Mixed Receptive-Expressive delay- outcomes?

[Anonymous]

If you do LEAP, see out current parents. They have had multiple directors since we've been there and I have no idea how the newest one was. We like the two who we had, but the first/original one was the best. The director makes the program. There are a lot of politics in that Department at MD so staff that are good don't always hang around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine was diagnosed with that really young and was a late talker. We also pushed for an autism diagnosis. Most doctors tread lightly with that and I am not looking to open up pandora's box with all the MERLD parents being furious to imply autism and MERLD present and are neurologically similar. Doesn't matter. You know what matters? Autism got us tons of services. We were also told services would be the same for both DX, but autism gets more. We tried ABA and it was not a match, but did lots of ST, OT, etc.

Fast forward to age 3 he started reading on his own-dx: hyperlexia.

Fast forward to late elementary. He is and has been since starting school, mainstreamed completely with an IEP. He has friends. He does well at school with support as needed. He is happy. He has a strong IQ, but you would not have known that when he bombed his early intervention testing and then bombed his testing again at age 4. He still has language processing issues, but is within the average range as per testing for receptive and expressive.

There I plenty of hope. Intervention is key. Every child is different, but every child can meet their own potential with help.

My child started reading on his own at 3 too. I think its common for these kids as their learning style is more visual and that is how a lot of speech therapy is done. We had him evaluated by Dr. Camarata who said it wasn't hyperlexia and some kids just start reading early. Their brains work differently.

I don't want to hijack, but just wanted to respond. Interesting! I read a book where the author took his child to Camarata and I was interested in his research. Mine definitely had/has hyperlexia because decoding was lightyears ahead and comprehension was AWFUL. We've had to get A LOT of intervention for reading comprehension. If the kid just reads early and comprehends it can be a sign of giftedness. In our case it was a sign of disorder because comprehension was so far behind...though books with talk of poop, farts and toilets helped him show some comprehension, even with Captain Underpants comprehension still lagged behind decoding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do LEAP, see out current parents. They have had multiple directors since we've been there and I have no idea how the newest one was. We like the two who we had, but the first/original one was the best. The director makes the program. There are a lot of politics in that Department at MD so staff that are good don't always hang around.

I am a previous poster who said she heard good things about LEAP, but that was about 8 years ago, so definitely talk to current parents. Didn't know the director changed, but I know my friend though the director back then was fabulous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine was diagnosed with that really young and was a late talker. We also pushed for an autism diagnosis. Most doctors tread lightly with that and I am not looking to open up pandora's box with all the MERLD parents being furious to imply autism and MERLD present and are neurologically similar. Doesn't matter. You know what matters? Autism got us tons of services. We were also told services would be the same for both DX, but autism gets more. We tried ABA and it was not a match, but did lots of ST, OT, etc.

Fast forward to age 3 he started reading on his own-dx: hyperlexia.

Fast forward to late elementary. He is and has been since starting school, mainstreamed completely with an IEP. He has friends. He does well at school with support as needed. He is happy. He has a strong IQ, but you would not have known that when he bombed his early intervention testing and then bombed his testing again at age 4. He still has language processing issues, but is within the average range as per testing for receptive and expressive.

There I plenty of hope. Intervention is key. Every child is different, but every child can meet their own potential with help.

My child started reading on his own at 3 too. I think its common for these kids as their learning style is more visual and that is how a lot of speech therapy is done. We had him evaluated by Dr. Camarata who said it wasn't hyperlexia and some kids just start reading early. Their brains work differently.

I don't want to hijack, but just wanted to respond. Interesting! I read a book where the author took his child to Camarata and I was interested in his research. Mine definitely had/has hyperlexia because decoding was lightyears ahead and comprehension was AWFUL. We've had to get A LOT of intervention for reading comprehension. If the kid just reads early and comprehends it can be a sign of giftedness. In our case it was a sign of disorder because comprehension was so far behind...though books with talk of poop, farts and toilets helped him show some comprehension, even with Captain Underpants comprehension still lagged behind decoding.

He was clear that a lot of people overuse hyperlexia. I'd be careful of some of those books as its more experience of one than what the true specialists say. My child comprehends but has a drop of trouble expressing what he is comprehending.

