Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Lead in even low levels is clinically shown to lower IQ cognitive functioning. And again since I know for an absolute fact that apraxia/dyspraxia are not cognitive disorders in themselves -then this in itself proves this statement false. If anything this one link kind of links it with dyslexia -notice the word " another " " A number of studies have proved the connection between high lead levels and low intelligence and in addition Copper is another toxic element that has been reported to be high in dyslexic children. " http://www.mentalhealthproject.com/content.asp?id_Content=1021 There are no definitive studies to link lead poisoning with dyspraxia. Only theory not fact. Besides -there's no money in apraxia research that I know of -so if there was a study that proved this -who funded it so we can get them to fund something useful like 's work to validate what most of us already know here. Many of the symptoms of apraxia are symptoms of a vitamin E deficiency. (which ties in to why fish oils create surges in most here too) ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 Just a little vent here. I like , believe we would all benefit from DAN stuff being published. I am not sure what the ramifications for those brave and humble docs like Usman would be given the brew haha when another doc, not Usman, used an adult chelator on a child by mistake and somehow fingers got pointed at Usman. My children were lead poisoned. I know it. Soon science will back me up. We had clinical signs in both but they were bloodtested too late. Not the doc's fault but mine as I did not want to overreact...ahhh the old days. Speaking of studies. When talking about what to do next, hubby and I talked about all the fuss berating the DAN system of parent reports. I assure you neither of us are running toward unstudied alternative so I was surprised by the conversation. Well, I ask you, who better to know what is new in a kid than the parent who is with them daily? The person relying on an unstudied alternative likely frightened and very motivated to get this right? Isn't this at least as valid as the nurse's studies of the 1970's when many were smoking, etc.? There is no perfect system. I still have not called the DAN I was considering. I'll act when I need to but I just want to say, this stinks. We need a better system and we, as parents are the ones who need to demand it and figure out how to fund it. No one else will. What Dr. has done and is doing for our kids is unprecedented. She is trying to bring real hope and health to what was once an unhealthy and hopeless situation. We need to clone her and we need to help her. That is on my mind daily and I promise, if I win the lottery she will be the first to know. > > > So, far the tests that we have had run show that they are high in > mercury (which can cause autism), lead (which can cause dyspraxia) and > arsenic. > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 , hi - I am in the UK and fighting the awful system here too. I wanted to chime in on Janice's message - Unfortunately, the BioMed Dr she may have had in mind - dr Heard - almost the only one in the UK is retiring in March - he is due to be replaced though maybe not by anyone very experienced and the Breakspear hospital where he works will still run all the Dan tests for you but if it were me I would head to the US if you are able. The support for this is so much better there but as everyone says get on the waiting list now! (we waited 9 months to see Heard at Breakspear and then 3 more to start intervention). Also why don't you join the gp Autism Treatment there is someone there from N.Ireland who posts on that and could put you in touch with others doing BioMed there if you are looking for contacts. There were some biomed suggestions for helping Muscular Dystrophy too - my heart goes out to you - that someone posted recently on that site. the French lab that Janice mentioned is the Laboratoire e Auguste we have just done a urinary porphyrins test thru them to see lead and mercury http://www.labbio.net/pages/index_vh_eng.htm . If I can help more please e-mail me off list. catherine Mom to Nic 12, severe sem-prag lang disorder, APD, DSI, severe dyspraxia, hypotonia, perceptual issues but if the NHS and the LEA had had their way: mental retardation, cerebral palsey (not based on scans) autism - we are still fighting them even now, 2 Statements, 1 near tribunal, change of county and tons of $$$ later !! --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 , Many of the symptoms of dyspraxia are symptoms of lead poisening. This also fits with ADHD as well. I have watched many DAN Webcasts where they have found the kids with lead issues tend to be those with diagnosis of dyspraxia. Dr. Usman in particular has noted anectdotally that most of her 'lead' kids suffer from dyspraxia. I highly doubt that you will find any type of peer-reviewed studies on this.... very taboo! Most of the information has come from the doctors treating the children and their personal observations. We are currently treating my dyspraxic son for lead poisening as well. He tests at a level of 9 in whole blood and 16 on a DMSA challenge. Of course, he is 13 years old and thus not a great candidate for chelation (as this has been a long term issue) but we are seeing quite a few improvements though we have only just begun treatments. We are currently on round 3. http://www.autism.com/danwebcast/chelation.htm This is the site for the webcasts. Watch Dr. Usman's lecture for she speaks about the relationship of lead to dyspraxia. Janice Mother of Mark, 13 [sPAM][ ] Re: School Dana, Can you please elaborate on the lead-dyspraxia connection? Do you have some research you can point me towards? I am in no way challenging the assertion, I'm just very interested and would like to learn much more. Thanks for mentioning this. > So, far the tests that we have had run show that they are high in mercury (which can cause autism), lead (which can cause dyspraxia) and arsenic. