REBBI Progress is slow but it’s happening.

TULLY Now I can find the place. I know where to point big deal. Chumash is still a blur.

Since Tully’s language processing disorder is impacting his school day so negatively I contact his rebbi to discover his most urgent goals.

“Tully’s a great kid” the rebbi says “but he’s totally lost in class.

I want him to be able to follow basic instructions like ‘Put away your siddur and take out your Chumash and notebook’ and ‘Turn to perek heh pasuk yud-ches.’

Tully hears the instructions but can’t process what they mean. Additionally the barrage of multiple directions is overwhelming for him to decode.

I’ll approach him and repeat the information slowly and clearly but he still doesn’t get it And he can’t do worksheets at all.”

Even English is Chinese to Tully. If you repeat instructions over and over in Chinese he still won’t get it no matter how slowly and clearly they are said.

Following directions is complicated for Tully. He doesn’t “own” much of the basic vocabulary and concepts his teachers assume he does like the difference between a “letter” and a “word” or a “pasuk” and a “perek.” Even simple instructions like “Turn back a page” are meaningless to Tully.

At our next session Tully and I each have a blank paper and a red bingo marker. I place a screen between us so we can’t see each other’s pages. “Make a dot at the top of the page” I direct Tully then “now one at the bottom…” As I direct him I mirror the actions on my own page. When we’re done I whisk the screen away with a flourish. Our pages are identical.

Tully’s face lights up. “Matching!”

”Your turn!” I tell Tully. “You tell me what to do.”

Games like these help Tully follow directions and process and use descriptive language.

As Tully progresses the games become harder. We add more colors and more nuances to the directions. Eventually we’re using blocks: Tully builds an intricate building and directs me from behind the screen how to build an identical one. As he gets better at it his overall functioning improves.

Tully’s English teacher concurs with his rebbi. “He can’t do worksheets at all” he says. “He just has a blank look on his face.” I teach Tully the “map” of a worksheet: At the top is a space for your name then come the instructions followed by the questions and space for the answers.

It’s not possible to teach Tully every word or every assignment he’s ever going to encounter. The goal is to teach him how to break the code of language and identify patterns so he can help himself.

Since every worksheet is different we play games to practice identifying the parts of a worksheet and then use vocabulary games to learn to decode the instructions. Tully learns how to process terms like “fill in” “match ” and “answer.”

Although a self-contained class would be ideal for Tully an appropriate program is not available locally. I schedule a team meeting that includes Tully’s parents principal teachers and the new tutor his parents have hired for homework. (“Homework was destroying our relationship ” Tully’s father says.) We plan Tully’s goals and create a system of communication so everyone on Team Tully can reinforce the work we’re doing in therapy.