Speech therapy is torture

[Ktllc]

I'm really uptset right now. I feel it is a complete waste of time and negative reinforcement.
The Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)'s plan is to learn one letter each session, write them, sound them out, etc... In between session, V is supposed to do the letter is learned on a work sheet.
Today was letter C. And V was totally out of it. Could not answer simple questions, stare blankly. If Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) asked "what letter is it" V would answer "what letter is it", or not answer at all, or saying whatever crossed his mind. Poor eye contact. Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) kept asking him to look at him.
At felt it was torture and pointless.
Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) told me we have to do it everyday and was a bit disppointed when I told him we had not done letter B this weekend. Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) told V it is only a few minutes of his time... True, but if V is not ready for it, I know I won't get anything out of him: just agravation.
And then my question remains: what's the point??? How is that going to help is communication??
Why can Sweet Pea learn and have fun at the same time. But it is so boring for V.
Then Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is so precise on letter formation, I think it is ridiculous. If it looks somewhat like a C, then I say good enough!
V can't learn to what he does not relate. And let me tell you : he does not relate to letters or letter sounds!
A few more sessions like that and we call it quit.
Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) has not accomplished a thing since starting therapy in February.... And he does not deny it. This "great" new plan was supposed to work...
husband thinks we should stick to Occupational Therapist (OT) and forget the rest for now. He functions like a 3 year old, we need to play and interact with him at that level if we want progress. At least, that's what husband believes.
I don't know what to think anymore. And then I do all I can to stay patient with him. But it is so hard when V does not understand much. I always have to explain and show things a million time. Over and over and over... At night, I'm burned out. I just want the questions to stop.
Done with my vent! But do you think this Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is who we need?? And keep in mind, he is the only one in the area (although I might be able to ask Sweet Pea's Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) if he would be available... he is through Early Intervention, so I'm not sure).

 

[Liahona]

If you can't get a different Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) maybe telling this one "what you are doing isn't working do something else!" With that mama voice that has an "or else" in the tone. 2 months is to long without progress.

 

[keista]

What letter is it? I remember the pre-k teacher CONSTANTLY complaining that son would do this, or just stare at her. I would just laugh at her. the answer is simple. the child knows the letter, the child knows you know he knows the letter, so the child is wondering what the big whoopdedoo is?!?!?!?
I don't know if V gives that look, but son did it ALL the time.

Anyway my suggestion is electronic educational toys. The kind that have a button for each letter of the alphabet and numbers. Leap frog reading system, ect. My son learned all his states and capitals by age 5 using Leapfrog. Granted, he had difficulty forming a sentence at the time, but he knew his states and capitals AND was able to apply that knowledge.

DD1 was very slow on this learning curve, and HATED toys that made noise. My solution was to get such toys for DD2 that year for Christmas. Once DD1 saw DD2 playing with them, they became irresistible. Within a month DD1 knew her alphabet and was recognizing her letters.

 

[buddy]

So sorry. in my humble opinion at his level all therapy is play based. Even in elementary and middle school I always have used a game base or relevant activity relating to interests of the child. What specifically is the goal?

 

[InsaneCdn]

Since when is learning to WRITE going to help speech??? (sorry. good friend was a teacher of the deaf. even for them... "speech" was verbal or signed... written is a different subject)
JMO, but...

 

[DammitJanet]

Ok he is 4 right? We had a whole lot of trouble with Keyana learning her letters and sounds when she was in Head Start and in Pre-K. I have no idea how she is doing in Kindergarten other than the week she was here at Xmas and she seemed to be doing much better.

I thought I was going to pull my hair out because I would show her a letter, draw it with her, say it..we would go A Ahhh... then ten minutes later she couldnt tell me what it was for love nor money. I had every gadget and gizmo known to mankind to help her too. If leap frog or vtech made it, I bought it. We played games online. She simply didnt care. She could spell her name because I made it into a song. She recognized K's everywhere. That was her favorite letter.