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 This is an oversimplification. Properly treated lead toxic children have been shown to have IQ scores go back up. Same with allergic kids. No one can say for sure that some children diagnosed with dysprxia are not lead toxic. No one can say that all are either. Just the way it is. Elevated copper, by the way, has been show in those with great math ability. Likely not great for calcium levels. There are not studies but there are cases in mainstream medicine of lead poisoned kids with cognitive deficits and some involving issues that could fall under dyspraxia as a label, who were lead poisoned and some of the cognitive deficit kids improved. Fluoride kids too (I am thankful!) This is not far fetched...what exactly do you think these kids need the blood brain barrier they get from fish oil for? Not saying it is lead but a guess of something toxic would not be outrageous. And yes, only a study will validate it if it is lead or something else. It is likely a number of things, some common and some unique, likely not all metal, depending on the individual child. > > Lead in even low levels is clinically shown to lower IQ cognitive > functioning. And again since I know for an absolute fact that > apraxia/dyspraxia are not cognitive disorders in themselves -then > this in itself proves this statement false. If anything this one > link kind of links it with dyslexia -notice the word " another " > " A number of studies have proved the connection between high lead > levels and low intelligence and in addition Copper is another toxic > element that has been reported to be high in dyslexic children. " > http://www.mentalhealthproject.com/content.asp?id_Content=1021 > > There are no definitive studies to link lead poisoning with > dyspraxia. Only theory not fact. Besides -there's no money in > apraxia research that I know of -so if there was a study that proved > this -who funded it so we can get them to fund something useful like > 's work to validate what most of us already know here. > > Many of the symptoms of apraxia are symptoms of a vitamin E > deficiency. (which ties in to why fish oils create surges in most > here too) > > ===== > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 , I don't know about what 'type' of IQ it lowers. I do consider Mark's performance scores well below what they could be though he is not cognitively compromised. His extremely high verbal scores do indeed make up for the non-verbal and when you average it out, he has just below an average IQ. Of course, these tests were taken 5 years ago and he has not been for IQ testing since. I do consider that his performance scores have risen substantially since that time. As he is both dyspraxic and lead poisened, I don't know which came first or what influences what. Since he is in actual fact lead poisened and dyspraxic, I simply don't know what to say about your findings. All I can speak to is what my child is, not what others think that he should be. Of course, Mark has 'global' dyspraxia which affects every movement he makes along with every sound he utters. He also has ADD symptoms. Put them all together and life gets quite debilitating..... Yet, he goes to a regular school without an aide or an IEP and maintains a B average so....... quite frankly I just don't know anymore. But I will continue to treat until I can get as much lead out of his body as possible since I personally believe that it does interfere with his function and the person that he is " meant " to be. He is entitled to his birthright without the lead in his body. Janice Mother of Mark, 13 [sPAM][ ] Re: School Lead in even low levels is clinically shown to lower IQ cognitive functioning. And again since I know for an absolute fact that apraxia/dyspraxia are not cognitive disorders in themselves -then this in itself proves this statement false. If anything this one link kind of links it with dyslexia -notice the word " another " " A number of studies have proved the connection between high lead levels and low intelligence and in addition Copper is another toxic element that has been reported to be high in dyslexic children. " http://www.mentalhealthproject.com/content.asp?id_Content=1021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2008 Report Share Posted February 7, 2008 May he be and stay well. > > , > > I don't know about what 'type' of IQ it lowers. I do consider Mark's performance scores well below what they could be though he is not cognitively compromised. His extremely high verbal scores do indeed make up for the non-verbal and when you average it out, he has just below an average IQ. Of course, these tests were taken 5 years ago and he has not been for IQ testing since. I do consider that his performance scores have risen substantially since that time. > > As he is both dyspraxic and lead poisened, I don't know which came first or what influences what. Since he is in actual fact lead poisened and dyspraxic, I simply don't know what to say about your findings. All I can speak to is what my child is, not what others think that he should be. > > Of course, Mark has 'global' dyspraxia which affects every movement he makes along with every sound he utters. He also has ADD symptoms. Put them all together and life gets quite debilitating..... > > Yet, he goes to a regular school without an aide or an IEP and maintains a B average so....... quite frankly I just don't know anymore. But I will continue to treat until I can get as much lead out of his body as possible since I personally believe that it does interfere with his function and the person that he is " meant " to be. He is entitled to his birthright without the lead in his body. > > Janice > Mother of Mark, 13 > > > > [sPAM][ ] Re: School > > > Lead in even low levels is clinically shown to lower IQ cognitive > functioning. And again since I know for an absolute fact that > apraxia/dyspraxia are not cognitive disorders in themselves -then > this in itself proves this statement false. If anything this one > link kind of links it with dyslexia -notice the word " another " > " A number of studies have proved the connection between high lead > levels and low intelligence and in addition Copper is another toxic > element that has been reported to be high in dyslexic children. " > http://www.mentalhealthproject.com/content.asp?id_Content=1021 > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 8, 2008 Report Share Posted February 8, 2008 bigcheech91 wrote: > <snipped> > Since you've been lurking, you know that some of us see the NACD home > programs, and some use The Listening Program, etc. You might want to > check out the www.nacd.org site to see if they come to Ireland as one > of their international locations. > The Institute for Neuro - Physiological Psychology (www.inpp.co.uk )is an " equivalent " resource of " NACD " in the UK/Ireland. The programs and evaluations are the same. Their website is quite full of info. ____________________________________________________________ GET FREE 5GB EMAIL - Check out spam free email with many cool features! Visit http://www.inbox.com/email to find out more! