OT: Necessities for Katrina Victims

Oh, he was - he just stood there shaking his head sadly - didn't seem like something a "nice girl" would do. Cheryl

You should look for a place near you that does static line jumps ( the plane opens the chute for you ) or a tandem jump where you jump attached to the instructor.

No - but I'll bet DH does. But it sounds like fun! Cheryl

Nicole, it sounds like your son is going to learn to read as he learns new words from now on. If they have dictionaries geared to smaller children, sounds like something to think of for birthday or Christmas. (Maybe he used to dislike listening to stories because they were being *read* to him, rather than him feeling like someone speaking *to* him, if that makes any sense.) Glad he's progressing.

-- Carey in MA

Karen C - California wrote:

*lol* Yeah, I know that feeling ;-) But it's really great to hear stories like this, because I have heard (really often) that "late talkers never become real talkers" and to be prepared that he'll never talk much and he'll never share much (verbally) and things like that, and since communication is _the_ most important aspect of any relationship (friendships, partnerships, business, private,...) I was a bit afraid to "end up" (that sounds so negative but I know no other expression) with a kid that would come home from school, eat, go to his room, do homework and when asked about his day would say things like "Yeah, I guess it was ok." I hope he will get good communication skills because it's so very important today to be able to express oneself. I have had doctors tell me I should get his IQ tested (he was 3 at the time and I know of absolutely no IQ testimg methods for children that age) just because he wasn't talking. I'm sure he's got a totally normal IQ he just couldn't speak due to muscle problems cobined with a perception "disorder" (He didn't like to be held at all, he didn't let me stroke him, he would scream when I didn't leave his room when he wanted to go to sleep,... Our Ergotherapist explained to me that for him it physically hurt when I stroked him, it's like a sensory overload for children with perception problems.). It's all much better now, but we did have one whole year of Ergotherapy until it got better, and now we've had nearly a year of Speechtherapy aswell, and we'll still need more, but that's ok because I can see how much it's helping and how quickly he's progressing :-)

take care nicole

That's such a great idea! His birthday is fast aproaching and I don't want to give him any more toys and we've been debating "things" but he's already has so many books that we have to read to him we'll probably be busy for the next 2 years ;-) But a dictionary would be a cool thing! Maybe we can make a CD that goes with it (We have a microphone for the computer somewhere) so he can listen and "read" along in the book :-)

Thank you :-)

I also agree with the to him vs. with him. I think for him it was just sensory overload when I read stories to him. It got better when I got a book with short rhymes and "fingerstories" (This is the Thumb, he shakes down the plums, he picks them up, he takes them home and this little rogue eats them all alone. You "shake" the fingers while saying those "sentences". In german this really rhymes ;-) ). He still likes that book and I know it almost by heart.

take care nicole

Depends WHY they talked late. If they're not talking because of something correctable (e.g., hearing) they may start to catch up when it's corrected. If they're not talking because of something internal (neuro/psychological), then they may never *want* to talk and be much happier as a loner.

ISTR there was some sort of picture IQ test for the pre-verbal/non-verbal, but it's been a long long time since I was in college with an Education/Psychology double major next door, so I may be mis-remembering.

I have fibromyalgia and I can relate. There are times I'd much rather you stand ten feet away and say "big hugs" than actually touch me.

Well, he hears just fine (although every new doc we see insists on testing his hearing....) he just didn't talk until about a year ago. He'd point and go "hm!" and he'd "show" me sentences (*point to banana* hm! *point to his tummy* *hm* and then he made a loooooooong mmmmm sound so that meant: "This banana in my tummy will taste good") And when he started talking he couldn't say a lot of letters, so Haferflocken (oatmeal) turned into aloho (which sounded an awful lot like alcohol to me at first, so it took me nearly an hour to figure out what the heck he wanted because we don't even have anything with alcohol at home. I kept thinking maybe he saw my parents drink a glass of whine and is trying to tell me about it, until he pointed to the shelf I keep the oatmeal and breakfast stuff in, then it finally clicked.)

We did a perception test where they show the child a picture of for example a circle and then they show him a larger picture with lots of shapes and he has to point out tll the circles. Usually this needs to be done "without hands" from the person who's doing the testing, but Sam needed to be shown what he was supposed to do, and then he was able to do most of those tasks, he also needed to draw a line between two other lines without going over the line and things like that. Another part of the test was with toys. The woman would place 6 toys in front of him, a doll, a tiny bathtub, a mini knife, a plate, a spoon and a cup and Sam had to match them up, which he did after things were explaind in short sentences. I guess that's the hard part for me. I don't do short sentences ;-)

:-/ fibromyalgia is a really really "stupid" thing to have, isn't it? I have read a lot about the subject because at one point a doc suspected I might have it because of pains in my lower abdomen (turned out those where from my lactose intollerance...)

take care! Nicole