Message for TerryB

[Mayleng]

Hi Terry, I was just lurking over at LDonline and read your thread about your daughter not being able to follow multistep instructions. My son (ADD/IN) has the same problem. However it is not necessarily an ADD thing, he was recently dxed by an Audiologist with Tolerance Fading Memory Type Auditory Processing Disability. I had suspected TFM already and brought him to be tested by a superb Audiologist to confirm my suspicions.

So look into Tolerance Fading Memory - affects shortterm memory. Not only verbal but sometimes reading instructions can be impacted too.

Here's a short description on CAPD - there is a paragraph on Tolerance FAding Memory.

www.nldline.com/alice_&_capd.htm

Here is what the Audiologist summarized the problems my son is facing.

Individuals with a TFM type of APD may exhibit frustration with lengthy auditory information (eg. instructions), difficulty in understanding speech in noise, poor expressive language ability, weak reading comprehension, display spontaneous spelling errors with previously learned spelling words, and exhibit more difficulty with initial information than the final presented auditory information.

Imagine a situation in which the teacher presents a question to the students. The individual with an APD is trying to process the question, while those without an APD have processed the question and the answer. Another example of frustration for the individual with APD may be when a teacher tells the class lengthy directions in a rapid manner. This person is unable to retain all of the information when lengthy information is presented. The individual may look as if he is not paying attention, but in reality, he is paying attention and exerts a high level of concentration in order to receive the message. Add a few other external factors, such as, hunger, allergies, emotional problems, stress, anxiety, poor attention, illness and he will definitely struggle with processing the information.

Hope this helps.

[TerryB]

Mayleng, Just a quick response to let you know that I appreciate this info. and the link. Much is new to me and I need to digest it further. It's amazing that you figured out for yourself what your son's problem was. Why does it have to be this way with these learning issues? Didn't this come up at your neuroeducational evaluation? Sometimes I wonder if it is worth getting these evaluations. These kids are soooo complicated that I'm not sure if the professionals can know everything all the time. Maybe it is best to not think of the neuroeducational workup as the end but rather a jump-start toward an understanding.
Terry

[Mayleng]

TerryB said:

Mayleng, Just a quick response to let you know that I appreciate this info. and the link. Much is new to me and I need to digest it further. It's amazing that you figured out for yourself what your son's problem was. Why does it have to be this way with these learning issues? Didn't this come up at your neuroeducational evaluation? Sometimes I wonder if it is worth getting these evaluations. These kids are soooo complicated that I'm not sure if the professionals can know everything all the time. Maybe it is best to not think of the neuroeducational workup as the end but rather a jump-start toward an understanding.
Terry.

It surprised me that it didn't come up at the Neuro workup especially when my Neuropysch (Dr. Warren Keller) worked with Dr. Kim Tillery (the Audiologist who tested my son) and Dr. Jack Katz (who is the author of the Buffalo model of APD - he is the one who came up with the various subsets of APD). They actually wrote some articles on the co-morbidity of APD with ADHD, NLD and other LDs. I think because my son has ADD/Inattentive it was the most obvious dxed at the time plus he was not medicated during evaluations. He was tested by the Neuropsych for APD - but not as detailed as what an Audiologist can do - the equipment is different. The only reason I went into TFM is because while the medication has helped tremendously with the ADD - Impulsive and Inattention, there seem to be this missing piece and he still had trouble with multistep instruction and short term memory problem. I think the Neuropysch concentrated on the Phonological part of APD which my son has no problems with. When it came to short term memory, he put it down to the ADD. I don't blame him because TFM symptoms is like ADD symptoms and alot of other LDs as well. Plus he does have Super hearing which throws alot of people off.

I feel we know our kids the best, and thus it is up to us to manage their issues and figure out what is going on.

The way I break my son's issues down is - He is ADD/Inattentive, has Super Hearing, Tolerance Fading Memory (APD), possibly Gifted - (IQ shows Superior but Neuropysch thinks Gifted because he was not medicated at the time of testing and thus his scores may have been depressed) and is a Visual Spatial Learner. With all this, I got him the right IEP - accomodations and some remedial help for strengthening his TFM ie. Listening Skills (which is in his IEP). I also educate his Teachers and RS teacher on how he learns and have good communication with them in this regard. I share all the results and explain the problem. I am lucky the RS teacher and I have a good respect for each other, and she is the one who writes the IEP. She has never denied anything I asked for in the IEP. I pray to God my son still has her for next year. I had to work with another RS teacher and she was ignorant and stubborn. We got into a disagreement on Measurable goals and that was my first IEP meeting. She said they don't put measureable goals on the IEP (which is a load of crap) especially when on the top of the IEP forms, it said Measureable Goals. This woman was full of it. So she took on the wrong person. I think she thought since it was my first IEP and first time in the field of Special Ed, I knew nothing. I had already read up on our rights and had read all I can on the Schwab site and Wrightslaw etc. Needless to say, she was wrong and I was right, and they gave me a more experienced and senior RS teacher. They know not to fool around with me. Anyway, I digress. So you have to read up and dig up info on all LDs and then start ruling out things. That is the way I do it. I would have missed out the TFM had not someone on the Schwab site not bring it up. I read every post on various site so I don't miss anything. So even though I don't post at LDonline much anymore (and you know why), I still lurk to see if I can learn anything else and to help out a friend or two if needed.
Good Luck

[TerryB]

Thanks for the info. Mayleng,
There are actually some educated people posting on the other site but you know that that can be changed in a heartbeat. I've tried to get some of the them to post here and maybe they have with other aliases. This is definitely the more reliable site.
Terry

[Mayleng]

TerryB said:

Thanks for the info. Mayleng,
There are actually some educated people posting on the other site but you know that that can be changed in a heartbeat. I've tried to get some of the them to post here and maybe they have with other aliases. This is definitely the more reliable site.
Terry

Terry, you probably know this, but a really good site is the www.schwablearning.org site. The forum is so full of knowledge etc it is amazing. We have 3 school psychs on the board who are very generous with their time and knowledge and very very knowledgeable moms, sped ed teachers etc. The board is not restricted to ADHD, it covers all LDs from ADD to Autism, Bi-polar, laws, sped ed, some medicate and some don't etc. So pop in every now and then. We just had a member win Due Process and got Private LD Placement for her child. It was a victory for all of us. So many people helped, not only with time, finance, knowledge but emotional support too. 1 of the members actually flew out to attend IEP meetings with the mom. Our schoolpsych friend, also evaluated her daughter for free. If needed she would have flown out to testify too . All this on their own time and money. The support and knowledge there is unbelievable. Most of all, I learnt alot about my child through them.

[TerryB]

I think that I will check it out! I have used the site before but haven't tried the forum part.
Terry

[Mayleng]

TerryB said:

I think that I will check it out! I have used the site before but haven't tried the forum part.
Terry

Look forward to seeing you there.