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 24, 2009 Report Share Posted February 24, 2009 Hi, I can't believe they asked you to stay!! By doing that, they dismiss the actual problem of short staffing. It may be that it was a seldom event, but still, they have to have a plan in place for this kind of problem. Short staffing has been so bad at our school this year, that I've told them to call me if this kind of thing happens, I'll do his lessons at home. I've also addressed it with the principal as well as school board members in writing. How can they know that (in our case, budget cuts) are negatively affecting our kids safety and well being. And that for a teacher to ask you to stay is not helping the situtation. I would speak to your principal, or better yet, write him/her and copy the school board member and ask them how, in future, they are going to rectify this problem. I've had staff who have nothing to do with my son's school day come up to me to say that he didn't have support most mornings and they were trying to help out, but were begging me to bring this to a higher level. Our kids have the right to be in a safe environment. If he is to have help, and does not receive it, that is very wrong and needs to be brought to someones attention. sandy ________________________________ From: kleona64 <zoo.4kings@...> Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 2:06:59 PM Subject: [ ] school Hello I'm just coming back from school for my son who's in the first grade. He normally has a IBI person or para professinal, today there was no one, we had a dentist appointment first. When I took him up to the resourse room there was only one teacher for two diffret age groups she was having a hard time and then with my son it was bad he was having a hard time pulling hair screaming needless to say I stayed. I asked if any one was going to be there for him she said lunch and maybe this afternoon I said I could stay untill lunch the I needed to go let the dog out, she looked at me like I was crazy anyway on his IEP it says there will be IBI person or paraprofessional so shouldnt they be having someone there for him . I dont mind being their he's my son. Well I'm on the way back if any body has had this problem how do solve it. Leona __________________________________________________________________ Instant Messaging, free SMS, sharing photos and more... Try the new Canada Messenger at http://ca.beta.messenger./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Has anyone here got the school district or city to pay for a private school. I am trying to get my son into the achievement center but it costs $88,000 a year but they said 90% of the kids attending got there school districts to pay for it. My son is 3 yrs. old with autism and currently attends a public school, which he is getting a half hour of speech therapy and 1/2 hour of occupational therapy a week, which I don't think is even close to enough for what he needs. I started paying for speech therapy at the achievment center and a lot of progression has been made, so I want to get him into there full time. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 Hi, I saw your message and asked my friend B, who is not a member of this group, for insight because her son attended AC for pre-school. Here is her response and I hope that it can help you :)I would suggest reading the Educating Children with Autism book which focuses on best practice in autism teaching on a national level. You can get this at www.nap.edu worth every cent! Based on these suggestions, you need to see what your district offers versus what's in the book, but most importantly what your child's MFE states his needs are and how the district would fulfill those needs. You would need to demonstrate that your districts program is not sufficient for him to meet the needs and also what is recommended as best practice (not that the district needs to provide that, however it does build a case for what they SHOULD strive to provide...especially pertaining to early intervention years (birth to five), for the best possible results). Ask your district questions pertaining to autism methodologies, how they determine the amount sof speech and OT required (since it should be different for every child), about their assessments and tests for MFE's (are they autism specific, or more geared to be used on a child w/ ASD versus another diagnosis).....see what they KNOW about autism (or don't know as the case might be, and this will help you demonstrate how could they possibly be suited for your child?!). You might also want to compare the two programs side by side when talking with your district. If you firmly believe you have a case and this is what your child needs, you may need to work w/ a lawyer or a consultant to assist in proving your case, possible mediation, or possible due process. If you don't go this route, TAKE DATA, document conversations about behaivor in school, use your communication book to track his days, and then you will need to go back to the school say a quarter or 1/2 year later and SHOW them they don't have the right program. Data is good. Remember the district does not have to provide the 'best', just what is APPROPRIATE FOR HIS NEEDS for FAPE. Also remember, least restrictive environment does not mean a kid just sitting in a classroom, it has to be a learning environment, proactively learning, advancement not stagnant. Anyone can sit in a room, where the learning and imrpovement and goals being met is another story...that's what you need to demonstrate. Good luck!