My DD had her SALT appointment. reassured AND confused, can someone please explain?

[psychomum5]

My DD2 has only recently been DX with dyslexia and a possible auditory processing disorder.

she will be 12yrs on the 24th feb, and is in year 7 at school, now at secondary.

we have been having to fight for her to be assessed and DX, and it has been a long fight wince she was in yr2.

she was DX last september, and a lot of her results made for painful reading. For instance, her language reading skills were at 6yo level, and her spatial awareness of words were at 5.6yo level.....yet some of her understanding were at 9yo level.

nothing seemed consistant with another result, and so she was referred for SALT, hearing and sight.

hearing she failed on certain tones and needs re-testing (she is unable to hear certain speach when in classroom situations). we are still waiting on this.

sight was also flagged, and she is being treated as her focusing was extremely poor, and she needed glasses (we knew this and she was already in them), plus her muscles were poor so needing 'eye gym' to train them up.

anyhoo....SALT....has been a long time waiting, but we finally went yesterday.

she had 4 tests. one consisting of (FOR EG), find the black small circle in between the large white square and small black triangle.
Out of these Q's, she got 11/16 right.
the next test - she was supplyed a word and a picture, and then had to make a sentence containg that word ABOUT the picture.
for the next test again, she had to make a sentence out of a phrase about another set of picutures. (the picture changed per word/phrase).

out of these two tests she did very well, getting just two wrong out of 30.

and the next test - she was given three words, two of which were similar or had something in common, one word was odd, and she had to pick the words that matched/were common etc. she passed all correctly. The test continued tho with several lists of four words, she got several of those wrong.

the outcome is....

on language ability she scored 12yrs. which she very nearly is, so fantastic.

BUT

on language understanding she scored age equivilant of 8yrs.

and this is the confusion for me......the therapist says that DD is ok....that she is age appropiate....how is this?? the lady says that as she is almost 12yo, and tests being scored at 7yr - 16yrs is ok, age as normal, and no further tests needed. that her problems were connected to written words only and her language understanding was fine.

now all well and good, altho surely to have such a large gap age wise between the two scores is odd....

I am sure that DD IS ok, and yes, she has really flown education wise this last term as she is getting fantastic help, but I am confused now as to how these age scores can be thought of as normal when there is such a large gap??????

anyone out there with SALT knowledge who can explain and reassure please....

[psychomum5]

bump anyone

[psychomum5]

no-one out there....

pretty please with helping me understand

[bramblebooks]

(((you guys)))

It would be worth giving them a ring and asking them to talk you through it, I'm sure they'd be only too happy to help.

It's really good that she's starting to 'fly' and that they are helping to sort out any hearing problems.

Not a SALT expert, but in a related field, so it seems from ^ that she is good at manipulating the language - ie, getting the order right and sorting out the sentences, but the problem could be in finding the right words.

A particular issue seemed to be in 'locating' words - your SALT should be able to give you ideas on games that you can play with her to help to develop these skills - eg, playing a hiding game with an object and giving her clues about where to find it, ie 'look under the chair', now look next to the green box, etc etc.

Good luck. With a parent like you she's got a winning start.

[bramblebooks]

Having a large gap between the 'mechanics' of reading and the understanding of what is being read is fairly typical of dyslexia. I hope that school have something in place to support her reading development.

When they have the SALT report in, you need to go in and talk to them to see what support and guidance they can offer.

[psychomum5]

thankyou....someone cares.

yes, am hoping that her senco lady at school will be able to point us in the right direction with regards to help at home, but it is the confusion with the wide gap that I am still struggling with. most especially with the fact that they said it was normal to be a wide gap, yet with the dyslexia it isn't IYGWIM.

ho hum, but a huge thankyou for the vote of confidence too

[bramblebooks]

That they said that language understanding was fine is fab. If I understand correctly (hard for me!) then the written words are the problem and that can be dealt with with appropriate teaching for your dd - two strands to this, a carefully targetted programme to build her skills in spelling and reading and additionally she will need appropriate modifications to classroom teaching.

These can include things like not making her copy from the whiteboard but giving her handouts instead, helping to prepare her with words that will come up in the subject she's covering - ie new words for maths, or history etc, which she could learn to read and to understand with you or with a helper (depends on staffing, I know!). etc! Hope they've got a good senco.

[bramblebooks]

... for building reading age the scheme toe by toe by Cowling is excellent and can be very successful. It looks a bit scary but is really fine if you take it a page at a time. This should be in conjunction with reading enjoyable stories/non-fiction to and with your child.

[bramblebooks]

... just a thought too before I hit the hay, she got more wrong on the lists with 4 words but not on lists with fewer words.

That could be down to her auditory processing disorder and short term memory difficulties. Usually we can remember about 7 packets of information - ie a 7 digit number, saying it over and over in our heads as we write it down, for example. Dyslexics often have real problems remembering beyond 2 or 3 bits of information. This brings all sorts of problems. It is possible to support this short term memory problem. Games such as 'I went to the shops and I bought' help, 'kims game', etc. The toe by toe scheme can also help as it builds up sequencing the parts of words from one small part, then two, then three (sometimes you have to stop for a bit at that point as that is all the child can take at that time).

