I have spent a fair amount of my life singing with community choruses and oratorio societies. Many of the pieces I sang were in Latin, Italian and German. I was able to learn and sing these selections with great ability and emotion, without having a clue what the words meant. The conductor would give us guidance to emotions and general themes of each work, but the meaning of each word was non-existent for most of us singing in the chorus.
So, I can sing in Latin, Italian and German, but if I were to travel to Italy or Germany, I would not be able to communicate in these languages at any level. This is a good picture of what it is like working with a child with a severe mixed receptive/expressive language disorder.
When Hannah was small, our early language work focused on building vocabulary - spoken and understood. Nouns were the emphasis in those days, and while it was time consuming, we made good progress. Nouns are easy to teach (relatively speaking) because there is a concrete object to attach the word to. Moving into verbs was a little more challenging, but through demonstration (sit/stand; walk/run), progress was made there as well.
Our language is much more than concrete images and thoughts, it is filled with subtle nuances and inferences. When a child has a language disorder that includes difficulty with receptive language, the challenge becomes more profound as the child gets older and is dealing with more complex language environments, be they social or written.
Comprehension has always been our greatest challenge with Hannah, and though we make progress everyday, even at the age of 7, it is comprehension that remains the biggest wall we are trying to scale. Presently we are focusing a lot of our school time on reading comprehension and critical thinking. We are using various tasks to help with this, such as visual word webs and sequencing exercises, but it is slow going right now.
As mom and teacher, I continue to hope each day that we're going to break through whatever snag is in Hannah's brain that makes this part of language so difficult. Until that day, I must help her to build on the foundation we have already laid. I also find that there is a very fine line between challenging her to learn and grow in language, and frustrating her to tears. I shed a few tears in frustration some days as well.
Will keep you posted. Also, anyone with tips and suggestions for how you've worked on comprehension, please share them! We need to help each other through this journey.
OneMom
So, I can sing in Latin, Italian and German, but if I were to travel to Italy or Germany, I would not be able to communicate in these languages at any level. This is a good picture of what it is like working with a child with a severe mixed receptive/expressive language disorder.
When Hannah was small, our early language work focused on building vocabulary - spoken and understood. Nouns were the emphasis in those days, and while it was time consuming, we made good progress. Nouns are easy to teach (relatively speaking) because there is a concrete object to attach the word to. Moving into verbs was a little more challenging, but through demonstration (sit/stand; walk/run), progress was made there as well.
Our language is much more than concrete images and thoughts, it is filled with subtle nuances and inferences. When a child has a language disorder that includes difficulty with receptive language, the challenge becomes more profound as the child gets older and is dealing with more complex language environments, be they social or written.
Comprehension has always been our greatest challenge with Hannah, and though we make progress everyday, even at the age of 7, it is comprehension that remains the biggest wall we are trying to scale. Presently we are focusing a lot of our school time on reading comprehension and critical thinking. We are using various tasks to help with this, such as visual word webs and sequencing exercises, but it is slow going right now.
As mom and teacher, I continue to hope each day that we're going to break through whatever snag is in Hannah's brain that makes this part of language so difficult. Until that day, I must help her to build on the foundation we have already laid. I also find that there is a very fine line between challenging her to learn and grow in language, and frustrating her to tears. I shed a few tears in frustration some days as well.
Will keep you posted. Also, anyone with tips and suggestions for how you've worked on comprehension, please share them! We need to help each other through this journey.
OneMom
