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SunshineMom
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on the Special Needs or Learning Challenges forum i.e. in life?  I rarely consult the hive about my dd14 mostly because I get overwhelmed with not being able to relay my dd's situation.  She was born with half her cerebellum so her motor and cognitive development is delayed.  She is high functioning compared to those with similar diagnosis.  Her condition is rare.  She is on no medications or therapies.  She has had speech and physical therapy for three years when she was young.  Her speech is fine

(a little issue now) but slow and she functions well physically (bikes, runs, etc) however it is likely she will not be able to drive.  Her reaction time is slow and she also has a "tick like" (it is not a tick) movement she does with her head when she is thinking. She is the reason I started homeschooling.  We have no support (social or medical) for her disabilities; special ed groups are filled with kids who have more severe disabilities.  She's caught somewhere in the middle between special needs and learning challenges.  Other kids notice her disabilities so she gravitates to kids who are about 9yrs old.

 

The reason I am reaching out to the hive today is I need help planning for her high school years.  She is a slow worker and her motivation is on the low side.  As an 8th grader she is using Saxon Math 7/6 and Dreambox math for repetition, reading at 5-7th grade level (she is an avid reader), reading thru SOTW 3 &4 and taking comprehensive tests for each chapter, learning to type with Typing Pal, spelling using 6th grade words generated from Spelling City, Hake Grammar & writing (6th grade), and science encyclopedia reads daily for science along with a summary typed.  Her grade level, based on her academic work is about 6th grade.  She tires easily so her school day is about 5 hours.

 

My question:  Do I just move her into 7th grade work for 9th and count it all as "Skills" such as "English Skills 1" for instance?

My plan is to obtain a GED her senior year and also issue her a High School Achievement Degree from our homeschool.  I want to leave the door open so if she can take CC classes she could.

 

My concern:  I am not sure she will progress academically.  Her retention is limited and I feel she is sort of "stuck" in her progression however it could just be puberty (I am hoping).  I am also really needing to focus on teaching her life skills.

 

Thoughts? Thank you

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You're totally welcome to post here or LC!   :)  Typically people post more of the heady, SN-specific health problem stuff under SN and learning stuff under LC, but it's really do as you wish.  

 

I don't have any experience to guide you, though others will when they reply.  Our state tries to have the IEP process transition to vocational in high school, so I think your thinking about life skills, etc. is right on track.  You could consider an extra year, if you thought it would help.  In some places, a GED can be worse, meaning it's *usually* better just to issue your diploma and be done with it.  The CC will have some sort of placement test and determine if she enters with deficiencies or needing remediation, etc.

 

Honestly, it sounds like she's doing really good work, just a bit behind.  For where she started, maybe this is amazing progress?  Has she had a recent psych eval to give you fresh perspective and counsel?  It might be something to consider.  Or, if you do have that information, maybe take it and go to your disabilities board or vocational school or whomever and get set up for some career counseling.  

 

If you want something interesting:

 

MBTI

 

Career Assessments Links

 

Those might get you started.  Someone was just telling me their school has all incoming students do personality profiles for career assessment.  

 

Welcome to LC/SN.  :)

 

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Thanks OhElizabeth for responding and passing along the links. I will look into them with my dd.

 

I have been researching the websites of our local high schools, specifically special ed vocational skills training opportunities.  Most of these classes are offered after the student is 18yrs.  I need to inquire some more.  To be honest, I am trying to stay away from public high schools as much as possible.  I am unimpressed with what they have to offer special needs kids. After graduating from college, I was an advocate for developmentally delayed adults who were living independently.  My dd14 is fairing better than the adults I used to work with however I am doubtful she will be able to live independently without supports.  My goal is getting her ready for those transitions towards more independence however I might need to create those opportunities on my own.  Thank you for helping me focus on my end goal with her.  It is much easier to plan with the end in mind.

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Thanks OhElizabeth for responding and passing along the links. I will look into them with my dd.