~~Tara>> Has anyone here got the school district or city to pay for a private school. I am trying to get my son into the achievement center but it costs $88,000 a year but they said 90% of the kids attending got there school districts to pay for it. My son is 3 yrs. old with autism and currently attends a public school, which he is getting a half hour of speech therapy and 1/2 hour of occupational therapy a week, which I don't think is even close to enough for what he needs. I started paying for speech therapy at the achievment center and a lot of progression has been made, so I want to get him into there full time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 16, 2010 Report Share Posted March 16, 2010 On Wednesday evening, from 5:30 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. the Ohio Department of Education is holding a meeting regarding the Parma Public Schools where parents and members of the general public can comment regarding Parma’s special education services and programs. Click on link below to access the meeting announcement. Similar meetings in other parts of the state have been effective avenues for parents to express concerns to ODE, and have lasted beyond the allotted time. http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/03/parents_of_special_education_s.html Judith C. Saltzman Attorney www.hickman-lowder.com Hickman & Lowder Co., L.P.A. 1300 E. 9th Street, Suite 1020 Cleveland, OH 44114 216.861.0360 Fax: 216.861.3113 Hickman & Lowder offers comprehensive services to meet the lifetime legal needs of children and adults with disabilities, the elderly, and their families. Offices in Cleveland and Sheffield Village. Confidentiality Notice This message is intended for use only by the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information which is privileged, confidential, and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication or any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please erase all copies of the message and its attachments and immediately notify Hickman & Lowder Co., L.P.A. Circular 230 Disclosure To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that, unless expressly stated otherwise, any U.S. federal tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 18, 2010 Report Share Posted March 18, 2010 Thanks everyone for your help. it is much appreciated > > > > Has anyone here got the school district or city to pay for a private > school. I am trying to get my son into the achievement center but it > costs $88,000 a year but they said 90% of the kids attending got there > school districts to pay for it. My son is 3 yrs. old with autism and > currently attends a public school, which he is getting a half hour of > speech therapy and 1/2 hour of occupational therapy a week, which I > don't think is even close to enough for what he needs. I started paying > for speech therapy at the achievment center and a lot of progression has > been made, so I want to get him into there full time. Any help would be > greatly appreciated. > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 22, 2010 Report Share Posted April 22, 2010 I 100 percent agree with you to fight to keep him in the mainstream and want to go one step further to say I'd seek second opinions on the LD classification on top of his apraxia. Apraxia even though a neurological motor planning impairment, typically creates developmental lags in language. However as you are seeing these children are able to make over a year's gain in a year's time. The words I would start using would be verbal disabled and you can in addition to due process contact the US Department of Civil Rights through the US Department of Education and tell them that you have a verbal disabled son and want to file a complaint against your district who is judging your son's ability on his disability. The whole communication impairment goes hand in hand with learning disabilities is a bunch of garbage and the only reason it's still believed is because most still don't notice the emperor is naked. In our group for those children who are apraxic, and many times not just with symptoms in speech -but multifaceted communication impairments -they are able to be mainstreamed and due to incredible recall (I'll put a message from our fb page at http://www.apraxia.org for you to read on this) are in many cases top students. Not just a few can be this -but as apraxia in itself is not a cognitive nor receptive disorder -and average number! Here's what I still think is a great source of info for type of reading programs -but I found that just like in teaching how to talk -you will find it beneficial to use some of the same multi sensory techniques to teach reading. Multisensory educational techniques http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html Love that link -so much info that is helpful -you can also check out this http://www.ldaamerica.org/about/position/print_reading_learning.asp Also do you have outside the school professionals (SLP, OT, neuroMD) working with your child that can write letters to help you advocate? What I would also suggest highly is to seek private testing from professionals who are knowledgeable about verbal impairments. I have found those that work with the hearing impaired are generally more aware and have less stigma in assuming that verbal impairments go hand in hand with learning disabilities. Also if the school believes that strongly your child belongs in a self contained class I would seek out of district placement where the professionals don't classify him as " learning disabled " at six years old (!!! can I kick them in the shins? Please?) and provide your young child a better chance of not falling through the cracks. It doesn't matter how hard you have to fight to advocate for your child -it's worth it. I would like to say it's easy once you get past a certain point -but unfortunately society itself assumes even an adult with a mild articulation problem has lower cognitive ability. And