Other important things with short term memory difficulties are appropriate classroom modifications as I mentioned above - if a child can only remember half the 'pckets' of information as other children then by the time they've looked at the whiteboard and located where they are and looked down at their page, they will have forgotten a lot of what they need to copy down. Similar difficulties with processing mathematics as things have to be 'held in their heads' whilst they are problem solving.

Have a sticker if you've got this far.

I could be way off target as I don't know your daughter, but good luck, work closely with the school - you're all working for the good of your dd. xx

[psychomum5]

thankyou so much....wow for the amount of info you typed.

explains more that it is down to written word etc......I was confused that they didn't do any writting with her too, to be honest, but I guess that that is to do with her dyslexia rather than a SALT 'problem' per se.

se DOES have problems with the way classes are managed. Like you said, when she is being taught, the teacher tells them all what to do, writes on the board, explains something else, and then goes on to the next item....yet then my DD is still trying to work out the first peice of info, and also becuase of her focusing issues, she then struggles with working out what is written on the board and trying to copy correctly (her eyes take a while trying to swap between focusing on the board, and then on the page, and back to the board etc).
she then has to ask what she has missed, and the class may have moved on massively by then!

the senco at school are great, but they feel that DD doesn;t qualify for a statement (despite being amongst the worst 4% in the school), and therefore doens't always get the help from the supposed TA that is in class. the TA is often called upon by others in the class, or even the teacher, as she isn't DD's named TA.
I just wish there was a majic wand that could show me exactly what do to, and where her strenghts are for me to nuture while encouraging her in the issues she has IYGWIM.

anyhoo....I am off to bed too soon, so many thanks again

[bramblebooks]

You're right, the written stuff can be different from the processing issues - although the processing issues are part and parcel of the 'cause' of dyslexia here.

Does she have an iep? It is essential that the modifications to teaching are included on the iep and that the senco works with class teachers to give them the strategies to (use this phrase!): overcome her barriers to learning. They need to know that it will make their life easier, and in increasing her access will make her marks and their 'profile' better (although it will take time as these things can come in plateaus and spurts for the dyslexic learner).

You wouldn't expect a person in a wheelchair to walk to the top of a 10 storey building to get to class, similarly you shouldn't expect a person with dyslexia to do things which give them considerable access issues in order to learn.

[Psychomum5]

sorry for the late response.

yes, she does have an IEP, and so far all is being adhered to with regards to that, and as far as DD hs said this week, they are extremely pleased with her progress.

I do still have some concerns tho, that don't seem to be listened to. DD finds the hoemwork extremely tiring, and she is given normally 3 peices per night. now each piece is supposedly only to take 20mins max. but DD takes up to hour per piece.

when you add that onto the fact that she does drama/dance/stage class/other dance classes PLUS scouts, and also she needs to eat and just generally have a break, she doesn't get a night free from anything right now (and maybe I should pull some of her after school stuff, but I think that they are as important to her life regarding social aspects and extra learning, especially the drama)........but altho DD has been told by the senco that she is ONLY to take the alloted time and that her teachers will understand, there still seems to be a LOT of pressure from some of her teachers.......and more again from the other girls on her class!!!.

added into all this is the fact that altho she is doing well, obviously her focusing and listening are still a block to her learning. I do appreciate the 'wheelchair' comment tho, and may stress the same to DD as sometimes she gets frustrated (not always mind. the school is fab at making her realise she just need a different way of teaching rather than that she is 'made wrong', IYGWIM)

[acthmt]

Hi! I work with students with similar needs - definitely gte her assistance with reading mechanics with Toe By Toe it will help no end.... also it is normal for there to be a huge difference between understanding and fluency when SALT or hearing difficulties are involved.

I would suggest speaking to the SENCo about homework support - where I work we have lunchtime homework club rooms and/or after school support with appropriately qualified teachers - if you are concerned about the length of time for her to complete the homework then get in touch now with the SENCO and form tutor as it will only get worse as each year tehy are expected to do more. It is perfectly "normal" for Dyslexics/sALT students to take 2-3 times as long on work - that is why in some cases in exams they are given extra time, scribes/readers and in lessons alternative ways to document it. I would talk to the SENCo about how they can assist yuor daughter with her studies without making her the exception for homework. Perhaps if hers is word processed or maybe someone scribes more detailed pieces for her ... it would certainly help the situation

Good luck

[acthmt]

Hi! I work with students with similar needs - definitely gte her assistance with reading mechanics with Toe By Toe it will help no end.... also it is normal for there to be a huge difference between understanding and fluency when SALT or hearing difficulties are involved.

I would suggest speaking to the SENCo about homework support - where I work we have lunchtime homework club rooms and/or after school support with appropriately qualified teachers - if you are concerned about the length of time for her to complete the homework then get in touch now with the SENCO and form tutor as it will only get worse as each year tehy are expected to do more. It is perfectly "normal" for Dyslexics/sALT students to take 2-3 times as long on work - that is why in some cases in exams they are given extra time, scribes/readers and in lessons alternative ways to document it. I would talk to the SENCo about how they can assist yuor daughter with her studies without making her the exception for homework. Perhaps if hers is word processed or maybe someone scribes more detailed pieces for her ... it would certainly help the situation

Good luck