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language problems - mental connections
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 150187" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Sheila, we don't have a neuropsychologist. I'm not even sure we have any in Australia. The specialist psychologist who assessed and diagnosed him has now retired; previously she worked for the Autism Association and then freelanced for a few years part-time before retiring.</p><p></p><p>Teaching a younger child - finding one suitable is not easy. His best friend is also autistic with some language delay, and is not very patient. The neighbour's kids over the road - difficult child 3 could maybe teach them in maths, but these kids are already way ahead of difficult child 3 when it comes to a lot of what they do in English. </p><p></p><p>Besides, I don't think it would make any difference to him - he interacts equally with adults or children. Evan babies, he views as just being smaller but with cognitive abilities equal to his own. He finally 'gets it' that babies don't talk, but he assumes they think at his level.</p><p></p><p>What seemed to work with his teacher, and what I have been doing, is getting him to put the word into a sentence. Also what helps for him, is etymology - what is the origin of the word, in terms of language roots? Where did the word come from, and why? He is beginning to be interested in Shakespeare, in that he invented a lot of words now in common use (such as "bubble" - first used by the witches in "Macbeth").</p><p></p><p>Thanks for putting it in those terms, Sheila. I think his processing speed is high, I've noticed difficult child 1's seems to be high as well, but the retrieval fluency is perhaps the crux of the matter, perhaps aggravated by past problems with expressive language.</p><p></p><p>The problem is, these kids start out with expressive language problems but the brighter they are, the faster they adapt. But this adaptation is a veneer, underneath there are still problems only they're now harder to identify because the kid has become so skilled at covering them up. It's not a conscious deceptive thing, must a desire to appear as normal as possible so that it becomes instinctive.</p><p></p><p>For most of us, as we learn our brains put in all these connections at a very early age. But for those with language delay, those connections are fewer and scattered in different parts of the brain. This is going to slow down retrieval. That's why the 20Q was so helpful - it was putting in more connections, the more it got used.</p><p></p><p>Pictionary - he's not good at drawing, lacks confidence as well, but it might be worth a try. The thing is, he CAN, when pressed, put a word in a sentence. But trying to find the WORDS to describe it, is the problem.</p><p>His teacher stressed to him, "I don't want you to do what so many other students do, when asked to define a word. I don't want you to use another form of that word in its definition. For example, when asked to define 'symbolism', I don't want you to say, 'Something that uses symbols to get the meaning across'. You need to define the word independently."</p><p>But he already does this. Or tries to.</p><p></p><p>I'm just looking at his work for this morning. It's about newspapers and how they work. The question is, "What two things should all headlines do?" I'm sure the teacher wants something along the lines of, "Headlines should inform but also be brief, as a means to tell us what the story is about, and to also entice us to read it."</p><p>What he's written - "headlines should be large and in bold, or maybe underlined, or even double underlined, or even bold and double underlined, so they stand out." He did go on to say, "They should make us want to read the article," but honestly, to get him to see things this way is like pulling teeth. He's willing, he just seems incapable. His mind is rotated 90 degrees from the horizontal, to use a mathematical analogy.</p><p></p><p>The interesting thing is, he can write poetry. I'm planning to teach him mathematical forms such as villanelle or triolet, at some stage.</p><p></p><p>Thanks for the ideas so far, I'll let you know how we get on.</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 150187, member: 1991"] Sheila, we don't have a neuropsychologist. I'm not even sure we have any in Australia. The specialist psychologist who assessed and diagnosed him has now retired; previously she worked for the Autism Association and then freelanced for a few years part-time before retiring. Teaching a younger child - finding one suitable is not easy. His best friend is also autistic with some language delay, and is not very patient. The neighbour's kids over the road - difficult child 3 could maybe teach them in maths, but these kids are already way ahead of difficult child 3 when it comes to a lot of what they do in English. Besides, I don't think it would make any difference to him - he interacts equally with adults or children. Evan babies, he views as just being smaller but with cognitive abilities equal to his own. He finally 'gets it' that babies don't talk, but he assumes they think at his level. What seemed to work with his teacher, and what I have been doing, is getting him to put the word into a sentence. Also what helps for him, is etymology - what is the origin of the word, in terms of language roots? Where did the word come from, and why? He is beginning to be interested in Shakespeare, in that he invented a lot of words now in common use (such as "bubble" - first used by the witches in "Macbeth"). Thanks for putting it in those terms, Sheila. I think his processing speed is high, I've noticed difficult child 1's seems to be high as well, but the retrieval fluency is perhaps the crux of the matter, perhaps aggravated by past problems with expressive language. The problem is, these kids start out with expressive language problems but the brighter they are, the faster they adapt. But this adaptation is a veneer, underneath there are still problems only they're now harder to identify because the kid has become so skilled at covering them up. It's not a conscious deceptive thing, must a desire to appear as normal as possible so that it becomes instinctive. For most of us, as we learn our brains put in all these connections at a very early age. But for those with language delay, those connections are fewer and scattered in different parts of the brain. This is going to slow down retrieval. That's why the 20Q was so helpful - it was putting in more connections, the more it got used. Pictionary - he's not good at drawing, lacks confidence as well, but it might be worth a try. The thing is, he CAN, when pressed, put a word in a sentence. But trying to find the WORDS to describe it, is the problem. His teacher stressed to him, "I don't want you to do what so many other students do, when asked to define a word. I don't want you to use another form of that word in its definition. For example, when asked to define 'symbolism', I don't want you to say, 'Something that uses symbols to get the meaning across'. You need to define the word independently." But he already does this. Or tries to. I'm just looking at his work for this morning. It's about newspapers and how they work. The question is, "What two things should all headlines do?" I'm sure the teacher wants something along the lines of, "Headlines should inform but also be brief, as a means to tell us what the story is about, and to also entice us to read it." What he's written - "headlines should be large and in bold, or maybe underlined, or even double underlined, or even bold and double underlined, so they stand out." He did go on to say, "They should make us want to read the article," but honestly, to get him to see things this way is like pulling teeth. He's willing, he just seems incapable. His mind is rotated 90 degrees from the horizontal, to use a mathematical analogy. The interesting thing is, he can write poetry. I'm planning to teach him mathematical forms such as villanelle or triolet, at some stage. Thanks for the ideas so far, I'll let you know how we get on. Marg [/QUOTE]
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