It does sound familiar to fibro (which I have). The problem is that there are no definitive medical tests for fibro but there are medications, food and exercise choices that can help. Definitely seek out a dr's opinion and get the tests to rule out other things first. Good luck!

I got my Aspie son The Boys Body Book last year when he was 11. It doesn't talk about sex but does talk about things all boys deal with in puberty including erections, nocturnal emission, body hair, etc... He found it very interesting (and funny) and I feel like it helped. This is a book used by Sonlight - so expect an abstinence no sex until marriage attitude. http://www.amazon.com/Boys-Body-Book-Everything-Growing/dp/1933662743/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315185420&sr=1-1

Took a glance through this list and I don't think I would download any of these - YMMV. Free quality books (other than the classics) are hard to come by!

This sounds alot like what I'm doing with my three. I start all three off with bible/prayer, combine as much as I can to read history sometimes with map/coloring that they can do at the same time (this year I don't see my oldest "coloring" but he does like to draw at times). I get my older two (7th gr Aspie and 4th gr dyslexia) working on math - they know to do all that they can and save problems for me to work with them after I'm done with their brother...then I work with my youngest (K and not formally labeled - developmentally delayed and some verbal issues) A phonics lesson at another table or one of his other lessons... I hop back and forth alot...we do math, writing and language arts alternatively with the older two then when I have to do the more intensive work (history outlines, Latin) we do some focused one-on-one... I've been having my middle son go play with the youngest in one of their rooms so I can do some very focused higher level stuff with my oldest. It's a little scary - I try not to think too much about how overwhelming it all is, but I also have to agree with another poster who mentioned focusing on what is important in any given day and being willing and able to let the rest slide. That means that my house isn't as clean as I would like...I'm a bit behind on laundry and this year we aren't spending 45 mins 4x per week doing history. Everyone is working on their reading, writing, math and Latin...we will get in music, art appreciation and other as we can. :)

Same here - my 7th grader has great reading and comprehension skills but all writing is hard for him. This has been a great success so far this year - much easier than the IEW writing stuff we've tried in the past. I'm so relieved to have something easy to work through that explains outlining much better than I have been able to over the last two years. My son is a high functioning Aspie with fine motor and executive issues - still he is able to *almost* do this on his own. Woohoo!! :)

We are on year three with LfC. I'm learning latin along with my boys (and so grateful for the teaching DVD's and chant CD's!). The focus is on learning the conjugations and vocabulary but every chapter also includes identifying English derivatives and doing translations. I think it's a great program and should be something that you and both boys could learn together.

I'll be 40 next month and I still sometimes have to think about it. :) Reading over the dyslexia checklist in a previous post and realized that I fit the bill for most of that - still I have a college degree and am pretty successful overall. ;)

I am homeschooling my three boys, oldest has Aspergers. One of the common issues with Aspies is that they experience anxietym especially in groups and the added stress of the teasing and constant social interactions in a classroom really set my son off. Bringing him home allowed him to decompress and really focus on the issues he needed to focus on - some academic. some social. We ended up going to a local non-profit organization that offered Social Skills Groups, met once a week and had other kids in our son's age range that all struggled with social issues, there were several boys with Aspergers, some with ADD, some with OCD/anxiety. They all learned how to play games and interact with others in a safe environment. It was great - would recommend something like this to anyone. Good luck with finding the right set off curriculums and assistance for your son!

Well, looking back I can see that I spent the last few weeks of summer "break" actively avoiding thinking about "stuff" and that is obvious as the fear and feeling of being overwhelmed is evident in my last few threads. I'm feeling a bit better now that we have actually made it through two days of "half" school as we ease back into it. Today I called a local Speech Pathologist and got some information about getting a better diagnosis than just ADHD for my middle son (he clearly has some kind of dyslexia, dysgraphia and visual/audio processing deficit) and I found the form for my younger son to get an evaluation for developmental delay from the place that helped with my oldest (Aspie). So, onward and upward! I am not sure where we will get the funds but they are reasonable...roughly $400 and $300 for each child's evaluation and I think that it will be worth it to get a better handle on what they/we are dealing with. Thank you all for your encouragement and support!!

Did you do the IM yourself or have a therapist who worked with your girls?

I have suspected something visual, I know that at age nine he still flips numbers and letters and can't spell worth beans! He struggled with reading but going to slow classical methods and assigning easy chapter books he will now read for pleasure and seems to comprehend "okay". We are financially very tight and new programs probably aren't going to be possible - I remember researching some of those last year and seeing $$$$$. I comfort myself by knowing that he wouldn't receive any of those therapies at PS either - he was there for 4 years and they were pretty much wasted time. Editted to add: I'm so used to just being overwhelmed that I just shut down and didn't even take in your suggestion. I am sorry and I'm looking at the book at Amazon, going to shop around and see if I can find more info on the Dianne Kraft method. I feel so pressed for time (homeschooling three SN kids) but maybe he would benefit more from this kind of therapy even if his part of school didn't happen for a few weeks. This is where I wish I had tons of money so I could pay for all the therapies that I think would help my kiddos!

