a barrier to his understanding?

[Ktllc]

I need your guys' opinion on this:
difficult child's teacher did an assessment and here are few things that strike me.
It seems like evrytime a "barrier" is created, difficult child does not understand anymore: he has no understanding of letters, directional movement of reading, where to start reading, don't recognize patterns, don't create patterns, no understanding of graphs, don't recognize numbers, never watches TV or no interest in computer (little preschool games), never participate in music at school (which is singing songs). It looks like he just does not get it when you symbolize things. On the other hand he ALWAYS particiapte in science, art and physical education (all three are very hands on). He also can count to three and understand that 3 is more than 2 (etc) and will manipulate that idea with balls or block (basic concept of numbers) but God forbid you put on a piece of paper! He knows the front and back of a book (hands on again?). When you read him a story, I'm pretty sure he only understands it because of the pictures (I've asked him questions about the story and only talks about what was drawn, although he will remember the names of the caracters... but once again I usually point at them and say there names...). On the other hand is loves picture books, albums with no story.
His therapist is pretty sure he has some processing issues cause A and B he doesn't get but then he will understand a very abstract concept of what a therapist's job is.
Any of those things are familiar to you??

 

[DaisyFace]

KTLLC--

He participates in art, but not music.
He holds the book, but doesn't follow the story.
He can do numbers with objects, but not on paper.

It almost sounds to me like a hearing problem....or an auditory processing problem. He seems to be getting the visual and the physical....but not the auditory (such as reading aloud and singing songs).

And lets face it, written words are meaningless if you don't "hear" them. C, A, T, equals cat if you can hear the sounds and connect it to the symbol and form the word....but if you can't make that connection ? then you need to learn it differently.

So yes, I agree. It sounds like you need to investigate processing issues. Especially auditory processing.

 

[amy1129]

ugh, I posted a long reply and it didnt post. lets hope I can remember what I said, here goes

Reading this it reminds me of my daughter (4th grade) she has struggled since entering school at age 5. I couldnt put my finger on it, but homework was a nightmare and I started to notice she was comprehending stories, preferred books with pics, loved puzzles and such. Word probelms she would go blank, wouldnt even know where to begin. I had meetings with each teacher every year, they said she is such a great kid, smart, very polite, etc. I said thats great but she isnt getting the work. Finally her 3rd grade teacher explained to me about her concrete and abstract parts of her brain. She said around 2nd-3rd grade the abstract brain starts to work. Not in my daughters case and she could see that, she said it varies with each kid....she said, watch next week we are doing geomatry, she will do awesome with that, and she did, she got it, she flew threw her work.....but when a new lesson comes up, she goes blank and needed the teacher to kind of walk her through it and off she went. But she couldnt figure it out herself. With reading, she needs to be alone in a quiet room and she reads aloud and she will comprehend more of the story (that is if one of her toys doesnt distract her ) ANyways, i started googling learning disabilities and stumbled on non verbal learning disability....****OMG its so her. In reading the chracteristics, more of her was brought to light....like she has never done good in a group sports, she does karate, swimming, ice skating and lvoes it, signed her up for soccer and softball she about had a panic attack. But now my problem is getting her tested, none of her teachers see what I see and have strongly suggested that I dont test her, that she is fine. BUT I know different. I might talk to the neuro psychiatric that will be working with my son and see if she suggests anything.


Google non verbal Learning Disability (LD) and see if any of that rings a bell....by the way how old is your

 

[Ktllc]

Actually I had bumped into Learning Disability (LD) but honestly, I have read so many things and he is only 4 years old... so it is kind of hard for me to really know what fits or doesn't. Just today, they watch a movie at school and I asked him if he could understand or if it was hard to understand the story. He said it's hard. Asked him the same question about his teacher reading books, same answer " hard to understand what she says". I know his hearing is fine (has been tested before and after putting ear tubes). I just read him a little story (part of it) without let him see the pictures. He knew it was about a train (from the cover) but did not understand a thing!! He told me I just read about looking for a treasure, but the treasure is part of another story (about the same train) we had read a few days ago... It is puzzling because he can carry a very good conversation...

 

[Malika]

Part of the confusion of this area for me is that at this young age, children do develop at their own rhythms and pace, particularly in terms of numbers and letters. So... for example, where it is clear to me (and I think to some degree to his teacher, though she says he has made "much progress") that my son has some block or difficulty with numbers and letters - he can count, understands the concept of counting, but has a LOT of trouble recognising written numbers and doesn't really seem to have learnt any letter sounds or names - and similar problems with identifying colours, when we met the school psychologist who talked to me and gave him some brief tests, she said at the end that at this stage he was completely within norms for his age and that children develop so individually that one cannot talk about learning difficulties so young... That is just one opinion and I'm sure many others will disagree. But what I personally picked up on when I read your post is that your son has a very definite "learning style" - visual and kinetic. How does this relate to any learning difficulties he may have? I suspect you will need some very creative and knowledgeable specialist to help you untangle that.

 

[DaisyFace]

I know his hearing is fine (has been tested before and after putting ear tubes).

Let me jump in here:

Hearing and auditory processing are two different things.

"Hearing" means the ears work. They can pick up sounds.

"Auditory Processing" is what the brain does with those signals.

Sometimes there is a delay between what the ears hear and what the brain can decipher. That's where you will see issues with verbal things....long stories....crowd noise....etc. Often kids will compensate by focusing on visual aids (like the illustrations) to fill in the gaps of what they are missing.

 

[BusynMember]

I would take him to a neuropsychologist. These sound like neurological issues...a processing problem is very likely. My fifteen year old daughter can read fluently and can certainly understand words and converse, but she has a lot of trouble comprehending AND retaining what she reads or hears. It has caused a lot of trouble in school for her, and we are getting her a tutor this summer and another evaluation since she hasn't had one since she was very young. Your son may also have dyslexia (common with processing problems) where the letters/numbers tend to jump around on the page when the child tries to read.

I would seriously have him evaluated. The earlier you get a handle on a learning problem, the better the child can overcome it. Perhaps the stroke in utero caused this.

Keep us posted and welcome to the board

 

[Confused]

Hi Ktllc,
My son does not have the same issues as yours, but he does have a speech problem.(In therapy) He is 5 and I believe understands what it all means when he sees a movie or gets read to. Which after reading these posts, I'm going to double check him! I have read their posts here and agree to go to both the Speech Therapist and the neuropsychologist. It could be one or both. Good luck!
Confused