Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional How can we meet this child's needs?!

(THis is in reply to the original question, whereas my posts above are in reply to a response. Sorry, I am just learning the ropes here, so I am not sure I am posting correctly.)
I don't know if this will be any help at all, but I will throw it out there -- my oldest son was born with autism (totally different situation from your child, obviously). But we started an intensive program LATE by most people's standards (we first wasted three years in programs that had been recommended by the local physicians, psychologists, .... which turned out to be locally popular but not helpful for kids on the autism spectrum). So when ds was 5 I took time out from my own career (completing a PhD) and worked intensively with psychologists who had trained at UCLA in applied behavior analysis. Autistic kids are VERY uneven in their abilities (even more than what you described in your child). My ds had some areas of great strength and other areas in which he functioned like a 8 month old. We actually constructed a program from scratch for my ds and "plugged the holes" with an amazing degree of success. My guess is your child, who does NOT have anything like what mine did, still could do exercises which may well bring his working memory up to the normal range. None of these mental abilities are set in concrete, not for a 12 year old, and truly not at any age. My mom started developing dementia about 6 years ago, and we have done a great job providing her with exercises to address areas of weakness as we see them presenting in her. She has done very, very well. I am not saying we can succeed with my mom forever with that (against progression of vascular based dementia), but if I had a chance to work with your gifted young son, I would love to try to pinpoint exactly what kinds of tasks are especially difficult (in terms of working memory), and then create games which incrementally challenge him to improve those exact skills. I am not a psychologist, just another mom, and I of course cannot guarantee it would work, but who knows? As for the handwriting, we are still struggling with that (times 3, all three of my sons have a significant problem with it). If anyone has any suggestions on THAT, I am all ears!

In response to a previous post inquiring about SPD and doctors diagnosing it: My doctor suggested it as a diagnosis for Bear after I had already researched it on my own and came to that tentative conclusion. She offered it up as a possibility BEFORE I mentioned that I had been researching it. She is also very cautious about diagnosis and medicating, prefering a wait and see approach.

In addition EVERY psychologist I have talked to accepts it as a real diagnosis. The issue is that is is not recognized in the "official" book as a stand alone disorder yet, although that might change with the newest edition. Basically what I have found is that it is "officially" accepted as part of a package deal with say autism or Downs or speech delay or etc and so on, but not yet accepted as a stand alone diagnosis for treatment by our early start program or school district. In fact our school district is going to try to find a speech issue to file Bear under just because they will be allowed to treat the SPD then. They are very aware it is a real issue.

Immediately after we started the OT that was suggested (not even officially by an OT, but by both the doctor and a psych as a place to start) we have seen significant improvement. In fact every doctor and psych I've talked with recognizes it and all of them have given me the same advice and ideas to start working on.

Basically it is a real issue, can be and is diagnosed by doctors and psychologists and, just like everything else out there, it can be misdiagnosed.

This sounds intriguing. I've been doing some research, and a speech language pathologist at the hospital where I work has suggested several websites that she uses with her patients to help with memory issues. I certainly can't see that it would hurt, even if it doesn't help!