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Elise, and SoundCloud
Mar. 20th, 2014 01:15 amHarry Potter Pros and Cons:
I LOVE that every time I start reading Goblet of Fire to a new kid(s), they always act interested but uninvested in the first chapter - the story of villagers in Little Hangleton and the abandoned Riddle House, and the gardener Frank Bryce and how this family was killed but nobody gets how since they have no marks.... it's just a story they're blankly listening to, gossip at the pub, whatever, and then I say "Tom Riddle" and something snaps, and they put it all together that THIS IS A HARRY POTTER BOOK and THEY KNOW WHO TOM RIDDLE IS and THEY KNOW HOW THOSE PEOPLE WERE KILLED. Those people are not just regular people, they're MUGGLES! Annie and Aaron fell all over each other interjecting at that point, years ago, and, Isaac jumped up and ran around in circles on his bed when we read it, months ago. Tonight, Jake sat straight up with wide eyes, yelling. It's so much fun.
Unfortunately - Elise didn't get it. Like...after a LOT of explanations, and some YouTube clip refreshers, and Jake losing his mind trying to get her to see reason, she really seems to have no idea who Tom Riddle ever was, what the Chamber of Secrets could be, doesn't remember a basilisk or a diary or... I'm not sure you can understand how often they've watched that movie. I mean I read the entire book to them a couple of books ago, and then they watched the movie 7 million times while we read the 3rd book. When I explained this lack of remembering to Grant and to Aaron, they were grave about it, because it is really, really weird.
This is one in a series of upsetting and somewhat random gaps in her memory that have come up lately. It does not fit the pattern that I've been watching for at all. Normally, when she has a really weird lapse, it's something like, "Mom! You didn't pay for the groceries!" as we walk out of the store (when I totally did, and she helped put them on the conveyor, and is carrying the receipt the cashier handed to her). Part of why I pulled her from kindergarten was because she could remember spelling and sight words from many weeks before, but never from the week they were on, and so she was miserably failing every test each Friday, and they really emphasized those test scores so she was feeling terrible about herself.
Her pediatrician (who has a lot of experience with brain injuries, from international work every summer to his own child) is recommending I try to get her into a local university research program, because unfortunately she does not fit into any standard mold that local therapies are tailored for (speech, ADHD, autism spectrum, 0-3 Head Start, standard learning disabilities, etc). Her neurologist doesn't really do much beyond diagnostics, scans, check-ups, surgeries, and medicating - and his opinion is basically "this child is beyond miraculous, she 'should' be doing nothing but seizing all day long and eating through a g-tube and instead she's raving about her science lab table and birthday plans." Which is nice perspective and I know I have a lot to be thankful for, but it's frustrating how hard it is to know what my next step should be. She's mostly happy, speaks well, writes and reads a couple dozen words each (so that is behind but not horrifically so), thinks deeply about all kinds of complex topics (she often asks me spontaneous questions questions like, "the stars are still out when the sun is up, right, we just can't see them?" and "where does the water go when we flush the toilet?" and "how would anyone KNOW that Jesus ever existed?"). She makes up pretend games with her brothers, is slightly behind but not the last in the class with violin, and does great with Girl Scouts (meetings and camps). I go out on my bike so that she can run, around the neighborhood, regularly. I don't know, man.
Grant got some memory cards and is convinced that while her verbal memory is terrible, she's on point or beyond otherwise. I suppose I just have to start calling random occupational therapists until someone has a lead for me. Along with the uni program.
It just makes me feel really heavy. My little Beasty. At least she's healthy, happy as shit and doesn't know what I'm on about :p
This evening I made a 35 minute voice post as I drove on the highway, that was supposed to be my entire entry. That's something I might start doing sometimes. There is intermittent cursing but nothing in it is too terribly explicit and I think the volume is relatively steady. It's basically just me rambling like I do. For more than half an hour. If you get to the end, let me assure you that neither Grant nor anybody else ever noticed my beeping.
