Social engineering to improve social deficits

In a recent article in Attitude magazine, a magazine that offers strategies and support for people and their families with ADHD and LD, a mom created a Facebook birthday event for her son with Asperger syndrome.  No one wanted to come to her son’s 13th birthday  and her son was upset.  She decided to with …

Researching Homework Problems

Parenting is a hard job.  When your child begins to have difficulties with homework, parents often panic. Is it my fault? What can I do? Our minds, race. Will they ever learn to read?  How come I have to keep repeating myself so much? Why won’t he sit down and just do his work? Why …

Not Qualified for Services: Twice Gifted Students

Twice gifted students with learning problems can go through their entire academic career struggling with school work, but unable to receive services.  The struggle is primarily encountered on the home front.  Frustrated children and parents, battle through homework and self-esteem issues that leave everyone exhausted. Often twice gifted students’ strengths effectively hide their weaknesses. As …

Language Challenges Uncovered: The Foundation for Academic Achievement Part 2

If language is the foundation for academic achievement then what do language challenges look like in everyday life? There are many areas that can impact language including word finding, auditory processing, comprehension and As a speech therapist one of the most telling signs of word finding problems  in children and adults is the frequent use …

Language: The Foundation for Academic Part 1

The foundation of language chart above provides a simplified view of language development to show how early language development supports future academic achievement. Because we so often take language for granted and schools often downplay the impact of speech and language challenges after the third grade, it is  easy not to realize, that even small speech …

Life Long: Language-Based Learning Challenges

“My son is not confident”, says a concerned Mom at a picnic I’m attending. She goes on to say, “He seems to have difficulty understanding what people are saying and responding to them in an appropriate time frame, so he is struggling in college.”unicaLanguage-based learning challenges are lifelong. They do not cease at the completion …

“C” says /K/: Orton-Gillingham Reading Approach

Recently, I took a 30-hour intensive refresher training in Orton-Gillingham, a preferred method of instruction for people with dyslexia, given by the Institute of Multi-Sensory Education.    The OG multi-sensory approach has a few differences.  First instruction begins with the letter “C ” which says /k/, “O,” and “A”.   The original OG starts with letters …

Revealed: Twice Exceptional Learners

Twice exceptional learners may remain undiagnosed, by educational professionals including Speech Pathologist, because of their unique abilities in other areas. The language assessment in a neuropsychological battery and in some speech pathology tests often require only one-word or limited responses. Both assessments attempt to look at different areas of performance in isolation. Because twice exceptional learners sometimes …

Vocabulary Development: Teachable Moments

I am holding up a bright yellow jacket at the LL Bean outlet in New Hampshire. “Hey look this is really bright it will be great for biking,” I say to my daughter. “No, it’s dull she says!” I’m puzzled and confused. I look at the jacket again and then walk off to pay the cashier. I’m …

Learning disabilities: I can learn….

  Parents fear that their child’s language based learning disability will limit opportunities, but with additional supports like speech/language therapy this is not true.   Even if the distinction between learning disabilities and intellectual impairment is made clear to children, they will pick up on the fact that in school they are having more problems than their …