I'm certain that I will wind up having to eat some article of clothing by the
time this project is done, but I just saw a youngster last week who I would
have bet large amounts of money on not being a NatSpeak (DNS) user, and I
would have lost.
This youngster does not have a diagnosis other than prematurity, and seems in
many ways like a kid with ambulatory CP. However, his speech is not like the
dysarthric speech sometimes associated with CP, but simply becomes less
distinct and less intelligible in many longer utterances. He seems to slur
over many words in longer utterances - unfortunately, none of our speech
pathologists saw him, and we did not have a speech report, so I don't know
what the formal diagnosis was for speech, other than "disorder."
This boy is a 6th grader whose reading level (word rec.) by formal testing was
in the 2nd grade range. In terms of writing, his handwriting is entirely
illegible, and his spelling is nonfunctional. Nonetheless, by virtue of his
interests, he was able to enroll by reading the Space Odyssey passage, and
feels like he is succeeding in using DNS. I was not able to observe his use of
it, but his parents report that he is "successfully" using it at home. When I
mentioned success rates around 90% or higher, they said that they didn't think
he was anywhere near that high, but were still happy, as was he, with the
increased ability to write, to get a first draft down on paper.
I hope to follow-up with, and observe, this youngster actually using DNS as I
provide some training to him, his family, and teachers. I will let everyone
know more as I learn more from him.
Bob Follansbee
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