you'll still hear expressions like " he's so smart he started talking so young " Ability to verbally express yourself and IQ do not go hand in hand. All one has to do to learn this is watch any daytime court TV shows! As far as the actual programs they are using -Tanner has used just about everything under the sun -but below is what worked for us. And the other thing I highly suggest you explore with your child's pediatrician ASAP is starting nutriiveda. http://www.pursuitofresearch.org It may appear as if that has nothing to do with academics- but it appears to help stimulate numerous areas of progress and academics is just one of them. Don't ask me how yet -but if serving a healthy " carnation instant breakfast " type protein shake to my son helps -why not?! You can read some of the gains here http://pursuitofresearch.org/letter_lisa.html and here on the survey you can print out http://pursuitofresearch.org/survey.html Here are previous to nutriiveda methods I used to help with getting my son up to speed from our fb page at http://www.apraxia.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I know we spoke already earlier -but here's some of the information I've archived for you from over the years of what we have found in our group. I have an observation that I wanted to point out to see if others are finding the same in their school age children. Tanner has been mainstreamed since kindergarten -and a great student. http://www.cherab.org/information/familiesrelate/letter.html Still this year in second grade Tanner is a whiz at school -but it's clear he still does things his own way to achieve success. Last year in first grade Tanner's teacher said to me " It's odd because developmentally children at Tanner's age need visual cues for math, but he doesn't. Tanner's just doing it in his head and I don't know how " Last year Tanner couldn't tell us how. He would just say he didn't know how. Tanner just told me how this year. As I've pointed out Tanner and many other children with speech impairments like him appear to have amazing memories. It appears that is how he was and is able to do math in his head: Tanner's homework the other night were pre algebra addition problems. Tanner does his homework on his own because in his words it's " so easy " On the page for example it said 6 + 7 + 6 = ___ and Tanner looked at it and said " That's so easy it's 19 " He never added up anything on the paper so I said " Tanner how do you know it's 19? " He pointed to each of the three numbers on the paper and said " 5, 10, 15 and then 1 plus 2 plus 1 " In other words he knew that there was a 5 in each of the three numbers so he auto knew it was 15 -and to that number he added the extra 4. He was not taught to do math this way by the school -he just does it auto in his head this way. Tanner has memorized math problems like 9 + 9, 8 + 8, even 12 + 12 etc. which is why he tests so well. And he works around those problems he doesn't have memorized yet by using those he does. For example, if you say 9 + 8 -he doesn't use his fingers like some kids do -he either quick thinks of 9 + 9 or 8 + 8 and then either adds or takes away one to get the right answer. He seems to do this until he memorizes which in his case doesn't appear to take that long. But with memory it appears that it's still important to make sure Tanner is 'on' prior to going to school. On the way to school we need to make sure he reads at least one page to get his motor planning for reading ready for school. We are now reading " Puppy Puzzle " but some days it's a page of " Harry Potter " Once his motor planning for reading is 'on' Tanner can read almost anything at this point. What do I mean by 'on'? Tanner as I wrote last year is " reading well and can easily read a word like 'oxygen' correctly and without hesitation, but when not warmed up will come to a word that he typically knows and that is really easy like 'at' and read it as " ate " instead. Or even come to a word like 'the' and say " what's that word again? " Like he has a block. When I correct him he says " Oh that's right, I forgot " The kid with the amazing memory in so many other areas. I never make a big deal of it -we just focus on " reading with feeling " as I write below. Just like it was never there -he starts reading perfectly...until the next day when he needs another warm up to get his motor planning for reading on. Not sure if I should call it that- but just like speech there appears to be some overlaps in the unusual patterns of reading. Anyone else with school age children seeing these types of things? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~start of archive~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For those who have not read it yet: below are some archives on reading and speech impairments up till now: About reading/spelling. One of the best pages I found for multisensory language programs including the Spalding method (Writing Road to Reading) you speak of is here http://www.ldonline.org/article/6332 Actually there are many programs talked about at this link that are wonderful! I again suggest to all of you to print this out and save it in your child's file just in case. Links don't always work for ever, or even for the year it takes for you to need it. Like you, I found the little tricks to remember the rules work extremely well for Tanner who like Suzi's child (and most children here) have amazing memories which helps with all the rules. After all in reading -there are many rules and changes -so memory is important. I just want to state prior to going on -for those asking questions about preschool children with apraxia/speech impairments not remembering colors and numbers -they are busy working on more severe issues right now than other children their age -so they have much more on their plate. There is proof that learning academics early vs later makes no difference in the long run -and even some evidence that too much academic pressure in the early years can be detrimental Here is just one research study: Research Link / When Children Aren't Ready for Kindergarten H. Holloway How can schools promote the achievement of children who are old enough to enroll