High Schooler... Dyslexia...am I expecting too much?

[mrskturner]

Let me start this out by saying, please be kind in your comments. I want to hear your opinions, but this is a super sensitive topic for me right now.  I am going to to be very vulnerable and share kind of the "whole big picture".  

 

We adopted our daughter when she was eight years old through the foster care system.  She was born premature ( does that play into learning disabilities?), she was severely neglected the first 5 years of her life, also head trauma at the age of 3 (car accident with no seat belt), tossed around in foster care for 3 years, diagnosed with a speech disorder while in foster care ( went through 2 years of speech therapy), and failed Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade in the public school system.  We adopted her at the end of her 2nd grade year. I urged for them to hold her back because she could not even add 2+2=4, but they refused because of her height. (Crazy, right?)  

 

That is where our homeschool journey began. She is now 16 years old and we have been homeschooling the past 7.5 years.  We had further testing done over the years and she has diagnosis of Dyslexia, Auditory Processing Disorder, and a general Processing Disorder along with Anxiety and ADD.  She also had a low IQ score when she was first placed in foster care and her report says she would never read above a 2nd grade level.  Thankfully, I didn't have time to read that report when we first adopted her, because I had also just had a baby.  So while those papers sat in a box in the closet, I embarked on a mission to homeschool her. 

 

Her vocabulary is not up to high school standards but her ability to read is, so she lacks in comprehension of some high school text even though she can pronounce the words.  Teaching Textbooks Math has been the best math program for her, she is passing Algebra 1 with a B right now.  She loves Guest Hollow Biology because it is very visual and the lady has a good sense of humor in her text.  I am at a loss on what to expect from her for Language Arts and History.  

 

For language arts she is currently doing Fix It Grammar from IEW, SWB Writing with Skill ( I know this is considered logic level, but it is where she is at), Spelling Power, and reading from a book of her choice for 1 hour a day.  For History she listens in on her younger brothers SOTW and we have been trying to match it as closely as possible with HOTW for her. She does NOT do well on the comprehension questions or essays that go along with HOTW.  We also tried Notgrass History, which she didn't mind, but also scored poorly on the comprehension questions. She actually does do well if I ask her to just write a paper on what she read that week in History.  Would you suggest switching curriculums, allowing her to just read HOTW and write a weekly paper, or beef us SOTW for her in some way?  And back to language arts....what else should I be expecting out of her for high school level English?  I am a literature lover and she is NOT! I still feel like there should be a high school level book assigned once a month and discussed.  Is this expecting too much of her? Do I cut out the 1 hour of free reading to accommodate for the required high school level reading? Will that kill any love for reading she has? 

 

I will be the first to admit I have pushed her hard over the years. Not in a mean way, but wanting her to realize she is capable of more than what she thinks she is because of her learning disabilities. She has no desire to go to college at this point, even though she has briefly brought it up in the past. She also has no idea what she wants to do with her life after graduating. Is that normal? Like not a  clue.  My boys are 8 and 14 and are always dreaming of future careers of being an engineer, zoologist/marine biologist.  

 

She does have a natural talent for writing fiction. I have tried so many times to harness that and help her grow in that area. Despite her dyslexia causing spelling and grammar errors, her story telling is phenomenal.  However, when I try to key in on that and offer one of her high school electives to be a Creative Writing class....she shuts down and all of the sudden hates writing.  If I make it a part of school, she no longer finds joy in it.  I am stumped by this, because the boys love for me to incorporate their passions in with their school assignments.  

 

Sorry for the long book, but I really need help in knowing how much I should be expecting of her and where I need to just let it go.  Thank you ladies so much for your time and wisdom. 

[City Mouse]

How does she do with auditory support? What if you had her read high school level texts using Learning Ally or Bookshare where is would be reading along with the audio?

