Contents
Welcome
To the 4th issue of the Lanark, Leeds & Grenville Chapter of O.A.F.C.C.D.’s Newsletter!
Inside this Issue you will find
Enjoy!!!
We would like to thank Morely Burwash, Nicola Oddy, Debbie Drummond and Jeannine Albert and Rita Taylor for accepting our request for guest speakers for the September, October, November and December.
We would like to also thank Joan Van Asseldonk for opening her home for the December meeting.
Thank you!!!
Membership Fees and donations are currently our only source of operating funds. Your membership Fees are very important to us and we need you to send your membership fees as soon as possible. If you have not yet joined, please do so as soon as possible. The Annual Membership Fee is only $15.00 ($5 of which goes to the local Chapter) . So please pay today!!
NOTE: Fees will be waived upon request.
Please complete and send this notice to make sure that your membership information is correct. Return to OAFCCD, Sharen Heath, 13 Segal Dr., Tillsonburg, Ont., N4G 4P4
Name: ___________________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
Phone:___________________________________________________________
Parent: ___ Professional: ___ Specify:______________________
New Member: ___ Renewal: ___
NOTE: Membership Fees can now be paid at the local Chapter level. Please contact Susan or Connie for more information or to make a payment.
Be sure to visit our Web Site at
http://www.cyberus.ca/oafccd/lanark
Here you will find information on Our local chapter
February 11, 1998
7:00 p.m.
The Shepherd Centre on the Lower
Level of the Comstock Building (across from the hospital),
84 Emma St., Brockville
Guest Speaker: Marsha Cannon-Houlahan
from P-CAP
March 11,1998
7:00 p.m.
Smiths Falls Recreation Center
Room # 3 (upstairs)
77 Beckwith St., N.,
Smiths Falls
Guest Speaker: Dr. Dennis Collis
from the Smiths Falls Chirporactic Centre to talk about Chirporactic Care
and your Special Needs Child
April 8, 1998
7:00 p.m.
The Shepherd Centre on the Lower
Level of the Comstock Building (across from the hospital),
84 Emma St., Brockville
Guest Speaker:
To be announced.
Everyone is Welcome to attend!
For more information phone Connie Beckett at
(613) 284-1227
If you need PRIVATE SPEECH/LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY SERVICES there are some important points to remember:
a) If you have Extended Health Care Benefits through your employer, be sure to check to see if the cost of speech therapy is covered. If you can only get such assistance after a doctor's referral is provided, be aware that the insurance company will only pay for those therapy sessions dated after the doctor's referral is given.
Some people have run into problems with this because they started therapy and then got the referral. The initial sessions were not paid for by insurance.
Any Extended Health Care plan will require the speech/language pathologist's registration number. If you are dealing with someone new, be sure that a number is available to ensure competency.
b) If you do not have Extended Health Insurance, and public speech therapy services are not available to you, it is possible for you to claim the cost of therapy on your Income Tax return as a Medical Expense.
AUDIOLOGY ASSESSMENTS
Audiological assessments can be obtained from qualified personnel at the following locations:
CHEO, Ottawa (613) 737-2378
Hotel Dieu Hospital, Kingston (613)549-1191
Cheryl Haskins, Audiologist, Smith Falls(613) 283-6611
Wait times vary considerably between these locations so you may wish to investigate the length of the waiting list before your physician makes a referral.
Please take note that the website changed it's address in mid October - be sure to change your bookmarks/favourites now!
Christmas/Birthdays can be a tough decision time for the parents of a child with language difficulties. On the one hand, we all want Christmas/Birthday to be impossibly perfect for our children. We want them to get that special gift that they want more than anything else, the gift that will make their eyes shine. At the same time, we're well aware of financial considerations, and want to spend our dollars wisely. It would make sense to give them a gift that would address language skills, which automatically sounds like it will be boring. How can we bring these two apparently contradictory factors together in making gift selections?