in kindergarten but who are not developmentally ready to succeed? Two approaches that parents and schools commonly use are delaying the child's entry into kindergarten and retaining the child in kindergarten for an extra year. Giving children an extra year, whether through delayed entry or kindergarten retention, makes sense in view of the ample research suggesting that the youngest children tend to lag behind their classmates. West, Denton, and Reaney (2000) found that in the spring of their kindergarten year, younger children had lower reading and mathematics knowledge and skills on average than did their older counterparts. These researchers also found that older kindergartners were more likely to persist at tasks, more eager to learn, and better able to pay attention. Delayed Entry Versus Kindergarten Retention To avoid the disadvantage suffered by younger students, some parents choose to delay the entry of their children into kindergarten. Zill, Loomis, and West (1997) found that children whose kindergarten entry was delayed so that they started kindergarten when they were older performed better than their younger classmates in grades 1 and 2. These researchers concluded that the extra year before starting kindergarten does not harm the children who are held out and may help most of them. In contrast, the researchers discovered that children who repeated kindergarten were doing worse than their younger classmates on most school performance indicators by 1st or 2nd grade. For instance, two- thirds of the retained students had received some negative feedback from teachers compared with less than half of the nonretained students. The retained students were also much more likely to have problems concentrating, to perform below their capabilities, and to act up and disrupt the class. Zill, Loomis, and West concluded that repeating kindergarten had not helped those children and may have actually made matters worse. Reasons for the Differences What explains the difference between the school performance of delayed-entry children and those who repeat kindergarten? Both groups of students are older than most of their classmates, so why don't the beneficial effects of being older apply to both groups? Some possible answers are that The underlying developmental problems of the two groups may differ. The two groups may have different socioeconomic backgrounds. Parents who choose to delay their children's school entry may have a higher level of awareness and involvement. The stigmatizing effect of being required to repeat a grade may harm children's academic progress. (read full article) http://www.ascd.org/publications/ed_lead/200304/holloway.html There is much more on this. In researched studies -those children who read early are no farther along than those who read later. Tanner seemed to know his letters at 3 and 4 years old, at least most of the time -but it was honestly not something that I cared about as much as getting him up to speed in being able to talk. With the daily therapy and school, I felt bad Tanner didn't have much " kid time " and tried to make the time out of therapy and school fun for him. Didn't work well. Most of the time Tanner would just sleep in his free time he was so exhausted from the long days of therapy and school. I felt he missed so much, but on the other hand we couldn't not do the therapy. I did the research and knew that school work could and should take a back seat during Tanner's preschool years. Tanner didn't start kindergarten until 6 years old and was one of the top in his mainstream class according to his teacher Mrs. . He was " reading ready " when he graduated kindergarten. He started reading over the summer, his favorite book was " Hop on Pop " Because Tanner transitioned out of OT at the end of kindergarten - and he seemed ready and willing to learn reading and other academics, we switched him to a private accelerated academics academy school. When Tanner started first grade he was the only one in his class who was a beginner reader since most of his friends now were fluent readers since kindergarten. Tanner was pretty much the only child we knew with a speech impairment in the school. As one of the other toy inventors I used to work with used to say " The proof is in the pudding " In spite of the fact that Tanner didn't start working on reading skills until later -Tanner has been a straight A student in all subjects. With intensive therapy and all the stress of not being able to communicate simple needs well, many of our children in preschool years don't have the same amount of kid time with no pressure " normal " kids have -don't underestimate the importance of play. They not only will catch up when they are ready if given the chance -they 'can' surpass others. Again in this group we are reporting many of our children that are " late talkers " have incredible memories -that's a great asset for being a top student! Some of the tricks to say that worked for Tanner: For the silent 'E' which turns the word mad into the word made for example All I would have to say if Tanner hesitated (which on this word he wouldn't) " the A is kicked " and Tanner would know the E is silent and the A " says it's name " . Reason -because the E used all it's energy to kick the A to say it's name -so now it's silent. I also say for silent letters like the 'H' in the word ghost. " The H has apraxia and is still learning to talk, but you'll hurt it's feelings if you forget he's there " Tanner gets 100% on spelling each week, no matter how difficult the spelling words are. I found the best way to teach him the words is to use multisensory fun ways. This is just two of them -I'll write the letters on his back as he says them for each word...but if he says the wrong letter I don't write it....play game show where we take turns being the contestant and game show host -jumping up and down etc. Either Glenn, Dakota or I are the ones who get the answers spelled wrong (we change our voices and pretend we are someone else. We'll sound out the word wrong and spell it wrong. I try to think of how a speech impaired child will say the word and spell it that way) and Tanner is always the one that is the contestant