Not that you need to copy public school, but that would be a typical accommodation for a public school student. That way she is getting the same (or similar) text but with support. If reading a novel is difficult, would she do better with reading short stories/essays at the high school level? Or even poetry. My DS14 can read grade level appropriate poetry on his own when he would never, ever be able to get through a high school level novel without auditory support.

Edited January 31, 2017 by City Mouse

[Heathermomster]

Does she type or use speech to text software?

 

Anne Rice, John Irving, and Henry Winkler are all dyslexic writers. There comes a point where the ideas and concepts of the writer are more important than spelling, and then you accommodate with tech. If your DD chooses to attend college, she will require accommodations like extra time, books on tape, and keyboarding, so I suggest your child use them now. Some writers benefit from mindmapping, so perhaps explore it. My DS has used mindmapping for notetaking, outlining science and history, and composition. Maybe download a free trial of Inspiration software and give the mindmapping a try.

 

With the dyslexia diagnosis, your child is eligible for a free Bookshare account. Using the Voice Dream app on either an Apple or Android tablet, your DD could read books with Immersion technology. My DS reads all of his books this way.

 

Lecture and documentaries help my DS grasp a fuller understanding of history.

 

There are ways to practice creative writing without writing a report. Your DD could make a brochure or ppt presentation to demonstrate her knowledge.

 

Welcome to the boards.

[mrskturner]

I have not heard of Learning Ally or Bookshare, but I will look them up. We have been using Audible and pairing it with some of her text.  I also have allowed her to just listen to some of the history literature suggestions on Audible without reading along on the text.  

 

Reading is exhausting for her is the best way to describe it. Which I am sure why she is doesn't enjoy it. When she was in elementary school, reading for 20 minutes would make her eyes water so bad she would have to stop.  

[Heathermomster]

Your DD sounds like she needs an eye examination with a COVD certified Vision Therapist (VT).

[mrskturner]

Does she type or use speech to text software?

 

Anne Rice, John Irving, and Henry Winkler are all dyslexic writers. There comes a point where the ideas and concepts of the writer are more important than spelling, and then you accommodate with tech. If your DD chooses to attend college, she will require accommodations like extra time, books on tape, and keyboarding, so I suggest your child use them now. Some writers benefit from mindmapping, so perhaps explore it. My DS has used mindmapping for notetaking, outlining science and history, and composition. Maybe download a free trial of Inspiration software and give the mindmapping a try.

 

With the dyslexia diagnosis, your child is eligible for a free Bookshare account. Using the Voice Dream app on either an Apple or Android tablet, your DD could read books with Immersion technology. My DS reads all of his books this way.

 

Lecture and documentaries help my DS grasp a fuller understanding of history.

 

There are ways to practice creative writing without writing a report. Your DD could make a brochure or ppt presentation to demonstrate her knowledge.

 

Welcome to the boards.

 

Thank you for all the resources! I have never seen anything like the Inspiration software! That looks like something she could really benefit from.  

 

Is the Voice Dream app connected with Bookshare or something separate?  We often will buy the paperback book and the add audible to it for her to listen and read along together. But I looked up the Voice Dream and I love how it highlights the words as you are hearing them. How can I find a list of books that are offered through Voice Dream?

[mrskturner]

Your DD sounds like she needs an eye examination with a COVD certified Vision Therapist (VT).

 

We tried to go that route when we lived in Virginia and no one would give us an approval for it or even lead us to a specific therapist. Back then, if I had even a phone number for a VT, I would have been blowing their phone up.  She is now able to read for an hour at a time without any eye watering, but still feels exhausted if she has read a lot during the day.  

 

We are currently stationed overseas and do not have access to any specialist. 

[Storygirl]

First, :grouphug: :grouphug:  . My emotions can be raw, too. I hope that what I'm going to write is helpful and informational. I don't think you should blame yourself for things you have or have not done (I think every parent of a child with learning challenges does this; it's natural). I do think you are wise to be open to advice. I'm going to offer some thoughts, and I hope you can imagine that I'm saying these things in a friendly, gentle tone :) .