It's always a good idea to start from your child's interests, likes and expressed desires. A gift that doesn't recognize and build on those will just gather dust. Think about what your child really enjoys doing. Are there special things that he or she has expressed an interest in? Certain items circled in the Christmas Wish catalogue? Take those things into consideration, and ponder whether there might be a way to apply them to your child's current goals. There will always be at least one benefit: receiving a gift that was asked for sends your child the message that you respect their likes and dislikes, and is an automatic boost to self-esteem.
Another thing to think about is what your child already has to build on, in terms of both current skills, and current toy inventories. Maybe s/he is great at puzzles, and has lots at one level; you might add one that's just a little harder than the ones in the present stockpile. Maybe s/he reads well and happily at a Grade One level; try adding a slightly more difficult book, and spend time reading it together. Maybe s/he has every Cool Tool that's on the market, but no place to store them; add a real toolbox, and you can work on organizing, sorting, categorizing items together.
Think (of course) about your child's current needs. Try to be as specific as you can for instance, not "He needs to talk more," but "He needs to be able to take a turn at Show and Tell time at school." The more specific you can be in your thinking, the easier it will be to generate (and eliminate) ideas, and the easier it will be to judge the toy's success at targeting that specific goal. (But don't close your eyes to other benefits - sometimes you buy a toy thinking it will be great for one goal, and find it's actually helping build the child's skills in some other area).
Think about the money you can spend, and allow yourself to not even consider items that are out of budget. This sounds harsh to our adult ears, but toys are often very expensive, and training yourself to think within financial limits can help you to be creative about generating ideas - homemade games, for example, or parts of a set instead of the whole thing, or (where quality allows) a less expensive knock-off of a brand name item.
Finally, think about whether there are any other factors that might affect your choice. Safety might be a consideration, for example, you may not want to purchase a toy with lots of tiny parts if there is a younger sibling who might find them tasty. Other sources of gifts might be something to think about, particularly if you're thinking of an item that's beyond your personal budget; might grandparents or your own siblings contribute to the cost of a larger item? For a child with a developmental delay, you'll want to brainstorm for things that will be appropriate for their developmental level without making them look "babyish" in the eyes of their peers (for example, the Tyco tape recorder is as easy to operate as the Fisher Price, but looks cooler).
Finally, have fun. Have fun thinking about the very
special person your child is, and have fun making your toy selections.
If you do that, it will show in the gift, and children respond to that.
GOOD BOOKS ABOUT CHOOSING TOYS:
Ausberger, Carolyn; Martin, Margaret J.; Creighton, Judith. Learning to Talk is Child's Play: HelDina Preschoolers Develop Language. Communication Skill Builders, 3830 E. Bellevue, Box 42050, Tucson, Arizona, 85733, 1982.
Gebers, Jane L. Books are for Talking. Too! A Sourcebook for Using Children's Literature in Sneech and Language Remediation. Communication Skill Builders, Tucson, 1990.
Musselwhite,Carolyrz Ramsey. Adaptive Play for Special Needs Children: Strategies to Enhance Communication and Learning. College Hill Press, San Diego, 1986.
Schoenfeld Barad,Dianne. Games and More Games Kids Like. Communication Skill Builders, Tucson, 1975.
Schwartz, Sue; Miller, Joan E. Heller. The New Language
of Toys: Teaching: Communication Skills to Children with Special Needs:
A Guide for Parents and Teachers. Woodbine House, Bethesda, NID, 1996.
It's not easy to deal with your child's anger and frustration. But your child needs your guidance about what to do with angry feelings. The best time to talk with your child about how to deal with anger is when you are both feeling friendly. Try the following methods to help your child learn to manage anger and frustration.
Share your ways of dealing with anger.