Finally by the time she turned 5 and was ready to leave us, I had her so she knew the first letter of all of our names and I thought I had done a real good job there...lol. She had to know P, J, L, D, B because those were the numbers programmed into her phone. P is Papa, J is me, L is grandma Linda, D is Daddy, and B is Uncle Billy.

Now Billy was much different. He was not dyslexic but he had dysgraphia and writing for him was extremely hard. We had to use manipulatives for him to learn letters and spelling. We did pudding and rice and playdough even writing the letters on his hands. Or his back. Things were interesting in my house. LOL. I had two dancing on the ceilings and one who was learning disabled.

 

[Ktllc]

I don't have written plan with goal. But I know Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) wants to increase his phonemic awareness and auditory memory.
Keista, I can just imagine your son! But it is not quite the same with V. He is just blank, no facial expression just two big brown eyes starring the void or starring at Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) when he is asked to look at him. And every now and then a big yawn all the while being blank. When he does that, I just want to grab him and give a big hug, telling him to gorget about it all! Just kills me.
Before the letters, Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) was working on the calendar, before that he was working on recalling short stories (like 2 sentences), before that he used candyland to make him memorize the names and places of the game. Nothing stuck with V.

 

[helpangel]

I think husband may be on to something if Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) not making any progress. I'm wondering if the Occupational Therapist (OT) and playtherapy are separate or if the school trying to blend them together the way they tried with-my 15yo R.

Here they graduate from early intervention to pre primary impaired at 3yo; the only difference is parents participate every session in early intervention and parents take turns helping out with PPI. Both groups went kind of same way a little free play, circle/welcome, story/lesson, snack/meal, circle time, free play.

EI - an hour and a half; PPI 3 hours - they kept trying to pull R out of the class to do Occupational Therapist (OT), PT & Speech Language Pathologist (SLP); I was glad I was participating so could squash that from the start. It would break the rhythm of the whole group not just R when they would pull R out of middle of class, for that reason I would have her "stay after" for her individualized services.

The most helpful for R of the whole thing was free play and circle time. Free play can you imagine me & teacher doing a high 5 to each other when R yelled "no me first" and shoved a kid cutting in line for the slide - we had been trying to get that kid to speak for over a year.

Didn't matter that she didn't sing ABC song in circle time while teacher pointed at the letters she still learned to recognize them (though she probably saw them different then us - R has dyslexia). As far as the speaking part went with her she didn't have autism she needed to feel strongly enough about something to have anything to say. Had it not been for free play we wouldn't have known to make her mad to get her to talk.

I guess to answer your question on if should put Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) on back burner for now would be dependent on how answer question - is it interfering with the other things you are doing?

 

[keista]

And every now and then a big yawn all the while being blank.

The yawn is just as classic. Here's the big question - What does V like? For some reason I'm thinking rocks?????? If that's it the letters need to be formed with rocks.

Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) can try everything under the sun, but if it doesn't engage V then it simply won't work. If it's fire trucks that turn him on then find or make printouts of all the letters using firetruck or firetruck related items, dinosaurs, fish, cars, rocks, etc. But you have to start with what V likes and then turn it into the learning activity. Letters can be formed from food products and he only gets to eat them if he "performs" the letter activity of the day.

In a nutshell, find his obsession then use it to teach.

 

[InsaneCdn]

JMO, but... sounds like wrong Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) (not connecting with V), along with the wrong goals and wrong plan. It ain't workin. Anybody working with young kids with language problems "should" already know that... if you don't click, you're not going anywhere. First, you have to get that "connection" going.

 

[susiestar]

Your husband is right. You cannot teach a child anything if you are above or below his level. It just doesn't work this way.

What is V interested in? I was an aide in Wiz' first grade class. Many of the kids were in school for the first time and had never seen letters before - quite literally. One little boy was quite bloodthirsty and totally adored Halloween. His parents let him watch Chuckie and the Friday the 13th movies instead of Barney and Blues Clues. So he knew NOTHING that didn't involve blood. I made a little alphabet book at home for him with Halloween themed things for the letter - candy or monsters. In three weeks he could identify the letters and give their sounds. NO ONE, not teacher, not reading teacher, not Speech Language Pathologist (SLP), had gotten him to make ANY progress and all wanted to know how I did it.