 

Note, I have four children. My high school girl in the brick-and-mortar class has no disabilities; my girl who has been tutored for dyslexia is a different daughter. Just to avoid confusion :001_cool: .

 

Reading is very fatiguing for someone with dyslexia, even if they can decode. The teacher who tutored DD11 last year is dyslexic herself. It's been good for me to have an adult with dyslexia to talk to about some things. She mentioned that she used accommodations in her college classes, because even though she could read the texts, she would not have the mental energy to complete the rest of the assignment. She could read, but it was draining.

 

Your description of your daughter's schoolwork sounds like it involves a lot of reading. You could cut that down some and still have classwork worthy of a high school credit. Although reading a novel per month is a worthy goal, it doesn't have to be the goal that you choose. For comparison, DD14 is enrolled in brick-and-mortar school this year, and they only read one novel during the fall semester -- To Kill a Mockingbird. Personally, I think that's low (English major speaking), but the teacher is moving at a pace appropriate for the students that she has (it is a regular English class, not any kind of special ed) . They also spend time on writing and other language arts projects. The students will earn a credit for high school English.

 

In addition, I have a sixth grade son with a diagnosed disability in reading comprehension. He is enrolled in school and is given the same reading texts that the other sixth graders have. Frankly, the stories are too hard for him. To help, we read them in advance out loud with him at home, making sure he understands all vocabulary, background information, and figurative language. We pull pictures up on the web to show him what things look like, because he doesn't visualize. And so on. He gets annoyed with this and sometimes says, "You know I can read this myself, right?" However, when we pause after a passage -- even just a complex sentence -- and ask him what it said, he never knows. He does all of this work before the rest of the class reads and discusses the story. So he reads the same story multiple times. He also has an intervention specialist in his language arts class.

 

The advance work makes a big difference and helps him keep up with the class. However, because he has such a hard time comprehending the texts, it's hard to focus on the other things that he is meant to be learning in the lesson. For example, he is often supposed to be learning how to find evidence in the text (quotes) to support his answers on the class questions. Searching the text for answers is really hard for him. Or if he is meant to be comparing and contrasting -- that is hard to do when the material is at a level too advanced for him.

 

If I were going to homeschool him again (which I'm not planning on), I would choose texts that were much closer to his actual comprehension level instead of his grade level. At last testing, he was at about a third grade reading comprehension level at age 12. If we were working on a specific skill other than comprehension, I would choose a text lower than his comprehension level, so that he could use his mental energy for thinking instead of comprehending. There is an obvious, often frustrating tension to the learning experience when he is expected to keep up with his same-grade peers.

 

It is hard, because we don't want our children to underachieve. It has been really hard for a literature-lover like myself to adapt my expectations and my goals when I ended up with two children with reading disabilities. I don't think DS will ever choose to read for enjoyment once he does not have to do so for school (DD11 with dyslexia, on the other hand, enjoys reading).

 

Here is my totally inexpert advice.

* If reading for an hour a day is going to be a requirement, have her use immersion reading technology.

* If reading a novel per month is your goal, assign good books that are at her functional comprehension level, not whatever you would consider high school material.

* Consider dividing that hour of reading time into two 30 minute blocks. One of which she spends working directly with you on learning reading comprehension strategies. Have her read to herself for the other 30 minutes.

* I would consider that sufficient. I wouldn't ask her to read an assigned literature book PLUS another book of her choosing.

* Drop HOTW if she is not comprehending it. If SOTW is a good comprehension level, let her do history with her siblings and call it done. If she can write one history paper per week, that is excellent. And enough. More than what my oldest does in her private high school history class. I don't think you need to beef it up more.

* Think about what realistic goals are for her, and shoot for those.

 

I know that you want to get that reading time in. But if she is not understanding what she is reading, then that time can be reclaimed for a more achievable goal. It's okay to change things up. Keep the ultimate goals in mind. For functioning in life, it is more important that she has good comprehension skills than that she has read X number of high school classic novels.

