OK...so Ashlyn is still struggling with communication. I can only wonder how long it's suppose to take before normal communication can occur. She has a real problem with focusing and doing seatwork in school. If the assistant teacher is not there to basically sit next to her the whole time to help, she doesn't get any of it done. It was suggested by someone to even hire someone to come into the school and be there during seatwork time to keep her focused. Is there anyone out there with any suggestions? She is 7 1/2 years old now adn she's been here for over 10 months now, so I wonder how long it takes for the communication to truly be there. I kept hearing about a year, but that is quickly creeping up. She understands most of what you say, but does not know how to answer questions sometimes...mainly the "W" questions.
We've just spent the last 3 hours with her doing her 2 pages of seatwork, writing her spelling words and special sounds, writing two sentences with two of her spelling words and studying for her spelling test tomorrow. We haven't even touched her bible verse that she's suppose to know by Friday and it's now an hour and a half past her bedtime. I try not to yell at her, but it's hard, especially when she plays her games of pretending not to understand. I only know this because as soon as I yell, she magically knows the answer. Not sure if this was some sort of survival mechanism for her or a get out of doing whatever card by pretending not to know. It's very frustrating. Sorry, I'm venting, but I'm having a really hard time with this.
UGH! Is there anyone out there that has been through something like this and can offer support (words of wisdom or advice).
On another note, she did start speech therapy today. I'm hoping this will truly help her with her speech articulation and pronunciation of special blends. I'm hoping it helps enough so that she won't need surgery later and all her peers will be able to finally understand her. We have an appointment with an oral surgeon, Dr. Schmid on Friday to go over pulling her two baby teeth so that the back teeth have room to come forward.
Please pray for Ashlyn to overcome all that she has and is enduring, and please pray for Jason and I to give us the strength to continue working with her without losing our patience as much as we do.
Thank you & God Bless!
Aw, Jenn...I'm sorry you guys are struggling so much with this :-(. I know with Jess, Mom and Dad could try to teach her things, but she needed an outside person for her to really be able to focus. That's tough though because you guys are willing, able, and trying super hard to put in the effort. It'll get better...I know that's not advice, but time will help it all come together. Hang in there!
ReplyDeleteLove you! Wish I could come over to help...
Jennifer, were actually struggling with the same type of issues, even though Zoe is 4 years younger. She started a preschool beginning of september and the teacher can't understand a word that she says. She has a person from EI that works with her once a month at school and once a month at home, but I'm thinking it's not enough. Her vocabluary continues to grow but the words are still very hard to understand and now she's becoming frustrated with us. I keep having to remind myself that this is probably normal for her and that a year from now she may not be behind. I think you need to use all of the resources around you and hopefully you'll see a change in the next few months. I will be thinking about you guys.
ReplyDeleteJennifer