When I homeschooled Wiz we did very well because ALL lessons revolved around a theme that he and I chose together for the month. I wrote math problems using dinosaurs, pokemon, and quite a few other things. We did science experiments based on those things. We read and did EVERYTHING mostly based on the theme - and he rarely balked at doing schoolwork or got violent with me over it. He would wake me up if I took a nap with J and T so that we could do school and until then he LOATHED school because it was so boring and he was always in trouble.

find what V is interested in and make the lessons revolve around that. Make alphabets based on whatever he is interested in. Cook foods he likes with him (cookies and cakes) to help him learn numbers. Bring as many different senses into each lesson as possible. I used to make batches of koolaid playdough to make letters and shapes and numbers out of. Koolaid added to a playdough recipe means bright colors and scents that are appealing (and it is cheap esp if you use a store brand). Just use the little unsweetened envelopes and involve the kids in the process. Count the cups of flour, salt, water, oil. Use mini oreos and other cookies/candy to do math with. Get a problem right? Eat the m&ms. Get it wrong? do it over and you can't eat them until you get it right. I used to get the bags of baking m&ms for this bc they are mini size so you get more to the package. Plus less sugar in my kids - Wiz got mean if he had sugar on an empty stomach.

This Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is an idiot. There is NO WAY that V is going to be able to write the letters until he can say them. It is meaningless to him. Cut the letters out of sandpaper and glue it onto wood or a stiff backing and have him trace them with his hands as he says them. Include activities to build up the muscles in his hands and his fine motor skills. Until these are fairly well developed he is actually UNABLE to write the letters. This is a montessori technique that works very well. Make them out of as many textures as you can find. For writing get him tub crayons and let him write in the tub. Heck, give the kid a popsicle and let him draw ont he side of the tub with the popsicle if he wants. Wiz adored that - only place he got popsicles because he put them in his pockets - eeeuuuuwwwww esp a week later after I didn't know he got one and Dad tossed it n the hamper.

Try pudding paints. Make instant pudding and add food coloring. Let V draw wtih it if he likes finger painting. Let him eat as much as he wants. Heck, give him cookies to draw on with the pudding and then keep them in the fridge for a snack.

But in NO way should he EVER be forced to do ANY boring things with letters - not EVER. it will turn him off of reading/writing and he will NEVER get over it with-o tons of work from youI drove teachers NUTS refusing to make Wiz do homework that was years behind his level. But Wiz went into kdg reading chapter books with over 100 pages in 2-3 hours - and dictating fan fiction and book reports about them to me. He couldn't wrte worth a darn but he was seriously hyperlexic. I did work with a LOT of his classmates who had problems because I love to read and was able to make the kids love it too by bringing it to them in a form that interested them. The bloodthirsty kid was one of many I worked with.

This Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is being an idiot. Ask WHY he won't work with V on V's level, and how V is to magically get to that level when he has NO interest and is missing so many building blocks that are needed to be able to do what the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is asking. Also ask WHY this cannot be done more interestingly. Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is right that working every day is helpful, but not if it totally turns the kid off. Heck, I had a cousin who read very well until he was pulled out of Montessori to go to the daycare at the school where he would go to kdg. He then refused to read because it wasn't 'cool'. His gma, my great aunt, was distraught. Finally she called and asked me what to do because my aunt and this cousin's parents (cousins of my dad's) could do NOTHING with him and I always could - no idea why but he always did what I asked iwth no problems or sass (NOT his character). I told her to get him a subscription to sports illustrated for kids and for every issue he read to her then take him to a ball game - pro, minor league, high school, middle school, any kind of game, any sport they wanted, but give him that carrot. After the second issue came he got a game for each issue that arrived within a week. In kdg. he KNEW how to read, but it wasn't 'cool' so he played stupid. He got a carrot he liked, he read for them.

