Re: for jodi Re: Primordial dwarfism and other things

[Guest guest]

dear Jodi.. i am relieved to hear another mother say that their child has

learning difficulties. I know my son is not retarded but i do know he is slow

with most things. he went to regular high school but was in special ed for all

classes. he is now and wants to get a job so i think i will see about some

training classes so he can learn to do different things.

Re: Primordial dwarfism and other things

Camilla,

I wanted to comment on your question about visual perceptual

problems. I'm a special ed teacher and the mom of Max, 16 with RSS.

I don't know if kids with RSS are more likely to have VP problems or

not. But I do know that they are more likely to have some sort of

learning disability. In other words, they are more at risk. This

results from a theory that when the kids are very young, they have

undiagnosed hypoglycemia. The brain does not get enough of what it

needs to grow, so LD can result. That is a very simple

explanation.

Do all RSS kids have learning problems? No. In fact, we have some

who are very, very intelligent and are way above average.

Just be careful. Some of the old literature does state that RSS

kids are mentally retarded. This is NOT true. The reason for this

statement, as I heard directly from Dr. Silver himself, is that RSS

kids are more likely to have motor delays. It used to be that any

motor delays were immediately markers for mental retardation. They

associated late walking with intelligence. Fortunately, the medical

and educational communities have become better informed and they do

not make these associations.

My son does have LD. He is classified as communication impaired

because of his difficulties with understanding the nuances of

everyday language. He communicates just like any other 16 year old,

but he forgets how to describe things and does not always understand

things that he is taught in school. He requires that subjects be

taught in smaller pieces in smaller groups of kids. The teacher

needs to make sure that he/she says something and then says it again

in different words to make sure he understands it. BUT he has a

great personality and that will get him through a lot.

Jodi Z

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