hi every 1 hope you all great summer hols and not to stressful,twins just finished salt which was good cos at last they agree with me that they have their own agenda and that there social communication and understanding is not there so im now thinking is it possible for them to be on the autistic spectrum as on has what i call ocd repetes movement of cars lines them all up ect....have thought this for a long time so we will know more once the assesment start next month so have a good bank holiday

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i have 4 special children emily 9 thomas 3 and id twins who have gdd who are all the greatest

Hi, I've just registered for this site and it looks really cool.

My daughter Kate was diagnosed with GDD at around age three. At first I found it quite a difficult diagnosis to handle because it's more an observation of the symptoms, e.g., delayed speech, motor skills etc, rather than the cause. Anyway, I've come to terms with this now and am just getting on with been the proud dad and enjoying every moment I get to spend with Kate.

By far the most helpful thing I've come across has been Makaton which has had a profound impact on our lives. Before learning this Kate's behaviour was deteriorating (self harm etc), presumably because of the frustration caused by having receptive language advanced than expressive. Clapping out words and syllables has also been helpful in developing/tuning her speech (apparently the part of the brain that deals with rhythm is different to that that deals with speech).

Although Kate still has not insignificant problems she can atleast use signs to express her needs and interact with her mum and I. The Makaton symbols have also been really helpful too in developing her literacy skills.

(08-30-2010 03:47 PM)TomPollard Wrote:  By far the most helpful thing I've come across has been Makaton which has had a profound impact on our lives.

Hi

Where are u taking your daughter for makaton classes. i tried finding a class for my son. we only have a sure start centre in uxbridge which offers these classes but they are over subscribed.

(08-30-2010 07:32 PM)Nits Wrote:  [quote='TomPollard' pid='20059' dateline='1283183226']

By far the most helpful thing I've come across has been Makaton which has had a profound impact on our lives.

Hi

Where are u taking your daughter for makaton classes. i tried finding a class for my son. we only have a sure start centre in uxbridge which offers these classes but they are over subscribed.

Hello

We attended a two day beginners course near where we live which her mum managed to get us on via Kates early years SENCO. It was free and the tutors were excellent but it did take a long time to get on and like most experiences with the "system" we had to fight hard. Have you tried speaking to Makaton direct, perhaps their family adviser (details on their website) may be able to suggest something?

We then used what we'd learnt to teach Kate and not only did she start signing back quickly but it also seemed to stimulate her speech. We used the symbols in the course book to make flash cards and then illustrated symbol and sign first words books.She can now read quite a few words without the symbols which considering where she was a year ago (had a vocabularly of less than ten words many of which were only understandable to her mum and I) is remarkable.

I don't want to make it out like a panacea and different things work for different people but it's worked really well for us.

Hope this is helpful, Tom

hi tom welcome to here makaton sounds great but i asked salt she said that its not possible for my boys yet as their understanding an attention isnt there so we just have to try and guess what they want......im hoping to do a course which is offered at the local devlopment centre ready 4 when i can use it....................i agree about it been a hard dianois to handle cos it varies so so much and when u reserch it on web it can be quite frighting to read well feel free to join in with any good ideas you have got or whats to cope with things all help and have a good week zoexxxx