Posted by Jo on 14:43 Jan 16
In Reply to: Re: teaching the alphabet and counting posted by Laurie4b
He has had an IQ test (waiting for results).
Language development is kind of an interesting story. He barely spoke until age 3 1/2. He knew how to say a lot of words, (I kept a list) but didn't string them together very often. He signed a little, and screamed a lot. At age 3 1/2, I took him to get evaluated through our local school corporation and they set him up for further evaluation a month later. Within that month, he completely caught up to other kids his age and was actually ahead a bit. I got him tested again a month or two later through the local university and got the same results. He went from barely speaking two word sentences to speaking complete sentences and long descriptions. Now he will talk your ear off and often has to talk things out if he's concerned about something. We are pursuing a medical reason for the learning issues after we get the results from the school corporation. When he was four, we had him tested at this big Children's hospital and they had no additional diagnosis beyond telling me his IQ was "low" (with a four year old, though I don't really think you can measure IQ accurately).
We talk about letter sounds daily and we count daily. We have started this new thing with him where part of the bedtime routine is a countdown from one to twenty together with his dad and big brother right before story time. So far he finds it fun.
Learning disabilities abound in my husbands family (dyslexia, autism, non verbal learning disability, ADHD). The common treatment for them is drugs. So, it's hard to get much information and honestly, I'm reluctant to share much with his family because they would just worry and try to pressure me into drugging him. (Not that I don't think that is a valid choice for some folks, but with the family it's the only choice and I think it's the exception that a child would need drugs for learning or developmental issues rather than the rule. I'm thankful that my son's issues don't seem severe enough to warrant medication.) I also have ADD, but did well in school. It affects organization and time management for me.
So, I am pursuing getting to the bottom of this so to speak, but I'd really like to figure out some practical ideas in the meantime.
Thanks!
Jo