It has been a few months since I last wrote and many things have happened. I am homeschooling Ana now. Well, I really never stopped teaching her since summer. I noticed that after school ended she did not do as well as I had expected. So even though she is technically aged at 6th grade, her learning curve is at a 3rd grade level. At first this did not concern me and I just shrugged it off as an English as a Second language difficulty.
Then I started to pay closer attention to a lot of details. Like when I would ask her to do something and then she would "forget" I told her. Or her never ending fidgeting. And then there is her always needing to be the center of attention. The lack of self control. Also not following through with many things. Kind of just doing them half way. Now that I am teaching her I am having to teach her the same thing over and over again. I even have a math tutor coming in three times a week and she too notices that she just isn't "getting it".
I started to pull all of these things together and along with my husband we concluded that she must have a learning disability - separate from the foreign language skills issue.
We planned to see our primary care physician next week for a referral to a specialist, but first we took a four day vacation to Florida. There we went to Busch Gardens and the Kennedy Space Center. Lots of fun for Ana. We also attended the Museum of Science and Industry. There they had a special exhibit entitled, "The Amazing You". A wonderful exhibit about the human body. We saw all stages of development from infancy until death. The most interesting part for us came at the causes of developmental deseases and difficulties portion of the exhibit.
Here they showed us what Fetal Alcohol Syndrome does to a baby in utero. We were shocked to find that Ana had every single one of the behavioral symptoms. Even looking at her closely we could see some physical features as well. Then I put one and one together. They had told me at her orphanage that her mom was an alcoholic. Why did I think she would ever have stopped drinking when she was pregnant with Ana? Of course she would not have! I felt like a fool for ever believing that.
Now comes the hard part. Next week we are scheduled to see a doctor and a specialists. I have been reading up on this and it is quite bad. At best Ana could be at a third or fourth grade comprehension level for the rest of her life. There may be serious brain injury that is irreversible. What is life going to be like for her. Well, only God knows.
For now I'll keep on doing what I am called to do, even if right now I am in the dark about this whole thing. I wonder, is there anyone out there that had any experience with FAS? I would love the help.
Until the next one...
4 comments:
FAS and FAE really vary from child to child. I wouldn't be too quick to put limitations on your daughter's development. After all, if you decide she is not capable of something and therefore do not challenge her to even try, how would she ever even learn? That said, you are right that FAS and FAE are very real and something to be closely examined in order to maximize your child's potential. Blessings and prayers as you navigate this new challenge.
We adopted two girls from Ukraine. Both of them have been attending therapies.
Unfortunately, alcohol is a fact in these countries, so even though your child is or isn't diagnosed with FAS, chances are they will need lots of additional therapies.
From the information you are sharing, you should try Neuronet, it works 100%. You may ask your specialist.
Have you visited a genetic specialist?
We have learned that whatever it is that the doctors find, we shouldn't worry that much. You must guide your child through the path of her life and give her every tool that you can so she can be happy and develop the most normal way possible through the years.
We have been put by God in this path so we can give these kids all our love and support.
We will keep you in our prayers so you may find the right diagnose and treatment. And remember.... be patient !!!
Regards,
Karen de Bueso
Hi,
I don't have a whole lot to offer you because I am learning as I go. We homeschool our two daughters as well. The newest one, T, who has been with us a year seems to be severely affected by FASD in some ways. She has severe astigmatism which explains why she never learned to read in Russian. She is at a third grade level in math and has been pretty obstinate about doing it at times. She thinks it is very difficult. She absolutely hates it when I tell her she is wrong. She used to throw huge fits about being wrong, but she's gotten better.
Our daughter has to count everything by ones. She just can't seem to get the hang of counting any other way. I thought that going over and over say, the different numbers that add up to ten would help her memorize them. It didn't. She is more proficient when we don't have any skipped days, but some concepts just don't stick.
There are things that can help our FASD children. Sometimes you have to look at different ways of teaching and helping our children retain math other than the normal ones.
We've looked at neurodevelopmental methods because one facet of FASD is that the corpus collosum (the connector between the two hemispheres of the brain) can be reduced in size by fetal alcohol exposure. This can cause the child to have the knowledge in their brain, but not be able to pull it out as needed. It gets lost. Our daughter shows symptoms of little communication between the hemispheres of the brain according to one therapist we heard speak once. Some days, she just does not get it. I get some of the most off the wall answers that make no sense. Then other days, she gets it.
One website I know of is www.littlegiantsteps.com
Since you are right there working with her every step of the way, you will probably see much more improvement than when she was in a classroom full of children.
You can email me anytime -- butchee81@yahoo.com
Best wishes,
June
Hi Barb,
I wrote another comment, but it went into cyberspace:0
We have many of the same issues with our newest adopted daughter, T. She's been with us a year now. We homeschool as well. Our oldest three bios were homeschooled all the way through, but having the two from Ukraine has been a totally different experience.
We have looked into Neurodevelopmental techniques. One website I know of is --
www.littlegiantsteps.com
You can email me if you like --
butchee81@yahoo.com
Best wishes,
June
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