Update on Keenan's progress

Posted by Wendy on May 22, 2002, 11:29 pm

It has been a year since I last posted on our progress with Audiblox. We are now in our 70th week of doing the blocks (boy, it has not been easy!). We usually do them four times per week at an hour each. I am still seeing gains in Keenan although they have been very slow in coming. Initially Keenan made great gains but eventually they slowed down so much that I moved on to a customized program. Keenan is 9 years old now and soon will be finished grade 4. He is still on a modified program in school, but his teachers can not believe the incredible gains in his work compared to last year. His learning assistance teacher did not think Keenan could ever perform at the level he is now performing at and he recommended that Keenan be moved on to the regular program, but his classroom teachers disagreed. What they did agree to though, was to have Keenan work out of the same text books and hand in the same assignments as his classmates, although his comprehension of some of the material is still lagging.

It was decided with the help of Dr. Jan Strydom and Susan du Plessis that Keenan did in fact have a language problem, which was impeding his progress and comprehension of material. So in October of last year I started Keenan on the language aspect of the Audiblox program as described in the book the R2R. This is also when we began with a customized program. Since that time, the gains have been coming along again at a slow but steady pace. I hate to think of where we would be without Audiblox. Keenan's language is starting to improve and so is his comprehension in school.

We will continue on with Audiblox until Keenan's school problems are completely solved. I feel we are over half way there. Audiblox has not been a quick fix for us, but it has been a miracle none the less. I know that without Audiblox, Keenan would be still sitting in the corner of his classroom colouring (as his teacher last year used to have him do). Now he is reading the same grade 4 books as his classmates, handing in the same assignments and putting up his hand to answer questions – correctly! This is amazing progress from a boy who was diagnosed as “the most severe bottom 1% of children with learning disabilities” and told that “school would never be a good place for him”. Although progress has been slow, we do see real progress with Audiblox! I feel by mid next year, Keenan will be on a regular grade 5 program thanks to Audiblox.

Thanks again Dr. Jan and Susan.

Sincerely,
Wendy & Keenan
British Columbia, Canada

Well done Wendy!! Posted by Susan on May 23, 2002, 11:46 am, in reply to "Update on Keenan's progress"

Dear Wendy

It gives me great pleasure to hear how well Keenan is doing, especially since we were all so skeptical about helping him on a long-distance basis. As you well know, we really thought that his problems were too severe to make this happen. Well, we were wrong. Yes, it has been hard work for you - much harder than for most other parents - and you still have some miles left, but your efforts so far have obviously been worthwhile.

Good luck and keep up the GOOD work!!
Susan