son who seems not to understand

[eyesblue]

My son is 6 and he comes across as not being able to understand what you are telling him to do. Not sure weather there is a problem or he is doing it for attention the school have him on an iep as he has had a speech problem but the therapist has just discharged him. For reading he can read lovely and fluenty but is unable to answer questions about the book as he didn't understand what he is reading.Am wondering if and what to do next.

My friend's son sounds a little like yours, we're not really close, she's just a School Mom Friend so I don't know the ins and outs of the situation. He has seen an EdPsych and OT and they have said he has some sort of Auditory Processing Disorder that makes spoken instruction difficult for him to process.

For example - the teacher says 'could you tidy your desk' he just moves stuff around and until they realised his problems it was taken for being rude and non-cooperative. She says it's the same with 'go and tidy your room' or 'get ready for school' he just looks at her or faffs around getting very little done.

She has to be very specific with him - 'could you make your bed and open the curtains in your room' or 'please brush your teeth and wash your face'

The family and school now find it all a lot easier now and their ds (age 7) isn't so stressed and upset. Like I say I'm not close enough to her to be told every detail and I might be wrong in the name of the disorder, but it may be worth seeing your GP for a referral if it's really worrying you. x

Thanks VonHerrBurton. We were thinking about that too. I had hopped that his speech therapist would of helped but she discharged him as they don't see it as a problem. All they do is too adapt the situation to him and give him one to one. With his writing up till he had one to one for this he made no attempt to write. Will make an appointment soon.

My DS2 was the same at that age. He couldn't follow instructions. Even now it's easier to say 'clean your teeth' then when he has, 'wash you face'. He's up and down those stairs but happily, as he can remember to do a single thing.

One idea might be to look at very detailed picture books with him to discuss the content and what he thinks is happening. Then, once he's comfortable with this, look at books with very few words and do the same, so he is learning to concentrate on the book and on listening through conversation.

Build up to reading a short paragraph and discussing it before moving on. Or even ask a question after each sentence he reads.

I think he needs to be assessed by an EP (Educational Psychologist).

It could be due to a number of reasons - but it's really important it's looked into it.

You can go to a private EP, if you have the money. Or you can beg school to refer him.......

I would go back to the speech and language therapist and ask her to fully assess his comprehension skills for the reasons stated. Receptive language problems should be diagnosed by a SALT.
Good luck!

I agree that you should get back to the speech and language therapist (I am one, btw!) Check if they have fully assessed comprehension (rather than just speech/expressive language) and if not, ask them to.

Here are some ideas of things to try with him though:-

• Say his name to make sure you have his full attention before speaking to him.
• Try to keep instructions short and simple. Ask him to repeat back or say in his own words what he has to do.
• Try focussing on one kind of question at a time. The easier question words are what/who/where - when/why/how are more difficult. Try asking lots of "who" questions for a few weeks until he seems to understand them, then move on to where, then mix who and where questions up etc.
• Get him to tell the story of the book using the pictures. See if he can guess what might happen next, and look at the picture to see if he's right.

He needs to be assessed though to see what's causing the problem and give more specific advice. HTH.