Language/Communication Disorders

A good website for information about NVLD is http://www.nldline.com

Mary

Work with her on Idioms this book is great…Idioms for Everyday Use by Milada Broukal. There are some great source books for NLD from Lingui System… by Sue Thompson.

I am a graduate Speech Pathology Student and I have two kids who are ADD-inattentive. I work with kids who have learning and language communcation disorders. You will have to explicitly work with your daughter on communication strategies or have an SLP work with her this summer. Also get her into group therapy with other kids who have language issues and with peer therapy they can learn to work on and perfect their language skills. Adolescence is tough and kids with language issues have a hard time and are embarrased to ask for clarification and assistance. Through a safe group therapy situation they can learn strategies to be effective communicators and work on their pragmatics.

Greetings Pat,

>inability to understand things like jokes, puns, “turns of a phrase”, and other things I took for granted she knew.

My 14yo daughter has auditory processing disorder (APD), dysnomia (word retrieval disorder), visual processing disorder (VPD) and possibly/probably ADD. Your statement made me think of my daughter’s problems with APD. She too didn’t ‘get’ jokes, puns or plays on words, that is, not until she completed both Fast ForWord 1&2 which is designed to improve AP problems. I distinctly recall upon completion of FFW that my dd finally ‘got’ jokes and understood word play. For a period of time, she would frequently exclaim with delight, “I get it!” on things I took for granted she knew too.

Perhaps your daughter would benefit from an APD evaluation. To find a qualified audiologist in your area that specializes in APD go to:
www.pages.cthome.net/cbristol/capd-rf1.html

Blessings, momo

Greetings patti,

My dd recently tested very low in written language, particularly in the areas of vocabulary, sentence combining, contextual conventions and logical sentences.. She also tested low average in the areas of spelling, contextual language and story construction. We’re working on spelling with Master the Code and with various vocab/reasoning programs (Wordly Wise 3000, Reasoning and Reading, Building Verbal Thinking Skills, Language Wise). Do you have any recommendations for an explicit, systematic instruction program for written expression? I would appreciate any thoughts, insight, advice or recommendations that you may have. Thank you!

Blessings, momo

I don’t know if my 11 year old son’s problems are exactly the same as your daughter’s, but they sound similar and I certainly relate to what you’re going through. My son is about to end his fifth grade year and is about a year behind on his reading level. He’s had an IEP ever since entering kindergarten, but things have become more difficult for him the past few years. I too have concerns about his comprehension level, and his ability to understand seemingly simple phrases and logic. What really is frustrating, however, is the way he often puts the words in simple sentences out of order or in some unusual manner, therefore it comes out sounding awkward. He shows no signs of dsylexia, and has been going to speech in school since kindergarten, but this is a relatively new phenomenon and it makes me wince to hear him do it. He also now repeats obvious things that are happening on some t.v. show or movie, or event we’re watching, and then explains it to me, saying “get it?” I don’t know if this is merely another symptom related to his inattentive ADD or his learning disability (processing difficulties), but wondered if maybe your daughter has any of these characteristics. If this continues, I can only imagine what he will go through in middle school (I don’t even want to think about high school!) I don’t know if any of this will help you, or if you can help me, but I thought I’d share my experiences with you.

Hi Pat,

I have an NLD child too, and it can be very frustrating to watch these kids struggle, when they appear so “normal” on the surface.

Besides NLDline, which someone else mentioned, There is another web site, NLDontheweb.org that I like even better. (NLDline has very good information too, but I find the other a little easier to navigate) Both of these sites also have bulletin boards, but again, the NLDontheweb BB is easier to navigate, and faster. There are also a number of good articles on NLD right here on LDonline, as well as pointers to other sites.

I also suggest that you read the following books:

“The Source for Nonverbal Learning Disorders” by Sue Thompson
“Growing up with NLD” by Deborah Green
“NLD at Home” by Pam Tanguay

Another book that I’ve found very useful in terms of working with pragmatics issues is Tony Attwood’s “Asperger’s Syndrome, A guide for Parents and Professionals”. While many NLD kids (probably most) do not have Asperger’s, there is enough overlap that a lot of the strategies he suggests work very well for our kids too.

If you are close enough to eastern MA to make it worth the trip, we have a very active NLD parent’s group that meets in Natick, MA, called TAWK. (Talking as a Way of Knowing) We have monthly meetings, many with speakers, as well as others that are an opportunity for parents to brainstorm and learn from each other. The web site for our group is:

www.nldsupport.org

One caution I must give you, is to read the articles on the web by Byron Rourke last. Dr. Rourke hs done a _tremendous_ amount of good in terms of his work for NLD children. Unfortunately, many of his articles on the web are a number of years old. The statistics he includes, and the grim outlook he predicts were based on his early studies of older NLD children who never had access to the help and remediation that is available to our children now.

I have not yet had the opportunity to hear Dr. Rourke speak personally, but those who have say that his message now is very positive and supportive. That NLD children CAN do very well in life given the proper help and remediation when they need it. But if, like me, you start your reading with those older articles, it can be like getting a bucket of ice water in the face.

Your daughter is lucky to have a Mom with a SPED background, who has recognized that she needs help before she develops all the secondary emotional problems these kids often run into as they mature. She’ll do fine. Good luck!

Karen

I was very pleased to read your message of success with the Fastforward program. My son is currently doing the program. We just started last week.

He is diagnosed with auditory processing delays, and he also has receptive and expressive language delays. Word retrieval is a big problem.

When you ended the program, did your daughter “slip back” a little. Others have indicated some gains have been lost but overall there were lasting gains.

Hi Momo,

Sounds like your daughter had the TOWL. My daughter had it too. She has improved in some sections of the Towl. Her writing has been getting better and what has helped her has been the Spivey program which has been renamed…the Writing Express system. It was formerly called Strengthening Student’s writing through Focus. It is easy to implement and teaches kids basic sentences and how to expand noun phrases. He calls verbs action words instead of verbs.

Here you’ll learn about materials, methods and seminars constituting a proven, step-by-step system providing building blocks for mature expression and enhanced creativity — a system which guarantees student success. Click on a link to explore.

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