 

I have been researching the websites of our local high schools, specifically special ed vocational skills training opportunities.  Most of these classes are offered after the student is 18yrs.  I need to inquire some more.  To be honest, I am trying to stay away from public high schools as much as possible.  I am unimpressed with what they have to offer special needs kids. After graduating from college, I was an advocate for developmentally delayed adults who were living independently.  My dd14 is fairing better than the adults I used to work with however I am doubtful she will be able to live independently without supports.  My goal is getting her ready for those transitions towards more independence however I might need to create those opportunities on my own.  Thank you for helping me focus on my end goal with her.  It is much easier to plan with the end in mind.

 

Welcome. I don't have a lot to offer on this topic either, but I think others will chime in eventually. I think your background will help you tremendously, but I know it's hard to apply such things to our own kids at times. It's too close in some ways.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Jewel - good to see you.  :001_smile:   As we've discussed here in the past, one of my children (several years younger) has a similar diagnosis.  Like you, I've only occasionally posted on the SN boards, because we don't seem to fit entirely on either board, and our issues and questions are pretty different from the ones that tend to be addressed.  

 

One thing I wanted to mention is that there seems to be a lot of overlap in the symptoms of milder forms of CH, DWM / DWV, JS, etc.   You might try searching online for posts or web pages by adults with each of those conditions.  In the past, I've come across quite a few, including a couple of nurses, a pastor of a small independent church, a university student, and a young woman who went to college but wasn't currently working.  I'll try to find those links, if they're still there.  In the meantime, here's a short article by a high school senior with JS.   Not a lot of detail, but I appreciated it anyway. :001_smile:

 

Also, maybe a long shot, but the University of Washington has been doing a lot of research on cerebellar disorders.   I know they'll sometimes look at children's MRIs when the diagnosis is unclear.   If you can find an e-mail address for the department, maybe they could put you in touch with someone who has experience with this sort of planning.

 

For the sake of those not familiar with these conditions -- which is most people, including a lot of professionals! -- the cerebellum seems to have mostly to do with regulation and automaticity, rather than with specific physical or cognitive skills.   On the down side, this means that standard therapeutic approaches such as "breaking tasks down into parts" don't tend to help that much.  On the up side, it means that even older children who are lower-functioning might keep on making progress, if given enough time and motivation.  For instance, I read in a journal about a boy who finally learned to walk in his teens.  I don't think this sort of thing tends to happen with other types of neurological disabilities. 

 

Jewel, do you think she's able to learn independently, through reading?  If so, I'd be inclined to streamline the 3 R's (focusing on the areas where she's having the most difficulty), drop the formal teaching of content subjects, and just assign one "living book" at a time, along with some field trips, educational videos, etc.   But then, I've ended up taking kind of a minimalist/relaxed approach even with my non-SN children.   (Our 6th grader only does about 3 hours of schoolwork per day, and that includes a foreign language.)

 

If she does have the potential to go farther academically -- whether on schedule, or with extra time -- I think a focus on reading and writing would be the best foundation.  It would also give her the tools she'd need for future learning.   And there would be time for the life skills and interests. 

 

Not sure if that's any use to you at all, but you can PM me if you like.    We should probably start a social group.  I know there is (was?) at least one other mother on here whose child had a related condition (DWM).

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So nice to hear from you ElizaG!  How is your dd? Thank you for the linked story, what an amazing young man:)

 

 

Yes, I am mostly focusing on developing my dd14's basic skills and with high school approaching next year, I will need to qualify and quantify her learning when I create a transcript.

 

 

I thought seasoned homeschool moms here could share their "sp needs high school transcript" so I could get some ideas of how to put together a hs transcript.  I know what I need to work on with dd14, I'm just not sure how to express it in a transcript other than what is listed below.  Because the materials aren't at grade level, I am feeling like I can't assign it as high school.  Maybe if I just focus on describing the skill verses the curriculum, it would make it easier to quantify her time spent learning.  Here is an idea of what she will be doing next year for a high school English credit.  