I LOVE that every time I start reading Goblet of Fire to a new kid(s), they always act interested but uninvested in the first chapter - the story of villagers in Little Hangleton and the abandoned Riddle House, and the gardener Frank Bryce and how this family was killed but nobody gets how since they have no marks.... it's just a story they're blankly listening to, gossip at the pub, whatever, and then I say "Tom Riddle" and something snaps, and they put it all together that THIS IS A HARRY POTTER BOOK and THEY KNOW WHO TOM RIDDLE IS and THEY KNOW HOW THOSE PEOPLE WERE KILLED. Those people are not just regular people, they're MUGGLES! Annie and Aaron fell all over each other interjecting at that point, years ago, and, Isaac jumped up and ran around in circles on his bed when we read it, months ago. Tonight, Jake sat straight up with wide eyes, yelling. It's so much fun.
Unfortunately - Elise didn't get it. Like...after a LOT of explanations, and some YouTube clip refreshers, and Jake losing his mind trying to get her to see reason, she really seems to have no idea who Tom Riddle ever was, what the Chamber of Secrets could be, doesn't remember a basilisk or a diary or... I'm not sure you can understand how often they've watched that movie. I mean I read the entire book to them a couple of books ago, and then they watched the movie 7 million times while we read the 3rd book. When I explained this lack of remembering to Grant and to Aaron, they were grave about it, because it is really, really weird.
This is one in a series of upsetting and somewhat random gaps in her memory that have come up lately. It does not fit the pattern that I've been watching for at all. Normally, when she has a really weird lapse, it's something like, "Mom! You didn't pay for the groceries!" as we walk out of the store (when I totally did, and she helped put them on the conveyor, and is carrying the receipt the cashier handed to her). Part of why I pulled her from kindergarten was because she could remember spelling and sight words from many weeks before, but never from the week they were on, and so she was miserably failing every test each Friday, and they really emphasized those test scores so she was feeling terrible about herself.
Her pediatrician (who has a lot of experience with brain injuries, from international work every summer to his own child) is recommending I try to get her into a local university research program, because unfortunately she does not fit into any standard mold that local therapies are tailored for (speech, ADHD, autism spectrum, 0-3 Head Start, standard learning disabilities, etc). Her neurologist doesn't really do much beyond diagnostics, scans, check-ups, surgeries, and medicating - and his opinion is basically "this child is beyond miraculous, she 'should' be doing nothing but seizing all day long and eating through a g-tube and instead she's raving about her science lab table and birthday plans." Which is nice perspective and I know I have a lot to be thankful for, but it's frustrating how hard it is to know what my next step should be. She's mostly happy, speaks well, writes and reads a couple dozen words each (so that is behind but not horrifically so), thinks deeply about all kinds of complex topics (she often asks me spontaneous questions questions like, "the stars are still out when the sun is up, right, we just can't see them?" and "where does the water go when we flush the toilet?" and "how would anyone KNOW that Jesus ever existed?"). She makes up pretend games with her brothers, is slightly behind but not the last in the class with violin, and does great with Girl Scouts (meetings and camps). I go out on my bike so that she can run, around the neighborhood, regularly. I don't know, man.
Grant got some memory cards and is convinced that while her verbal memory is terrible, she's on point or beyond otherwise. I suppose I just have to start calling random occupational therapists until someone has a lead for me. Along with the uni program.
It just makes me feel really heavy. My little Beasty. At least she's healthy, happy as shit and doesn't know what I'm on about :p
This evening I made a 35 minute voice post as I drove on the highway, that was supposed to be my entire entry. That's something I might start doing sometimes. There is intermittent cursing but nothing in it is too terribly explicit and I think the volume is relatively steady. It's basically just me rambling like I do. For more than half an hour. If you get to the end, let me assure you that neither Grant nor anybody else ever noticed my beeping.