to spell it right. If Tanner is the game show host -one of us will get it right -but the first one will get it wrong. Tanner always laughs and has to correct us. For the one that won - he'll have to say what prize they won. We also do " teacher " where I'm the student and he teaches me the words -warns me about the silent letters -etc. I found that even though Tanner will spell each word right if given one at a time -if he has to put the words in a sentence -he broke down and spelled words he knows wrong. Once I told him to think of each word separate - " think game show " -he spells them right. When Tanner is reading long more complex words such as for example last night -circulatory (he's learning about blood cells now) he needs a cue to break it down. For example on his own last night when I said " Just break it down Tanner and think of it as four words " Tanner picked up a Jimmy Neutron Mc's toy and for each syllable he said -as he said it -he turned the toy's head. Sometimes his apraxia gets in the way of reading certain words at first. He'll read the word and say the last sound wrong -or the middle sound wrong. I'll correct him and point to the missed letter. He'll repeat the word and hesitate at the letter in question -visibly trying hard to say it right -but again say it wrong. We'll go over this a few times until I clap my hands -or give him some other cue to break it down. Once he says it right - I'll have him repeat it over and over at least three times. I'll then say the word about ten times over and over until he says " All right already! " and then we'll move on. If when we get to the word again he hesitates -I just have to clap or give a cue and he says " Oh yeah " and says it right very quickly. Then he just gets it on his own. Even though your daughter is now in second grade, due to her history of apraxia and even given the learning disabilities that run in the family, it may not be that she isn't reading at age level because she has an underlying learning disability as much as she may need that extra development time to learn to read just like she needed that extra developmental time to learn to talk. Learning to talk and learning to read. I can tell you as a parent that there are overlaps in how to teach both -and it's important to remember they are linked. Both require multisensory more so than in most children because our children may not be utilizing the same area of the brain as others to learn to read. However -once they learn -they have the potential to be superior students if you can maintain a healthy self esteem. Typically a child will learn to overcome apraxia through strategies, sometimes enough that it's not detectable to the untrained ear. But it's important to remember that communication needs become increasingly complex as the child ages, and school demands go from extremely simple (kindergarten) to extremely complex within a relatively short period of time. Once a child breaks down in their ability to keep up -they are stuck while the rest go on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ " Statistically, more American children suffer long-term life-harm from the process of learning to read than from parental abuse, accidents, and all other childhood diseases and disorders combined. In purely economic terms, reading related difficulties cost our nation more than the war on terrorism, crime, and drugs combined. " We need to reconceptualize what it means to learn to read and who's responsible for its success if we're going to deal with the problem. " - Dr. Grover Whitehurst, Director Institute of Education Sciences, Assistant Secretary of Education, U.S. Department of Education (9-10-03 Children of the Code interview). http://www.childrenofthecode.org/cotcintro.htm For personal reasons as he's now a " tween " I am going to remove the name of the following child that I know ;-) I can tell you we always kept _____ laughing -and always used multisensory. We would sit at dinner and I would say " Let's play a game. I'm going to say a word and everyone change one letter to make another word " This one is great to work on with a bunch of letters (you can use the fridge ones -they are pretty cheap and then you can play in the car) so you can pass the " word " around. Took ____ awhile to want to play. For the longest time he just sat and listened to/watched us -which was fine with me. I wasn't sure if he got the concept of rhyming -which to me is a fun way to learn to read -even though in academic theory it's not always the best way to learn...but I then found that by taking _____ to Seussville at Universal and reading all the Dr. Seuss books took off. My recommendation -Hop On Pop is an awesome book for children with speech problems -and was _____ favorite. Actually if your child isn't reading at all yet -also get a book called Hug -- by Jez Alborough. Almost every page has one word on it... " Hug " which can be said in all different ways with different voices/meanings -it's an awesome book for a number of reasons. ____ seemed to like to turn the pages of the book Hug and " read " to us. After awhile -he got into changing his voice. At first he just read the word the same way throughout. Like us he was " reading " (even though there are only a few different words in the whole book) and of course we made a big deal about " how advanced " ____ was that he could " read an entire book! " and " Look how big of a book it is! " Hug was not meant as a book for a six year old like _____which is how old he was when I found it for him -it's meant for babies. I didn't care. Like most other kids we were not working on reading prior to Kindergarten -we were working on speech -and outside of that I wanted him to be a kid, and there wasn't enough time in the day for all of it. So reading based on my research could take a back burner. (there are studies on this I've posted in the archives) I bought a " baby " book for ___ because in my mind I needed books for him that were so easy they would raise his confidence. Add confidence to the list of most important things you can give your child. Right after reading his " confidence " books -he's ready to learn -he's ready for the " hard " books. After