_Viva_
09-26-2008, 02:09 PM
I was really hoping Kate would be caught up with her speech issues by now, and, to her credit, she's improved by leaps and bounds. (For those who don't know the back story, she was almost deaf until she was well over two and didn't really speak at all until almost three. She's really had to play catch up.) My goal all along was to get her caught up by kindergarten. I was almost not going to send her this year, because I wasn't sure she was caught up enough, but she really wanted to go, and she's smart enough, it's just that she's not as understandable as she really should be.
Well, things had been going well, she's got a really nice teacher who works really hard to understand her, and her intelligibility is greatly improved. But yesterday, I got a note in her backpack. She got sent to the office and got in trouble for telling a classmate that she was going to "kill her" at recess. (!!?!??)
She was very upset, and I sat her down and asked her to repeat EXACTLY what she said to the girl. She told me what she said, and the first time she said it, I, too, thought she said the word "kill". I was greatly troubled and asked her why she would say that, and she said that she was just 'lifting her up'.
CARRY. She said she was going to CARRY her. But her RR's sound like LLs. It all fell into place. They were taking turns, proving they were strong, lifting other kids up. Katie lifted the girl up, and said "I'm going to CARRY you". The girl heard (and, in the girl's and the teacher's defense, when Katie repeated what she said to me, I heard it, too) "I'm going to KILL you". Well, coupled with the fact that Katie's got her arms around the girl's chest/waist, trying to lift her, it was a mess. (but, honestly, the other kids were lifting kids, too, it was an "I'm strong" game.
So I called the teacher at home last night, and explained the misunderstanding, and the teacher even said that she was really troubled because Kate had never shown any harmful tendencies thus far, and to tell a girl she was going to kill her was so out of character for her. But we talked it out, and it's all straight.
And I talked a while to Katie about how if someone misunderstands her like that, she should try to think of another word that means the same thing, and try to explain herself. Like when she said "lift" instead of "carry", I told her to try to explain it in another word. Because at school she kept repeating that she wanted to CARRY (heard:KILL) her classmate.
Speech difficulties SUCK.
Well, things had been going well, she's got a really nice teacher who works really hard to understand her, and her intelligibility is greatly improved. But yesterday, I got a note in her backpack. She got sent to the office and got in trouble for telling a classmate that she was going to "kill her" at recess. (!!?!??)
She was very upset, and I sat her down and asked her to repeat EXACTLY what she said to the girl. She told me what she said, and the first time she said it, I, too, thought she said the word "kill". I was greatly troubled and asked her why she would say that, and she said that she was just 'lifting her up'.
CARRY. She said she was going to CARRY her. But her RR's sound like LLs. It all fell into place. They were taking turns, proving they were strong, lifting other kids up. Katie lifted the girl up, and said "I'm going to CARRY you". The girl heard (and, in the girl's and the teacher's defense, when Katie repeated what she said to me, I heard it, too) "I'm going to KILL you". Well, coupled with the fact that Katie's got her arms around the girl's chest/waist, trying to lift her, it was a mess. (but, honestly, the other kids were lifting kids, too, it was an "I'm strong" game.
So I called the teacher at home last night, and explained the misunderstanding, and the teacher even said that she was really troubled because Kate had never shown any harmful tendencies thus far, and to tell a girl she was going to kill her was so out of character for her. But we talked it out, and it's all straight.
And I talked a while to Katie about how if someone misunderstands her like that, she should try to think of another word that means the same thing, and try to explain herself. Like when she said "lift" instead of "carry", I told her to try to explain it in another word. Because at school she kept repeating that she wanted to CARRY (heard:KILL) her classmate.
Speech difficulties SUCK.