So proud of ODS! (special needs education discussion)

[MomToTwoBoys]

ODS has been in a special needs education program with the public school district since I put him in school in 2005. He was 7 at the time. He started pretty late because we were going through immigration at the time and you can't attend public school here as an illegal immigrant.

When ODS started school, he never really focused on anything. We had a really hard time with him expressing himself and his behavior was off the charts. We struggled so much with trying to get him to even go to bed and fall asleep before 1am.

Fast forward to this year: He's in a class with five other students, all boys. He's the star of his class! Our main focus this year was to get him to improve on his reading comprehension. He would have a really hard time reading and verbalizing anything in the past. He'd look at the words and jibberish would come out of his mouth. I sat down with his teacher and told her my main focus this year was to make sure ODS got reading comprehension. This was a month and a half ago. He was sent home with some books, with four or five words in a sentence on one page. So one page would have a sentence, the next page would have one sentence and they'd all have pictures. I was amazed! He could read what was on the page, out loud to me, and it was so clear to understand!! Now, he sits in a chair in his classroom with a book and the teacher's told me that she had to restock the entire collection because ODS had gone through them all!

I am so proud of my son. I think that this year has done a world of good for him and while we're at it, we're trying to get him to learn sign language for when he can't voice something. I guess I got a new hobby ahead of me to learn.

He's even writing small notes in his day planner that's sent home with him. It's stuff like 'Hi Mom, I had a great week. Love, Matthew.' and it almost makes me cry sometimes. He's made a giant stride in catching up to other kids his age and it makes me so proud.

[Goodwin17]

Way to go for your son!!!! I know you are so happy! It sounds like he's really coming along.

[MomToTwoBoys]

I am so ecstatic about this and thank you so much for your kind words.

He's made more strides in the first two months of the school year than he has in a very very long time. Our big struggle right now is getting him to learn to share and take turns, but they're working really well with him on that. We're also doing our fair share at home, trying to get both kids to realize that taking turns and sharing is the right thing to do. YDS has been really good about sharing, but ODS has always thought that what's his is his and what's his brother's is his. It's like a married couple!

We also found that sugar-free chewing gum really helps ODS calm down when he's being over-stimulated, and I tried it out at home. It really does work! Looks like we'll be buying stock in the company that makes any sugar-free gum...and the time is right, given the current stock situation.

[Parsimonious]

Chances are good that your son will enjoy learning sign language. An acquaintance of mine is an Aspie, she's learned sign language as an adult and was absolutely ecstatic about it. She told me that when she's in 'overload' and cannot deal with spoken language, sign language sometimes still works, and that it has greatly improved her motor coordination skills. She's constantly preaching about the advantages of sign language, I've never met a bigger fan

(I'm also learning our local sign language - learning languages is just every linguist's addiction . There's a lot of good material out there for ASL, if you don't like one program, you can always change to another one.)

[joyofsix]

That is fabulous!!! It is so encouraging when they make progress. Now I'm wondering if some signs would help 12yo. (Good vocabulary but expression.....)

[McD]

Congratulations!! That is so amazing. I hope you are saving some of those notes that he's writing you!

[Jskell911]

What wonderful news! I can totally understand your pride. You are obviously doinf a fantastic job with Matthew. And it's showing. Keep up the wonderful work.

[MomToTwoBoys]

That is fabulous!!! It is so encouraging when they make progress. Now I'm wondering if some signs would help 12yo. (Good vocabulary but expression.....)

Something that might actually work pretty well for you would be to set up a laminated piece of poster board that's been cut into 4x5.5" pieces (so basically like the size of half a sheet of paper) with the words 'I am ...' or 'I want ...' or 'I need ...', etc with the dots being the place to attach some velcro. You can then cut out squares with the words sad, happy, angry, tired, hungry, etc and also laminate those and attach velcro on the back. Then you can sit down with your 12yo and ask for him/her to put the emotion square onto the rectangle laminated piece.

They do this for ODS at school and it's actually a great way to help foster communication.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/j...TRY=1&SRETRY=0
http://www.comeunity.com/disability/.../autism.html#6
http://www.positive-action.net/autism/communication.htm

Those are some links surrounding communication barriers in children mainly dealing with autism, but may provide a method that works for your child's speech difficulties.

