(tween) Apraxia daughter and pre puberty questions

[Guest guest]

Hi all, It has been some time since I have been on this site. Things have been

going pretty ok, I say " been " because my daughter who turned 11 last week and

has been developing more has also been showing me moody, and defiancy since all

of these changes occured. My sweet, mommy's girl is now " not so much " . She is

definatley going through changes mentally and pysically. She has been on Omega

3-6-9 and EFA's now for well over 8 months to a year. She curently takes 3 of

the Omega 3-6-9's and 2 of the EFA's. I am never quite sure how to raise it or

if it is too much. We don't see any Doctors for this because basically no one

in my area understands the benefits for children with Apraxia, so I have been

using trial and error. I have read that everytime a child goes through growth

spurts while on fish oils may run into some behaviours that are unwanted. She

has moderate anxiety from when she was in 2nd grade and tormented and teased by

boys in her school. That has minimised because I placed her in a different

school, her confidence is throught the roof for now. But she still shows some

anxiety when she runs into those boys. My question is this: WHat can I do for

my pre teen Apraxic daughter who is going through puberty? Can anyone else on

this site share anything with me who have children of the same age as mine and

their experiences? Thank you, I really hope I can get some answers or at the

least be able to share with someone who is going through the same thing...

<3, Traci

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I don't have any advice, but would be interested to see if anyone does for those

puberty issues.

My son is 11 and lately we've been getting some serious attitude from a boy who

is usually easy going. Funny thing is that when he gives me the attitude, and I

call him on it, he will later come up to me and apologize.

I know most of his peers are going thru this as his teacher is ready to pull her

hair out!

The bully thing is something that we have gone thru as well...sadly many times.

I can tell when he is anxious about this because he suddenly has a headache,

stomach ache, sore leg, sore hip....you get the idea. We have addressed the

problems with the school, and again sadly, many times, but this year we have a

new principal who is totally on top of it. So I just tell my son that if someone

is bothering him to tell a teacher right away, then tell me after school so I

can keep on top of it with the staff.

If he's really anxious about it, I just tell his aide to give him something else

to do at recess time. That seems to work getting his mind off the biggest bully

because they usually they give my son a " job " to do and he thinks that great.

This is the first year we've had a great principal. It's such a treat to see

someone who is an out of the box thinker as well as someone who does what they

say they are going to do.

I hope the attitude thing gets better for you. Me....I'm seriously thinking

about locking him in a room until puberty is over....kidding!

>

> Hi all, It has been some time since I have been on this site. Things have

been going pretty ok, I say " been " because my daughter who turned 11 last week

and has been developing more has also been showing me moody, and defiancy since

all of these changes occured. My sweet, mommy's girl is now " not so much " . She

is definatley going through changes mentally and pysically. She has been on

Omega 3-6-9 and EFA's now for well over 8 months to a year. She curently takes 3

of the Omega 3-6-9's and 2 of the EFA's. I am never quite sure how to raise it

or if it is too much. We don't see any Doctors for this because basically no

one in my area understands the benefits for children with Apraxia, so I have

been using trial and error. I have read that everytime a child goes through

growth spurts while on fish oils may run into some behaviours that are unwanted.

She has moderate anxiety from when she was in 2nd grade and tormented and teased

by boys in her school. That has minimised because I placed her in a different

school, her confidence is throught the roof for now. But she still shows some

anxiety when she runs into those boys. My question is this: WHat can I do for

my pre teen Apraxic daughter who is going through puberty? Can anyone else on

this site share anything with me who have children of the same age as mine and

their experiences? Thank you, I really hope I can get some answers or at the

least be able to share with someone who is going through the same thing...

>

> <3, Traci

>

[Guest guest]

Yea my dd knows she is doing wrong because she will appologize as well. I dont

have any complaints about attitude at school but at home she thinks she ownss

the " joint " lol! I really hope someone with esperience replies because I am

really wanting to know what others are doing. Thanks for your story :-)

> >

> > Hi all, It has been some time since I have been on this site. Things have

been going pretty ok, I say " been " because my daughter who turned 11 last week

and has been developing more has also been showing me moody, and defiancy since

all of these changes occured. My sweet, mommy's girl is now " not so much " . She

is definatley going through changes mentally and pysically. She has been on

Omega 3-6-9 and EFA's now for well over 8 months to a year. She curently takes 3

of the Omega 3-6-9's and 2 of the EFA's. I am never quite sure how to raise it

or if it is too much. We don't see any Doctors for this because basically no

one in my area understands the benefits for children with Apraxia, so I have

been using trial and error. I have read that everytime a child goes through

growth spurts while on fish oils may run into some behaviours that are unwanted.

She has moderate anxiety from when she was in 2nd grade and tormented and teased

by boys in her school. That has minimised because I placed her in a different

school, her confidence is throught the roof for now. But she still shows some

anxiety when she runs into those boys. My question is this: WHat can I do for

my pre teen Apraxic daughter who is going through puberty? Can anyone else on

this site share anything with me who have children of the same age as mine and

their experiences? Thank you, I really hope I can get some answers or at the

least be able to share with someone who is going through the same thing...

> >

> > <3, Traci

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Hi

I guess when I really think about it, puberty is just something " typical " that I

(and all the others) will just have to deal with! I just get confused when it's

a " normal phase " . I've been dealing with the " special needs " stuff for so long

that I get surprised by the regular stuff!

All I know now is that if it's behavior that I don't want, he gets disiplined

like everyone else. Stuff that I know is anxiety or sensory based gets dealt

with from my bag of tricks for that.

Bottom. Line is that either way, I deal with it, but boy, they sure know how to

get on that last nerve don't they!!!

> > >

> > > Hi all, It has been some time since I have been on this site. Things have

been going pretty ok, I say " been " because my daughter who turned 11 last week

and has been developing more has also been showing me moody, and defiancy since

all of these changes occured. My sweet, mommy's girl is now " not so much " . She

is definatley going through changes mentally and pysically. She has been on

Omega 3-6-9 and EFA's now for well over 8 months to a year. She curently takes 3

of the Omega 3-6-9's and 2 of the EFA's. I am never quite sure how to raise it

or if it is too much. We don't see any Doctors for this because basically no

one in my area understands the benefits for children with Apraxia, so I have

been using trial and error. I have read that everytime a child goes through

growth spurts while on fish oils may run into some behaviours that are unwanted.

She has moderate anxiety from when she was in 2nd grade and tormented and teased

by boys in her school. That has minimised because I placed her in a different

school, her confidence is throught the roof for now. But she still shows some

anxiety when she runs into those boys. My question is this: WHat can I do for

my pre teen Apraxic daughter who is going through puberty? Can anyone else on

this site share anything with me who have children of the same age as mine and

their experiences? Thank you, I really hope I can get some answers or at the

least be able to share with someone who is going through the same thing...

> > >

> > > <3, Traci

> > >

> >

>

[Guest guest]

My son Tanner last we checked was in stage 2 of puberty but I suspect he may be

further along now. He's a good kid and while he doesn't always listen now when

you first ask him to do something as he did before (the only bad thing since NV

-he's normalized in this area now as well as all the other wonderful ones!)no

he's not moody. But he's never had a teasing problem and he's doing wonderful

in school and in sports. He and his brother have many of the same friends now

-one of the good things since NV and our home has become a sort of boys club

almost every weekend now where typically we have between 3 and 5 boys sleep over

-swim, play basketball, go jet skiing, make s'mores in the evening, eat us out

of house and home!!! So I'm not just dealing now with a 14 and 16 year old -but

a bunch of them.

Some of you that are friends with me on Facebook know that on April Fool's day

which ended up a Friday when the boys all wanted to come over (again!) this

weekend -I said they only could if everyone went with me to see Hop- because my

husband didn't want to go. I actually think they all thought I was saying it

for April Fools but I made them all bring money for the movie -and we went.

They were well behaved and said they never would have gone to see this movie if

I didn't make them all go -but they thought it was OK to good. We went to the

late showing and guess what? There were other teens there as well!

For those reading this with younger kids I have below archives on how to help

your child prevent being teased -and for those that have children being teased I

have advice for that as well.

Before I go on about the teasing -Traci you say you are using 3 Omega 369 and 2

ProEFA -then you are using 5 of the same fish oils capsules daily? Omega 369 is

the commercial line of ProEFA from the professional line. Did you mean to say

you were using 3 ProEFA and 2 ProEPA? Because we typically have found a 2 to 1

ratio of ProEFA to ProEPA to be better. So either way sounds like your fish oil

formula is off slightly. You'll find typically more surges with the right

formula. I have a page on the fish oils here

http://pursuitofresearch.org/2010/12/01/therapeutic-use-of-fish-oil-for-apraxia-\

autism-and-other-communication-impairments/ and please look into NV as well-

http://pursuitofresearch.org/getting-started/

But back to teasing -for Tanner who was diagnosed severe profound apraxia- which

affected oral and verbal but he also was diagnosed with sensory integration

dysfunction, hypotonia etc....I raised him to prepare him that he may be bullied

from before he started public school in the mainstream for kindergarten. I read

up on how to prevent bullying and teasing which is basically keeping self esteem

high, communication open and helping your child make friends. I also made sure

Tanner was aware of his verbal impairment -why he had it (see below -I made it

all age appropriate) so he was comfortable with it. In general I made Tanner a

bad target because bullies look for a target. In addition to this I raised

awareness through something called " circle of friends " because bullying for

special needs is typically just due to fear and misunderstanding. In general

bullies have poor self esteem themselves -and they are children too -so once you

understand a bit more of what you are dealing with it helps you help your child

avoid it.

