ARE A LOT OF YOUR KIDS 'GIFTED'?

[thereishope]

This is his 3rd year getting speech from the school district. The majority of last year was PANDAS episode after PANDAS epsiode so progress really slowed down. He's complicated because he has odd substitutions. At first he also dropped off ends and some beginnings of words but does not have apraxia. He no longer does that, but he has to work on things that a 6 yr old should definitely have by now. I can't wait for the day when I don't have to translate for him to anyone!

 

 

 

Vickie, my pandas ds received speech services only from the time he was 3-4 for exactly that... a phonological disorder. He shows no trace of it now and for him it was a pretty quick fix. They said he was doing something called fronting I think?

 

Well, he's always had a speech disorder. So does my older (non PANDAS) son, but not as bad. It existed long before he had strep, long before behavior changes. He also makes good progress in speech therapy. He did have a big slow down in progress when his PANDAS symptoms were present. So I do think there's a connection there.

 

They catagorize it as a severe phonological disorder. .

 

 

As for any disorders. My son has a speech disorder. Not related to PANDAS.

 

Vickie, not to be nosey- but how do you know its not related to PANDAS

[thereishope]

oops.

 

Vincent VanGogh cut off his ear.

[ajcire]

Vickie, fortunately I think my son's substitutions were pretty typical. He said things like Lou instead of You... I was almost sad when some of them were fixed because some were cute... I know how frustrating the speech stuff can be though. My non pandas daughter also received speech for articulation and I feel they discharged her from it to soon and I have a feeling I will end up having to have her re-evaluated.

[ajcire]

Gosh, Vickie, my ds says he heard us talking before he was born. Sometimes he makes us wonder!

 

 

 

My son watches tv shows in his head too. He also can act out a whole episode with quotes. It makes him hard to play with because he gets frustrated that I can't remember what to say.He memorizes short book after one read and things from years ago that my husband and I forgot. He's 6 and he'll remember things from 3 yrs and younger.

 

When I ask her what she is doing she'll say "Watching an episode of Zach and Cody in my head". Goofy, but she sees one episode and has it memorized first time around.

[thereishope]

Funny that's your example. He's working on /y/ right now! He had 'to' for you. He had a hard time learning how to form his mouth for it. They had to be inventive, but we found a way to teach him. We are practicing /y/ every night still.

 

Vickie, fortunately I think my son's substitutions were pretty typical. He said things like Lou instead of You... I was almost sad when some of them were fixed because some were cute... I know how frustrating the speech stuff can be though. My non pandas daughter also received speech for articulation and I feel they discharged her from it to soon and I have a feeling I will end up having to have her re-evaluated.

[Megs_Mom]

I tend to be more of an EQ mom, rather than IQ - but we had to have her tested to get into a new school. She was at the peak of PANDAS when we had to test her (panic attack right beforehand - not over the test, but over the fact that her banana bread touched something & could not be eaten... ) so I was very concerned that she would not make it through the test (had the test admin person coughed, it would have all been over!). Anyway, she did very well - around 138, I think. My husband said "good, she is going to need it".

 

Anyway, she did really well on nearly all areas, but was average in a category that was "Reasoning" or "logic". Which I think was kind of funny -normally she is very logical, but when OCD comes, then nothing is logical anymore.

 

She also has a nearly photographic memory - she learns music in seconds, poetry, TV shows, reminds me all the time of odd details from years before. One of the issues with her OCD is that she can remember every single detail of everything that happened in the 2 days before she threw up last (or anything something "bad" happened). So anything from those few days came up in OCD as an illogical cause of the illness - from friends, to toys, to food, to things we said, etc. We realized one day that she was "right" about all those things - but that her brain was just twisting them up and not seeing them as coincidential, but rather as causal. She can remember so much that it is overwhelming. Oh, except where the heck she left her shoes or her jacket! Normally, she keeps us all in line.

 

We had her Parent Conf at school yesterday, and the only two "negative" comments were that her "spelling remains very interesting" and that she will not take notes on field trips - but can remember every detail later. I think she finds taking notes distracting to how her brain works! So she'll have to work on that one.

 

We love Cam Jansen - so long as the crook was not coughing or throwing up at the time, Megan would remember every detail of the crime!

 

That's funny about being a great witness. My oldest daughter (without PANDAS) is definitely gifted and has a high IQ of 149 has that photographic memory and has GREATLY used that to her advantage accademically. She study's for her history class by making these random posters with pictures drawn on them to remind her of events. Or I'll go in at night and she'll have her eyes closed giggling. When I ask her what she is doing she'll say "Watching an episode of Zach and Cody in my head". Goofy, but she sees one episode and has it memorized first time around.

I would get him tested in first grade, you can request that from your district. If they have a gifted program the kids generally really enjoy it.