 

Finally, :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: . These things are hard. I hope you are gleaning some good advice and not feeling overwhelmed.

Edited January 31, 2017 by Storygirl

[Storygirl]

Here are some reading of the reading goals and strategies from my son's IEP, in case they are helpful. I am summarizing and leaving out specifics, but you will get the idea.

 

* goal -- be able to underline or highlight the key words that tell what a question is asking

* goal -- use reading strategies to be able to identify a central them and state key details with accuracy

* goal -- independently cite evidence from the text to answer 5 explicit and inferential questions (involving plot, character development) orally or in writing

 

specialized instruction to include

* strategy instruction in visualization, prediction, use of context clues

* allow the student to read the passage silently, then re-read aloud to an adult, then discuss with an adult.

* for comprehension questions, read questions silently/aloud/discuss

* instruction in how to engage with the text by marking it up

* front-load new vocabulary

* teach oral summarizing

* teach determining importance

*teach text structures such as compare/contrast or cause/effect

*activate prior knowlege and generate questions before reading (an easy example -- before reading Charlotte's Web, talk about what the student knows about farms and pigs. And spiders)

 

I specifically asked for reading strategies to be listed in his IEP, and the case manager loaded them in there :p . Surprisingly, they expect the combo of intervention teacher and regular teacher to accomplish this teaching within the regular classroom. He is definitely not going to master all of these things by the end of sixth grade :laugh: , but I'm glad we have a list of things to work on over time.

 

I'm listing these things, because in my previous post I mention that it would be beneficial to spend time daily working on reading strategies. These are the kind of things I mean. Obviously, as homeschool parents, we have not (usually) learned how to do this kind of intervention. But it doesn't have to be intimidating. You can just pick one thing to work on. And then another. Just make a little progress and then a little more.

 

I hope that's helpful and not too overwhelming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[8Arrows4theLord]

As a mom with 3 dyslexic children of varying degrees, I can understand your struggles. # 1 Get her a really good spell checker to hold in her hands, like a Franklin Spelling Ace. There is no shame in using a device to help her while she is writing. Saves LOTS of frustration. #2.Have you tried using the Barton Reading and Spelling system? It was developed for dyslexic adults so she should not be ashamed to use it. My friend used it on her 50+ yr. old husband and it help him! It will take your daughter back to square one and reprogram her mind to process correctly. Most public schools don't understand how to teach this type of child so they have big gaps in their basic learning. I've used Barton and still have my 13 yr. old refer back to the rules (they have funny names) when he gets stuck. As for the reading comprehension try doing as much as possible orally. Write down her responses or have her dictate her stories/ narrations to you. I would let her just read what she enjoys (books, not graphic novels or the like) and not worry about keeping up with the schools if that frustrates her. If she would like to branch out into classics, they print nice abridged copies of almost any classic. She will get the main story without the frustration. Look for large print books to help with tracking problems and eye fatigue. She may also get more out of the books if you have her narrate(retell) or illustrate a small section she just read. Discuss what new words she doesn't understand. Books on CDs are great for boosting her reading. Just let her enjoy hearing the wonderful words and stories! :001_smile: She may have an inner fear of school after all the problems she encountered early on. Try to make school as nonthreatening as possible. I agree with the other post for history. Ditch the other book and just have her ride along with everyone else. Keep it fun! That's one of the great parts of Homeschooling! Have her do some hands on projects- shadow boxes, dioramas, maps, skits, collages, paintings, sculptures out of clay or other material, ect. instead of reports. You can do that for any subject. When I was in High School, we had benchmarks instead of finals. They were to be some sort of creative project to show what we learned. Hope you can glean something from this! Happy teaching!

[Heathermomster]

Thank you for all the resources! I have never seen anything like the Inspiration software! That looks like something she could really benefit from.

 

Is the Voice Dream app connected with Bookshare or something separate? We often will buy the paperback book and the add audible to it for her to listen and read along together. But I looked up the Voice Dream and I love how it highlights the words as you are hearing them. How can I find a list of books that are offered through Voice Dream?