[Anonymous]

My 3 year old did PEP INC last year and that's what brought out her language. She did the LEAP summer program and loved it. She was diagnosed with MERLD and phonological disorder. DD will be 4 next month and I plan on dropping PEP and just doing LEAP and private ST since it appears that's her only issue. Besides her behavior, she did well academically in PEP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has it. It was severe younger. Now its very mild and a few minor struggles but child is very different and doing great. Does well in sports, standardized testing, no behavioral issues nor any other diagnosis. It isn't gloom or doom. Like anything its hard to predict. We were told by Dr. Camarata that our child would learn to adapt in the weaker areas and be fine. Some of it depends on IQ too. Kids with higher IQ's seem to have a better outcome (which isn't a surprise).

Best thing to do is from 3-5/6, do intensive speech therapy, not just county or PEP. Consider LEAP as it is the only program that specializes in language at UMD.

Also, for the first few years of school, you may want to consider private. I think that helped a lot as the school we were at was very nurturing but still kept the same expectations.

Public school is a worthless for services and supports. They do not understand it so don't expect anything and do it at home.

Thank you! I have been curious about when he goes to kindergarten. Luckily we still have some time. I have heard that PEP is amazing though, and even teachers at private school recommend it. Did you not feel it was enough? I was planning to only do private speech once a week but maybe I will reconsider..

We did Leap not pep. Pep is group therapy and not equal. Do several times a week private. Once is not enough. We found the 3-5/6 window the most important for therapy. Be more aggressive early on then pull back. K my child struggled with speech. By 1st talking more. Many underestimate these kids and their ability because of the speech.

Pp, it sounds like your kid was initially diagnosed with autism b/c private speech that many times a week isn't covered otherwise. Please be honest and stop bs'ing the op.

Op, we actually got a MERLD diagnosis and have language based LDs. Had a neuropsych at age 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child has it. It was severe younger. Now its very mild and a few minor struggles but child is very different and doing great. Does well in sports, standardized testing, no behavioral issues nor any other diagnosis. It isn't gloom or doom. Like anything its hard to predict. We were told by Dr. Camarata that our child would learn to adapt in the weaker areas and be fine. Some of it depends on IQ too. Kids with higher IQ's seem to have a better outcome (which isn't a surprise).

Best thing to do is from 3-5/6, do intensive speech therapy, not just county or PEP. Consider LEAP as it is the only program that specializes in language at UMD.

Also, for the first few years of school, you may want to consider private. I think that helped a lot as the school we were at was very nurturing but still kept the same expectations.

Public school is a worthless for services and supports. They do not understand it so don't expect anything and do it at home.

Thank you! I have been curious about when he goes to kindergarten. Luckily we still have some time. I have heard that PEP is amazing though, and even teachers at private school recommend it. Did you not feel it was enough? I was planning to only do private speech once a week but maybe I will reconsider..

We did Leap not pep. Pep is group therapy and not equal. Do several times a week private. Once is not enough. We found the 3-5/6 window the most important for therapy. Be more aggressive early on then pull back. K my child struggled with speech. By 1st talking more. Many underestimate these kids and their ability because of the speech.

Pp, it sounds like your kid was initially diagnosed with autism b/c private speech that many times a week isn't covered otherwise. Please be honest and stop bs'ing the op.

Op, we actually got a MERLD diagnosis and have language based LDs. Had a neuropsych at age 6.

No, we private paid for several years and then eventually insurance picked up some of it after a long fight. We decided early on we'd spend what ever we had to and find a way to make it work to pay for speech therapy as it was probably time limited. I have no regrets with how much we spent and would do it again. I do wonder if all of it was needed and would child been fine if we just left it alone but it wasn't a risk I was willing to take and we did see benefits of therapy. We don't have language based LD's or ASD. We were told to wait till 7 to have a neuropsych and insurance would cover it if recommended by the developmental ped but developmental ped said no as there were no concerns other than minor language at that point and academically everything was fine. I could understand doing a neuropsych. with the LD's but that was not our situation. Child is academically on or above grade level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old did PEP INC last year and that's what brought out her language. She did the LEAP summer program and loved it. She was diagnosed with MERLD and phonological disorder. DD will be 4 next month and I plan on dropping PEP and just doing LEAP and private ST since it appears that's her only issue. Besides her behavior, she did well academically in PEP.

