Re: Re: NOT Dr. Bob!

[Guest guest]

No!  Dr. Bob is still a fantastic guy.  The problematic school district was

were we first moved to - it is touted as one of the best in IL but, yikes, the

first year there they placed Josh in a classroom for severely autistic kids - I

fought all year to get him out of the classroom since he's not even on the

spectrum!  At the end of the year, the dist said, gosh, maybe this wasn't the

right placement.  DUH!!!  Fortunately, his teacher that year understood the

inappropriate placement and worked with him personally all year and he wound up

doing well.  (she even did kidcare over the summers - she was great with

him) The second year he had a terrific teacher who happened to have a younger

brother with similar issues to Josh so she keyed into him right away and he did

well.  It was the last year there that we had all the problems.  It was just

horrible and he is still dealing with various traumas.  Fortunately, this new

school dist is smaller and

they seem to really understand the sensory issues in particular and how they

are affecting so many other aspects of Josh's life.  I would like to get in

touch with Robin!

 

I can't tell you how many times I've talked about roller coaster therapy!  I

would like to try getting Josh to Disney before he gets too much older!

 

Sherry and Josh

From: kiddietalk <kiddietalk@...>

Subject: [ ] Re: Nuttriiveda - what is it?

Date: Sunday, February 21, 2010, 5:42 PM

 

I am so happy to hear that things are going so awesome now -outside of the break

and seizures

I remember however that Josh was reacting to all the stress when you were first

going through the divorce -so it must be just catch up now which is what it

sounds like and he's making great gains! Thanks fantastic! With the abuse that

went on -this had nothing to do with the same school the amazing Dr. Bob was at

right??? I will be heartbroken if it was -who could we trust if we couldn't

trust Dr. Bob??!! OK a bit dramatic -but really -it has to be he wasn't involved

in the abuse right?

You have got to get in touch with Mel's mom Robin -they 'did' sue the PA school

system for abuse and won. And PS -if you guys ever come to Florida let me know

-I'll meet you since it would probably be at Disney or Universal- we are the

ride family still!

Here's the message I've sent out so many times with advice from Dr. Bob)

And...Here is a great message on how to test children who are

globally apraxic from one of our member's (Sherry) child's doctor -

" Dr. Bob " You can use this in addition to what's in The Late Talker

to help advocate. (Hurray for " Dr. Bob " ! The type of

neuropsychologist we all would love to take our child to)

" Summary of assessment procedures

Children with significant language and motor skills delays

E. Friedle, Ph.D.

Clinical/Neuropsych ologist

Formalized assessment of children with low incidence disablitities

does not

often provide accurate or practical information about their cognitive

functioning skills. Such assessmenet does provide evidence that

these

children often have not learned how to respond in direct one-to-one

reciprocal testing situations, or that they are unable to respond in

those

situations due to the nature of their disabilities. The lack of

response

should not be considered then, necessarily, as a global and fixed

delay in

cognitive/intellect ual potential. Developmental theorists and

practitioners

have long known that cognitive growth is not only enhanced, but also

dependent upon opportunities to experience a wide variety of sensory

stimuli

in an interactive relationship. Problem solving skills, analytical

reasoning, and decision-making are all formalized, cognitively, when

integration of information is ongoing. Language and motor skill

limitations

often prevent the integration and experiences and thus certain

cognitive

growth waits until such experiences may be provided. Children may

have

learned to problem-solve and reason in ways that are not assessed by

formalized evaluations and are only recognizable when the child is

allowed

to experience sensory information in a manner most productive to

them. It

is often then necessary for the examiner to assess what

opportunities and

experiences the child may have had already, how an assessment may

prompt the

child to show what they can do with various stimuli and how problem

solving,

analytical, and decision making skills can be exhibited by a child

in a

non-formalized approach.

The purpose of an assessment request has to be relevant to the child

and to

their experiences, i.e. the child needs to see some purpose for

providing a

response. A very simple example of this premise is: asking them to

name an

object may result in no response, but asking them to get the object

may show

a knowledgeable response.

Children with language and motor deficits often play within the

restrictions

that their limitations have presented and this " changed " pattern of

play,

from what is seen with non-disabled children, can be a direct

reflection of

their ability to problem solve and reason in play. An example for

this may

be when a child finds that laying things down and flat makes it

easier to

manipulate, or that moving things closer or out of the way

facilitates motor

planning and play. Often the child may see no purpose to expand

experiences, or have not figured out independently how to change

their play

patterns.

Restrictions in movement or language limit the experiences a child

has had

with objects and stimuli. The need to practice simple movements, to

hear

the words that go along with those movements, and then to ask a

child to

duplicate the movements and/or the words can greatly facilitate

cognitive

growth. If a child can readily make such duplicated responses then

the

potential for cognitive growth at that point presents no

limitations. An

examiner can lead the play situation in these types of activities

and note

the ability of the child to engage in the " play " at a different

level. The

purpose is then presented clearly for the child, both for the

language and

for the movement, and thus becomes an active part of their

developmental

growth and understanding. Sometimes showing them or asking them to

change

their approach results in a larger perspective of possibilities in

play.

The examiner is an active participant in the assessment approach,

engaged

with the child in the semi-directed play type of assessment. The

examiner

notes closely when a child shows a lack of understanding of the

language

presented or an inability to make the movements requested. At all

times the

examiner is assessing how well the child appears to follow the

purpose of

the activity or the change in direction of an activity. "

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