Bookshare is the service that provides the books while Voice Dream is an app that enables the user to Immersion read text. Go to BookShare.org and use the search feature on their website to see what is available. Voice Dream will read many types of files including epubs no images from Project Gutenberg. The voice is digital, so she can listen to many samples of voices and select her favorite for a small fee. She can adjust voice speed and pitch too. She can also adjust the text size to make the letters larger. Is she OK with reading on screens? That may be a problem. My DS walks around eye and ear reading wearing bluetooth heaphones.

 

I would not expect much from a military optician, but they should be able to check her binocular vision. She might benefit from glasses with prism. Your DD needs a VT evaluation. IDK how to swing that overseas. Maybe use the COVD.org website.

 

We have a mom on the boards who adopted her DD with similar issues. Her DD is partially deaf and entire system was utterly clueless. I'm hoping she pops over and can help you.

Edited February 1, 2017 by Heathermomster

[PeterPan]

Jumping to the end here. My dd loves her writing, but it's very *hard* for her. I don't think those thoughts are incongruous, but it means to crank it out for a class can be very taxing. What you might want to do is see what it reflects in her (creativity, appreciation of humor or narrative, etc.) and see if you can *harness* that in new ways she hasn't discovered yet.(crafting, flower arranging, hair, receptionist, etc.) For instance, a preschool or daycare worker who is artistic and loves narrative might be a good fit. We have a worker right now for my ds who is very artistic in basic ways, like being able to color with markers nicely or decorate a gingerbread house extra special. She's just really good at that! And when someone has those extra gifts and skills, it makes them extra special in a job. 

 

Have you read Dyslexic Advantage by the Eides yet? It might help you find some areas of strength in how her brain works. Also try Do What You Are and search for some online career selector tools. LoriD had some extensive lists with links for career finder tools. We did one that would turn out lists of recommended careers with tabs for each level of education. So there was a list for post high school, a list for some college, college grad, phd, etc. Actually, my dd's highest paying recommended career was in the high school grad category! Literally.

 

So I think you're on the right track finding her strengths and letting her explore areas. She's going to need to apprentice, shadow, volunteer, and get connected with some opportunities so she can try things. Our vocational schools and technical college here do summer exploration programs for a week where you can try out their programs and see if they'd be a good fit. Ask your friends for help making connections to let her try things. A week here, a week there, at a variety of places. Go wide, like shadowing a florist, a preschool teacher, people working various positions at nursing homes, etc. 

 

Also, have you checked with your local county board of developmental disabilities? In our area, you qualify by number of disabilities, not just overall severity, so your dd may qualify. The SLD plus hearing plus plus will probably get her there. Then you'd have a case coordinator and access to their vocational services, etc. See what they have for you. 

 

You might also check your state support groups for each disability to see what you can get. Sometimes there will be orgs with vocational/job programs specific to the disability.

 

It sounds like you're doing a really good job with her! It's good to dream big for her. If it has been a while (3-4 years) since her last evals, I would consider fresh evals. The questions you have about vocational planning, how to handle high school, etc. are things you can talk through with the psych. Is she currently getting speech therapy? If she's not, I would update that testing and see if you can get medicaid or insurance or whatever to cover some more. Even if you did a consultation and talked through how to handle vocabulary, etc., that could be good. They would probably have more strategies for you. The testing could show how extensive the vocabulary issue is and whether it needs to be just academic vocabulary or also some overall work.

Edited January 31, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[PeterPan]

I have not heard of Learning Ally or Bookshare, but I will look them up. We have been using Audible and pairing it with some of her text.  I also have allowed her to just listen to some of the history literature suggestions on Audible without reading along on the text.  

 

Reading is exhausting for her is the best way to describe it. Which I am sure why she is doesn't enjoy it. When she was in elementary school, reading for 20 minutes would make her eyes water so bad she would have to stop.  