Just curious what the new director is like. Glad it worked for your daughter. We loved it and found it a huge benefit to our child. It really got them ready for school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old did PEP INC last year and that's what brought out her language. She did the LEAP summer program and loved it. She was diagnosed with MERLD and phonological disorder. DD will be 4 next month and I plan on dropping PEP and just doing LEAP and private ST since it appears that's her only issue. Besides her behavior, she did well academically in PEP.

Just curious what the new director is like. Glad it worked for your daughter. We loved it and found it a huge benefit to our child. It really got them ready for school.

I really like him and the students. He was very professional, easy to talk to, and very understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3 year old did PEP INC last year and that's what brought out her language. She did the LEAP summer program and loved it. She was diagnosed with MERLD and phonological disorder. DD will be 4 next month and I plan on dropping PEP and just doing LEAP and private ST since it appears that's her only issue. Besides her behavior, she did well academically in PEP.

Just curious what the new director is like. Glad it worked for your daughter. We loved it and found it a huge benefit to our child. It really got them ready for school.

I really like him and the students. He was very professional, easy to talk to, and very understanding.

That is great to hear. LEAP was a life changer for my child so I'm glad to hear its still a great program. I wish they went through 1st or 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you do LEAP, see out current parents. They have had multiple directors since we've been there and I have no idea how the newest one was. We like the two who we had, but the first/original one was the best. The director makes the program. There are a lot of politics in that Department at MD so staff that are good don't always hang around.

Leap is on its third director in 25+ years. This isn't a huge deal. It is also a tiny program. More than likely you won't be given parents contact info as a prospective participant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you do LEAP, see out current parents. They have had multiple directors since we've been there and I have no idea how the newest one was. We like the two who we had, but the first/original one was the best. The director makes the program. There are a lot of politics in that Department at MD so staff that are good don't always hang around.

Leap is on its third director in 25+ years. This isn't a huge deal. It is also a tiny program. More than likely you won't be given parents contact info as a prospective participant.

You can find out through the grapevine and on facebook/social media. They did allow us to talk to parents at pick up time. Its actually the 4th director officially but that first one was only there a short time and she came back in between the last one and the current one. Why the one we all loved left is the issue and the politics of the school which does impact the program. Its not a huge deal but its gone through a lot of changes in the past several years which is a concern and how stable is the new director (especially given the politics). I'm in no way saying don't do it, I would but what I'm saying is I have reservations on recommending as our experience was great but under another director. The director makes or breaks the program.

[Anonymous]

My DC was not saying many words at 2.5. SLP diagnosed MERLD. By 3 DC was all caught up in speech. Neuropsych at 7 diagnosed ADHD, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. My child has an IEP and is advanced in reading but behind grade level in other areas. We also have done 3 years of private OT and the gains there have been huge. It’s a complex ever evolving picture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC was not saying many words at 2.5. SLP diagnosed MERLD. By 3 DC was all caught up in speech. Neuropsych at 7 diagnosed ADHD, dyspraxia and dyscalculia. My child has an IEP and is advanced in reading but behind grade level in other areas. We also have done 3 years of private OT and the gains there have been huge. It’s a complex ever evolving picture.

I'm surprised your SLP diagnosed anything at 2.5. We had several SLP's and none would diagnose at that age as some kids do catch up easily by 3/3.5. It really isn't MERLD if a child catches up by 3.

[Anonymous]

OP, my child has severe MERLD along with auditory processing issues and a learning disorder. So his prognosis has been much more difficult than that of so many other MERLD children we know. In high school, he is in a mix of regular classes and special ed classes.

Typically the outcome hinges on receptive language. When your child's receptive language catches up, the rest of their issues fade out. Some still have anxiety because of the years of being behind. Some have to compensate if their receptive remains somewhat weak, but they learn to. And while I know people are all about early intervention, in my experience, the only fix for receptive language is time.

Let me know if you have other questions.