Meth babies

[Sunchimes]

One of my dcbabies was born to a meth addict and had so much in her tiny body that doctors aren't really sure how she survived. After a year, she still has some small physical difficulties, but for her situation, she is thriving. She is meeting milestones for her adjusted age and many for her chronological age, which is a huge gap.

Anyway, I recently learned that one of the possible long term effects is difficulty learning to read. While we do a lot of reading here, I'm wondering if anyone knows whether or not a really intense reading program (meaning we read lots and lots and lots each day) could make a difference for her down the road. Do those of you who are educators know of any research on the subject?

[daycarediva]

I have a (heroine) addicted baby in care. His parents were told that any and all advantages they could give him would be beneficial. He's 4.5, has moderate behavioral issues that appear similar to ADHD/executive function deficits, but his academic skills are on target. He can recognize all letters, upper and lowercase, he knows about 1/2 the letter sounds, he can answer questions related to the text, rote count with accuracy and quite high actually (20's).

I treated him no different academically, we read and read often (reminds me of the picture post floating around about why your child should read 20 minutes a day and the total number of words they would be exposed to vs only 5 minutes/day).

I don't have studies, and he has surprised us all. He was a preemie, too.

[Cozy_Kids_Childcare]

My nephew was born addicted to heroin. My mom apparently knew my brother was but the girlfriend kept saying she wasn't and never did. Well when he was born we all found out. He spent 2 months in NiCU. Then CPS decided that if the girlfriend grandmother moved in then they would give them a chance. The girls grandmother called CPS after about 5 weeks. My mom ended up taking custody of him in August 2013 when he was just about to turn 5 months.

Here he is 2 years old and thankfully he has no side effects of it. He is actually ahead of the other two year olds I have. I like to think that is because we really work with him. My sister (who still lives at home) and my mom and step dad work with him every single day with flash cards. I work with him while he is here.

We still can't tell if he is just a hyper 2-year old or if he is going to be ADHD. The doctor has said that he is just all boy and that she doesn't see any signs of him having any issues. He is zero to 90mph from the time his feet hit the floor till he goes to sleep.

Hopefully your dcg will be the same having you to work with her an starting early will help start that process. My nephew mom is still strung out. She has only called 3 times since August 2013. I see it as a blessing. My brother went to prison for 20 months for DUIs (multiple). He got rehab and counseling and now moved in with my mom and step dad to learn to be a better parent and also to keep on track with his sober lifestyle.
We don't treat my nephew any different and he is thriving and ahead of the game on many levels

[Sunchimes]

Thank you all. This baby has never lived with her birth parents, but now that the hard part is over and we've all sweated blood for a year, they have stepped up and decided to fight termination. I'm working on the premise that my job is to give her the strongest foundation I can, physically, emotionally, and mentally, because if some crazy judge gives her back she will need it.

[Thriftylady]

Thank you all. This baby has never lived with her birth parents, but now that the hard part is over and we've all sweated blood for a year, they have stepped up and decided to fight termination. I'm working on the premise that my job is to give her the strongest foundation I can, physically, emotionally, and mentally, because if some crazy judge gives her back she will need it.

Now they want to fight it? Hopefully their history and lack of fighting it will keep them from winning. That is part of the reason I had to get out of foster care, they system sets the poor kids out for failure it seems.

[Baby Beluga]

One of the children I currently have was born addicted to meth - so heartbreaking. He was thankfully adopted by a wonderful family.

His psychical growth is very delayed because of this. He has also had many issues with speech/swallowing and sensory issues.

He has made huge leaps and bounds the past few months and one of the things that I think has helped him (both psychically and cognitively) is zoo phonics.

[Sunchimes]

::

Now they want to fight it? Hopefully their history and lack of fighting it will keep them from winning. That is part of the reason I had to get out of foster care, they system sets the poor kids out for failure it seems.

They have a lot of strikes against them, multiple felonies, both currently on probation, etc. We fear one of the judges who believes family trumps everything. I've seen some bad stuff.

That was one of the reasons we left foster care too. It's hard, really hard.

[Sunchimes]

She's not old enough for that yet, but I've heard good things. In the last few weeks, she has surprised everyone. Still mostly tube fed and we are fighting to head off oral aversion. She is still medically fragile. I start every day praying for a judge (or jury) to open the way for this termination and adoption to go through. I believe anything else would be a death sentence for her.

[spedmommy4]

I have a masters in early childhood special education. Current research supports reading to little ones early, and engaging them in story time. (Asking them questions, answering their questions, etc) It does not support the push for early academics for any child. Play based learning and activities that are based on the children's interests are ideal in early childhood settings.

One of my dcbabies was born to a meth addict and had so much in her tiny body that doctors aren't really sure how she survived. After a year, she still has some small physical difficulties, but for her situation, she is thriving. She is meeting milestones for her adjusted age and many for her chronological age, which is a huge gap.

Anyway, I recently learned that one of the possible long term effects is difficulty learning to read. While we do a lot of reading here, I'm wondering if anyone knows whether or not a really intense reading program (meaning we read lots and lots and lots each day) could make a difference for her down the road. Do those of you who are educators know of any research on the subject?

[Sunchimes]

I completely agree Spedmommy. I didn't really explain well. I don't mean intense as in planned with worksheets and letter-a-week. I don't even do that for pre-schoolers, and she's just 12 months.

What I'm thinking by intense is instead of reading 1 or 2 books a day, I read 5 or 6. I will really stress talking to her and identifying objects-words, words, words all the time. I do a lot of that with all of my kids since 1 is largely non-verbal, but I'm thinking this would go a long way towards future problems. Do you think?