I can tell you that learning about bullying and how to make your child less of a

target and keeping your child's self esteem high are two of the best approaches.

A child with special needs does not have to go through much more teasing than

any other child.

But saying all of that -I can't promise you your child will NEVER be teased

because just about all are teased here or there...in fact I'm sure any one of

you reading this did something you were teased about- may have been something

silly you laughed off. That's the point -you accepted that you did something

silly and it didn't bother you that your friend or co worker laughed. If you

don't know what I mean watch any number of Youtube videos for " fail " !!

One other thought is that those that are bullied can become bullies to others.

It is possible that these children that are lashing out to you as a parent are

taking out on you the pain they are in from being teased at school by others? I

have info below on how to open the doors of communication with your child which

can help lessen this. I only dealt with it a handful of times when Tanner was

younger so I have suggestions on how to deal with it in older students from

various publications.

Below I start off with an archive about a book on stuttering because once again

even though we may not all be dealing with stuttering you can pull from this

other condition with more awareness to use the methods to help your child.

Below that are archives that have helped my son and then some more strategies

and links to help your child become less of a target (if he or she already is)

New Approach Helps Stuttering Children Cope with Bullying, Teasing

Libraries Life News (Social and Behavioral Sciences)

Newswise — A new book from a Purdue University speech-language pathologist

says more needs to be done to address the bullying that often results in

more anxiety for children who stutter than the speech disorder itself.

" Working on techniques to cope with stuttering are not enough because

children's hurt feelings are getting in the way, " said , who

has worked for more than two decades on developing speech therapy at

Purdue's Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in the College

of Liberal Arts. " Even the children who receive therapy to help them live

with stuttering continue to have negative feelings as they grow older. Their

ability to communicate is still hindered by the shame and embarrassment they

feel about stuttering, which is often brought on from bullying and teasing. "

, whose recent publications and presentations focus on the role of

shame and guilt in stuttering, teamed with two other speech-language

pathologists - J. Yaruss from the University of Pittsburgh and

W. Quesal from Western Illinois University - to co-write " Bullying and

Teasing: Helping Children who Stutter. " Nina A. Reardon, a specialist in

fluency disorders in private practice in Illinois, also contributed.

The public school system is usually responsible for providing the majority

of speech-therapy services for children who stutter, said.

" However, most public schools' resources are stretched, and children may not

receive the kind of individual services that would be best, " he said. " In

addition, the anxiety children have about stuttering may be overlooked,

especially in large-group therapy settings. "

Parents can help by talking to their children about bullying behavior. The

" Dos " for parents, outlined in the book, include working with the child to

develop a plan for handling a bully. Then, parents can practice with the

child on how to talk to a bully or help children remember to leave to find a

group of friends or stay close to a teacher or other adult.

Parents often make the mistake of telling children to ignore bullies or

fight back.

" Children really can't ignore a bully because what they say bothers them too

much, " said. " Fighting back really doesn't address the problem and is

more likely to result in more problems with the bully. "

Teachers also can learn how to make stuttering an open topic of discussion

in classrooms. visits classrooms to talk with students about what

stuttering is and about some famous people, such as Earl and

Winston Churchill, who stuttered as children.

One exercise he does with the schoolchildren may be surprising.

" The best part is when a stuttering child teaches his or her classmates how

to stutter, " said.

The 110-page book ($8) was funded and published last month by the National

Stuttering Association, which is the world's largest self-help group for

people who stutter. There are sections in the book for parents, teachers,

speech-language pathologists and children who stutter. The book can be

purchased from the National Stuttering Association by calling (800) 937-8888

or visiting <http://www.nsastutter.org/catalog/detail.php?id=46>.

Stuttering, which is characterized by sound repetition, long pauses or a

speech block while attempting to say a word, affects about 5 percent of

preschoolers and about 1 percent of the adult population. Disruptions from

stuttering can vary in a person's speech. In some cases stuttering may

happen infrequently, and it can prevent others from participating in daily

conversations.

" Everyone knows someone who stutters, and everyone thinks they know how to

fix it, " said , who also collaborates on research in Purdue's

Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences that looks at brain

activity when people stutter. " They think it's as easy as 'If only the

person would just relax and take it easy,' but that's not what stuttering

is. "

Stuttering is thought to be a complex combination of biology and faulty

speech learning, said. It is diagnosed when a child has been

stuttering consistently for six months to a year. Family history is a

factor, and boys tend to stutter more than girls.

Approximately 70 percent of preschool children outgrow stuttering, and with

early therapy the recovery rate is even higher. School-age children and

adults are rarely cured. However, speech pathologists can help these people

to dramatically reduce the severity of their stuttering and help them to

make talking more enjoyable.

" There really is not a publication like this available for the general

public, " said Tammy , National Stuttering Association director of

operations. " We constantly hear stories about how children are bullied

because of their stuttering, and our adult members talk about how hard

teasing made it for them to do the things they wanted. Research supports the

fact that children who stutter are more likely to be bullied than other

children, and even worse, they are bullied more often. "

Related Web sites:

:

<http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/aus/pages/fac_staff/professional/murphy.

html>

National Stuttering Association: <http://www.WeStutter.org>

PHOTO CAPTION:

, a speech-language pathologist at Purdue's Department of

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts, worked

with the National Stuttering Foundation to publish a book that helps parents

and teachers deal with bullying and other self-esteem issues that children

who stutter face. The 110-page book ($8) is titled, " Bullying and Teasing:

Helping Children who Stutter. " researches the role of shame and guilt

in stuttering. (Purdue News Service photo/ Umberger)

A publication-quality photograph is available at

<http://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/+2005/murphy-stuttering.jpg>

STORY AND PHOTO CAN BE FOUND AT:

<http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2005/050119..stuttering.html

>

Note to Journalists: A publication-quality photograph of is

available at <http://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/+2005/murphy-stuttering.jpg>

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Wed Oct 23, 2002 5:37 pm

Subject: Brown University Communication Disorders

Communication Disorders

Recognizing and Treating Stuttering in Children and Adults

Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter 18(10):1, 3-4,

2002. © 2002 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.

Posted 10/17/2002

Introduction

Children who stutter confront a number of challenges that can affect

the way they feel about themselves. Some children who stutter may

experience feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, or grief. These

feelings may be further compounded by their difficulty in

communicating such emotions, leading to additional feelings of

isolation, frustration and shame. As children get older, the

psychological effects of stuttering may be even more profound, as

their role in peer and social settings becomes more important.

" I don't like to stutter ... When I have fights with kids at school,

they call me 'stuttermouth' and I hate that. I don't like

stuttering. I think it is embarrassing, and I don't like it. " --

Anne, age 9

Stuttering is sometimes difficult to understand for the child who

stutters as well as for those around the child. Parents, teachers

and peers who do not know how to react to stuttering may make the

situation worse by trying to finish the child's sentence, or by

telling the child to " talk slowly, " " take a deep breath, " or " say it

again. "

" ...when I am with people I don't know and they ask me something ...

I try very hard not to stutter. And then I stutter a lot more. When

I want to say something very quickly, I get stuck, too. Then people

start guessing what I wanted to say. They mean well, but I don't

like it at all because a want to say it myself. " -- Sebastian, age 13

Educating the stuttering child and his or her parents, teachers and

other family members about the symptoms, course and causes of the

speech disorder may help the child feel more comfortable when

speaking and encourage better fluency.

Re: School Environment and Coping

Hi Quix

With or without a speech impairment some children are teased for any

or no reason...it's up to us adults to help when we can -and we can!

For example -Quix is an interesting/different name. Did kids say

anything mean about your name while you were growing up? If

yes...how did you/your parents deal with it if you recall.

I am so sorry to hear about what happened to your child and the

inexcusable rude comment of his classmate. Do you know the

child/classmate that said " Hey, it's the weird one. He can't sit

here. " ? If you don't know who it was -find out and report it to

both that child's mother as well as the school professionals

immediately -and schedule a circle of friends for his class (more

below on this). Children should not be allowed to mock others -and

the fact it happened in front of you (!)...the parent...that tells

me that both this school and/or at least this child, is out of

control. Of course you should be afraid for your child in this

school when you are not around...be VERY afraid! Children should

feel secure in school -they have that right. In addition to the

advice on the situation that passed -going ahead be on offense

instead of defense when you can.

I always assumed Tanner would be teased at some point and prepared

him for it -thing is just by preparing him I may have helped prevent

it! I can assure you that you can have a child that is " different "

and in the mainstream and still not teased...even popular. Just

like any other child. There are ways to prevent teasing -for

example here's some info in the following:

" A Unique Simple Solution to the Bullying Problem

http://www.bullies2buddies.com/

Sam wears glasses and gets called four-eyes all day long. He

believes he is being called four-eyes because he wears glasses. But

Sam is wrong. Maybe he wears glasses, but that's not the reason he

gets teased. Bullies2Buddies.com has a complete, free online manual,

How to Stop Being Teased and Bullied without Really Trying can be

downloaded at http://bullies2buddies.com/manual/kids/index.html.

Most kids can learn how to stop being victimized by simply reading

the manual. The website also has a free manual for parents and

teachers, A Revolutionary Guide to Reducing Aggression between

Children which can be downloaded at

http://bullies2buddies.com/manual/adult/index.html. This manual

teaches adults how to dramatically reduce bullying between kids with

almost no effort, while increasing students' emotional maturity and

independence. It enables teachers to go back to being teachers

instead of policemen and judges "

I know you are upset now -but take it where it's from -a child.