 

I don't think my son is gifted, but I have a feeling each PANDAS child as they get older will really exceed at something. They'll have a knack for an area of interest.Like for my son, he's 6 years old and in kindergarten. He's not necessarily behind, but doesn't have a real interest in learning letters, reading, etc. However,I can see he has an amazing memory. He can also look at something and dissect it with his mind. He enjoys learning things in school as oppose to singing songs and doing kindergarten like activities. As he gets older, I am interested to see what we learn about our little boy and what he can accomplish.

 

As for any disorders. My son has a speech disorder. Not related to PANDAS.

 

My son's teacher last year (first grade) told me she is convinced he has a photogenic memory. I don't believe he has that but his memory is crazy good when it comes to weird details that most people don't pay attention to. He would make a great witness to a crime.

[Worried_Dad]

Yeah, our son fits Dr. K's "PANDAS phenotype." Very bright kid, doing great in school before this nightmare hit. Then he missed all of 7th grade last year. Sigh....

[Suzan]

I know my girls are smart but no IQ testing here. I don't imagine they would show as gifted but I don't know much about it. Everyone tells me how smart they are but mostly they seem beyond their years as far the things they are interested in (talking about current events, God, feelings, fears, goal....). I have heard from my dd8's teachers and she is very advanced in reading and math but she can't pass her simple multiplication tests because they are timed and she can't seem to memorize them. But she can already do many algebra problems, as long as she can count on her fingers.

 

My girls have always been affected by PANDAS so I am not able to see a before and after scenario, but I have seen their handwriting go very downhill during episodes.

 

Susan

[EAMom]

I have heard from my dd8's teachers and she is very advanced in reading and math but she can't pass her simple multiplication tests because they are timed and she can't seem to memorize them. But she can already do many algebra problems, as long as she can count on her fingers.

 

My 4th grader has also been doing her math homework by counting on her fingers...so I printed up these charts which seem to help a lot. You can color them after you print them so your eyes don't go ga-ga by looking at all the rows.

 

addition:

http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.co...-grid-small.pdf

 

Multiplication:

http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.co...-grid-small.pdf

[mama2alex]

I think our son is "gifted," especially in math. We are having him evaluated by a developmental ped, to see if he's anywhere near or on the spectrum and to see what we should do with him as far as school, so we'll have a better idea in a couple of weeks. He's always complaining that school is boring and has had some behavioral problems, but no problems academically. Like others here, he has an incredible memory for things he's interested in (of course he never remembers to pack his homework). He also had speech therapy for articulation - in fact I think we need to have him re-evaluated because I think he's backslid since June (when he had his full-blown PANDAS episode that led to his diagnosis).

[Suzan]

I have heard from my dd8's teachers and she is very advanced in reading and math but she can't pass her simple multiplication tests because they are timed and she can't seem to memorize them. But she can already do many algebra problems, as long as she can count on her fingers.

 

My 4th grader has also been doing her math homework by counting on her fingers...so I printed up these charts which seem to help a lot. You can color them after you print them so your eyes don't go ga-ga by looking at all the rows.

 

addition:

http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.co...-grid-small.pdf

 

Multiplication:

http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.co...-grid-small.pdf

 

I was not able to open your links for some reason but I was able to go to the main page for Dr. Mike and it looks like a really great site, thank you!. I'm sure I will be able to find the ones you have linked and more. Much appreciated!

 

Susan

[thereishope]

I was looking up excatly what SC was (sicne I didn't really know what it was) and noticed another famous person who had RF and SC as a child....

 

"American artist Andy Warhol was afflicted with rheumatic fever as a young child, and developed the symptoms of St. Vitus Dance."

 

Thought it was interesting.

[peglem]

I was looking up excatly what SC was (sicne I didn't really know what it was) and noticed another famous person who had RF and SC as a child....

 

"American artist Andy Warhol was afflicted with rheumatic fever as a young child, and developed the symptoms of St. Vitus Dance."

 

Thought it was interesting.

Well, that explains a lot!

[feedjke]

Anyone have an IQ test done without symptoms present and then again during a pandas episode? I know there is always some discrepancies in the test just curious? My son is definitely gifted and I always wonder what is PANDAS (if thats what he has, 2 years and no diagnosis on paper yet) and what is just quirky giftedness. My daughter is gifted as well and we wish we could call her PANDAS at least we could put a name on it, to date we cant figure her out (neither can 2 counselors or her doctors).

[vermontmoms]

I have 6yr old twin boys. I don't know if we have Pandas. My one twin was dx w/tourettes, OCD, SPD a year ago but symptoms since 3.5yrs old. My twins have had speech therapy since 18mths and are finally being discharged. My twin with a TS dx had psychological testing and is in the superior gifted range...his memory is off the charts and he is very advanced in all subjects but his writing is just at grade level or slightly behind. His twin who also shows ADHD symptoms and had mild TS type tics after his strep infection at age 4, also appears to be in the highly gifted range as well.