educating our child advice?

madgecurran

Our daughter is 8 and she is really smart. She is not really making much progressing her reading...a little...the teacher says she is doing well but I feel that she needs more help. She is non-verbal so it is difficult to know if she can actually read anything herself. Any advice?
Can any one recommend any programmes which would be useful?
Also where do teachers get training in how to teach our children with CP? I am told they 'learn on the job' so they are practising on our children !!!!

forgoodnesssake

Hi, when you say she is non-verbal I assume she has some form of alternative means of communication like a symbol sheet or book or a communication aid? (known as AAC - augmentative and alternative communication) Otherwise it will be very difficult indeed for her and for those working with her to assess what she can and cannot read.
However even if she has other means of communication you have hit on a huge issue for many non-verbal people; learning to read is very difficult and phonics especially are very hard when you cannot make the sounds and letter shapes yourself.
Scope does/did have a reading/pre-reading scheme for non-verbal kids with poor hand function which was aimed at getting the basic building block in place. You could try looking for that. Also your daughter will really need to be being taught by a teacher or have input from a specialist language teacher who has some knowledge of the issues around not being able to articulate speech. If she does not get that now I would ask who in the school or education authority has the skills to so this.
My son has athetoid CP and is 13. He is completely unable to speak, has poor hand use and is a wheelchair user. However he is doing well in year 8 of our local mainstream high school and is actually above average in his year for maths and science. However his reading is probably more like upper Juniors. But cos he has had AAC systems in place since he was less than 2 (and he was also actually one of the "guinea pigs" for the Scope reading scheme!) and has had specialist support with literacy stuff (via his statement) all the way through, his reading and spelling are a lot better than they would have been....
Good luck!
And if you want more info on AAC and other communication related stuff look at www.communicationmatters.org.uk or www1voice.info and also take a look at this new booklet by the Communication Trust http://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/~/media/Communication Trust/Documents/Other Ways of Speaking FINAL.ashx

All the best, Jenny

ScopeHelpline

Here is the link for the Scope product that we think Jenny is referring to in her post:

http://www.scope.org.uk/help-and-information/publications/reading-project

Thanks
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