Children have to be taught -and even many adults don't " get " apraxia

or speech impairments. Most assume that if you have a speech

impairment you are slow...but if you wear glasses you are a

brilliant book worm -both beliefs are rarely proven true because

the average person has average IQ -with or without a speech

impairment or glasses.

The best way to stop teasing in a child is educate them about your

child in a way that's age appropriate. We've been fortunate in that

Tanner has no trouble in making or keeping friends -and the two or

three times he was teased we dealt with it in the ways outlined

below in the archives. Today if someone teases Tanner, he'd react

the way any other child would. Either say something back to them,

ignore them, tell on them to an adult, or tackle them...and he LOVES

football so he knows how to tackle really well.

Archives on this:

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Sun Aug 14, 2005 3:19 pm

Subject: Re: Dealing with teasing kiddietalk

Hi ,

It does break your heart, but...

This is a subject that affects almost all humans at some point.

Some more and/or longer then others. It's how we deal with teasing,

and how we teach our children and those that tease them to respect

themselves & others that counts. Not all children with speech

impairments have to be teased, or teased more then the norm.

It can be a once in a while thing like it was for my son. Just stop

the

staring, which means curiosity, by the 'circle of friends' I explain

below before it affects your son's self esteem. Tanner's " Mr. Cool "

today -has tons of friends, and knock on wood is not teased at all

for not saying everything the right way or fast enough all the time

by other children.

Have you read The Late Talker -we cover this in there.

Here are some archives on this from this group:

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:02 pm

Subject: Re: school incident

Hi Corina!

A perfect opportunity for a small " circle of friends! " I have more

on that in an archive below.

I make sure when I talk to kids who are questioning I also say " He

feels bad at times that he's still learning to talk, but he's very

smart and knows everything you say to him and he can't wait to talk

more to you! " And with kids always add in " You can help him

because kids have a way of understanding each other even better than

adults if the teacher doesn't understand him. " Kids like to feel

important!

Most teasing is due to not

understanding what the issue is/ignorance -the more children you

explain

things to in a child appropriate way -the less chance of teasing and

the greater chance of better acceptance. Speaking of which also say

to the kids:

" Now that you know, if you see anyone ever teasing him it will make

him feel so much better if you stick up for him and tell them to

stop. " And say things like " Everyone learns to walk and everyone

learns to talk "

