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#21
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speech deteriorating
But lots of people are downright ignorant about how to evaluate schools, and there's a lot of outright "white flight" based on little more than rank prejudice. Yes, it's true that if you have a lot of disadvantaged children, the overall test scores will likely be lower. But that doesn't tell you a whole lot about what the opportunities will be for *your* child, who isn't subject to those advantages. I'm very aware of the potential for this problem, it's just so hard not knowing the system, back in the UK, we lived in a very disadvantaged area, fairly ethnically mixed, but a much higher percentage with English as a first language, but I knew the system, I had the contacts and from what I knew I was pretty confident about schooling up to age 11. There is also a bit on anxiety surrounding if/when we move back to the UK, as school starts a year earlier and is full time from the start (K is part time here), there's a lot of potential for him to be behind. They probably are. That's yet another reason that test scores aren't the be all and end all of evaluating schools. On the other hand, the existence of a GT program is one indicator that the school system is doing *something* to meet the needs of children with varied abilities. in terms of gifted and talented stuff, this school district ranks very highly nationally, the prevailing local opinion seems to be that the adjacent school district is better for the majority of children, but doesn't rank so highly in this area Probably. In practical terms, it means that if your child gets into the center-based GT program, he or she won't have to be bused to another school to participate. possibly, though it seems to be a very very high level program, with the children having to get exceedingly high scores across all areas, it's obvious to us that DS is bright and his preschool teacher said at the end of the year something like "you have an exceedingly bright child there", but I'm not sure how much you can really tell at age 4. To me, he seems to be very advanced conceptually, both in terms of scientific stuff and emotional and people related things - so I have no worries about him being a bright child who doesn't relate well! I'm not particularly keen on testing at any age, let alone at age 5, barely into kindergarten, though it does seem you can join the program any year. I think if you want to know about a school, the best things to do are to visit the school (maybe do a little volunteering) and talk to people whose children are actually there. I don't know if your school system has such a thing, but in ours, you can sign up for various email groups. There's one run by the school district that sends you announcements related to schools and programs you choose. Also, the schools usually have a PTA or some other email list you can join. Those things often give you a good feel as to what's going on. Thanks for the info, I'll look for the info, I'm fully aware that I need to get to know the school and that's why we'll definitely enroll him in kindergarten there, we'll just watch carefully. I think I feel anxious because I feel so responsible, but I think ultimately kids are going to do well when parents do feel that responsibility and have active involvement. Thanks for the help and reassurance Anne |
#22
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speech deteriorating
In article ,
Anne Rogers wrote: My son, who has just turned 4 used to have pretty good pronunciation - when I was given a list of when certain sounds were usually learnt, I was surprised to find that he had all by 3 and a bit when the norm wasn't until approaching 6. But in the last couple of months, his vocabulary is still increasing and the complexity of what he says is the same or more complex, but the sound of it has gone quite bad at times, to the extent we have a lot of trouble understanding what he is saying, when previously we could hear what he was saying, but not always what he was meaning. One factor is he seemed to have acquired the habit of putting 2 fingers in his mouth, he never did suck his thumb or fingers, I think he's picked up this habit from his little sister, who has 2 fingers practically glued into her mouth - this is soluble, we just remind him to take them out before speaking, but even then, there are still some random sounds being produced, still soluble, we remind him to speak properly and mostly he does. snip I'm also starting to be a little anxious about school, I'm guessing over 50% will have English as a 2nd language, I'm concerned this will be troublesome when it comes to making friends and also for the long term development of his own speech capabilities. My 6yo son is at a school with a population that is 94% of non-English-speaking background. In the 18mo he has been there he has neither had difficulties making friends nor developed any problems with speech, unless you count the enlargement of his vocabulary to include the F-word (in the long term, I imagine his vocabulary will expand to include swear-words in at least 10 languages, but that's a different issue!). By our standards, it's a large school (960 pupils, IIRC) but DS1 has friends of all different ethnicities and ages. If anything, I suspect his friendships are with the more intelligent, more accepting, and more handball-mad kids(*). Take a look in the playground. If it's anything like DS1's school, you'll see the kids mixing perfectly well. Of course, if there is a known racism problem, that's different, but it sounds to me like you're assuming things. (*) Here, handball is a children's game, basically simplified racquetless tennis. In the USA I believe it's something like volleyball? -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) "Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled." Kerry Cue |
#23
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speech deteriorating
Anne Rogers wrote:
But lots of people are downright ignorant about how to evaluate schools, and there's a lot of outright "white flight" based on little more than rank prejudice. Yes, it's true that if you have a lot of disadvantaged children, the overall test scores will likely be lower. But that doesn't tell you a whole lot about what the opportunities will be for *your* child, who isn't subject to those advantages. I'm very aware of the potential for this problem, it's just so hard not knowing the system, back in the UK, we lived in a very disadvantaged area, fairly ethnically mixed, but a much higher percentage with English as a first language, but I knew the system, I had the contacts and from what I knew I was pretty confident about schooling up to age 11. There is also a bit on anxiety surrounding if/when we move back to the UK, as school starts a year earlier and is full time from the start (K is part time here), there's a lot of potential for him to be behind. I don't think that his speech at age 4 will really affect his being 'behind' when/if you go back to England. I don't think that K being part time will be a problem either because the children catch up pretty fast. What I would try to do (if moving back is going to be a possibility) is to check on the things that each level need to know in England so that you can 'enrich' his knowledge base with things like Guy Fawkes Day (English history) and playing cricket (sports) that all the other boys in England will know about. |
#24
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speech deteriorating
Anne, it sounds like your son is having a mild, probably transient period of aphasia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphasia may be useful. Besides the scary causes, another cause is a period of intense language learning. It is as if that part of the brain is temporarily out of service for remodeling. :-) Pologirl |
#25
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speech deteriorating
On 7 Jul, 00:58, Anne Rogers wrote:
My son, who has just turned 4 used to have pretty good pronunciation - when I was given a list of when certain sounds were usually learnt, I was surprised to find that he had all by 3 and a bit when the norm wasn't until approaching 6. But in the last couple of months, his vocabulary is still increasing and the complexity of what he says is the same or more complex, but the sound of it has gone quite bad at times, to the extent we have a lot of trouble understanding what he is saying, when previously we could hear what he was saying, but not always what he was meaning. One factor is he seemed to have acquired the habit of putting 2 fingers in his mouth, he never did suck his thumb or fingers, I think he's picked up this habit from his little sister, who has 2 fingers practically glued into her mouth - this is soluble, we just remind him to take them out before speaking, but even then, there are still some random sounds being produced, still soluble, we remind him to speak properly and mostly he does. I would expect him to have some change of accent due to moving from the UK to the US, but very few of the sounds he produces sound American to me, they sound Indian - hardly surprising in our neighbourhood, but in the long term it is a worry to me, if we can't understand him, then others probably won't either. Last year, he was the only native English speaker in his preschool class, I was totally happy with that, but looking back, it probably is the main place he's been exposed to a consistent non American accent. He's signed up for preschool at the same place next year and the class will probably be a little more mixed, as it's a morning class - the afternoon classes seem to be less popular and then have space for people moving into the area, the vast majority of which are Indian. I'm also starting to be a little anxious about school, I'm guessing over 50% will have English as a 2nd language, I'm concerned this will be troublesome when it comes to making friends and also for the long term development of his own speech capabilities. I'm confused as to whether I'm being over anxious about this and he'll gradually settle on an accent that is a mix but understandable. I've also not heard great things about schools where large numbers don't have English spoken at home, but I wondered if this was associated with poverty more than the actual language issues and this area is fairly affluent, less affluent than most of the localish neighbourhoods, but well above the poverty line. Anne hi i am suzy i live in the uk and i have problems with my child peter who is 4 and he has problems with speech and also has a hearing problem too. i am concern for my child as he does'nt communicate with anyone at school or at home and when he does he gets frustrated and can't get the words out to what he wants to say, alot of is jibberr alot of the time even if he tries his hardest he would rather say things in his own time. he has problems all the things in his learning in not communicating and not responding to others so it is hard and affects alot in his learning at nursery as he like to do things himself which is the most of the time. he struggles with toilet training as he used to have alot of accidents like every half an hour but now it is getting better and has it little accidents every few hours. a few times i have to remind him to go, other times he is ok but then when he forgets, most of it would be busy watching telly or busy playing with his toys. its hard for me to explain things to him as to understand so he knows but its hard as he does'nt understand why if he is naughty or misbehaving badly at nursery. he is refered to speech and language therapist and also needs a hearing test to see a paediatrican for more help as i don't think he will make it to next year on going on to primary school. i understand what your going through as i have similar problems and alot of hard work and to be patient for a child as my child does'nt listen or ignores what i say to him because he has problems which affecting alot and also his behaviour around other people. |
#26
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speech deteriorating
Anne Rogers wrote:
Thanks for the info, I'll look for the info, I'm fully aware that I need to get to know the school and that's why we'll definitely enroll him in kindergarten there, we'll just watch carefully. I think I feel anxious because I feel so responsible, but I think ultimately kids are going to do well when parents do feel that responsibility and have active involvement. Yep. We're all in that boat, and we all worry about it, but fortunately the kids muddle through anyway most of the time ;-) I also find that we obsess a lot about how we'll know, but by and large, when it actually happens, you *do* know if it's working (if you make any reasonable effort to do so). The hard part is figuring out if there's a viable alternative if you get to the point that you don't think things are working. Best wishes, Ericka |
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