Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional What is this? I could really use advice.

Just to throw in here, it's possible I have CAPD, too. I fit all of the original description. I also have poorly corrected vision problem, amblyopia. However, I think of mine as being all on or in cruise mode. When I interact with people, I am 100% engaged, I am over aware of individual nuances and social mores to the degree I am uncomfortable interacting in a group until I know the people because I am far concerned with offending than minor gains an introvert might take away from an interaction.

Aaaand more CAPD impact - not sure if this will sound familiar:

Here's the email I sent to DS8's teacher today...

Hi!

DS8 and I were practicing his spelling words and I noticed that he really can't tell the difference between the "v" sound and the "th" sound (ie trustworthy vs. lovely). I'm assuming this is related to his auditory processing issue.

(On a positive note, he spelled "sweet" as "suitt" which is similar to "je suis" so it looks like the French phonics are sinking in )

Anyway, re: "v" and "th" ...the only way he could tell them apart was by watching my mouth as I said them, and this was only after I explained the teeth position for each sound (on the tongue vs on the bottom lip). I told him to watch your face during the test. I don't know if he'll remember, or if you can remember to face him while you're saying the words? ...but I just thought I'd mention it anyway (re: more understanding of his challenges).

Thanks

(CCN)

On the earplug subject...

This might be too effective, but when I wore earplugs for swimming, the best product (and cheapest) was Silly Putty. Custom molds to the ear and much cheaper than doctor made custom ear plugs. Just make sure that you use a large enough lump of Silly Putty (using 1/2 of the "egg" in each ear always worked well for me).

CCN, that story about teaching your son the difference between sounds by showing your face does sound familiar! This kind of explicit teaching can be so effective.

We have also found that, once each sound is learned, we can spell words to clarify the proper pronunciation.

The University of Iowa has a website that provides both video and cutaway animation video of the pronunciation of each phonogram. These can really help teach a kid to see how to pronounce and see the movements of the different sounds. http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/

"DS8 and I were practicing his spelling words and I noticed that he really can't tell the difference between the "v" sound and the "th" sound (ie trustworthy vs. lovely). I'm assuming this is related to his auditory processing issue."

Yes, this can be part of CAPD or auditory processing deficits. One of the subtests my child scored very low, the write-up mentions this, although, I think they mention /f/ instead of /v/. Those two sounds are also very close, though.