We noticed that C was a little different when he was about a year old. He didn’t like making a lot of eye contact and he wasn’t babbling the way most babies would. For a while, he had been holding a cell phone to his head and saying “helwo?” but then he just stopped. When he was two, we were able to get speech therapy for him through preventative services. It definitely gave a voice to a once quiet little boy.

But it didn’t end there. Several times when shopping with C, I noticed he couldn’t stay still and would even throw himself to the floor. He still sucks his thumb and has chewed holes in several shirts. We started to wonder if there was something more to his great love for numbers and letters. So we had him evaluated and were told our little boy has ADHD and possibly Aspergers. So we are trying different things to help him while we finalize his diagnosis, just to see how they help him.

Inattentiveness

I admit, it can be a challenge when homeschooling a child with ADHD. He can hardly sit still longer than 10 minutes to do a lesson, unless it involves typing words in alphabetical order on the computer. I have been known to center lessons around Thomas, fruits and vegetables, or whatever else is his favorite thing for the day. To help him deal with excess energy, I am thinking of getting a trampoline and an exercise ball for him to bounce on between lessons. It may just work.

Chewing

A couple of months ago, I bought C a chewable necklace. It did a wonderful job with redirecting his mouth away from his shirts and hands. It also gave him an outlet when he felt tired or nervous at the grocery store. Unfortunately, he chewed through it and we had to get a new one!

Speech

Ever since he completed speech therapy at age three, C has been talking a mile a minute. Combined with a mother who has hearing difficulties, that quick speech can sometimes be tricky to understand. C especially has trouble say “L” sounds. We recently started doing activities in the Artic Quickies Reproducible Photo Fun Sheets from Super Duper. There are 390 pages for for several letter sounds and blends including:

• F, G, K, L R, S, CH, SH, and TH
• L Blends, R Blends, and S Blends
• ER, OR,  AR,  AIR/EAR/IRE

He also did really well with a word search, something he’s never tried before. The amazing thing is that these pages actually encouraged him to slow down and enunciate his L’s. He even demonstrated for daddy, who was very impressed!

I know that C will continue to do wonderful things. Being his parent has been a wonderful experience and I hope I can continue to encourage him in everything that he does.

Sponsor

Super Duper is providing one Artic Quickies Reproducible Fun Photo Sheets book for one lucky winner in the Back to School Spree Giveaway Hop.

Disclosure: I received product in exchange for my honest review.