Speech Therapy (Language) Help/Advice please!

[TraceyS/FL]

OK, had the appointment to go over the eval results (which was about 4 hours long over 2 days).

No real surprises, oddly though DD is the 5th child with APD to actually score WELL on the reading comprehension. Enough the therapist is now looking into more because she doesn't get it. She thinks though since it was multiple choice that their brains are filling in enough to make them able to guess. But that numbers stands out in the middle of that group! LOL!!

ANYWAY, I hadn't even researched what they might be wanting to do. I knew she was being very thorough and i didn't ask what programs they use, so well, it was easier to wait.

Then when i got home, i thought of something i should have asked.... but i'd like to have input from you guys on it anyway, so i'll ask here first.

OK, DD was approved for 2 hours a week of ST, and that was before the eval. She said we might be able to get more if we want to try. Which meant another calendar shuffle because i had just worked on ONE day on monday. Oops. Got it sorted out...

SO, they are going to do LIPs, O-G and V/V with her. I'm guessing they start with LIPS, then move on? My question is this, should i NOT be doing our reading curriculum during this time? We use BJU Distance Learning (She's working at 2nd grade right now), the phonics instruction is more review at this point. The main point of the lessons are reading (which i have her do outloud with me sitting right there) and asking questions about the story and such. She really enjoys the class, and doesn't complain about reading. I just don't have a clue what the recommended direction is with this you know?

She also recommended Earobics - which i realized i don't know what level to buy, but hopefully level 1 would be ok because i can't find a Mac OSX version of Level 2 (been discontinued - and then there is the Intel issue, they all say NO :glare:). I really need the youngest using that too until i can get her into private speech, and I am suspecting more and more APD in her.

SOOO, on that, would Level 1 work for a 10yo with an Auditory level of 6y? and then the 5yo with who knows what.

But mainly at this point, i'm not sure on the reading (& spelling i guess) at this point. Does anyone have any thoughts??

We start next Tuesday, she will be going Monday and Tuesday's for now.

She is also really wanting the neurological eval, and said my family would make a good case study! LOL!! :tongue_smilie:

Thanks... i think i had something else, but i'm tired and it's dark out!

[LizzyBee]

My kids who have APD have awesome reading comprehension - much better than their sister who doesn't have APD. Your dd has dyslexia, too, correct? From the reading I've done, it's my impression that the with the types of APD that tend to accompany/cause dyslexia, it's not uncommon for kids to have great comprehension. Decoding is where they struggle.

I would think you'd want your reading practice at home to mirror what your dd is doing in therapy. I would ask the therapist for homework and I'd also want to watch the sessions.

My 8 yo just started ST again today after a break of nearly 2 years because her language scores have dropped. Her ST works out of her OT's office. They are so awesome because all of them look at the big picture and not just their little piece of the puzzle. The ST uses the sensory gym for movement breaks which my dd loves!

[siloam]

OK, had the appointment to go over the eval results (which was about 4 hours long over 2 days).

No real surprises, oddly though DD is the 5th child with APD to actually score WELL on the reading comprehension. Enough the therapist is now looking into more because she doesn't get it. She thinks though since it was multiple choice that their brains are filling in enough to make them able to guess. But that numbers stands out in the middle of that group! LOL!!

ANYWAY, I hadn't even researched what they might be wanting to do. I knew she was being very thorough and i didn't ask what programs they use, so well, it was easier to wait.

Then when i got home, i thought of something i should have asked.... but i'd like to have input from you guys on it anyway, so i'll ask here first.

OK, DD was approved for 2 hours a week of ST, and that was before the eval. She said we might be able to get more if we want to try. Which meant another calendar shuffle because i had just worked on ONE day on monday. Oops. Got it sorted out...