No reason to feel bad about not being able to speak as well anyway -

it didn't stop Scooby Doo or Ozzy from mega success!

~~~~~~~~~start of archives (two)

From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:43 am

Subject: Re: What do I say?

I am so proud of you!!! I smiled reading what you said to your son -

what a great mommy you are!!! This is such an important topic so I'm

so glad you brought this up -self esteem is so precious -and

important to keep high for our children.

All kids can feel bad about themselves at times -all kids can be

teased at times -so all of that is normal. It's how we help them

deal and learn to overcome. It's how we have a " conversation " with

a child who is feeling bad about their inabilities to have full

conversations.

When a child suddenly notices they are different -I like to rule out

why. What's the sudden change? I mean think about it -if children

didn't start school until 7 and there were no children his age in

the neighborhood -how would a 6 year old know he's

different...unless someone tells him, or it becomes that obvious

because he's around a bunch of others his age who easily do what he

can't -talk well.

Your son is at the age where he would be aware of differences,

especially if he is schooled with 'normal' speech wise children.

And school must have just started for your son. So that should be

number one place to look for this sudden awareness, and think about

talking to the teacher to ask her if something is going on there. A

good thing you can do just in case even to prevent problems is

the " circle of friends " Please let me know if you need to know how

to do that.

Is your son in kindergarten or first grade now? What type of

placement? I would also find out from him if anyone has teased

him. There has been just two (thankfully) situations since Tanner

was in school where there was a child that teased him about the way

he talks. Both times -Tanner came home moody -not himself. He also

typically loves going to school and was resistant to go around those

two times. What is interesting is that both times at first when I

asked him " did someone tease you at school? " Tanner said " No " The

way I got it out of him was by relating (OK so it wasn't true -but

he doesn't know that) by saying " It's OK to let Daddy and me know if

someone teased you -sometimes people say bad things to you when they

are having a bad day, or they don't feel good about themselves.

Like maybe their dog just died and they are in a bad mood. Or maybe

they are jealous because you are so smart and they don't feel that

smart. " and then I would say something like " I remember one day I

had to go to the bathroom and I tried to say " I have to go to the

bathroom " and instead said " I have potty " and the other kids thought

I pooped in my pants " I figured that had to be worse than any

speech blooper he had! And you know stuff like that works for

Tanner -makes him laugh at me -and at himself. Then he tells me

what really happened.

Perhaps it's due to those two times early on that Tanner is never

teased now. He knows how to handle it -it's hard for a bully to

tease someone who doesn't get upset. And speaking of bully -as the

list owner please let me know off list who is invading your privacy -

and I'll report them to and the FBI. This is a family

grouplist with zero tolerance for bullies.

We chose to talk to Tanner about his speech impairment in a child

appropriate way prior to him entering kindergarten just in case he

was teased, or wondered why he had to work so hard on something that

came so easily to others -talking. And the good news is that in

addition to what you already did -it's not to late to add a bit more

if you feel appropriate. I found it to be most important for school

age children with speech impairments.

I told Tanner that I was an artist in New York for years -so the

word different for me is not a bad thing at all -normal was a bad

thing to me! Being different is not unusual anyway -we are all

different. You can ask your son how many people in his school/does

he know that wear glasses. Remind him that wearing glasses means

that person needs help seeing, just like he needs some help

talking. Their vision may not be as good as yours, you can say, but

that doesn't mean that those people can't do or be whatever they

want -just like you. I told Tanner about Helen Keller -and about

the diamond " A diamond is a lump of coal that was put under intense

pressure for a long period of time " It all seems to work.

Tanner's always had a high self esteem, and as he ages -we even make

him more aware of what his apraxia is and how he has overcome it -

as you will read in the following -it's all in a good way. Just

like in The Late Talker book we explained how to relieve

frustrations in a " late talker " child -the same strategies do work

for the older ones too.

This is what I said to Tanner at six prior to him starting

kindergarten:

" Tanner when you were a little baby you had very high fevers that

caused a boo boo in here. (I touched his head) But what you did

was amazing Tanner! You see, most of us only use a tiny bit of our

brain, and most of us learn to talk the same way -but you have

somehow developed another pathway to talk using more of your

brain...which

actually makes you smarter than the rest of us!

Now this is the thing, sometimes people who don't know just how

smart you are may judge you based on how you talk and even call you

names. This is because they don't feel good about themselves, or

they don't feel as smart as you. So don't get angry with people

like that who don't use as much of their brain as you do. And

always let us know if someone ever says anything bad to you.

Then I paused and said with a mock serious face/mocking voice. " Now

Tanner, just because you are smarter then most other people -don't

go thinking you are better than anybody else. You hear me Tanner?

Tanner don't smile, you have to be nice to everybody Tanner "

(that made Tanner smile too)

Since we've moved from New Jersey -I now tell Tanner (stretch the

truth) that if he wants to ever feel normal he can move back to New

Jersey where all the kids his age just about have apraxia. I tell

him that the people where we live in FL are not used to people with

speech

problems, so some could prejudge him, but he can prove to them just

how smart he is. And he does.

Like your son:

Tanner knows that due to his " late talking " he has an " amazing

memory " and that he is " Mr. Mathhead " Tanner was the first in his

class to get the 1-12 table addition award for math last week! He

is now reading some scary stories for Halloween, just completed a

book report which was amazing, and we are just so proud of how great

he is doing!

Point being that Tanner today at 8 knows he isn't like others in

regards to speech. Then again there are ways that Tanner excels

over the norm.

Tanner can talk -and he is typically understood. His speech

impairment today is that his speech is still immature for an 8 year

old. He tends to keep his sentences short. If he has a longer

thought he pauses and breaks the thought up. In general, Tanner is

expressive, let's you know what he wants or how he feels -but he

isn't very expressive verbally. Tanner's speech ability doesn't

affect Tanner's ability to have lots of friends -he's a cool kid,

and a sweetheart too. Tanner's also received awards at school for

helping others who are in pain, or being the only one to remember to

help the teacher or other students clean up.

We just saw Shark Tail a few weeks ago with two of Dakota and

Tanner's friends. When Tanner wanted to describe to everyone what

he loved about a movie he as usual kept his comments down to one

short sentence, used some gestures and words like " So Cool! " -and

ended with a question, " right? "

Tanner's knows how to get others to talk -now that's his own

strategy! Sounds like your son is on the same track -and he's got

you on his side to keep him on the right track!

Here's some info on how to prevent bullying to begin with as well as help those

that are bullied become less of a target from Preventing Classroom Bullying:

What Teachers Can Do Copyright © 2003 Jim

When choosing a victim, bullies

typically target children who have few or no friends. If a child has at least

one significant friend in

school, he or she is less likely to be bullied –and is usually better able to

cope with the effects of

bullying when it occurs. The teacher's goal, then, is to strengthen the social

standing of the victim

with classmates and other students and adults in the school. As people in the

school community

develop more positive connections with the victimized student, they may be

willing to intervene to

prevent the victim from being bullied. Here are ideas that may promote positive

connections

between the victim and other students or adults:

· Train socially inept children in basic social skills, such as how to invite a

classmate to play a

game or to seek permission from a group of children to join in a play activity.

· Pair students off randomly for fun, interactive learning or leisure

activities. These accidental

pairings give children a chance to get to know each other and can `trigger'

friendships.

Consider changing the seating chart periodically to foster new relationships.

· If a child receives pull-out special education services, try to avoid

scheduling these services

during class free-time. Otherwise, the child loses valuable opportunities to

interact with peers

and establish or strengthen social relationships.

· Enlist one or more adults in the school to spend time with the child as

`mentors'. (Once these

adults begin to spend time with the child, they will then be likely to actively

intervene if they see

the student being bullied!) Give these adults ideas for how they can structure

sessions with

the student (i.e., playing board games, having lunch together, etc.) Suggest to

the student that

he or she occasionally `invite a friend' to these activities.

· Train staff, older student volunteers, or adult volunteers to be

`play-helpers'. Train them to

organize and supervise high-interest children's game and activities for indoors

and outdoors.

(When possible, select games and activities that are easy to learn, can

accommodate varying

numbers of players, and allow children to join in mid-activity.) Place these

play-helpers on the

playground, in classrooms, in a corner of the lunchroom, or other areas where

students have

unstructured free time. The play-helpers may also be encouraged to pay special

attention to

those children with few friends are likely to be socially excluded, making sure

that these

children are recruited to participate in organized play with adult support as

needed.

Teach Assertiveness Skills. After a victim has been repeatedly bullied, he or

she may find it very

difficult to `stand up' to the bully. One explanation for the bully's power over

the victim is that the

bully has learned the victimized student's vulnerabilities. If the victim then

starts to resist being

bullied, the bully is emboldened to persistently attack the victim (e.g.,

through teasing, social

ostracism, or physical harm) until the victim is again overwhelmed and defeated.

At the point

where it has become chronic, bullying can be so ingrained that only decisive

adult intervention can

free the victim from this abusive relationship.

When a bully first approaches and attempts to dominate a potential victim,

however, the targeted

student still has maneuvering room and may successfully fend off the bully by

using basic

assertiveness skills. The bully's goal when targeting a student is to exploit

the victim's perceived

weakness(es) in order to gain dominance over him or her. If the potential victim

maintains his or

her composure, stands firm, and continues to behave appropriately even when

provoked, the bully

will find that the supposed victim is not so weak as he or she first thought.

A few simple assertiveness rules that you can teach to students are to:

· Respond to taunts, insults, or teasing with a bland response ( " Oh " . " That's

your opinion. "

" Maybe. " ) Don't let bullies see that they have upset you.

· Get away from the situation if you start to get very angry.

· Say " No " firmly and loudly if you don't want to do something that someone

tells you to do.

Stand straight up and look that person in the eye when you say it.

· Refuse to let others talk you into doing something that you will be sorry

for--even if they dare

you!

· Report incidents of bullying to adults.

Be sure that you students do not confuse assertiveness with physical or verbal

aggression. While

the weaker victim will likely regret aggressively attacking the bully, he or she

may well be

successful by simply standing firm against the bully. And even if the potential

victim is not entirely

successful when using assertiveness skills during a particular episode, that

student might still

manage to stop the bullying from becoming chronic by showing the bully that he

or she is not an

`easy mark.'

Some links that may be helpful

http://www.stopbullying.gov/

http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/nassp_bullying.aspx

http://www.pacer.org/bullying/sap/activities-mid.asp (they have it split into

grades -this is for middle school -but you may want to check elementary at this

site)

http://www.stopbullyingnow.com/

http://www.nobully.com/

There is a tremendous amount of info on this topic as it's one that is in the

news pretty much daily and one that is taken serious today!!

=====

[Guest guest]

,

Yes you are right I did mean to say EPA. So I guess I should up the 3,6,9 by

one and leave the EPA's the same? I want to try the NV but will

