6-year-old boy has hard time undertanding by listening
John Tsai
I have a first grader boy who has very hard time getting the ideas of
what his teachers teach in the class. Most of the times when he was
asked if he understood his teachers, his answer was "NO". I think
the problem has two flods:
(1). It's hard for him to understand by listening. His language
skill developed slowly compare to his peers. We think that he
learns mostly by his eyes.
(2). Sometimes he does not pay enough attention.
The problem is serious because he can not learn from school even
though he seems to be averagely intelligent.
What can we do to help him? Is there any professional can provide
assistance? Btw...we are located in Los Angeles area. Thank you
for your help.
John.
Michelle Hunt
Dear John, We are currently going through a similar situation with our 7
y/o boy who is also in 1st grade. He has above average intelligence but his
attention is quite nonexistant. Thankfully his teacher has noticed the
problem also and we are now having hime evaluated by the school psychologist
and his pediatrician for ADD. He sees a counselor to give him(and us) some
coping skills and will soon see a psychiatrist once the testing is
complete. Our son is not hyper in any way, but is "dreamy" and at the same
time quite intensely creative. Not what I thought ADD was to begin with,
now I know there is more than the one type. We began this process by
talking to his teachers, then talking to the school psychologist, then
taking him to his ped and then the couselor. Your child's school should be
very involved in this... if they are not, you'll need to get them to listen
and help. This is my opinion and as I'm new at all this, I'm learning
exponentially but am certainly no expert. Hope this helps you.
Michelle
John Tsai wrote in message <35361D...@csulb.edu>...
>I have a first grader boy who has very hard time getting the ideas of
>what his teachers teach in the class. >
<snip>
>(1). It's hard for him to understand by listening. His language
> skill developed slowly compare to his peers. We think that he
> learns mostly by his eyes.
>
>(2). Sometimes he does not pay enough attention.
>
<snip>
Wolfman
While I am not qualified to diagnose your son, it sounds as though he might
have CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Disorder). Basically, it is the
inability to distinguish foreground noice (ie, teacher's voice) from
background noise (ie, shuffling desks, whispers, coughs, the noise on the
street... etc). If this is indeed the case, he would have to be seen by an
audiologist to be diagnosed. Sometimes using an FM system (an apparatus
that helps amplify sound) works to help focus on the teacher's voice only.
These can be relatively expensive, but some school boards will cover the
cost for in class usage. It may be worth looking into.
Vicki Hill
On Thu, 16 Apr 1998 08:00:35 -0700, John Tsai <jt...@csulb.edu> wrote:
>I have a first grader boy who has very hard time getting the ideas of
>what his teachers teach in the class. Most of the times when he was
>asked if he understood his teachers, his answer was "NO".
Look into the possibility of Central Auditory Processing Disorder. You
can find info about it through any search engine. His hearing may be
fine, but his ability to decipher and process the important sounds
that he is hearing may be a problem area. More use of manipulatives, a
quieter desk environment, possible use of headphones, etc. - there are
a number of ways to compensate and help the child with CAPD learn in a
better way.
Good luck.
Vicki H.
Stacey440
>
>I have a first grader boy who has very hard time getting the ideas of
>what his teachers teach in the class. Most of the times when he was
>asked if he understood his teachers, his answer was "NO".
Have you considered the possibility that he may be tone deaf? Maybe he HEARS,
but he actually doesn't UNDERSTAND what is being said. Another possiblity is he
may have a learning disability. I suggest you look further into this.
Stacey
janelaw
You have to bring this up with your pediatrician. School
districts have to evaluate students with special needs and make
out an IEP (individualized education plan?) The school
counselor will know how to get an evaluation. Since the
evaluation costs the school district money, not all districts
are overly enthusiastic about helping parents get them. You
really have to be an advocate for your child.
I can tell you this much. The federal law is IDEA, the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. IDEA was changed
last year. The state must submit an plan for complying with the
federal law to the Office for Special Education Programs in the
United States Department of Education. The California agency
that is in charge of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) is the
California Department of Education (CDE) Special Education
Division.
Alice Parker is the State Director of Special Education.
Tim McNulty is the chair of the Advisory Commission on
Special Education and the special education director of the Los
Angeles County Office of Education.
California has three Diagnostic Centers for particularly
difficult to evaluate students; one is in Los Angeles.
Do not hesitate to bring the issues of ADD and CAPD up with your
pediatrician. You know your child best.
John Tsai wrote:
>
> I have a first grader boy who has very hard time getting the ideas of
> what his teachers teach in the class. Most of the times when he was
> asked if he understood his teachers, his answer was "NO". I think
> the problem has two flods:
>
> (1). It's hard for him to understand by listening. His language
> skill developed slowly compare to his peers. We think that he
> learns mostly by his eyes.
>
> (2). Sometimes he does not pay enough attention.
>
duncan
Apart from the dubious use of the word 'understanding' (It is too easy
to use that word when other factors may be much more relevant), I am
concerned that you make no reference to what opinion the teacher might
have.
You have made some value judgements about your son.
What do you expect him to understand?
What do you expect him to learn?
Are your expectations reasonable?
How do you qualify his 'slow' language skill development? (speech
speed, vocabulary, elocution, common sense statements, fluency, ability
to hold a conversation)
Does he have a bilingual background?
Does he pay attention to you or not?
Does he pay attention to teacher or not?
Does he pay attention to peers or not?
Have you had an Ear/Nose/Throat specialist check out your son carefully?
John Tsai
Thanks for replying. I found it is easier to answer your questions
by listing what I know about my 6-year-old like the following:
(1). What we expect from him is that he understands what the teacher
teaches in school.
(2). According to the teacher (and our own observation as well), he
tends to lose his attention in a setting of a teacher teaching/
speaking in front of a group of kids. His teacher estimated
about 20 percent of the time he's not pay attention. He is much
better in a one to one situation.
(3). His teacher describe him as "able to do it but not putting in
enough effort" and he gives my son's academic achievement a 6 in
a scale of 1 to 10. But we feel that it's his ability to
understand the verbal instructions.
(4). It happens frequently that he does not know or understand the
homework his teacher assigned VERBALLY, while some other kids
can describe in details about the homework assignment. His mom
has to call around to find out what needs to be done for homework
every time when he has such type of homework.
(5). Yes, we are bilingual, but we almost always speak in English to
him. He started his pre-school at 3 years old which is an
English language environment.
(6). A lot of times when asked if he understands what the teacher is
talking about such as science, his answer is "NO". But some of
his peers can describe in details.
(7). Yes, we have his ears checked a couple of times and the results
were no problem found.
(8). Even though he has been in pre-school, kindergarten, then first
grade since he was three, his pronounciation is not good compare
to other bilingual kids. It is not until recently that he can
hold a better conversation.
(9). He will turn 7 on this coming June.
I appreciate your response and thank you in advancing if you have any
more advices to us.
John.
duncan
Wofman, I need info on CAPD, please.
DMASBS
ps Do you suffer from lots of spamming?