Reading Comprehension
Just wanted to share some potentially positive observations we’ve seen lately with Hannah.
First, her auditory processing seems to be improving. As part of her schoolwork each day, I read aloud a chapter from a children’s classic book. Right now we’re working our way through On the Banks of Plum Creek. There aren’t many pictures and I wasn’t sure how much of the story line she was comprehending. I would often skip sentences that I thought were not crucial to the plot in order to keep things moving along.
Well, a couple of days ago we ended up reading our chapter with Hannah sitting across the room from me so she could be in a makeshift tent that was in the room. I thought, “Oh, great. This will be a waste of time. She’s going to get really distracted.” But then I came to the part where Laura and Mary go wading in the creek and find a crab — except the paragraph doesn’t say that it’s a crab; it simply describes the animal. I read the description and took a breath to start the next paragraph, when Hannah caught my eye and said, "I think that’s a crab."
Then today when we were reading about Laura and Mary’s first day at school, I read the paragraph about their feeling awkward because their dresses were too short. The paragraph explained that the dresses were short because Mary and Laura had outgrown them, but I didn’t read that part. After we finished the chapter, Hannah looked at me and asked, “Why was Laura’s dress short?” I said, “She had grown too big for it.” Hannah smiled.
Which brings us to our second observation: Hannah has progressed in her social development to the point that she is often asking “Why?” I remember a few months ago determining that she was probably around the 18-month stage in social development. So, as annoying as the Why’s can get sometimes, we’re thankful that they mean progress. Seems like the Why stage is closer to two-year-olds or maybe even two-and-a-half.
Third, her verbal social interaction is improving. It’s quite common to hear her little voice asking a sister, "Will you play with me?" And if the sister is busy doing schoolwork, Hannah quietly goes to find something else to do. Her play skills are getting better too. Just today, when her sister helped her hunt for a certain toy, Hannah responded with, “Thank you for finding it for me” unprompted.
We’re thankful for these little glimpses of progress as we go through the days. She still is struggling with fine motor skills and reading skills, which can make our schoolwork sessions seem a bit repetitive (at least to me). But she cooperates happily when it is time to do schoolwork, and the Lord continues to bring us just the resources we need at the right times. Thanks for your continuing encouragement and prayers. Please pray especially that God would prepare her heart to understand salvation . . . in His time.
