Mich,
Some background - gosh, to think it started 3 years ago when we trotted off to the OT after DS had some serious spills. He'd always been clumsy and I thought he'd grow out of it. Once we got there, he was diagnosed with sensory processing issues as well as weak gross motor skills. He'd always complained of jumping words and headaches when he read, so it wasn't hard to see that he had visual issues as well. He's been going to the OT ever since, till I stopped it recently because he plateaued. He still has problems with sports, but I'm thinking it's part of his visual issues, which will improve as he continues with his vision exercises,
Auditory processing is new to me. There were tell tale signs that I never picked up on but in hindsight, they were there. He never liked bedtime stories or to be read to. I used to think he was a great learner but a bad student, because he'd tune me out even when he asked for help. He'd eventually work it out, so I learnt to let go. He'd say things like, "I can hear you, but my brain is talking too loudly for your voice to register". This past year, he bombed a math acceleration test even though he aced a similar one 6mths earlier. The tester said that he wasn't listening to instructions. I toyed with the idea of APD but the local hospital gave him a preliminary screen and said his hearing was normal, so it wasn't likely. I read enough to know that wasn't 100% correct, but on the other hand, he speaks like, my neighbour says, an old professor. He even spoke early at 6mths! I had a conversation with him about his nanny leaving when he was 14mths, and I could see how sad he was.
Because of his continuing vision problems, we decided to bring him to a behavioural optometrist in a different country a month ago (there are none here where I live). I got referrals from a psychologist who asked me to fill this 8-pager questionnaire. Bingo - that's where they caught the first hint. She asked that he see an audiologist as well, and hence the diagnosis.
To answer your questions, he did great in school. He got accelerated 2 years for math. The teacher thought he'd bomb his language exam because it involved writing a short story but he refused to write in school. So I trained him for 2 weeks. All it meant was starting off a zany story, getting him excited, and he'd finish the rest. I didn't correct what he wrote - I just praised him a lot. He got an A for the exam, like he did for the rest of the other subjects.
I felt that he always had some attention issues because he doesn't listen to me. His psych didn't think he had ADHD since he could play with Lego or read - he'd go back and forth on these 2 activities the whole day, in hindsight, perhaps because his eyes got tired and he'd need a break. After I started him on a GFCF diet, his focus zoomed up. Really amazing, I have to say! He's in a competition math class and is starting to excel - I'm guessing that he'd just get to work on the problem and not have to listen to solutions, especially when he's correct.
About initiating undesirable activities - going to school is one! He begged so hard to be homeschooled probably because listening is so tough for him, and it's boring because he's past the curriculum. He finds his vision exercises a chore, but if I assign him the responsibility, he'd do better than if he took step by step instructions from me.
The APD is troubling. It hasn't affected him academically, but I wonder if the appropriate word is yet. His brain just goes off on a tangent on something that to him is related, but not to others! And then he's on a roll regardless of the efforts to rein him in. I'm hoping that APD therapy can help him pick up instructions better or chime in on his thoughts.
I hear what you're saying about organization skills. He did have problems managing his homework (mostly pretended he didn't have any until I received The Call from the teacher) but I wonder if it's because he found it absolutely meaningless. He had no problems for work he liked. I wonder if there is a difference between strong will and lack of organization, hmm.
Tks for all the questions, Mich! It really helps in my own thought process as well.
