Two weeks ago, we were thrown a curveball. It began with the words, “severe delay.”
Once again, we heard that Bubs was months behind in development. A fact that takes the breath out of this momma.
In January, I began to see some red flags concerning Bubs’ reading and spelling. After talking to his teacher, we buckled down at home spending two hours a day on various aspects of learning. Thankfully, Bubs finished the first grade on grade level.
My plan was to work diligently this summer to give him an edge and refine the struggles he was having. After consistent, daily work, I have seen no improvements over the summer months. So, I made appointments to be retested with our OT and speech path.
Happily, I can report that Bubs’ OT scores were very well. He either maintained or improved. This is wonderful news considering how low he scored when we started occupational therapy four years ago.
Next, speech. Testing shows that he has severe delays in Language Processing, Pragmatics, and Phonological Awareness, meaning an Auditory Processing Disorder. Once again we learn that Bubs is able to do thing he should not be able to do. In short terms, with the ability that Bubs has he should only be able to read three-letter words.
Since that initial eval, I have spent hours preparing paperwork and meeting with the school and his therapist to create a new plan. I have been praying for wisdom and seeking counsel.
Basically what I have learned is that I have been teaching him wrong. While I am doing exactly what the “big boys” say to do and what the majority of children need, it is not what Bubs needs to be successful. (More on this in upcoming posts.)
That’s hard to swallow.
Yesterday I was talking with an older mom about our current situation. Without words, she placed her thumb and middle finger together on top of her shoulder. Flicking the air, she said, “You are a great mom and flick him off your shoulder.” Immediately, I imagined the white angel on one shoulder and the red devil on the other.
I realized that I have a choice. I can listen to the lies of the enemy saying that I have failed. Or, I can “flick him off” and believe the truth of my loving Father.
Never forget that the Bible calls [the enemy] the father of lies!
What lie are you believing?
Read more: Replacing Lies with Truth
My middle sister had auditory processing issues as a child that made reading very difficult for her. My mother finally found Romalda Spalding's Writing Road to Reading which engages the hands, mouth and eyes as well as the ears.
My sister is 30 now and while she still uses some compensation techniques (asking for written information where possible, taking notes etc.) she graduated from college with A's and B's, is married and soon to give birth to her fourth child.
I'll be praying for you as you seek the best way to help Bubs…K
Kyndra – Thank you so much for taking the time to encourage me. I will also look up this book. God bless – Heidi
Thank you for sharing. We've just begun our journey. I homeschool my 5 year old. Last year he made amazing progress. This summer we began speech and occupational therapy. His OT is amazing an super encouraging. His ST is good as well, but I allowed her or the liar to discourage me. She said just because my son had the ability to memorize didn't mean he understood. I was stumped and felt like all the previous progress he had made was wasted. I was trying to reconfigure how I would teach him. Then I read your post, flicked that sucker off and realized that what we did last year can continue because it was working. It was a disguised attack that no longer has power.
BTW-thank you for sharing your experiences
I praise God for providing those around us who can help us teach our children. Thankfully, they have wisdom in areas that I know nothing. So happy to hear that you have seen progress with your own child! Remember to flick! 🙂 – Heidi