First, your child needs to know that you get angry, too. Explain what
you do to keep from showing anger in dangerous or foolish ways start by
talking about the last time you felt frustrated. Tell what you wanted to
have happen, what did (or did NOT) happen, and how you felt. Bring up the
issue of your child's anger carefully and matter-of-factly. Ask your child
to talk about the last time the child felt angry. What did your child want
to have happen? What did happen? How did your child feel? How was the feeling
expressed?
Try to help your child identify successful and not-so-successful ways of expressing anger. Be honest about your own anger. It really helps children to know that their parents are not perfect. Also try to help your child recognize the kinds of situations which are likely to cause anger. Point out how you prepare for difficult situations Talk about the times when your child handled problems without getting angry. What did your child do to "keep cool?"
Help your child learn control words.
A child with speech and language disabilities is often made to feel
like a second-class communicator. People may consider your child babyish,
stubborn, or stupid for "not getting the idea." Other children can be particularly
cruel. They are mom likely than adults to deliberately shame or avoid your
child.
Your child needs to practice some control words until they are known very well. Some of these are: "Stop!" "Wait" "My turn!" or "Me, too!" If your child can't form these words, find other ways to express the message. A simple "No" with some gestures may do the trick.
Your child also needs to have some social words ready. In order of importance, these may be: "Thank you." "I like you". "I don't like it". "This is fun".
Provide opportunities for successful play with other
children.
Speech and language delayed children need good humor, persistence,
AND some play materials which other children enjoy. Show your child and
describe in words the meaning of good humor and persistence. Find play
materials for your child that don't require a lot of language for successful
use. Tell other children that your child is trying very hard to be a friend.
Make your house and outdoor play area inviting so children will come into
your child's territory. You can be nearby to help resolve problems.
Help your child prepare for possible frustrating interactions.
Adults who interact with your child can create more complicated problems.
Few adults would openly admit to negative feelings about a child with a
disability. But, many adults are short tempered with such children. Some
adults tend to talk down to a child with any kind of delay. Finally, some
adults are cruel but will say, "I didn't mean it" or "I was just kidding"
if you challenge their behavior.
Be sure to share and talk about good times, too. It's not necessary to dwell on anger and frustration. (Your child might decide that being angry is the best way to get your attention.)
Help your child learn acceptable ways to deal with
frustration:
1. Use words, rather than actions, to express your anger.
2. If one way of doing something doesn't work, think of another. Or,
get help with the problem, rather than hitting the person or object which
is making you angry.
3. If you have a problem, it's all right to cry. But it's not all right
to give up on trying to reach your goal.
4. If someone won't do what you want, try to persuade that person that
it's important to you. If it's not important to them, trade. (Do something
in exchange).
5. If you can't solve a problem, leave it for awhile. Do something
else. Or, think about it some more. Then, come back to the problem.
All of these techniques may be standard for adults, but children have to learn them by experience. Your language-delayed child is not unique. Talk about which ways of dealing with anger work best. Explain the situations where one technique is better than another. Point out how other people deal successfully with their problems. Try to describe what they are doing. Praise your child when the child deals with anger successfully.
Help your child learn what behavior is not allowed.
For your own survival, you have to have some house rules about expressing
frustration. There are some ways of expressing anger that are not allowed.
People may not hurt other people or animals. People may not destroy other
people's property. (Most children break these rules occasionally, or act
as if they're trying to.) Your punishments for infractions should be established
with your child ahead of time. For hurting people or trying to, brief banishment
from people--a time out --is best. For hurting others' property, a child
should be expected to make some repayment. Depending on the age and ability
of the child, an apology should be made.
If you are consistent and use the teaching methods suggested here, you can help your child learn to manage frustration. As your child gets older and more experienced, the child will get better at dealing with frustration. There may also be less frustration as your child progresses in speech and language therapy.
Refer to:
9.3 Talking About Your Child's Feelings and Behavior
9.4 Dealing With Negative Behavior
1988 by Communication Skill Builders, Inc.
This page may be reproduced for instructional use.