 

Heather's right. You can have vision problems *and* dyslexia. She needs her eyes checked by a developmental optometrist. 

[PeterPan]

Thank you for all the resources! I have never seen anything like the Inspiration software! That looks like something she could really benefit from.  

 

Is the Voice Dream app connected with Bookshare or something separate?  We often will buy the paperback book and the add audible to it for her to listen and read along together. But I looked up the Voice Dream and I love how it highlights the words as you are hearing them. How can I find a list of books that are offered through Voice Dream?

 

Kindle also has immersion reading. You can do it with the Kindle app or on a Kindle Fire. 

 

Did someone mention National Library Service? It's free and amazing. Definitely check out all these options. It takes a while and seems like a hassle to get set up, but once you have them going they're easy to use and a HUGE resource.

[PeterPan]

We tried to go that route when we lived in Virginia and no one would give us an approval for it or even lead us to a specific therapist. Back then, if I had even a phone number for a VT, I would have been blowing their phone up.  She is now able to read for an hour at a time without any eye watering, but still feels exhausted if she has read a lot during the day.  

 

We are currently stationed overseas and do not have access to any specialist. 

 

I missed this. Hmph. Well check COVD's website, because there are some around the world. You never know. :)

[TheReader]

Lots of good advice so far. 

 

One thing you asked, that hasn't been answered -- yes, it can be totally normal for a high school kid not to have any clue on what to do as a career. My oldest graduated this past May, and only with much prodding and us asking leading questions did he arrive at a potential major, and only as this year has progressed has he started to maybe narrow it down, and he still has no idea what that major may lead to. My 16 yr old currently has no idea, either, and isn't really thinking about it. My teen nieces/nephew, similar uncertainty (they, on the other hand, all had firm ideas....that have changed roughly every 6 months, each, so that what they wanted to do "for sure" 2 yrs ago is completely opposite what they want to do now, even the one who's a junior in college and is on her 3rd "plan" since entering school....). So, yes, just 'cause she isn't sure, not a huge problem/totally normal. 

 

With the Auditory Processing Disorder and general Processing Disorder on top of the Dyslexia, comprehension is going to be a struggle. It just is. My youngest (almost 12) is in that category, and the most frustrating thing about his evaluations has always been that the normal "help" for Part A is further hindered by Part B, and the help for Part B is hindered by Part C (and Part A), and so on. Sort of "because of his dyslexia, use audio books..." and "because of his auditory processing disorder, use visual cues and written instructions" and it just hurts my head and my heart to sort out how to work all of it together. 

 

Things we were told, that might help you: 

*take reading out of the equation for anything where reading/writing isn't the goal/lesson

*use voice to text software if you can, for everything for her (if you don't have/can't get, even have her record things and you transcribe them later)

*use audio books/read aloud for subject material

*give tests orally (or with a "reader" reading for her and a scribe writing it down) -- what this means in homeschool is you read her the questions, and write her answers, she doesn't do the reading/writing parts

*expose to "age appropriate reading materials" through audio books --- this answers your "shouldn't she read high school level novels" question. No. She shouldn't. She should have them read to her (and really, if she struggles with the vocabulary comprehension, it will be best with you reading to her, or with a Kindle or other app that allows her to look up a word and hear a definition when she doesn't understand something) This will build her vocab & comprehension, but until the vocab is caught up (if/when that happens) she shouldn't be required to read these books on her own; she'll be expending too much brain power decoding and will lose comprehension

 

For comprehension, I have to give my son the questions first, then we read. If I just read, and then ask, he cannot answer questions. Even at times when he can retell what we read.....if I ask a specific question, he may not know. Instead, I give him the questions ahead of time, often one question at a time. We read the text (I read outloud to him); he stops me when he hears the answer to the question. I give him the next question; we read until we get to the answer. If I get to an answer, and he doesn't jump in to stop me, I stop, ask him, "What was our question?" and repeat it. Then I ask him, "Was that the answer...?" and re-read the sentence/paragraph containing the answer and let him tell me. 

