Re: Single Mother

[Guest guest]

Hi single mother,

I have an 11-year old RSS son. He has also had 7 sets of ear tubes.

He struggles in school, and will soon be tested for learning

disabilities. He had major developmental delays when he was younger,

but cognitively always seemed in target. I think he is still within

the normal range cognitively, but I believe he has some processing &

retention issues. We will see what the testing reveals.

I have some questions about your son. How old was he when he got his

first set of ear tubes & had he been having infections a long time

before that? Was his hearing ever tested before & after tubes? It is

possible that his speech is very delayed, because he had hearing

problems early on. This would also impact his learning. It may not be

that he has learning disabilities, just that he couldn't hear too well

when he was younger, making him miss out on a lot of learning

opportunities. Of course, I don't know you or your son, so I apologize

if I am totally off base.

As far as his reading goes, please tell me what he can do. Does he

know his letters? Upper & lower case? Does he know the sounds? Can

he segment words into individual sounds? Can he read any sight words?

Has he been in the same school since kindergarten? How is his

attendance? There are so many factors that go into learning to read.

Professionally, I am a reading specialist in a special education

school. All the students in my school have emotional problems, but

only a few have learning disabilities. Many have difficulty learning

to read. When was your son officially diagnosed with a learning

disability? What is his IQ? These are all things you need to consider

to figure out why he is having difficulties in school. Feel free to

email me privately if you would rather not answer these questions on

the listserve. My email address is: capuano_k@...

You should also contact the MAGIC Foundation to get some literature

about RSS if you don't already have some. There is also an annual

convention in Chicago in July. I highly recommend going to this if it

is feasible for you to do so.

Kim C.

Subject: Re: Hello

I was told my son had RSS when he turned 2.5 years old Today he is 8

years old looks like a 4.5 year old talks like a 3 year old he just

started to talk he has had 7 sets of tubes for his ears because he

keeps getting really bad ear infections he weighs 35 pounds still in a

car seat he also has gerd and he has learning disabilities and he can

not have any milk products due to a milk protien allergy He is In 2nd

grade but doing preschool work he cannt read i just need some help

understanding this disease i am a single mother