having ____ read Hug alone -together we used to read " harder " books -at first back then -Dr. Seuss. Back then -Hug was his warm up. I would both let ___ sound out -and I would read to him and let him read back after me (think modeling when we teach them to talk) Then Dr. Seuss was his warm up -and now Danny and the Dinosaur is his warm up. His warm up of today was his " hard " book of yesterday. I believe that children like _____ need warm up time to get their motor planning going. Hard words are just words with silent letters (they are learning to talk ____ -they want to be there but don't make any sound yet) or long words (let's break this up to little words) and we use the same visual or auditory cues for long words in reading we use for long words in speech -clapping -fingers etc. So next time your child is trying to break down " snug " don't break it down to s -n -u- g. Try this and let me know how it goes. Break it into " Sn " " u " " g " and use three fingers to cue for each sound. Point to the Sn and cover the ug -and say " sn " and put up one finger. Then cover the sn and g so she only sees the " u " and put up two fingers and say 'U " and then do the same for the g (cover the rest) and use three fingers and say " g " At first each word is like pulling teeth -but then it clicks and they just click. Again -think warm up. Also going with all the knowledge of " right brained " vs " left brained " I tried to keep his reading as much as possible to the " right brain " I noticed with reading that if I have him concentrate on reading " with feeling " voice inflections, and we laugh and have fun with it -he reads much faster and more fluent than ever! I of course go crazy saying " Wow you can be an actor you read so well! " or I laugh because he reads it so funny -(cute) I do believe it's tricking his brain into using another area -kind of like the singing vs. talking aspect that is well documented for stutterers. For those that are diagnosed later in life with apraxia/dyspraxia you could try drama classes where they memorize a script. Same concept of reading (with feeling) and using that right hemisphere. " For Tanner...if I listened to all the professionals outside of knowledgeable ones like Dr. Agin: I would have believed he is " just " a late talker and would not have pushed for evaluations/EI I would have believed all that I read at the only two websites for apraxia when Tanner was first diagnosed. Which meant -no such thing as oral apraxia, low tone/hypotonia in someone Tanner's age. I would have believed that Tanner may never talk because " it depends " I would have believed that " speech impaired students are prone to being learning disabled " I just had a great conversation with Dr. Rosenthal the other day. All of you may want to start trying to put his research to practice. Read this and believe it's true about your speech impaired child: A child with any disability will compensate for this disability by being stronger in other areas than normal. Due to this -if given the chance, multisensory exposure, and belief in them -children that have expressive speech problems may be better at reading and writing than normal. I know that is not what research shows....yet. But it's what our group has proven for now a decade in that the majority in our group have children doing well in the mainstream. That will be proven once there is more advocacy for the verbal disabled. We already know the power of " self fufilling prophecy " believe speech impaired child will have problems in school -and you'll be right. Quote from Dr. Rosenthall's work. I suggest all of you that care for speech impaired children read this to understand the ignorance against the huge and growing population. Speech impairments are NOT linked to learning disabilities -but due to ignorance and slanted research from those that believe this -they made that a reality for some. Our group has proven this false. " For ethical reasons, the Oak School experiment only focused on favorable or positive expectations and their impact on intellectual competence, but it is reasonable to infer that unfavorable expectations could also lead to a corresponding decrease in performance. Often, these negative expectations are based on appearances and other factors that have little to do with actual intellectual ability " http://www.facultydirectory.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/pub/public_individual.pl?faculty=534 Do not underestimate our children -they may not just make it -they may excel above " normal " kids if given the chance (and the belief in them) And for good reason. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My theory is that because our children don't learn to talk like everyone else -that in contrast to the popular experience that most speech impaired children will have learning disabilities -if treated correctly -our kids may actually in many ways be even better students than most. Most of us have found our children have these die hard memories! Not a normal memory for a " normal " child -most kids you can get to forget a point by bringing up something else that interests them -not many of the children in this group! (of course you can never say " always " -just more often than not. Just like the trouble blowing the nose thing that I first brought up -this is yet another observation you will not read about in books...yet) When Tanner learns his spelling words -he not only knows how to spell even hard words -he tells me the word on the list (of ten each week) and then spells it -like his memory is a picture he can just look at. Perhaps -due to using a different pathway and developing such pathway -they have an edge we don't yet understand. You may want to read up on Helen Keller. My son was schooled in preschool in an oral based school for the hearing impaired/deaf. You don't have to talk to be able to read. " I knew then that 'w-a-t-e-r' meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, set it free! " Helen Keller 1880-1968 American writer and lecturer http://www.theglassceiling.com/biographies/bio20.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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