Learning Disabled?

Obviously I am not a doctor and can’t evaluate your son, but I can tell you about two of my children.

I would not classify them as learning disabled personally, though they do appear to have some challenges that are not present in my other children.  But we all have challenges, right?

When my oldest was eight, he was a lot like you describe your son- slow to talk, poor memory, etc, although my son’s handwriting was atrocious.

We eventually decided to cut him (therefore everyone) almost entirely off of television and video or computer games – even the “educational” ones.  Whole new child.  Some results were quick to see, others took a bit more time. 

Now he is fourteen and he is extremely intelligent. His memory is amazing for narrations – in fact I sometimes wish he’d tell me less, he is astounding at violin (these are not my words, but those of a professional) after only two and a half years playing, his drawing is professional quality – he has sold plenty of custom pictures, and he is a very intelligent thinker (most of the time). 

His only trouble is socially, and I wonder if your son comes up against this problem – in a social situation like the one you describe wih Cubs, not being able to articulate what he knows to someone unfamiliar or under pressure.  Our son appears to struggle with this a bit still, even at his age. 

We have a daughter (currently eight) who reminds me very much of him.  She does not have the extent of the issues that he had, but she is in a different environment than he was at the same age.

As a sidenote our other children were not affected the way he was by tv/video games, but they have also benefitted by its’ reduction in our home.  They are no longer time wasters like they used to be  😀

So that would be a recommendation from me – cut out the media, give it a fair chance, and see if it helps.  Also, if you feel he has troubles in social situations, try to reduce the pressure on him that way.

Prayers & hugs.

Gaeleen

I have at least 2, and suspect a 3rd with APD. They also exhibit many of the things you are talking about. Both of my boys were late to talk, one really late and even now after 4 yrs of speech therapy still struggles. And now he’s in 2nd grade still learning to read due to the speech and processing problems. It’s very slow going. But oddly enough his memory is far, far bettr than my daughter’s was! Hers was terrible! Still is in some ways, but it’s better (she’s now almost 13) My oldest learned to read o.k. but later struggled (and still does some) with vocabulary and reading comprehension (because he can’t infer infomation from it or understand more difficult vocabulary) with weak over all language skills. Mispronunciates are very common–and often they don’t even realize they are saying it wrong. They either “heard” it that way or thought that’s how it was from reading it in a book.

My 8 yr old is also in cub scouts, but fortunately he isn’t required to recite things word for word perfectly. Which is good or he’d never progress at all. He just has to explain it best he can in his own words (and even that can be hard to understand with the speech issue.)

After 4 yrs of speech and language therapy (at my house so I watched most of it) I’ve learned the best thing is practice, practice, and practice some more. Review constantly, reword things as needed (very often) It simply takes mine longer to truely master anything related to language arts than normal. Spelling, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension, and phonics/reading itself take up majority of our school time. The only thing that hasn’t really been a problem is handwriting. My daughter also struggles with math because she can’t memorize things like times table easily and has a hard time remembering the order how how to do some problems. I add in history and science as I can for fun and for something different. Not until jr. high do I expect much from those 2 subjects because we haven’t done much of it in the early grades. Since I’ve switched to the CM approach that’s getting better though–history and literature can be combined much easier. 🙂

The CM quote about how kids naturally pick up the language by reading and being read to (I can’t think of the exacct words right now) does not apply here. lol Mine DIDN’T pick up speech naturally so how can they pick up the rest naturally just be exposure?

Interesting, I have been pondering many of the same things, and we have been getting testing done for reasons similar to those you mention. My son, also 8, had delayed speech as well, and sometimes has a very hard time remembering and retaining information. We seem to go through spurts where things really stick, and others, where it seems things are quickly lost, and I have yet to see rhyme or reason to it. Like yours, he often forgets what he’s looking for – may come back from the fridge, where I sent him for eggs, with a carton of milk. ADD may partly explain both the delay in speech and the learning issues we’ve seen. We did have testing done to rule out central auditory processing disorder, and for us, those were negative, but ADD and CAPD can look similar at times.

My husband and I are both uncomfortable with labelling, but at the same time, I believe there are very real difficulties people can have with learning, and these deserve attention and consideration just as much as a physical disability would – just because I don’t label it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. At the same time, I don’t want a label used to classify, stereotype or restrict any of my children; I simply want a tool to better understand them, and knowledge about how to approach teaching the most effectively. For my son who wears prosthetic legs, his needs are clear and we make accomodations. Other children may have an invisible or borderline need, but still need understanding and accomodations in their dailiy lives or learning. This is why we’ve chosen to pursue testing at this point.

So I’ve been pondering how to help my guy with the areas that are not coming naturally. Perhaps they will some day, perhaps not, but for now, I am trying to imagine what sort of IEP he might get in a PS setting, and what supports would be put in place to help him succeed. Because my child is very visual, I’m considering what sorts of visual reminders and scheduling I can put in place and am hopeful that test results will give me more clues.

Another thing I’m considering, and you mention something along these lines, is my child’s strengths. Like yours, mine has great handwriting and enjoys writing, and we’re finding he’s a really determined little pianist who also loves to tap dance. So I think part of the task as parent and teacher is celebrating and helping them to blossom in the areas of strength as we work on those they need help with.