, although his fluency still is not normal. Math at this point is weaker than reading, although we have spent most of our efforts on reading.

The fine motor combined with auditory and visual deficits though is a tough combination. Most likely there is a big vestibular part involved as well, which may be how it all fits together.

I wouldn’t expect a whole lot of help from the schools. My son was classified from age 3 on but we have done everything meaningful privately.

I’d start with some sound therapy because it, for some reason, also can have spill over effects into fine motor. I’d look for a vision therapist who incorporates motor and vestibular activities. If you are lucky, you will find one. Travel if you have to. The one I took my son to did not and although we made progress, he continued to have issues. We continued to work on his vestibular system through other therapy (neuronet) and amazingly his visual processing improved as a result. The vestibular system is frequently a big part of these kid’s issues.

Beth

To get these therapies did you have to be referred? My son’s pediatrician will not go for eye therapy in any shape or form unless it is for a lazy eye.

I have considered putting Shon into a private school. I will relocate to a different state if neccessary to get Shon the help he needs.

Sounds like our son’s issues are very similar. Did your son have issues w/ skipping, standing on one foot, tieing his shoes, judging distances? Shon wears glasses now and that seems to help some.

My son had very much the profile you are talking about. It isn’t the classic dyslexic profile, that is for sure.

My pediatrician really played no role in the help we have received except referring us to a neurologist. I have found and paid for all therapies privately.

Beth