 

BTW: She is doing the below schedule now however is using Hake's 6th grade so I know the below is doable.  She has currently read The Borrowers, Holes, and recently, Old Yeller for 8th grade English.

 

English Skillbuilding  1 credit: 

Read 6 novels (TBD)

Write daily summaries

Hake's Grammar & Writing 7 & work towards learning to write an essay

Spelling with weekly tests

I would need to add in some work on Literary devices.

 

She does 1.5hrs dailyx5days= 300hrs for school year.....I could give her one credit for high school (next year).

 

Since learning to type, she has started writing her own short stories (mostly retelling of movies).  I never correct her summaries or short stories but rather have her read them to me.  

 

 

Math these days has been a little better.  She makes many small errors that can really add up.  She works about 1.5hrs on math daily and completes a lesson with corrections as well as computer time with Dreambox. Saxon has been the best fit for her because of the sheer volume of repetition :hurray:  It is possible she could go into Saxon 8/7 PreAlgebra next year...will see, I am not sure yet or Consumer Math.  I believe focusing on Health as a Science would be smart.  I need to look into curriculum options for health.  I plan on using living books for History. I could align her literature reads for history, making her day more

manageable to do some volunteering at the library.  Thanks for listening and yes, we need our own special group :001_cool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by jewel
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My DD is doing okay school-wise -- good at reading, and getting by in handwriting and math -- though we're still keeping it pretty light.  I don't think she'd do as well with a typical workload, especially with the amount of writing that's expected in the primary grades these days. 

 

Her behavior tends to be immature and kind of melodramatic.  My sense is that this is partly neurological, and partly due to low expectations and some coddling on our part.   :tongue_smilie:  I'm increasing her outside activities and chores, and we'll see how that goes. 

 

Maybe you could start a thread titled something like "SN high school transcripts," and cross-post on the HS board?   I remember seeing posts on that subject in the past, so there must be people on here with experience.

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Handwriting is still an issue for "Anna" too (poor hand muscles).  She can write however her handwriting looks more like something from a 2nd grader.  She really fought me on practicing handwriting and her actual ability to write summaries was slowed because handwriting was so tiring for her.  Instead of continuing to fight her on it, I got her typing with Typing Pal.  Her writing output has increased and she is much more receptive to writing summaries from science, history or literature reads.

 

We have done a ton of reinforcing games and used manipulatives to help solidify math concepts and skills.  Times Attack for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts and Dreambox which has adaptive programming.  Consumer math would be very helpful as she learns more how to use money in life.  Anna's comfortable giving away her money in exchange for something but doesn't have the awareness to know whether she is getting something of value, on sale, as priced or shortchanged.  The idea that the other person giving her change back, for instance, could be wrong, doesn't even cross her mind.

 

On a social note, are you involved in any social group specifically related to the special needs of your dd?  We haven't found such a group.  It would be so helpful to find other families to socialize with especially during the teen years.

 

Yes, I completely understand about the emotional ups and downs and lack of maturity.  We have definitely done some coddling as well.  Chores are good and being and feeling responsible is invaluable.  Anna started a chicken egg business.  She cares for her chickens; cleans the coop, daily feeds and gives them water, collects eggs and distributes them.  The chickens have imprinted on her so they follow her and it is the cutest thing to see. 

 

Anna's speech is now beginning to bother her.  We can understand her just fine but she recently began taking a drama class and they were not accommodating.  She had a speaking role at the end of the class showcase which they cut right before the performance.  She was heartbroken. She had memorized her lines on the first day of receiving them and she has stage presence so the issue is her pronunciation.  I'm not sure what to do.  Maybe start speech therapy again. She likes drama and it is public speaking.  I'm so proud of her because speaking in public when you have some speech issues takes courage.  Does your dd have speech delays?  If so, are you utilizing speech therapy?

 

I am going to start writing out a list of academic skills to focus on during high school rather than curriculum/classes.  Also, I want to develop a list of independent living skills so as to focus our high school years towards more independence.  Thank you for the suggestion to post on the high school board.

 

 

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