THIS is how you get a kid to learn. If it isn't fun, what on EARTH would make them do it? WHY would anyone think that any child that age could/should/would do something as boring as what this Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) wants? Is he an idiot or just a slow learner?? (the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP), I have a feeling that V is very bright but there is a disconnect that has the idiot experts thinking he isn't. been there done that with quite a few kids I know and in later years they get the tools to unlock their brains and suddenly people realize they are flat out brilliant by by then the idiot experts have done so much damage that the kids take years to realize it if they ever do. It is a problem I dealt with a LOT in our homeschool coop in Cincy - I gave a LOT of advice to people who thought that kids needed the memorization type learning that so many of us had. It just is not as effective.

Does V like the computer? Get a jumpstart preK program or whatever looks like he would like it and let him PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY PLAY with it. Leapfrog has fun ones and some awesome videos (some are on netflix if you have that) and they are also at walmart or wherever. Wrap the learning in the fun and he will learn soooo much faster.

I am soooo mystified by why ANY professional who teaches kids would think they can skip steps to things like reading/writing and be able to write a letter perfectly and understand it, esp when presented in a boooooooooorrrriiiiinnnngggg way. I seriously think someone dropped this Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) on his head as a baby or something. Talk about idiotic and totally not having a flipping clue! I think the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) has the problem more than V does.

There are more than one kind of intelligence. Each and EVERY kind should be CELEBRATED, not just readin', writin' and 'rithmetic. One kid I know how is a year older than Wiz couldn't even tell the days of the week in third-fourth grade. His mom was a librarian but he couldn't read yet. She was patient but refused to let him be in sp ed or be diagnosis'd though he was totally autistic in many classic ways - far more than Wiz ever was. But give the kid the most complex lego or lincoln log instructions and he could set them up in half the time it would take someone twice his age - by age 6. I am talking sets that were $200+ and they were so clear to him. I was unable to do many of these and I am good at that kind of thing. It took YEARS for his parents to grasp that he was NOT stupid, he had a learning disorder or six. I used to want to just bang his mom and dad's heads together - finally his Gpa did bang something against his dad's head - some kind of wrench - because Dad was at the kid's birthday party telling several people how stupid the kid was and how he wasn't getting another party ever because he was too dumb. About ten of us cheered when Gpa smacked him hard with that wrench. Gpa warned him to not talk about his gkid that way, and Gpa never kidded about stuff like that. The dad had a lump that was visible for a week, and even though he had been a state trooper he couldn't file charges because NONE of us would admit we saw anything - and we had been with Gpa ALL DAY. So it was mean of all of us, but the dad needed it nad NEVER said that in public or around the kid again that anyone knew. Given the kid's echolalia, we all knew he was hearing that nonsense somewhere.

So that is my longwinded opinion. I am more than willing to help you find or create alphabets and projects that would appeal to V if you want. That is an age where I love to work with them 1 on 1 with this stuff. It is just fun to watch them learn, or to hear about it.

 

[BusynMember]

I am puzzled about this "speech." My son had speech because he was on the autism spectrum and it was NOTHING like that! It was about communicating. Does V often repeat what is said to him? I will give an example about what Sonic would sometimes do that puzzled us:

Me: Sonic, can you get your coat?
Sonic: Coat (not yes or not and doesn't do it)

Me: What's your name?
Sonic: Name. (He knew his name and would come when called)

This is common in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)/Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). The kids first learn to copy speech then start spontaneous speech. For a while he was taught sign language and shown pictures and he had to name the picture. If he got it right, he got to get something special (I forgot what it was...something like a chip he could put into his special box). Now he was about two at the time, but this continued at three and he steadily learned how to speak. By four he was talking as if he had never been delayed, although he still had (and still does have) trouble holding a give-and-take conversation. Everyone who posted here is right...the ST has to work on the child's level. If speech is delayed, the ST needs to be where he is at. You can not jump around. (OMG, I remember the blank stare!)

