Receptive Language Delay: What Works for Me, 1st Grade

Every song I have heard on the radio this week has been a love song. Here I am missing my baby.

Maybe that will give me an incentive to keep up with my blog. A need for someone to talk to, someone to connect with.

In case you are on the edge of your seat wondering how the heck we all are...

Mandy got her license and her car. I am no longer a chauffeur. Not only do I have more free time, but her disposition has dramatically improved. She seeks me out and asks if she can help with chores and errands. I blinked my eyes and she became an adult. A thoughtful wonderful adult.

Lily is about six weeks into the first grade. She is doing well. Her receptive language delay is improving. Her behavior at school is fantastic. Her grades are average. She is still my little genius but she is has a bit of trouble demonstrating her genius on school work. It isn't for lack of trying she whole heatedly applies herself to school. We spend at least an hour usually two working on skills every night. She is steadily improving.

For all my receptive language delay friends, this is what is working for us currently. I have found that at six she physically improved, meaning her ability to process language is better than it was previously. Much of her delay now is caused by habit more than impairment. I work with her on improving her listening. I notice that she tends to tune people out especially when she is stressed or frustrated. She takes her cues from faces more than actual words and she talks over people so she doesn't have to listen.

What works for me... We play a game, I give her three funny things to do. Like - go to your room and punch your pillow, go to the garage and say the alphabet, go to the backyard and find an acorn. She has to listen to all three instructions and then do all three without any reminders. Then she gets to give me three instructions. She often forgets especially if one of the instructions takes time like saying the alphabet, but she is capable of remembering and I feel this game helps her to work that muscle. We get silly and have a lot of fun. There aren't any rewards or punishment we just make it fun, if she forgets I remind her or I pretend to forget to and we talk about it until she remembers.

Homework...Most of the other parents of first graders in my daughter's class spend about 15 minutes a night on homework and we spend at least an hour maybe two. However, we are doing more than they are. We go over things a lot. I make up work sheets that look like the ones she is doing. That way we can go over it together and then she is able to do her homework on her own. Sometimes she has trouble understanding instructions and so it takes me a little time and some ingenuity to explain things like fill in the blank. Lily prefers to pick her favorite word, than read the sentence several times with each of the choices and pick the one that works. She also likes to get done first, which is way more important to her than getting the write answer. I feel that by the end of the year she will be most improved, perhaps. She is on track. And we really enjoy the time we spend together doing homework, weird but true. I am grateful for the opportunity life has given me to be there for Lily.

That is my life in a nutshell. Add in a little volunteer work, a lot of paid work, a lot of dishes and that is it. Hasn't really seemed interesting enough to write about, but I miss you all.