Congratulations!! That is so amazing. I hope you are saving some of those notes that he's writing you!

Oh absolutely. I save everything of his. He has his own box and all that has every paper that he's brought home that's had his progress on it. The day planner is just fantastic too.

Chances are good that your son will enjoy learning sign language. An acquaintance of mine is an Aspie, she's learned sign language as an adult and was absolutely ecstatic about it. She told me that when she's in 'overload' and cannot deal with spoken language, sign language sometimes still works, and that it has greatly improved her motor coordination skills. She's constantly preaching about the advantages of sign language, I've never met a bigger fan

(I'm also learning our local sign language - learning languages is just every linguist's addiction . There's a lot of good material out there for ASL, if you don't like one program, you can always change to another one.)

We went to his PTC last night and his teacher (who is an absolute angel) told me about this series of DVDs they show the kids called Signing Time. Until we can afford the TTS communication devices that are seriously about $14K, we may look into using this DVD to help him speak to us.

[cab54]

So glad he's doing so well! You must be very proud of him. And, you must be doing a very good job of helping him.

[IntlMom]

We went to his PTC last night and his teacher (who is an absolute angel) told me about this series of DVDs they show the kids called Signing Time. Until we can afford the TTS communication devices that are seriously about $14K, we may look into using this DVD to help him speak to us.

Let me first just say : SIGNING TIME ROCKS!!!!......"it's signing time with Alex and Leah............." (once you've seen em a million time, you;ll be signing that little diddy with me!!)

Ok, I may very well be the resident expert on a child with speech and language delay. My YDS, with FAS (in case anyone reading this is new here, you may not know that my YDS was adopted from Russia, and has FAS fetal alcohol syndrome) has and continues to havew SERIOUS language and learning issues. I have been down that language delay road that you are going on....and I am glad to hear that you have had sucess both in school and in the communication. This has been a great year for us too. My son is rocking my world with the sucess that he is acheiving!!!!! He can do math nearly at grade level (slowly, but we are measuring what he can do; not how fast he can do it!) and is reading at only one grade level below him - WHOOHOO He is in a mainstreamed classroom (mostly), but he always had an aide sitting next to him - it works out pretty great!

OK, back to the speech stuff. Someone talked about a board that they use with "I want" "I need" and such like that - it's called PECS (picture exchange communication system) www.pecs.com It truly rocks!!! It is a totally great way for a nonverbal child to learn to be able to communicate with others! They hav a board with velcro that they put picture cards on to form thougts and even sentences.....anyway, we used it and loved it......but signing has always been my fav. My son was signing "want, need, tied, more, juice, who, what ,when , where.................' etc, LONG before he became more easily understood by about age 6ish....I understand him, but many others still do not.

One other thing: about the gum. My son chews Juicy Fruit often at school (yes, he does swallow it often.....) but he does JFruit because it has a "metallic" taste to it....and he likes to chew on metal - lucky me, eh?
Lastly, he has velcro , both of the "sides" glued to this desk where he can rub his hands over it whenever he needs some sensory input - this helps him to remain in his seat better........................................

Glad all is going better for your son!

[MomToTwoBoys]

Let me first just say : SIGNING TIME ROCKS!!!!......"it's signing time with Alex and Leah............." (once you've seen em a million time, you;ll be signing that little diddy with me!!)

Ok, I may very well be the resident expert on a child with speech and language delay. My YDS, with FAS (in case anyone reading this is new here, you may not know that my YDS was adopted from Russia, and has FAS fetal alcohol syndrome) has and continues to havew SERIOUS language and learning issues. I have been down that language delay road that you are going on....and I am glad to hear that you have had sucess both in school and in the communication. This has been a great year for us too. My son is rocking my world with the sucess that he is acheiving!!!!! He can do math nearly at grade level (slowly, but we are measuring what he can do; not how fast he can do it!) and is reading at only one grade level below him - WHOOHOO He is in a mainstreamed classroom (mostly), but he always had an aide sitting next to him - it works out pretty great!