I am wondering if he doesn't need another ST who better meets his needs. I could be all wrong here, but this doesn't sound right to me at all. I've heard ABT speech therapists are very good, although I never had to use one and don't even know what ABT stands for Sorry about that!

 

[Ktllc]

Wow lots of idea and input! Thanks.
I actually tried to use rocks tonight (he has a collection of rocks that we keep in a box) and he LOVED it. You guys should have seen his face when he realized I made the letter A. V and I made lots of letters with just 2 mistakes on his part. It was just amazing. The added bonus: he can take his time to place the rocks the right way and correct it as much as he wants until it's right. And that's just what he did a couple times.
That is great!!! I'll have to try some (all?) the other suggestions.
on the other hand, it really does not solve his communication issues.
To be clearer, here are few of his problems: when asked a question or talked to V will frequently say "hugh" (almost to every interaction), requires lots of repetition and simplification to get it, lots of "I don't know" and exclusively single word answers.
When he engages in a conversation, he will struggle to find the words, use gestures to make up for the lack of words or try to discribe the word he is looking for (ie: the poc poc poc, you know?" along with flapping hands = chicken).
He has a hard time staying on topic.
Those are the issues I was hoping to get him help for. It invades his whole life in a negative way.

 

[keista]

Since he's had an Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) evaluation already, this has probably been checked, but it's bugging me so I'll ask anyway. Is his frenum normal? that's the little piece of skin that keeps the tongue down. My son's was so short he could not stick his tongue out. Had to get it cut. the day we had it done, his language exploded. Turned out, he just was uncomfortable saying the words incorrectly. Anyway, this doesn't really sound like V's problem, but thought I'd put it out there just in case.

What you're describing is vocabulary retrieval. Does he actually know the words he's trying to find? Is he actually struggling to find the word or is he using replacement words/gestures. Son's teacher tried telling me son didn't know the words. I disagreed. If you asked him to point to the fan, he would. If you pointed to the fan and asked what it was he'd call it a wind blower. THAT afterall made sense. The thing was blowing wind. Again, don't know which direction V's issues are going. in my opinion if you just keep working with him and naming EVERYTHING you see in every environment you are in, he will catch on.

 

[buddy]

I'm using my phone so sorry not good replies. OK so I get the picture better and I just didn't want to assume anything. We sometimes in home therapy would case manage and run eachothers goals so I wondered if he was doing some of the cognitive domain but even so his techniques seem like he is limited in his therapy methods. These activities ...again just mho, are not appropriate. He should have pictures of minimal pair words like pop mop and you play a guess which word I'm saying or hide and seek game etc....they learn to listen for the differences. No need to read it yet. He needs the prerequisite processing skills. When good at it it's done in differing noise situations etc. I think you need a therapist who really understands young child play and overall learning along with how to work on sound discrimination and processing ......by the way these activities go on up to action pictures or objects ...following directions games with and without rhyming words etc. (Get the loud toy vs get the cloud toy ...using a drum and a kite with pictures of clouds on it ...dumb example but you get the idea. Again add background noise if needed etc. Tons more but you don't want him to hate all speechies when there are some fun ones there. Wish we lived close!

 

[susiestar]

Does V like all rocks, like general ones, or does he like specific colors or shapes or types of rocks? Is he into them because they are rocks as a group or bc they each have something special that attracts him and if so, what is it that attracts him? There is a reason I am asking - you can go to kids stores and museums and get little bags you can fill with polished rocks for a price. You can also order specific rocks online, esp ebay, for amazing prices. Things like amethysts and other low quality gemstones can be quite inexpensive, agan esp on ebay. or they used to be.

I am thinking that getting some and both making letters with them and making lessons that show the purple rock is amethyst which starts with A, along with the things Buddy suggests could be helpful.

