"FELEPHLANT"

Hannah and I had a great time at her speech this week. She always has fun with Ms. Jennifer and I was able to get lots of clarification on some issues we are dealing with!!

We have been really struggling with some vocabulary issues. Mostly her not being able to remember the names of things or when we ask for things she does not know what we are talking about. I was thinking--you've been here for 4 1/2 years and you are 7 years old you know what ketchup is!!

Well as it has been explained to me--Hannah does not store those words in her brain properly---they are mixed up--so when she goes to pull them out to use them she can't get the sounds in the proper order--she then freezes (her stress response) because she knows it is wrong, but really has no idea how to fix it! Interesting!!

So we were encouraged to continue to prompt her with beginning sounds or give her the word. If I have asked her for something and she can't put what she is hearing with what she needs to get, we should try to describe it and move her towards it.

We have worked on pacing words using her knuckles--sometimes she goes so fast--and she does not pronounce every sound--that it becomes hard to understand her. So she makes a fist and points to a knuckle for each syllable. It slows her down and paces her words so she focuses more on making each sound.

We are now using this to help with words that are getting twisted up coming out. An example would be "elephant"--she would come up with something like 'felephlant'. You see the sound are out of order. So when she uses her knuckles and says el-e-ph-ant she gets her sound in the proper order with a visual and kinetic boost (her learning styles), then she can put her hand down and say it correctly!!!

Hannah's therapist enjoys working with Hannah, but does admit that there are so many levels that we are working with that sometimes it is hard to say why things are happening or if they are permanent or if there is only one thing affecting what we are working on. An example would be in the above scenario--is it all auditory processing, or is there some motor planning (how to make the sound), or is there some learning delay (due to her malnutrition)!! It is a multi-layered beast at this point, but I am very thankful for all the help we have found to help us walk this path.

We are hoping that when we start up again after the weddings, to do an official test for auditory processing on Hannah. Though she is sure she has it, it will help her to know where we are heading. And help us get other services if we choose to down the road. It will also help me in writing up her Privately Developed Plan (PDP)--this is like an IEP that schools do. Her PDP will allow me as a homeschool teacher to set her own academic goals, rather than trying to reach a set standard.