 

On things where I'm just checking comprehension at the end, I have him retell what he read/heard. Once he does that, I ask questions. If he's not sure, I give him 2 choices. Usually, within the choices, he gets it right, even if he can't come up with the answer verbally on his own. I *think* this is processing speed stuff, but I could be wrong. There's so much going on in his brain.....the APD messes things up as he hears them, the dyslexia messes things up as he reads them or hears them, both, and the processing speed/disorder slows things way down while he tries to get answers out. 

 

He isn't high school yet, but I can't imagine him reading an hour a day....I'd take all the reading out of your daughter's day except that which is working on actual reading (unless she enjoys the hour/day book time).

 

For creative writing, when my boys were high school, I had them do "writing prompts" that were completely ungraded. Could you do something like that with her? Assure her you want to encourage her storytelling, but you won't look at spelling, grammar, etc.? Let her type it and use spell check, grammar check, etc. and *if/when she wants* help her look at a finished project and teach her how to make corrections. Maybe even do this on *some other writing assignment* to teach her the how-to's of editing, and let her edit her creative writing as she pleases. It's so important to encourage strengths with these kids. 

 

Oh, and definitely find non-worksheet, non-quiz means of checking her comprehension. My DS can't answer questions well, but can retell, and loves to do things like draw a comic strip illustrating what we read, or make a board game about it, or do map work...anything hands-on that doesn't require so many of the language processing centers of his brain. Anything visual/pictorial somehow helps all the info come out. For ex, we did a report on Spain....I helped him research, we listed several facts, then he helped me find visuals for each thing and we put those on a poster board (this was for an outside class he takes). We practiced and practiced and practiced reading the report, so he could present it, and because he had the visuals as well he was able to show each thing and remember what he'd learned. Just the report, without the visuals, would have been meaningless to him, but coloring a sheet of "traditional costumes", putting up a map and photos of tourist attractions, and labeling where those all were on the map, labeling the biggest mountain and longest river....that part sank in and stayed with him. Any time you can do things like that (or find what sorts of things work well for your dd, maybe she writes little historical fiction stories set in the time period you're studying, or imagining a historical figure as a child, or  a "day in the life of......" things, for ex), do. They'll help so much. 

 

It's so hard, especially w/o access to helps like you'd have here in the US (we were in Brazil when our ds was diagnosed, so I get it...); you're doing a good job, and it sounds like she's made a lot of progress. Always look at that, instead of how much further she has to go. For your sake and for hers.  :grouphug:

 

[OneStepAtATime]

Lots of great advice.  I did feel that I could contribute a little on one of the questions that was not covered by as many.

 

FWIW, I had no clue what I wanted to do as an adult when I was in High School.  (What I really thought I wanted was Astronaut but for various reasons that was not an option and I had no realistic back up plan).  I didn't even have a clue when I went off to college.  I started taking various classes that seemed interesting to me, beyond the core material.  It was great.  I tried out several things and found, to my surprise, that I thrived in Broadcast TV.  That hadn't even been on my radar.  And I ended up having a pretty successful career in that field.  

 

Honestly, I think some kids do better if they DON'T try to pigeon hole themselves into one specific path when they are still figuring out who they are.  Some kids do better if they have time to explore, try things out, be flexible.  Yes, some do much better with a goal in mind while still in High School and certainly some careers make it harder to succeed if you don't come out of the gate with a lot already under your belt. I don't think that is true for all options, however.

 

And I think it is perfectly normal for many young people to still be finding their way.   :)

Edited January 31, 2017 by OneStepAtATime

[wapiti]

We tried to go that route when we lived in Virginia and no one would give us an approval for it or even lead us to a specific therapist. Back then, if I had even a phone number for a VT, I would have been blowing their phone up.  She is now able to read for an hour at a time without any eye watering, but still feels exhausted if she has read a lot during the day.  