defiantely taste the texture, I think? She is a finicky eater so if anything

tastes gritty she wont even try it. I guess its time to try, you say it helps

the language and the nervous system (SID)?

As far as the pre-puberty moods and defiancy, I really dont think they are

related to anything with bullying (although I am feerful when she goes to 5th

grade next year because all the schools come together and some of the boys that

teased her in 2nd grade will be there) However, for now I just want her to

listen to me, like she used too, when I was alot " cooler " Mom than I am now .

I will look further into the NV. I may email you, if that is ok, if you can

tell me some of the benefits NV has had on Tanner... Thanks again.

TLC

>

> My son Tanner last we checked was in stage 2 of puberty but I suspect he may

be further along now. He's a good kid and while he doesn't always listen now

when you first ask him to do something as he did before (the only bad thing

since NV -he's normalized in this area now as well as all the other wonderful

ones!)no he's not moody. But he's never had a teasing problem and he's doing

wonderful in school and in sports. He and his brother have many of the same

friends now -one of the good things since NV and our home has become a sort of

boys club almost every weekend now where typically we have between 3 and 5 boys

sleep over -swim, play basketball, go jet skiing, make s'mores in the evening,

eat us out of house and home!!! So I'm not just dealing now with a 14 and 16

year old -but a bunch of them.

>

> Some of you that are friends with me on Facebook know that on April Fool's day

which ended up a Friday when the boys all wanted to come over (again!) this

weekend -I said they only could if everyone went with me to see Hop- because my

husband didn't want to go. I actually think they all thought I was saying it

for April Fools but I made them all bring money for the movie -and we went.

They were well behaved and said they never would have gone to see this movie if

I didn't make them all go -but they thought it was OK to good. We went to the

late showing and guess what? There were other teens there as well!

>

> For those reading this with younger kids I have below archives on how to help

your child prevent being teased -and for those that have children being teased I

have advice for that as well.

>

> Before I go on about the teasing -Traci you say you are using 3 Omega 369 and

2 ProEFA -then you are using 5 of the same fish oils capsules daily? Omega 369

is the commercial line of ProEFA from the professional line. Did you mean to

say you were using 3 ProEFA and 2 ProEPA? Because we typically have found a 2

to 1 ratio of ProEFA to ProEPA to be better. So either way sounds like your

fish oil formula is off slightly. You'll find typically more surges with the

right formula. I have a page on the fish oils here

http://pursuitofresearch.org/2010/12/01/therapeutic-use-of-fish-oil-for-apraxia-\

autism-and-other-communication-impairments/ and please look into NV as well-

http://pursuitofresearch.org/getting-started/

>

> But back to teasing -for Tanner who was diagnosed severe profound apraxia-

which affected oral and verbal but he also was diagnosed with sensory

integration dysfunction, hypotonia etc....I raised him to prepare him that he

may be bullied from before he started public school in the mainstream for

kindergarten. I read up on how to prevent bullying and teasing which is

basically keeping self esteem high, communication open and helping your child

make friends. I also made sure Tanner was aware of his verbal impairment -why

he had it (see below -I made it all age appropriate) so he was comfortable with

it. In general I made Tanner a bad target because bullies look for a target.

In addition to this I raised awareness through something called " circle of

friends " because bullying for special needs is typically just due to fear and

misunderstanding. In general bullies have poor self esteem themselves -and they

are children too -so once you understand a bit more of what you are dealing with

it helps you help your child avoid it.

>

> I can tell you that learning about bullying and how to make your child less of

a target and keeping your child's self esteem high are two of the best

approaches. A child with special needs does not have to go through much more

teasing than any other child.

>

> But saying all of that -I can't promise you your child will NEVER be teased

because just about all are teased here or there...in fact I'm sure any one of

you reading this did something you were teased about- may have been something

silly you laughed off. That's the point -you accepted that you did something

silly and it didn't bother you that your friend or co worker laughed. If you

don't know what I mean watch any number of Youtube videos for " fail " !!

>

> One other thought is that those that are bullied can become bullies to others.

It is possible that these children that are lashing out to you as a parent are

taking out on you the pain they are in from being teased at school by others? I

have info below on how to open the doors of communication with your child which

can help lessen this. I only dealt with it a handful of times when Tanner was

younger so I have suggestions on how to deal with it in older students from

various publications.

>

> Below I start off with an archive about a book on stuttering because once

again even though we may not all be dealing with stuttering you can pull from

this other condition with more awareness to use the methods to help your child.

Below that are archives that have helped my son and then some more strategies

and links to help your child become less of a target (if he or she already is)

>

> New Approach Helps Stuttering Children Cope with Bullying, Teasing

> Libraries Life News (Social and Behavioral Sciences)

>

>

> Newswise — A new book from a Purdue University speech-language pathologist

> says more needs to be done to address the bullying that often results in

> more anxiety for children who stutter than the speech disorder itself.

>

> " Working on techniques to cope with stuttering are not enough because

> children's hurt feelings are getting in the way, " said , who

> has worked for more than two decades on developing speech therapy at

> Purdue's Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in the College

> of Liberal Arts. " Even the children who receive therapy to help them live

> with stuttering continue to have negative feelings as they grow older. Their

> ability to communicate is still hindered by the shame and embarrassment they

> feel about stuttering, which is often brought on from bullying and teasing. "

> , whose recent publications and presentations focus on the role of

> shame and guilt in stuttering, teamed with two other speech-language

> pathologists - J. Yaruss from the University of Pittsburgh and

> W. Quesal from Western Illinois University - to co-write " Bullying and

> Teasing: Helping Children who Stutter. " Nina A. Reardon, a specialist in

> fluency disorders in private practice in Illinois, also contributed.

>

> The public school system is usually responsible for providing the majority

> of speech-therapy services for children who stutter, said.

> " However, most public schools' resources are stretched, and children may not

> receive the kind of individual services that would be best, " he said. " In

> addition, the anxiety children have about stuttering may be overlooked,

> especially in large-group therapy settings. "

>

> Parents can help by talking to their children about bullying behavior. The

> " Dos " for parents, outlined in the book, include working with the child to

> develop a plan for handling a bully. Then, parents can practice with the

> child on how to talk to a bully or help children remember to leave to find a

> group of friends or stay close to a teacher or other adult.

>

> Parents often make the mistake of telling children to ignore bullies or

> fight back.

> " Children really can't ignore a bully because what they say bothers them too

> much, " said. " Fighting back really doesn't address the problem and is

> more likely to result in more problems with the bully. "

> Teachers also can learn how to make stuttering an open topic of discussion

> in classrooms. visits classrooms to talk with students about what

> stuttering is and about some famous people, such as Earl and

> Winston Churchill, who stuttered as children.

>

> One exercise he does with the schoolchildren may be surprising.

> " The best part is when a stuttering child teaches his or her classmates how

> to stutter, " said.

> The 110-page book ($8) was funded and published last month by the National

> Stuttering Association, which is the world's largest self-help group for

> people who stutter. There are sections in the book for parents, teachers,

> speech-language pathologists and children who stutter. The book can be

> purchased from the National Stuttering Association by calling (800) 937-8888

> or visiting <http://www.nsastutter.org/catalog/detail.php?id=46>.

>

> Stuttering, which is characterized by sound repetition, long pauses or a

> speech block while attempting to say a word, affects about 5 percent of

> preschoolers and about 1 percent of the adult population. Disruptions from

> stuttering can vary in a person's speech. In some cases stuttering may

> happen infrequently, and it can prevent others from participating in daily

> conversations.

> " Everyone knows someone who stutters, and everyone thinks they know how to

> fix it, " said , who also collaborates on research in Purdue's

> Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences that looks at brain

> activity when people stutter. " They think it's as easy as 'If only the

> person would just relax and take it easy,' but that's not what stuttering

> is. "

>

> Stuttering is thought to be a complex combination of biology and faulty

> speech learning, said. It is diagnosed when a child has been

> stuttering consistently for six months to a year. Family history is a

> factor, and boys tend to stutter more than girls.

>

> Approximately 70 percent of preschool children outgrow stuttering, and with

> early therapy the recovery rate is even higher. School-age children and

> adults are rarely cured. However, speech pathologists can help these people

> to dramatically reduce the severity of their stuttering and help them to

> make talking more enjoyable.

>

> " There really is not a publication like this available for the general

> public, " said Tammy , National Stuttering Association director of

> operations. " We constantly hear stories about how children are bullied

> because of their stuttering, and our adult members talk about how hard

> teasing made it for them to do the things they wanted. Research supports the

> fact that children who stutter are more likely to be bullied than other

> children, and even worse, they are bullied more often. "

>

> Related Web sites:

> :

> <http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/aus/pages/fac_staff/professional/murphy.

> html>

> National Stuttering Association: <http://www.WeStutter.org>

>

> PHOTO CAPTION:

> , a speech-language pathologist at Purdue's Department of

> Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts, worked

> with the National Stuttering Foundation to publish a book that helps parents

> and teachers deal with bullying and other self-esteem issues that children

> who stutter face. The 110-page book ($8) is titled, " Bullying and Teasing:

> Helping Children who Stutter. " researches the role of shame and guilt

> in stuttering. (Purdue News Service photo/ Umberger)

> A publication-quality photograph is available at

> <http://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/+2005/murphy-stuttering.jpg>

>

> STORY AND PHOTO CAN BE FOUND AT:

> <http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/2005/050119..stuttering.html

> >

> Note to Journalists: A publication-quality photograph of is

> available at <http://ftp.purdue.edu/pub/uns/+2005/murphy-stuttering.jpg>

>

> From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

> Date: Wed Oct 23, 2002 5:37 pm

> Subject: Brown University Communication Disorders

>

> Communication Disorders

> Recognizing and Treating Stuttering in Children and Adults

>

>

> Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter 18(10):1, 3-4,

> 2002. © 2002 Manisses Communications Group, Inc.

>

> Posted 10/17/2002

> Introduction

> Children who stutter confront a number of challenges that can affect

> the way they feel about themselves. Some children who stutter may

> experience feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger, or grief. These

> feelings may be further compounded by their difficulty in

> communicating such emotions, leading to additional feelings of

> isolation, frustration and shame. As children get older, the

> psychological effects of stuttering may be even more profound, as

> their role in peer and social settings becomes more important.

> " I don't like to stutter ... When I have fights with kids at school,

> they call me 'stuttermouth' and I hate that. I don't like

> stuttering. I think it is embarrassing, and I don't like it. " --

>

> Anne, age 9

> Stuttering is sometimes difficult to understand for the child who

> stutters as well as for those around the child. Parents, teachers

> and peers who do not know how to react to stuttering may make the

> situation worse by trying to finish the child's sentence, or by

> telling the child to " talk slowly, " " take a deep breath, " or " say it

> again. "

>

> " ...when I am with people I don't know and they ask me something ...

