Auditory Processing and the CM approach

You know my oldest couldn’t comprehend. I noticed this in about 4th grade. She was doing fine in school so I really didn’t say a whole lot. I didn’t want to discourage her and I didn’t want to give her a crutch to say why she wasn’t learning. She never failed any of her classes in school but it wasn’t until she went to college that she realized that she had a problem. She came to me and said something.  I told her why I never said anything and she was laughing because she was wondering why she always had problems.

   Now, I don’t know what to say about what you can do. My youngest one seems to be like that too. So, I just take it one day at a time. It doesn’t matter what she does she doesn’t process it all the time. She is getting better but I know she has a really hard time with memorizing stuff. Other times her brain remembers everything. It is just like a faucet. I think the more exposure they have to many things the more the lightbulb goes off in their head.  Sometimes it doesn’t seem to light even when you ask her a question.

  I will try the underlining idea that sounds interesting.  If she is doing fine in school then I wouldn’t worry. Just look up stuff on the interenet and read books about it and try some of their suggestions.  I would just ask her more questions more frequently. I have to discuss it in detail to her even though we read it. It really helps her if she is drawing a picture of everything I read to her. I told her just to keep drawling everything she remembers in the story. Then, I have her tell me what the pictures are about. Then, I ask her to tell me what she remembers about the story that she didn’t draw. 

 Good luck and G-d Bless.  Hopefully one day you will get over this hurdle.  It may take several tries jumping though. 🙂

Tried to edit the last post, but it was too old.  Here are some other things I thought of after I posted:

Often after we read I narrate a brief summary of the story with the main points and interesting details.  Then I ask her to narrate.  Between her drawing, my summary, and the time it takes to organize her info, she does very very well when I get her started at later dates.  Also, everyday we review what material we covered the day before.  One thing I did start was a drawn narration journal (in the same type of book we use for nature study – which she thrives on, btw) where she keeps those drawings of what she is listening to in one place.  It is almost like a daily journal for her and is a great way for her to re-inforce her narrations.  Repetition, repetition, repetition is vital to your child, too; even when it is driving us batty.  =)  

I have explained to her what is happening to that she isn’t always trying to figure out why she is stupid.  She is not! When we hit a brick wall for a time, we skip that lesson for the day and try again the next.  I will just say – “your APD is acting up, so we’ll try it again later”  All of her sisters are considerate of this issue, so it doesn’t cause any issues that way.

She may never be strong in reading, but be sure to offer a full schedule of picture study (VERY helpful re-training tool), music study (classical music has been scientifically proven to bring brains to a resting point – EXTREMELY important to these over-active brains) and nature study.  My dd LOVES nature study and is becoming quite an artist and naturalist.  There are so many other ways to help her feel successful besides reading books.  =)

Oh yes, Sheraz I’m so glad you mentioned that bit about you narrating to your student. I knew I was forgetting something vital. This has been so important for my son as well. I give model narrations for him often, and as time goes by he is more and more able to do this himself. 

Also, remember that their brains usually process what they are taking in more slowly than you would expect, but that doesn’t always mean they aren’t processing at all. Someone recently advised me to consider waiting after the reading and letting his mind have time to sort out the information … then have him do a narration a bit later. That’s sometimes been helpful too.

I am glad to have been helpful – I was in a rush earlier and was afraid that I wasn’t sounding like I wanted to! =)  

I wanted to mention that getting a diagnosis is a matter of seeing an audiologist who is trained in the testing – not all audiologists can test for it.  We scheduled an appointment at our State School for the Deaf who administer the test for free.  It was helpful in having that diagnosis for public school in trying to get her the help she needed.  And while I hate to label a child unnecessarily, it has been helpful to KNOW what it is as that has really helped our abilities to meet her needs mentally, emotionally, and physically. Also, the audiologist recommended some things specific to my child that was helpful.  There was no obligations for anything further with the school either.  However, occasionally they invite me to special presentations and classes on APD that I may attend for free for further education and ideas on helping my child – which is where I got my blog post info. 😉

Another factor in her learning issues were unknown food allergies (can cause real problems in learning and memory). After changing our diet, bringing her home to school, and switching to CM methods, we have a totally different child.

Like you said, Michaela, it doesn’t hurt to try a few things and can really help you in the long run. We have another dd that I think may be borderline SPD (if that is possible, lol) and it really helps to use a few things with her as well, even without an official diagnosis.

I have a 12 year old with Aud processing problems as well as dyslexia. I will throw a few random thoughts out to you:

-Have you looked at Earobics?  It was recommended by my audiologist.  It is computer based and not nearly as expensive as some programs.  

-IEW may help with your desire to do some key word exercises as part of your writing program…that way you don’t have to disect the literature you are studying.  

-An Orton Gilligham style phonics program has been extremely beneficial in helping her to hear those word sounds.  Does your dd have trouble with spelling/reading?

-My dd is better able to capture the meaning of the story if there are some other senses involved….pictures, emotions, etc.  I wonder if you might find the same thing.  

-When I met with the people that tested my dd, I told them about my financial situation.  After they gave me the test results and a slew of recommendations, I asked them to help me make a plan of what I could do at home that would best help her out.  I also inquired about less expensive therapy options as well as what therapies they felt were the most beneficial if I had the money to spend.  I think this helped me to focus my efforts and pinpoint where my dollars should go.  I tried to concentrate on their top 3 recommendations for her.

Sorry to throw random thoughts at you…that is about where my brain is right now…lol.  I hope you find something that works well for you and your dd.

Chris