Inconsistency with skills, and other stuff

[Guest guest]

This may be a silly question, but, anyone whose kids are wildly

inconsistent with skills. For example, is on a coloring, drawing

kick. He gets absorbed in it. Sometimes, he makes recognizable

objects, gingerbread house, xmas tree, etc. Other times, he will do

these (for lack of a better word) abstract type pictures. He seems to

stim on taking the crayons/oil pastels and just blending the colors

together, not making any particular picture at all. Sometimes its a

combo of this, scribbles, shapes and lines. Once in awhile this ends

up coming out looking good. He will sometimes label the more abstract

looking ones, making a triangle and calling it a xmas tree, (much

younger NT children do this as well). He does have the skill to do it

more realistically. He also seems to do the same thing with language,

like call one of the drawings-flower, when he can say-look, I drew a

flower ( a longer sentence). The other thing is, that, it seems like

he is doing much better on a higher dose of his adderall, we were

ready to switch to concerta or ritalin, but, Ive heard less than good

stuff about this for autistic kids.

Thea

[Guest guest]

> This may be a silly question, <<<

Nope, it's not a silly question.

But we haven't seen that yet. Except for reading, she seemed

to " read " larger words " better " , before someone tried to " teach " her

how to read them. Same with writing.

Make sense?

Penny

[Guest guest]

> This may be a silly question, but, anyone whose kids are wildly

> inconsistent with skills.>>

Thea,

Inconsistent skills is one of the hallmarks of dyspraxia---real

common in kids with sensory stuff going on. There is also a language

piece...they have trouble categorizing things in a way that is useful

to them...so there is a memory component that doesn't work in a

typical way. I have been reading about this stuff... is SO

inconsistent in what he can and can't do.

Raena

[Guest guest]

-

Raena,

Could you tell me where you got the info on this. It sounds like it

would be helpful. The sensory stuff makes sense, if too much

overstimulation is going on, it could make one distracted more. The

dyspraxia too, I think I also heard that it has something to do with

organizing thoughts/language.

Thea

-- In parenting_autism@y..., " rgr4us " <rgr4us@y...> wrote:

>

> > This may be a silly question, but, anyone whose kids are wildly

> > inconsistent with skills.>>

>

> Thea,

>

> Inconsistent skills is one of the hallmarks of dyspraxia---real

> common in kids with sensory stuff going on. There is also a

language

> piece...they have trouble categorizing things in a way that is

useful

> to them...so there is a memory component that doesn't work in a

> typical way. I have been reading about this stuff... is SO

> inconsistent in what he can and can't do.

>

> Raena

[Guest guest]

-Penny,

That does make sense. At school, they teach reading primarily through

sight reading. is getting confused, because he tends not to use

his phonics to learn to read new words (he can do this). He tries to

guess the word based on what he's memorized at school. I think

sometimes teachers mess things up.

Thea-

- In parenting_autism@y..., " vegasgirl_35 " <nospam@p...> wrote:

>

> > This may be a silly question, <<<

>

> Nope, it's not a silly question.

>

> But we haven't seen that yet. Except for reading, she seemed

> to " read " larger words " better " , before someone tried to " teach "

her

> how to read them. Same with writing.

>

> Make sense?

>

> Penny

[Guest guest]

> -

> Raena,

> Could you tell me where you got the info on this. It sounds like it

> would be helpful. The sensory stuff makes sense, if too much

> overstimulation is going on, it could make one distracted more. The

> dyspraxia too, I think I also heard that it has something to do

with organizing thoughts/language. >>

Thea,

One of the most readable books on this is " SenseAbilities " by Ann

Trott. She spends a lot of time talking about the impact of sensory

integration dysfunction on practical and academic skills. One of the

things she mentions is that memory challenges are often linked to

auditory processing glitches...which makes a ton of sense.

Another book that talks a lot about how visual learners process

information is " Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome " , by

Oelwein...she talks about how kids who are strong visual

learners (like kids with Down Syndrome and kids with autism) store

information and access it when needing to do language arts

activities...really interesting.

A good user friendly book on memory in general is " Your Memory: A

User's Guide " , by Alan Baddely. He's an expert on short term

memory...

There are more, but I'll have to get back to you. Things are pretty

hectic here right now...holiday shopping/doing, endless kids'

programs to attend, doing ' IEP, organizing our Feb.

workshop...way too much for the time and mental capacity I have at

the time...

Raena