> I try very hard not to stutter. And then I stutter a lot more. When

> I want to say something very quickly, I get stuck, too. Then people

> start guessing what I wanted to say. They mean well, but I don't

> like it at all because a want to say it myself. " -- Sebastian, age 13

>

> Educating the stuttering child and his or her parents, teachers and

> other family members about the symptoms, course and causes of the

> speech disorder may help the child feel more comfortable when

> speaking and encourage better fluency.

>

> Re: School Environment and Coping

>

>

> Hi Quix

>

> With or without a speech impairment some children are teased for any

> or no reason...it's up to us adults to help when we can -and we can!

> For example -Quix is an interesting/different name. Did kids say

> anything mean about your name while you were growing up? If

> yes...how did you/your parents deal with it if you recall.

>

> I am so sorry to hear about what happened to your child and the

> inexcusable rude comment of his classmate. Do you know the

> child/classmate that said " Hey, it's the weird one. He can't sit

> here. " ? If you don't know who it was -find out and report it to

> both that child's mother as well as the school professionals

> immediately -and schedule a circle of friends for his class (more

> below on this). Children should not be allowed to mock others -and

> the fact it happened in front of you (!)...the parent...that tells

> me that both this school and/or at least this child, is out of

> control. Of course you should be afraid for your child in this

> school when you are not around...be VERY afraid! Children should

> feel secure in school -they have that right. In addition to the

> advice on the situation that passed -going ahead be on offense

> instead of defense when you can.

>

> I always assumed Tanner would be teased at some point and prepared

> him for it -thing is just by preparing him I may have helped prevent

> it! I can assure you that you can have a child that is " different "

> and in the mainstream and still not teased...even popular. Just

> like any other child. There are ways to prevent teasing -for

> example here's some info in the following:

>

> " A Unique Simple Solution to the Bullying Problem

> http://www.bullies2buddies.com/

>

> Sam wears glasses and gets called four-eyes all day long. He

> believes he is being called four-eyes because he wears glasses. But

> Sam is wrong. Maybe he wears glasses, but that's not the reason he

> gets teased. Bullies2Buddies.com has a complete, free online manual,

> How to Stop Being Teased and Bullied without Really Trying can be

> downloaded at http://bullies2buddies.com/manual/kids/index.html.

> Most kids can learn how to stop being victimized by simply reading

> the manual. The website also has a free manual for parents and

> teachers, A Revolutionary Guide to Reducing Aggression between

> Children which can be downloaded at

> http://bullies2buddies.com/manual/adult/index.html. This manual

> teaches adults how to dramatically reduce bullying between kids with

> almost no effort, while increasing students' emotional maturity and

> independence. It enables teachers to go back to being teachers

> instead of policemen and judges "

>

> I know you are upset now -but take it where it's from -a child.

> Children have to be taught -and even many adults don't " get " apraxia

> or speech impairments. Most assume that if you have a speech

> impairment you are slow...but if you wear glasses you are a

> brilliant book worm -both beliefs are rarely proven true because

> the average person has average IQ -with or without a speech

> impairment or glasses.

>

> The best way to stop teasing in a child is educate them about your

> child in a way that's age appropriate. We've been fortunate in that

> Tanner has no trouble in making or keeping friends -and the two or

> three times he was teased we dealt with it in the ways outlined

> below in the archives. Today if someone teases Tanner, he'd react

> the way any other child would. Either say something back to them,

> ignore them, tell on them to an adult, or tackle them...and he LOVES

> football so he knows how to tackle really well.

>

> Archives on this:

>

> From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

> Date: Sun Aug 14, 2005 3:19 pm

> Subject: Re: Dealing with teasing kiddietalk

>

>

> Hi ,

>

> It does break your heart, but...

> This is a subject that affects almost all humans at some point.

> Some more and/or longer then others. It's how we deal with teasing,

> and how we teach our children and those that tease them to respect

> themselves & others that counts. Not all children with speech

> impairments have to be teased, or teased more then the norm.

> It can be a once in a while thing like it was for my son. Just stop

> the

> staring, which means curiosity, by the 'circle of friends' I explain

> below before it affects your son's self esteem. Tanner's " Mr. Cool "

> today -has tons of friends, and knock on wood is not teased at all

> for not saying everything the right way or fast enough all the time

> by other children.

>

> Have you read The Late Talker -we cover this in there.

>

> Here are some archives on this from this group:

>

> From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

> Date: Fri Jan 14, 2005 1:02 pm

> Subject: Re: school incident

>

> Hi Corina!

>

> A perfect opportunity for a small " circle of friends! " I have more

> on that in an archive below.

>

> I make sure when I talk to kids who are questioning I also say " He

> feels bad at times that he's still learning to talk, but he's very

> smart and knows everything you say to him and he can't wait to talk

> more to you! " And with kids always add in " You can help him

> because kids have a way of understanding each other even better than

> adults if the teacher doesn't understand him. " Kids like to feel

> important!

> Most teasing is due to not

> understanding what the issue is/ignorance -the more children you

> explain

> things to in a child appropriate way -the less chance of teasing and

> the greater chance of better acceptance. Speaking of which also say

> to the kids:

>

> " Now that you know, if you see anyone ever teasing him it will make

> him feel so much better if you stick up for him and tell them to

> stop. " And say things like " Everyone learns to walk and everyone

> learns to talk "

>

> No reason to feel bad about not being able to speak as well anyway -

> it didn't stop Scooby Doo or Ozzy from mega success!

>

> ~~~~~~~~~start of archives (two)

>

> From: " kiddietalk " <kiddietalk@...>

> Date: Fri Oct 15, 2004 10:43 am

> Subject: Re: What do I say?

>

> I am so proud of you!!! I smiled reading what you said to your son -

> what a great mommy you are!!! This is such an important topic so I'm

> so glad you brought this up -self esteem is so precious -and

> important to keep high for our children.

>

> All kids can feel bad about themselves at times -all kids can be

> teased at times -so all of that is normal. It's how we help them

> deal and learn to overcome. It's how we have a " conversation " with

> a child who is feeling bad about their inabilities to have full

> conversations.

>

> When a child suddenly notices they are different -I like to rule out

> why. What's the sudden change? I mean think about it -if children

> didn't start school until 7 and there were no children his age in

> the neighborhood -how would a 6 year old know he's

> different...unless someone tells him, or it becomes that obvious

> because he's around a bunch of others his age who easily do what he

> can't -talk well.

>

> Your son is at the age where he would be aware of differences,

> especially if he is schooled with 'normal' speech wise children.

> And school must have just started for your son. So that should be

> number one place to look for this sudden awareness, and think about

> talking to the teacher to ask her if something is going on there. A

> good thing you can do just in case even to prevent problems is

> the " circle of friends " Please let me know if you need to know how

> to do that.

>

> Is your son in kindergarten or first grade now? What type of

> placement? I would also find out from him if anyone has teased

> him. There has been just two (thankfully) situations since Tanner

> was in school where there was a child that teased him about the way

> he talks. Both times -Tanner came home moody -not himself. He also

> typically loves going to school and was resistant to go around those

> two times. What is interesting is that both times at first when I

> asked him " did someone tease you at school? " Tanner said " No " The

> way I got it out of him was by relating (OK so it wasn't true -but

> he doesn't know that) by saying " It's OK to let Daddy and me know if

> someone teased you -sometimes people say bad things to you when they

> are having a bad day, or they don't feel good about themselves.

> Like maybe their dog just died and they are in a bad mood. Or maybe

> they are jealous because you are so smart and they don't feel that

> smart. " and then I would say something like " I remember one day I

> had to go to the bathroom and I tried to say " I have to go to the

> bathroom " and instead said " I have potty " and the other kids thought

> I pooped in my pants " I figured that had to be worse than any

> speech blooper he had! And you know stuff like that works for

> Tanner -makes him laugh at me -and at himself. Then he tells me

> what really happened.

>

> Perhaps it's due to those two times early on that Tanner is never

> teased now. He knows how to handle it -it's hard for a bully to

> tease someone who doesn't get upset. And speaking of bully -as the

> list owner please let me know off list who is invading your privacy -

> and I'll report them to and the FBI. This is a family

> grouplist with zero tolerance for bullies.

>

> We chose to talk to Tanner about his speech impairment in a child

> appropriate way prior to him entering kindergarten just in case he

> was teased, or wondered why he had to work so hard on something that

> came so easily to others -talking. And the good news is that in

> addition to what you already did -it's not to late to add a bit more

> if you feel appropriate. I found it to be most important for school

> age children with speech impairments.

>

> I told Tanner that I was an artist in New York for years -so the

> word different for me is not a bad thing at all -normal was a bad

> thing to me! Being different is not unusual anyway -we are all

> different. You can ask your son how many people in his school/does

> he know that wear glasses. Remind him that wearing glasses means

> that person needs help seeing, just like he needs some help

> talking. Their vision may not be as good as yours, you can say, but

> that doesn't mean that those people can't do or be whatever they

> want -just like you. I told Tanner about Helen Keller -and about

> the diamond " A diamond is a lump of coal that was put under intense

> pressure for a long period of time " It all seems to work.

>

> Tanner's always had a high self esteem, and as he ages -we even make

> him more aware of what his apraxia is and how he has overcome it -

> as you will read in the following -it's all in a good way. Just

> like in The Late Talker book we explained how to relieve

> frustrations in a " late talker " child -the same strategies do work

> for the older ones too.

>

> This is what I said to Tanner at six prior to him starting

> kindergarten:

>

> " Tanner when you were a little baby you had very high fevers that

> caused a boo boo in here. (I touched his head) But what you did

> was amazing Tanner! You see, most of us only use a tiny bit of our

> brain, and most of us learn to talk the same way -but you have

> somehow developed another pathway to talk using more of your

> brain...which

> actually makes you smarter than the rest of us!

>

> Now this is the thing, sometimes people who don't know just how

> smart you are may judge you based on how you talk and even call you

> names. This is because they don't feel good about themselves, or

> they don't feel as smart as you. So don't get angry with people

> like that who don't use as much of their brain as you do. And

> always let us know if someone ever says anything bad to you.

>

> Then I paused and said with a mock serious face/mocking voice. " Now

> Tanner, just because you are smarter then most other people -don't

> go thinking you are better than anybody else. You hear me Tanner?

> Tanner don't smile, you have to be nice to everybody Tanner "

> (that made Tanner smile too)

>

> Since we've moved from New Jersey -I now tell Tanner (stretch the

> truth) that if he wants to ever feel normal he can move back to New

> Jersey where all the kids his age just about have apraxia. I tell

> him that the people where we live in FL are not used to people with

> speech

> problems, so some could prejudge him, but he can prove to them just

> how smart he is. And he does.

>

> Like your son:

> Tanner knows that due to his " late talking " he has an " amazing

> memory " and that he is " Mr. Mathhead " Tanner was the first in his

> class to get the 1-12 table addition award for math last week! He

> is now reading some scary stories for Halloween, just completed a

> book report which was amazing, and we are just so proud of how great

> he is doing!

>

> Point being that Tanner today at 8 knows he isn't like others in

> regards to speech. Then again there are ways that Tanner excels

> over the norm.

>

> Tanner can talk -and he is typically understood. His speech

> impairment today is that his speech is still immature for an 8 year