OK, back to the speech stuff. Someone talked about a board that they use with "I want" "I need" and such like that - it's called PECS (picture exchange communication system) www.pecs.com It truly rocks!!! It is a totally great way for a nonverbal child to learn to be able to communicate with others! They hav a board with velcro that they put picture cards on to form thougts and even sentences.....anyway, we used it and loved it......but signing has always been my fav. My son was signing "want, need, tied, more, juice, who, what ,when , where.................' etc, LONG before he became more easily understood by about age 6ish....I understand him, but many others still do not.

One other thing: about the gum. My son chews Juicy Fruit often at school (yes, he does swallow it often.....) but he does JFruit because it has a "metallic" taste to it....and he likes to chew on metal - lucky me, eh?
Lastly, he has velcro , both of the "sides" glued to this desk where he can rub his hands over it whenever he needs some sensory input - this helps him to remain in his seat better........................................

Glad all is going better for your son!

That's the same gum that his teacher carries around with her everywheres they go. We tried some sugar gum, which sort of got us in a bit of a bind, and it worked at home just to see how he did with it in a different environment. We have some shopping to do this weekend and with everyone getting over being sick, catching new sicknesses, the amount of energy in the house has gotten quite low.

We actually do a deep tissue pressure rub with a little brush on Matthew when he really needs it. He went for a long time without needing it, but lately he's been really off and they had to start using it again. He's not wearing his weighted vest as much anymore, and they don't make him wear it when he's with the other kids.

Thank you so much for that PECS address! I get flooded with so much information at all of these PTCs and if I was mentioned the acronym PECS then it flew right into one ear and out the other. I have all of Matthew's IPP reports that he gets with his report cards with his goals on it, the steps they take, and how far they are to getting to the goal by a certain time frame. We spend about an hour at these PTCs and even Dakota has taken to Matthew's teacher. It's so cute.

[Michelle68]

That is so wonderful! I'm glad your ODS is doing so well this year. It can be so difficult for kids with special needs and it's great to hear that he's having fun and learning so much. Good for him!!

[IntlMom]

aaahhhhh yes, the weighted vest....I kinda forgot about that. He used to use one at school (new school doesn;t have that, and I haven;t pushed the issue) - he has a weighted blanket that he uses at night - and yes, the brushing and deep pressure massages........oh yes, we've been there!!
(we must be kindred spirits of a sort - doncha think?)

[Cricket1]

Wooooo Hooooo! I'm so happy for you and your son. Those little notes would make me cry everyday! I'm so glad he's reading--he must feel such a great sense of accomplishment!

I am a special ed aide and maybe you've already heard these other ideas, but incase you haven't, here's some: for kids that have a hard time staying in their chair, we will ask them to do some chair push ups. They put their hands under their rear-ends while they are sitting. Then they raise up their body by pushing against the chair. It helps get the "ants" out for some kiddos. Also, for those who always need to be fidgeting, the have giant elastic band that they can wrap around the bottom of their chair. While they are sitting and working, the can use their legs and feet to push against it or get their feet under the band and pull up their feet. Again, it depends on the child. Some would have themselves completely wrapped up in the rubber band and others are happy to just sit there and move their feet/legs against it. Also, if there isn't a weighted vest, sometimes they have a weighted blanket to put on laps. This, however, can be a huge distraction, too.

[MomToTwoBoys]

They use the weighted blanket sometimes, especially if Matthew's sitting down and reading a book. I noticed last time I was there that they had this netting (it looks like the stuff you'd drape over a princess' bed...pretty transparent and soft) hanging near the chair he sits in. His teacher told me that he'll sit in the chair and then get up and just drape himself in this material as a way to calm down. There is also a mini-trampoline in the room that's in front of (well, I'd say about fifteen feet away from) the Smart Board and when he plays music, he jumps on the trampoline. I would use this at home but he's almost 5'2" @ 10yo and he jumps pretty high, would put his poor head through the ceilings in our house. I'd love to get him a trampoline here at home for outside but we have the "typical Calgary backyard" where it slants so if we were looking at maybe leveling the backyard out later on, it's a possibility to get a big one. I think we might get him a mini-trampoline and put it in the side or front yard.

I asked him last night about Signing Time and he gets so excited about it, so I think Santa might be making a special trip to the DVD store for a few of the videos. His teacher told me they have it at the library, but I don't know where there is a library around here. I might check it out and get my own card because it would be nice to take the kids to the library on Saturdays or something.