SO, they are going to do LIPs, O-G and V/V with her. I'm guessing they start with LIPS, then move on? My question is this, should i NOT be doing our reading curriculum during this time? We use BJU Distance Learning (She's working at 2nd grade right now), the phonics instruction is more review at this point. The main point of the lessons are reading (which i have her do outloud with me sitting right there) and asking questions about the story and such. She really enjoys the class, and doesn't complain about reading. I just don't have a clue what the recommended direction is with this you know?

She also recommended Earobics - which i realized i don't know what level to buy, but hopefully level 1 would be ok because i can't find a Mac OSX version of Level 2 (been discontinued - and then there is the Intel issue, they all say NO :glare:). I really need the youngest using that too until i can get her into private speech, and I am suspecting more and more APD in her.

SOOO, on that, would Level 1 work for a 10yo with an Auditory level of 6y? and then the 5yo with who knows what.

But mainly at this point, i'm not sure on the reading (& spelling i guess) at this point. Does anyone have any thoughts??

We start next Tuesday, she will be going Monday and Tuesday's for now.

She is also really wanting the neurological eval, and said my family would make a good case study! LOL!! :tongue_smilie:

Thanks... i think i had something else, but i'm tired and it's dark out!

I would talk to the people doing ST, but generally most LD kids are easily overwhelmed. If that ifts your child then they need to be working on the same thing in all areas at once. That means that you would not do a separate reading program at home, but ask what ways you can reinforce what they are doing at ST.

LiPS works on first hearing sounds, then saying and categorizing sounds according to how the mouth moves to make them. First the consonants, then the vowels. After the child is proficient in that it moves to phonological awareness (hearing separate sounds in a word), then includes reading and spelling instructions. LiPS is O/G in all its methods.

That means that unless you can customize Earobics to work on what they are covering in ST then it would probably be best not to do that either. Though I would also have a hard time doing nothing. My kids seem to have a higher tolerance for working on multiple things, probably because their issues are not super severe (other than ds's speech issues), so I have used multip methods at once and have had success despite it. :D

The hard thing is not all therapists are good about communicating with the parent what they can do to help. If that happens e-mail me and I can probably help given I am familiar with LiPS. You can buy components separately, so their are Bingo and card type games you can play with her at home.

I know nothing about v/v.

Heather

[jg_puppy]

I have both levels of Earobics so if you have some specific questions I will do what I can to help. My 6.5 year old (who I suspect might have APD) started using Earobics Level 1 probably around Feb. I can tell that it has helped him. We took a break from it for the summer and I realize that we should not have done that. He did regress some. He has quickly gotten back to where he was and has started progressing again. He loves computer games so Earobics is just fun games to him. He can't wait to fill up his chart in Level 1 so he can start Level 2.

My 9 year old (who has no auditory issues, but could use some phonics help) liked Level 1 for a few weeks, but quickly got bored with it. I do think it helped her as well, but she finished most of the program in just a few short weeks.

I bought both of mine used so you might want to check some for sale boards to see if you can find them cheaply if you decide to use them.

[Dobela]

My son's reading therapist/tutor and his other therapists have encouraged me to keep reading with him at least 30 minutes a day (I mean he reads aloud while I listen). I don't do phonics unless they send home specific homework, and they do. However, I use the regular texts as reviews, comprehension, and fluency. Mostly for comprehension anfd fluency. I stay about a grade level below them so the reading is easy and more natural-thus the easy fluency work. My son has different issues than your dd but even though the tutors began at the beginning of phonics, he has moved thru part of it fairly quickly.

[TraceyS/FL]

Thanks everyone (and I can't type all I want because I'm on my Touch because my computer flipped out last night. Hmph. )

it seems like I'm going to have to see what the therapist has to say on Tuesday and got from there. Hopefully it won't be tooooo conflicting to keep going, or they have something we can put in there instead of ours. I just wasn't sure if there was official type of things recommended with the program or not. I need to read more this weekend too I think.

I have more questions but they have to wait. Time to get up and get ready to head to da big city for APD testing for the oldest.