> old. He tends to keep his sentences short. If he has a longer

> thought he pauses and breaks the thought up. In general, Tanner is

> expressive, let's you know what he wants or how he feels -but he

> isn't very expressive verbally. Tanner's speech ability doesn't

> affect Tanner's ability to have lots of friends -he's a cool kid,

> and a sweetheart too. Tanner's also received awards at school for

> helping others who are in pain, or being the only one to remember to

> help the teacher or other students clean up.

>

> We just saw Shark Tail a few weeks ago with two of Dakota and

> Tanner's friends. When Tanner wanted to describe to everyone what

> he loved about a movie he as usual kept his comments down to one

> short sentence, used some gestures and words like " So Cool! " -and

> ended with a question, " right? "

>

> Tanner's knows how to get others to talk -now that's his own

> strategy! Sounds like your son is on the same track -and he's got

> you on his side to keep him on the right track!

>

> Here's some info on how to prevent bullying to begin with as well as help

those that are bullied become less of a target from Preventing Classroom

Bullying: What Teachers Can Do Copyright © 2003 Jim

>

> When choosing a victim, bullies

> typically target children who have few or no friends. If a child has at least

one significant friend in

> school, he or she is less likely to be bullied –and is usually better able to

cope with the effects of

> bullying when it occurs. The teacher's goal, then, is to strengthen the social

standing of the victim

> with classmates and other students and adults in the school. As people in the

school community

> develop more positive connections with the victimized student, they may be

willing to intervene to

> prevent the victim from being bullied. Here are ideas that may promote

positive connections

> between the victim and other students or adults:

>

> · Train socially inept children in basic social skills, such as how to invite

a classmate to play a

> game or to seek permission from a group of children to join in a play

activity.

> · Pair students off randomly for fun, interactive learning or leisure

activities. These accidental

> pairings give children a chance to get to know each other and can `trigger'

friendships.

> Consider changing the seating chart periodically to foster new relationships.

> · If a child receives pull-out special education services, try to avoid

scheduling these services

> during class free-time. Otherwise, the child loses valuable opportunities to

interact with peers

> and establish or strengthen social relationships.

> · Enlist one or more adults in the school to spend time with the child as

`mentors'. (Once these

> adults begin to spend time with the child, they will then be likely to

actively intervene if they see

> the student being bullied!) Give these adults ideas for how they can structure

sessions with

> the student (i.e., playing board games, having lunch together, etc.) Suggest

to the student that

> he or she occasionally `invite a friend' to these activities.

> · Train staff, older student volunteers, or adult volunteers to be

`play-helpers'. Train them to

> organize and supervise high-interest children's game and activities for

indoors and outdoors.

> (When possible, select games and activities that are easy to learn, can

accommodate varying

> numbers of players, and allow children to join in mid-activity.) Place these

play-helpers on the

> playground, in classrooms, in a corner of the lunchroom, or other areas where

students have

> unstructured free time. The play-helpers may also be encouraged to pay special

attention to

> those children with few friends are likely to be socially excluded, making

sure that these

> children are recruited to participate in organized play with adult support as

needed.

> Teach Assertiveness Skills. After a victim has been repeatedly bullied, he or

she may find it very

> difficult to `stand up' to the bully. One explanation for the bully's power

over the victim is that the

> bully has learned the victimized student's vulnerabilities. If the victim then

starts to resist being

> bullied, the bully is emboldened to persistently attack the victim (e.g.,

through teasing, social

> ostracism, or physical harm) until the victim is again overwhelmed and

defeated. At the point

> where it has become chronic, bullying can be so ingrained that only decisive

adult intervention can

> free the victim from this abusive relationship.

> When a bully first approaches and attempts to dominate a potential victim,

however, the targeted

> student still has maneuvering room and may successfully fend off the bully by

using basic

> assertiveness skills. The bully's goal when targeting a student is to exploit

the victim's perceived

> weakness(es) in order to gain dominance over him or her. If the potential

victim maintains his or

> her composure, stands firm, and continues to behave appropriately even when

provoked, the bully

> will find that the supposed victim is not so weak as he or she first thought.

> A few simple assertiveness rules that you can teach to students are to:

> · Respond to taunts, insults, or teasing with a bland response ( " Oh " . " That's

your opinion. "

> " Maybe. " ) Don't let bullies see that they have upset you.

>

> · Get away from the situation if you start to get very angry.

> · Say " No " firmly and loudly if you don't want to do something that someone

tells you to do.

> Stand straight up and look that person in the eye when you say it.

> · Refuse to let others talk you into doing something that you will be sorry

for--even if they dare

> you!

> · Report incidents of bullying to adults.

> Be sure that you students do not confuse assertiveness with physical or verbal

aggression. While

> the weaker victim will likely regret aggressively attacking the bully, he or

she may well be

> successful by simply standing firm against the bully. And even if the

potential victim is not entirely

> successful when using assertiveness skills during a particular episode, that

student might still

> manage to stop the bullying from becoming chronic by showing the bully that he

or she is not an

> `easy mark.'

>

> Some links that may be helpful

> http://www.stopbullying.gov/

> http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/nassp_bullying.aspx

> http://www.pacer.org/bullying/sap/activities-mid.asp (they have it split into

grades -this is for middle school -but you may want to check elementary at this

site)

> http://www.stopbullyingnow.com/

> http://www.nobully.com/

>

> There is a tremendous amount of info on this topic as it's one that is in the

news pretty much daily and one that is taken serious today!!

>

>

>

> =====

>

[Guest guest]

I have found that when you add liquid and let the drink sit for a couple of

minutes, the product is absorbed and you don't get that gritty texture. The

colder the liquid, the longer it takes to smooth out the texture. However,

it does thicken whatever liquid it is in, so that may be a problem, too.

B.

Re: What do I say?

>

> I am so proud of you!!! I smiled reading what you said to your son -

> what a great mommy you are!!! This is such an important topic so I'm

> so glad you brought this up -self esteem is so precious -and

> important to keep high for our children.

>

> All kids can feel bad about themselves at times -all kids can be

> teased at times -so all of that is normal. It's how we help them

> deal and learn to overcome. It's how we have a " conversation " with

> a child who is feeling bad about their inabilities to have full

> conversations.

>

> When a child suddenly notices they are different -I like to rule out

> why. What's the sudden change? I mean think about it -if children

> didn't start school until 7 and there were no children his age in

> the neighborhood -how would a 6 year old know he's

> different...unless someone tells him, or it becomes that obvious

> because he's around a bunch of others his age who easily do what he

> can't -talk well.

>

> Your son is at the age where he would be aware of differences,

> especially if he is schooled with 'normal' speech wise children.

> And school must have just started for your son. So that should be

> number one place to look for this sudden awareness, and think about

> talking to the teacher to ask her if something is going on there. A

> good thing you can do just in case even to prevent problems is

> the " circle of friends " Please let me know if you need to know how

> to do that.

>

> Is your son in kindergarten or first grade now? What type of

> placement? I would also find out from him if anyone has teased

> him. There has been just two (thankfully) situations since Tanner

> was in school where there was a child that teased him about the way

> he talks. Both times -Tanner came home moody -not himself. He also

> typically loves going to school and was resistant to go around those

> two times. What is interesting is that both times at first when I

> asked him " did someone tease you at school? " Tanner said " No " The

> way I got it out of him was by relating (OK so it wasn't true -but

> he doesn't know that) by saying " It's OK to let Daddy and me know if

> someone teased you -sometimes people say bad things to you when they

> are having a bad day, or they don't feel good about themselves.

> Like maybe their dog just died and they are in a bad mood. Or maybe

> they are jealous because you are so smart and they don't feel that

> smart. " and then I would say something like " I remember one day I

> had to go to the bathroom and I tried to say " I have to go to the

> bathroom " and instead said " I have potty " and the other kids thought

> I pooped in my pants " I figured that had to be worse than any

> speech blooper he had! And you know stuff like that works for

> Tanner -makes him laugh at me -and at himself. Then he tells me

> what really happened.

>

> Perhaps it's due to those two times early on that Tanner is never

> teased now. He knows how to handle it -it's hard for a bully to

> tease someone who doesn't get upset. And speaking of bully -as the

> list owner please let me know off list who is invading your privacy -

> and I'll report them to and the FBI. This is a family

> grouplist with zero tolerance for bullies.

>

> We chose to talk to Tanner about his speech impairment in a child

> appropriate way prior to him entering kindergarten just in case he

> was teased, or wondered why he had to work so hard on something that

> came so easily to others -talking. And the good news is that in

> addition to what you already did -it's not to late to add a bit more

> if you feel appropriate. I found it to be most important for school

> age children with speech impairments.

>

> I told Tanner that I was an artist in New York for years -so the

> word different for me is not a bad thing at all -normal was a bad

> thing to me! Being different is not unusual anyway -we are all

> different. You can ask your son how many people in his school/does

> he know that wear glasses. Remind him that wearing glasses means

> that person needs help seeing, just like he needs some help

> talking. Their vision may not be as good as yours, you can say, but

> that doesn't mean that those people can't do or be whatever they

> want -just like you. I told Tanner about Helen Keller -and about

> the diamond " A diamond is a lump of coal that was put under intense

> pressure for a long period of time " It all seems to work.

>

> Tanner's always had a high self esteem, and as he ages -we even make

> him more aware of what his apraxia is and how he has overcome it -

> as you will read in the following -it's all in a good way. Just

> like in The Late Talker book we explained how to relieve

> frustrations in a " late talker " child -the same strategies do work

> for the older ones too.

>

> This is what I said to Tanner at six prior to him starting

> kindergarten:

>

> " Tanner when you were a little baby you had very high fevers that

> caused a boo boo in here. (I touched his head) But what you did

> was amazing Tanner! You see, most of us only use a tiny bit of our

> brain, and most of us learn to talk the same way -but you have

> somehow developed another pathway to talk using more of your

> brain...which

> actually makes you smarter than the rest of us!

>

> Now this is the thing, sometimes people who don't know just how

> smart you are may judge you based on how you talk and even call you

> names. This is because they don't feel good about themselves, or

> they don't feel as smart as you. So don't get angry with people

> like that who don't use as much of their brain as you do. And

> always let us know if someone ever says anything bad to you.

>

> Then I paused and said with a mock serious face/mocking voice. " Now

> Tanner, just because you are smarter then most other people -don't

> go thinking you are better than anybody else. You hear me Tanner?

> Tanner don't smile, you have to be nice to everybody Tanner "

> (that made Tanner smile too)

>

> Since we've moved from New Jersey -I now tell Tanner (stretch the

> truth) that if he wants to ever feel normal he can move back to New

> Jersey where all the kids his age just about have apraxia. I tell

> him that the people where we live in FL are not used to people with

> speech

> problems, so some could prejudge him, but he can prove to them just

> how smart he is. And he does.

>

> Like your son:

> Tanner knows that due to his " late talking " he has an " amazing

> memory " and that he is " Mr. Mathhead " Tanner was the first in his

> class to get the 1-12 table addition award for math last week! He

