hi everyone
i am new to this and my brief outline is that i am an english mum with 2 english kids living in spain after 7 years in an area that speaks 2 languages, spanish and valenciano.
my kids go to spanish school where the classes are 50% spanish and 50% valenciano, hence all the kids are bilingual.
my daughter 10 is fluent in english and spanish and valenciano (local dialect), she has no learning difficulties or anything similair.
i always thought that he was ADD and a language disorder and hey i was right.
i have just discovered, after a thorough diagnosis, and after his 8th bday that he has a language disorder and add, and they want to put him on concerta, which i wont do and thats that.
here they dont test until 7 yrs old as they like kids to mature a little before putting labels on them.
anyway he is in spanish school after 6 yrs of 3 languages, one at home and 2 at school.
my god, i can hear you all shout, what torture for a boy of 8 with a mixed receptive and expressive language disorder and ADD, what am i doing to him.
well here is the thing.
in the international english schools in spain there is no help for kids with the slightest special needs, but in his spanish school he has a speech therapist for 2 hrs a week, 4 hrs a week with the 'special needs teacher' and 2 hrs with the extra help teacher and a school pyschologist on hand, all free.
so you see......its the devil or the deep blue sea........ english school in native english tongue with no help or........a spanish school with loads of help but in 2 languages.
anyway, after much help from his school they have put him on a programme at school with the above extra hours and have suggested we dont use the medication approach as my local chemist, who is a friend, has gone through the ins and outs of medication.
but i had made my mind up mnths before this.
so my question is this, and all comments are welcome...........
he struggles terribly in reading, he reads so slowly and for a child who is so bright he cannot get a grip at reading.
he is very much behind his peers and this year in september they are going to let him repeat the year and this is no problem as there is no stigma attatched to this, its quite common over here.
my main concern is the reading and how slow he is in his thought process.
i have him on omega 3 and have had for 4 years now and he isnt hyperactive anymore.
he is very very bright and the school say that the main thing that holds him back is his concentration and memory and one can see he cant help it.
after all the extra help he has he just cant get a grip with reading.
and i forgot to say that at one year old he had very bad glue ear and at 20 mths he went under the bath water and it took us at least 7 minutes to resusitate him and i was in the bath with him, it wasnt like he was left in there alone.
his brain scan was clear but his eeg shows slow and slightly erratic brain patterns and his linguistic and neuro tests show add and language disorder.
on top of this he is a likeable funny happy child who has got better over the years in behaviour and advances at school but at the pace of a tortoise. he never gets into trouble at school either.
help me please, any suggestions, any clues
lots of love a pained mum
Welcome to the board! Wow, you have a unique situation to deal with! Since he is having trouble with reading, maybe have a reading tutor who specializes in reading disorders help him. I have a book about how to get your child to read, and it basically boiled down to getting books below their level, that they can read pretty easily, so as to build a pleasant relationship to reading, instead of being incredibly frustrated trying to read at his grade level. And have an intensive reading session for 20 minutes every day. Having a reward system set up also wouldn't hurt. Anyway, those are my thoughts. Good luck!This is what we call twice exceptional: gifted with a learning disorder (ADHD). You might find some help here:
http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/special_needs.htm
And posibly, if he is a visual spatial learner, some of this info may help:
My youngest is gifted; and has ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia; and is a visual spatial learner. She excells in math and science and was having trouble with spelling and reading.
This is going to sound weird but it does work. Try comic books. Because there is so little actual reading and a great deal of pictures to portray the story, many adhders are able to follow the plot and read them. They build on their success and will begin to read more difficult books. But ,before any child will read well, he has to feel good about his ability to read.
We did this with my youngest brother who was undxed as adhd[and is now 45 and owns his own company] And the latest Reader's Digest has an article on this same concept.
thanks for replying, he is exceptional, and everyone comments on this, he has a bond with animals and more so reptiles than anyone iv met
and he is also very spiritual, my grandad died when my boy was 2yrs 11mths and he had a bond with him and for the first year after his death he told me how my grandad came to see him when he was scared and sad.
he is very bright but academically very slow although he tries in 3 different languages
anyway thanks again as all ideas or questions are welcome
Well, you know they say that Einstein was slow and so was Edison. And they turned out OK. You'll just have to go at your son's pace. He will eventually succeed!