 

We are currently stationed overseas and do not have access to any specialist. 

 

It is often not covered by insurance, so there's no one to get approval from.  The exception may be the regular, annual vision checkup where you can have a brief chat and a quick screening for some issues (though the full developmental vision eval is a separate appt).

 

Do check http://locate.covd.org ; you can search by country.

 

I'd characterize your search as looking for a COVD developmental optometrist rather than a vision therapist (who would be an employee of the optometrist).  A COVD optometrist is an optometrist but with extra training who usually runs a VT program in addition to having a regular optometry practice.  They may not be as hard to find as you think.

Edited January 31, 2017 by wapiti

[mrskturner]

Just waking up here in Japan and you ladies are phenomenal!!! I can not thank you enough for all of your advice, suggestions, and wisdom!  We are diving into our homeschool day now, but I will write back as soon as I get a chance. Thank you all so much! 

[katilac]

 I still feel like there should be a high school level book assigned once a month and discussed.  Is this expecting too much of her? Do I cut out the 1 hour of free reading to accommodate for the required high school level reading? Will that kill any love for reading she has? 

 

 She also has no idea what she wants to do with her life after graduating. Is that normal? Like not a  clue.  My boys are 8 and 14 and are always dreaming of future careers of being an engineer, zoologist/marine biologist.  

 

 If I make it a part of school, she no longer finds joy in it.  I am stumped by this, because the boys love for me to incorporate their passions in with their school assignments.  

 

 

 

I snipped this down to just three parts I want to address. I haven't read all the responses yet, so I apologize if you have given additional info that should be taken into account. 

 

The reading: This could go either way for sure. If she uses and, more importantly, enjoys her free reading time, then I would be very hesitant to make changes here (with this particular student). Instead, I would introduce discussion and analysis with much briefer works such as short stories, short essays, and poetry. Do this reading together, do the discussing together (well, obviously, lol), and do any analysis together. 

 

No life plans at 16: totally normal and quite common. My 16-yr-old's longest term plan consists of going to college, because it sounds better than working full-time. 

 

Turning fun into school: again, totally normal and quite common not to like this, I think even more so with something so deeply personal as writing. My kids both like to write. They have written on their own, and also done challenges like NaNoWriMo several times. They read each other's work but very rarely allow me to read it, lol. They absolutely did not want it to be part of school, in the sense of being required, turned in, and graded. What I did do was "count it" as part of their overall school writing - they did tons of assignments that were "official" and reviewed, so I had no problem labelling it "free writing" and tossing it into their hours. 

[ElizabethB]

Here is a book you can order that has vision therapy exercises.  Any that are hard are what you need to work on!  

 

https://www.amazon.com/Developing-Ocular-Visual-Perceptual-Skills/dp/1556425953/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1486849669&sr=8-13&keywords=vision+therapy

 

She can watch my online phonics lessons and work through this to improve her reading grade level if she is reading below 12th grade level:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/phonicslsnslinks.html

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

 

Let her do her creativity on her own and just count it later as school without telling her it is school!!  For some creative people, being forced to do something sucks all the joy out of it.  Make it independent study writing or art or whatever she ended up doing, and give appropriate amount of credit for time spent, 1/2 credit or 1 credit depending on hours worked.  

 

Here is an ESL comprehension resource from a friend/mentor of Don Potter, he also used it for non ESL students who needed explicit help in that area, it is in both English and Spanish, keep scrolling through if it switches to Spanish:

 

http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/gonzalez_materials.pdf

 

I found these helpful for my daughter who struggled with inference, we skipped to level 2 and some of the early exercises even in the level 2 book, but they all looked good, she just didn't need the first few books or the first bit of book 2:

 

https://classicalacademicpress.com/subject/reasoning-reading/

 

Also, try to figure out what the challenge is--underlying specific vocabulary of the subject, problem with inference, problem with long sentences where you have to figure out the use of "but" or "and" or things like that, then isolate and work on problem area.