I also think working on the ABC song but using the letter sound instead of name might help some. Ah beh ceh deh eff guh huh instead of a b c d e f g are how you would sing it. I probably didn't spell the letter sounds right, but you get hte picture. Many stores iwth kids books and kids music have cds wth songs for kids that help them learn these things and they are FUN. It also works with math. In the car is an AWESOME time to sing songs about this stuff and do verbal games with sounds etc... These might help.

You could even make books for him easily with pics he helps you find in magazines, online, ones you draw or he draws, etc.... Just get one of those cheap photo books where you slide the picture into the pocket with the clear cover (the dollar store often has them). Put the picture and the letter or sound on the same or facing page.

You can also paint the letter onto a rock if you want. Whether he likes it because it is an amethyst or it is a smooth round rock or a jagged rock or whatever, you can paint the letter or whatever on the rock. just put a layer of clear nail polish over it to seal it. Sometiems the nail polish will give a shine that causes problems for a child due to glare or whatever reason. They now make a matte finish top coat that might be better f he has problems. Eyeslipsface.com sells their matte top coat for $2, the cheapest I have ever seen it. They also have tons of sales and great products. You can get a coupon code almost every day by signing up for their email, or just search for 'eyeslipsface coupon code' on google. When you use the matte top coat, be super sure to shake it very well. Otherwise it will dry with white opaque streaks in it.

 

[Cheerwyn]

I'm mostly a lurker, but I wanted to post a suggestion. The Handwriting Without Tears Program has some wonderful hands-on tools for children learning letters...block shapes and clay where kids get roll out letter shapes. My son's pre K class used it and it was amazing. Their website has a lot of great parent resources.

 

[buddy]

I'm mostly a lurker, but I wanted to post a suggestion. The Handwriting Without Tears Program has some wonderful hands-on tools for children learning letters...block shapes and clay where kids get roll out letter shapes. My son's pre K class used it and it was amazing. Their website has a lot of great parent resources.

Yup it is wonderful and not expensive at all. He is so young, he may not have any problems at all when he is ready but this can be used in any class not just for special needs.

Still, the point is, this is not related to his language goals and it probably is making it harder to work on the actual deficit because he is having to work on something he is not developmentally even supposed to be doing well.

I agree with Keista that he may also have a word finding issue, at least in an open ended conversation or questioning issue. (could also be the companion of his processing issue...a formulation problem. Putting the words he struggles to get into the right order). One way to help start to decrease his level is to give him two choices.... Instead of which cereal do you want to eat? Ask do you want Rice Krispies or Total? etc.... As he gets older if this continues to be an issue he can have IEP adaptations for worksheets and tests so that they are all multiple choice or is given a word bank to look through to pick the right word, etc.

 

[Marguerite]

I'm amazed and unimpressed by this Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). It is not working. He is simply not geared to learning what is wanted in the way being presented.

Using the rocks was genius - if it works, do it. if it doesn't work, don't do it. And if it means that you have to do some things apparently utterly out of sequence or in ways that don't seem to make sense for most other people - so be it.

If this is the only Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) in your area, you have to work with what you've got. But I would point out - you have had advice from other people who have been there done that with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids needing SLPand according to them, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) kids do not learn in the conventional ways.

WHAT WE DID -
1) difficult child 3 was non-verbal and echolalic. The usual Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) did not work. He was actually very resistant. The Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) at the time scolded me for letting difficult child 3 learn to read any words, but it turned out to be what really helped us. beside,s I couldn't stop him - we are surrounded by words and letters in every street sign, every shop sign and ads. The first thing we did, was use Compics. These are simplified pictures on a curtain ring which he can use to communicate. They might have a picture of a drink of milk, for example. A lot of these have the word written in, so a parent/caregiver can understand what the picture is supposed to be. The idea is, when you give the child a drink or he asks for one, the Compic is shown to the child (or to the caregiver) to symbolise the request. So instead of a child grabbing you by the hand and dragging you to the fridge, he learns to show you the appropriate Compic. You can download Compics online and print them off. Laminate them and thread them on a string or curtain ring.