> is now reading some scary stories for Halloween, just completed a

> book report which was amazing, and we are just so proud of how great

> he is doing!

>

> Point being that Tanner today at 8 knows he isn't like others in

> regards to speech. Then again there are ways that Tanner excels

> over the norm.

>

> Tanner can talk -and he is typically understood. His speech

> impairment today is that his speech is still immature for an 8 year

> old. He tends to keep his sentences short. If he has a longer

> thought he pauses and breaks the thought up. In general, Tanner is

> expressive, let's you know what he wants or how he feels -but he

> isn't very expressive verbally. Tanner's speech ability doesn't

> affect Tanner's ability to have lots of friends -he's a cool kid,

> and a sweetheart too. Tanner's also received awards at school for

> helping others who are in pain, or being the only one to remember to

> help the teacher or other students clean up.

>

> We just saw Shark Tail a few weeks ago with two of Dakota and

> Tanner's friends. When Tanner wanted to describe to everyone what

> he loved about a movie he as usual kept his comments down to one

> short sentence, used some gestures and words like " So Cool! " -and

> ended with a question, " right? "

>

> Tanner's knows how to get others to talk -now that's his own

> strategy! Sounds like your son is on the same track -and he's got

> you on his side to keep him on the right track!

>

> Here's some info on how to prevent bullying to begin with as well as

help those that are bullied become less of a target from Preventing

Classroom Bullying: What Teachers Can Do Copyright © 2003 Jim

>

> When choosing a victim, bullies

> typically target children who have few or no friends. If a child has at

least one significant friend in

> school, he or she is less likely to be bullied –and is usually better

able to cope with the effects of

> bullying when it occurs. The teacher's goal, then, is to strengthen the

social standing of the victim

> with classmates and other students and adults in the school. As people

in the school community

> develop more positive connections with the victimized student, they may

be willing to intervene to

> prevent the victim from being bullied. Here are ideas that may promote

positive connections

> between the victim and other students or adults:

>

> · Train socially inept children in basic social skills, such as how to

invite a classmate to play a

> game or to seek permission from a group of children to join in a play

activity.

> · Pair students off randomly for fun, interactive learning or leisure

activities. These accidental

> pairings give children a chance to get to know each other and can

`trigger' friendships.

> Consider changing the seating chart periodically to foster new

relationships.

> · If a child receives pull-out special education services, try to avoid

scheduling these services

> during class free-time. Otherwise, the child loses valuable

opportunities to interact with peers

> and establish or strengthen social relationships.

> · Enlist one or more adults in the school to spend time with the child

as `mentors'. (Once these

> adults begin to spend time with the child, they will then be likely to

actively intervene if they see

> the student being bullied!) Give these adults ideas for how they can

structure sessions with

> the student (i.e., playing board games, having lunch together, etc.)

Suggest to the student that

> he or she occasionally `invite a friend' to these activities.

> · Train staff, older student volunteers, or adult volunteers to be

`play-helpers'. Train them to

> organize and supervise high-interest children's game and activities for

indoors and outdoors.

> (When possible, select games and activities that are easy to learn, can

accommodate varying

> numbers of players, and allow children to join in mid-activity.) Place

these play-helpers on the

> playground, in classrooms, in a corner of the lunchroom, or other areas

where students have

> unstructured free time. The play-helpers may also be encouraged to pay

special attention to

> those children with few friends are likely to be socially excluded,

making sure that these

> children are recruited to participate in organized play with adult

support as needed.

> Teach Assertiveness Skills. After a victim has been repeatedly bullied,

he or she may find it very

> difficult to `stand up' to the bully. One explanation for the bully's

power over the victim is that the

> bully has learned the victimized student's vulnerabilities. If the

victim then starts to resist being

> bullied, the bully is emboldened to persistently attack the victim

(e.g., through teasing, social

> ostracism, or physical harm) until the victim is again overwhelmed and

defeated. At the point

> where it has become chronic, bullying can be so ingrained that only

decisive adult intervention can

> free the victim from this abusive relationship.

> When a bully first approaches and attempts to dominate a potential

victim, however, the targeted

> student still has maneuvering room and may successfully fend off the

bully by using basic

> assertiveness skills. The bully's goal when targeting a student is to

exploit the victim's perceived

> weakness(es) in order to gain dominance over him or her. If the

potential victim maintains his or

> her composure, stands firm, and continues to behave appropriately even

when provoked, the bully

> will find that the supposed victim is not so weak as he or she first

thought.

> A few simple assertiveness rules that you can teach to students are to:

> · Respond to taunts, insults, or teasing with a bland response ( " Oh " .

" That's your opinion. "

> " Maybe. " ) Don't let bullies see that they have upset you.

>

> · Get away from the situation if you start to get very angry.

> · Say " No " firmly and loudly if you don't want to do something that

someone tells you to do.

> Stand straight up and look that person in the eye when you say it.

> · Refuse to let others talk you into doing something that you will be

sorry for--even if they dare

> you!

> · Report incidents of bullying to adults.

> Be sure that you students do not confuse assertiveness with physical or

verbal aggression. While

> the weaker victim will likely regret aggressively attacking the bully,

he or she may well be

> successful by simply standing firm against the bully. And even if the

potential victim is not entirely

> successful when using assertiveness skills during a particular episode,

that student might still

> manage to stop the bullying from becoming chronic by showing the bully

that he or she is not an

> `easy mark.'

>

> Some links that may be helpful

> http://www.stopbullying.gov/

> http://www.nasponline.org/resources/principals/nassp_bullying.aspx

> http://www.pacer.org/bullying/sap/activities-mid.asp (they have it split

into grades -this is for middle school -but you may want to check elementary

at this site)

> http://www.stopbullyingnow.com/

> http://www.nobully.com/

>

> There is a tremendous amount of info on this topic as it's one that is

in the news pretty much daily and one that is taken serious today!!

>

>

>

> =====

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Traci!

I guess I just read there were some previous issues with teasing and then Sandy

wrote about teasing -so I included that too. It's just a thought -may not have

anything to do with your daughter...but always good to know how to help your

child not be the target!

Yes you'd probably be best off increasing the ProEFA (Omega 369) by one so it's

4/2. Once I had Tanner on the NV for a few months we halved that with no

regression. He just left today for a trip with his school for the next few

days...and it was SO awesome because all I had to give him in 3 little snack

bags were 3 capsules of fish oils (the 2 ProEFA and 1 ProEPA) which is so normal

looking. I always think about that as he's now 14 years old. What we did for

his NV as he makes it himself anyway is I took snack bags for each serving and

he brought a shaker cup. I was telling him to buy a large water and use that

and Tanner says " Mom, I know how to make my Nutriiveda I do it all the time "

ha! Oh -and because we live in Florida and he's going up to Northern Florida

for this trip where it's colder he had to pack long pants -which neither of my

boys wear often. He has men's sweat pants in large that were high waters on

him- he's 14 and over 6 foot tall- I still can't believe it! And he just got

his report card -best ever this year with mostly As and a few Bs. I've shared

he just started in a new school this year which is very strict on how work is

done and turned in -if things aren't done right -spacing etc. it's marked down.

He's fully independent in his studies now and his term paper this year is on how

to become a special education attorney which is what his goal is.

Why did I put Tanner on NV in the first place ?? I put that as well as the

surges we've seen here http://pursuitofresearch.org/getting-started/ I wouldn't

say sensory is a huge area of surge in the first month or so -more speech and

language, motor skills, imaginative and abstract thought and play and academics

-and sense of humor too- well the list is here -I started it with Tanner and

most others find the same now http://pursuitofresearch.org/pursuit-of-research/

If I had to sum up one word for NV -normalizer. For sure that is a word I would

use to describe NV at this point. If you want to hear more about Tanner just

let me know -I have tons of archives or when he comes back this weekend I can

ask him for his one report for school where he compared fish oils against NV.

And by the way -super cool update -the other parents in his school who have

" normal " kids are buying NV for the growth and athletic aspect because Tanner's

on the basketball and football team and towers over many of the fathers and

teachers now and has been quite the athlete!! He recently got blue ribbon first

place in the one mile and 440 dash (again he's in a regular Jr High) he's become

so fast and I'd even say fluid when he moves now!! There are so many surges I

could go on (as you can tell!! I'm almost giddy. No I am giddy)

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[Guest guest]

OK!! I did it! I finally ordered the NV... I'm a little nervous already since

I spent so much on it for a months supply. I read and read all I can read about

it, it " sounds " like everything would need. Iam soo desperate for

something to work. The fish oils have kindof come to a lull. I will continue

to use them as well. My daughter loves shakes so should I mix Ice cream in

water to make a " shake " ? and everyone, Thank you!!

TLC

>

> Hi Traci!

>

> I guess I just read there were some previous issues with teasing and then

Sandy wrote about teasing -so I included that too. It's just a thought -may not

have anything to do with your daughter...but always good to know how to help

your child not be the target!

>

> Yes you'd probably be best off increasing the ProEFA (Omega 369) by one so

it's 4/2. Once I had Tanner on the NV for a few months we halved that with no

regression. He just left today for a trip with his school for the next few

days...and it was SO awesome because all I had to give him in 3 little snack

bags were 3 capsules of fish oils (the 2 ProEFA and 1 ProEPA) which is so normal

looking. I always think about that as he's now 14 years old. What we did for

his NV as he makes it himself anyway is I took snack bags for each serving and

he brought a shaker cup. I was telling him to buy a large water and use that

and Tanner says " Mom, I know how to make my Nutriiveda I do it all the time "

ha! Oh -and because we live in Florida and he's going up to Northern Florida

for this trip where it's colder he had to pack long pants -which neither of my

boys wear often. He has men's sweat pants in large that were high waters on

him- he's 14 and over 6 foot tall- I still can't believe it! And he just got

his report card -best ever this year with mostly As and a few Bs. I've shared

he just started in a new school this year which is very strict on how work is

done and turned in -if things aren't done right -spacing etc. it's marked down.

He's fully independent in his studies now and his term paper this year is on how

to become a special education attorney which is what his goal is.

>

> Why did I put Tanner on NV in the first place ?? I put that as well as the

surges we've seen here http://pursuitofresearch.org/getting-started/ I wouldn't

say sensory is a huge area of surge in the first month or so -more speech and

language, motor skills, imaginative and abstract thought and play and academics

-and sense of humor too- well the list is here -I started it with Tanner and

most others find the same now http://pursuitofresearch.org/pursuit-of-research/

>

> If I had to sum up one word for NV -normalizer. For sure that is a word I

would use to describe NV at this point. If you want to hear more about Tanner

just let me know -I have tons of archives or when he comes back this weekend I

can ask him for his one report for school where he compared fish oils against

NV. And by the way -super cool update -the other parents in his school who have

" normal " kids are buying NV for the growth and athletic aspect because Tanner's

on the basketball and football team and towers over many of the fathers and

teachers now and has been quite the athlete!! He recently got blue ribbon first

place in the one mile and 440 dash (again he's in a regular Jr High) he's become

so fast and I'd even say fluid when he moves now!! There are so many surges I

could go on (as you can tell!! I'm almost giddy. No I am giddy)

>

>

> =====

>