2) Next step - I made special disposable books for difficult child 3. Take a sheet of paper and fold it in half. Turn and fold in half again. And again. Staple down one side then tape over the staples (for safety). With scissors, cut the 'pages' free (by cutting along the folds on the non-stapled side). Then on each page, do one word. Choose words your child needs or already knows. Draw a simple picture and write the word carefully. Then sit with your child and read each word. if you can, act out the words. For example, with "stop" and "go", I drew them in red and green respectively. I had a stick figure standing in "stop" and a walking stick figure in "go". We would read each word as we walked along and as I said "stop", we stopped. Then I would say "go" and we would walk again. We made a game of it.
Over time we added more words. Past a certain point difficult child 3 began to seek out words (even ones he didn't know) and try to read them. So I incorporated those words into these mini-books.

3) I wrote social stories for him and put them in an old photo album with pictures For example, I wrote a story about him and his daily routine. The text I used covered stuff he needed to be able to repeat on demand, such as his name, address and phone number. We would read this together and he memorised the text even before he could read it. However, after using the mini-books for some time difficult child 3 had a vocabulary of nouns and verbs. These were not sufficient to build sentences, but using the social story with photos exposed difficult child 3 to written sentences and he had learned enough about reading to identify the different sentence building blocks. He learned to use other sentence words and began to really communicate.

Using all these techniques, difficult child 3 learned to read by whole word recognition.

NEXT STEP - phonics. This usually comes first, but for difficult child 3 had to come much later. We bought a Leapfrog Phonics desk which helped enormously. It was a lot of fun and taught him the difference between the name of a letter, and the sound it makes. It also showed him the difference between the sounds letters make in different positions in a word.

As difficult child 3 got older we introduced different things, according to what he seemed to need or want. But it had to be something he was ready for.

The whole word recognition thing might be a better option to focus on for him for a little while. If you think about it - learning to recognise that a thing we know and understand can be represented by a symbol, is a huge abstract step. if you try to AT THE SAME TIME teach the concept of individual letters, it has far less relevance for the child. At least a whole word has relevance. "Mummy" for example. Or his own name. Or "car". Or "dog". Or "cat". I suspect "rock" would be a good early choice for a word for him. And once he can say "rock" in response to seeing the written word, you have also taught him the letters R, O, C and K. Then you can try "big rock" and "small rock" and maybe even "stone". Or you can go straight to "basalt", "granite", "sandstone" etc. If he uses the words, write therm down for him. Don't worry if he's still at the C-A-T stage with reading, let him learn "muscovite" if he knows the mineral and uses the term. Whole word recognition works very differently and seems to be more holistic. And these kids do seem to learn better when it's presented holistically.

Share this with the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and if there is still scepticism, I am prepared to put your Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) in touch with our current Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) who endorses everything we've done.

Marg

 

[Ktllc]

I'll try to answrs and react to all of your comments.
First: singing. V does not sing and just became aware of music about 1 month ago. Regular songs are too fast and hard to hear for him to process. He is just realizing that music has a beat. Now, he is trying the "clean up song" but I have to sing it VERY slow and give him time to repeat after me. It is an emerging skill and at this point cannot be paired with any other learning.
I usually try to give him the words so he can pick because indeed he knows the words, it' just not coming out. I actually believe he has a good vocabulary when I include both language. But finding the words and making sense of he is said is hard for him.
As far as sight words: he is REALLY good at it as long as he can relate to the words. But I was a bit disappointed when I shared my great finding with Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) and he told me it is not teaching him anything about language... V has a hard time with verbs and pronouns. Acting them is a really good idea! Marguerite, I'm glad you shared your story. You reassured me that it is not stupid. I had came to the conclusion that using 100% sight words was not appropriate.... now V and I need to go back at it and give him so success.
Thank you all so much. I am going to save this thread: it is a wealth of practical information.
The conclusion of this whole thread: tons can be done all the while having fun. Sadly the Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) is out of his league...