As I was reading your story I kept thinking how that resistance to change of any kind was one keystone of my oldest son as a child and even now to some degree. At the bottom you have him listed as an "Aspie" 5 year old, has he been "formally" diagnosed? Admittedly it is difficult with a young child. I'm sorry to hear that he had that kind of meltdown - it's really difficult especially when you are concerned that he is hurting himself or you and your new baby. Does the church school know about his diagnosis and are they working with you and making accomodations to help him? I find even now that I take alot of time explaining to my oldest son what to expect, what is appropriate reaction, how he should respond to myself and others when he is uncomfortable and generally giving him space to deal with his emotions. Even high functioning autism is a real challenge in managing every day life. All of the changes (school starting, new baby on the way) would be expected to cause outbursts from most children and even more from ones with Aspergers or ASD. Love and hugs to you both!

First day of fourth grade for my middle son - multiplication with large numbers is soooo challenging for him because he can't visually manage the long columns of numbers. Even with I use lined paper on its side, even when I draw lines to make it large graph paper. He just gets lost in the jumble. We are on the fourth time of doing one of the problems, he has been picking at math (8 multiplication problems) for about two hours now (attention problems too). I just want to bang my head against a concrete wall. I think that we may have to use some attention medicine...he can't go through life like this and neither can I. :sigh: Just wanted to complain, and I know alot of you have been here.

I think it's a great idea. I haven't had anyone dx my oldest with Asperger's as 2E, but I think that he would fit the bill. He is very intelligent, really unusual abilities and ideas that I am still just starting to see where his potential is. A subforum would be very welcome.

Thanks for the encouragement ladies. We are starting school in the morning (yes I should be in bed LOL but I'm setting up the table with the new notebooks to look nice) so I'm going to poke around and find the application for him to get an eval...at least I can know (more) what he is struggling with.

Thanks - and the above is why I finally decided that I really had no choice but to hs. I have the Out of Sync child and OoSC at Play - so I will pull those out and look for more ideas. It's all just really challenging, but it's good to see here that I'm not the only one hsing multiple sn kids. Thanks all!

We need a "Like" button. :D

Thank you Karen Anne for your response. After posting I went back to add that my oldest son has Asperger's and had all of these kinds of issues as well - the youngest has the sensory stuff (while my middle is hypersensitive) but I don't see the social anxiety type of issues and inability to read facial expressions like I did with my oldest. Regarding getting a dx for peace of mind - that is a very good argument. Re: therapies are more helpful the younger the child, truthfully I don't see how we could afford any therapy unless it was close to free. We filed bankruptcy earlier this year and are expecting to be foreclosed on in the near future. So, it's unlikely we can get any therapy. My experience in this county is that once the child is older than 3 years they refer you to their pre-school half day with supposed therapies in class - however, the therapy is basically non-existant. It was more like bad daycare in my experience. I have the form lying around somewhere to have him checked out at the non-prof clinic that did my older sons dx. /sigh

Hey all, I haven't been active lately and have honestly been dreading the start of this school year but I would appreciate a sounding board for this. I've posted about my boys before and basically have taken a wait and see approach with the youngest but I would appreciate some fresh eyes and feedback. Background: I have three sons, 12, 9 and 5 years old. The older two attended ps for a few years. The oldest had lots of problems there but initial evaluations only dx'd severe ADD. I had him evaluated at age three by the local free screening for delays. He was found within the low end of normal. Even on medication (Concerta) school became progressively more difficult socially (bullying/teasing) and then academically due to executive function skill problems (couldn't keep organized) until I pulled him out to hs in beginning of 4th grade. Editted to add: oldest finally dx'd with Asperger's last fall through a local agency, confirmed what I had known for 6 years. Middle son had communication problems - got tubes in his ears at age three (he tested to have expressive communication of a 9 month old at that point) and was placed in a special needs/language pre-k at the public school. He attended that school through 1st grade where he had an IEP for language and ADD and an aid in class. He wasn't reading well and his teachers seemed to think he was incapable of regular coursework. He is very socially aware and was playing them all. I realized that he wasn't being pushed to anywhere close to his potential and pulled him out. He now reads for pleasure and is doing grade level(ish) math work...still struggling with spelling words how he thinks they sound as well as reversing letters and numbers. Both boys struggle with sensory issues and fine motor skill issues. Along comes surprise baby #3 - he is more functional in many ways than his brothers were at his age but I don't think I have a good baseline comparison for "normal". At age five he struggles to dress himself, can't do zippers/buttons (admittedly I rarely dress him in those kinds of clothes because of our history of issues). He doesn't hold utensils well and is very messy while eating, prefers to feed himself with his fingers. He is very strong-willed, bossy and likes to get "physical" with his brothers, even though usually they don't want to wrestle - they aren't very physical. Also his speech is hard to understand..about half the time I have to have him repeat himself at least once...sometimes I still don't understand him. I did have his hearing checked with he was about 3 years old and he tested out fine. Part of me thinks that this is in the range of "normal" for a very boyish-boy who is used to having brothers talk for him, etc...that he hasn't been exposed to some things that would sharpen his skills because of being at home with mom for his whole life. I want to think that he will naturally gain skills and catch up in the next year or two. I'm pretty scared about starting him in kindergarten this year. I considered trying ps so that I could have more time to spend focused on teaching the older boys but I just know that it would be more drama and difficulty. I'm fairly convinced that he would immediately tagged as ADD and maybe more. We have only major medical insurance and that only offers a small percentage reduction in price. I can't afford expensive therapies and even expensive diagnosis is hard for us. What I'm trying to decide is if I should pursue a diagnosis through the non-profit agency that dx'd my oldest with Aspergers (about $300) or if I should just wait and see, maybe most of his stuff is normal... I just don't know what would be served by having him evaluated. Any words of advice? Having been through the ringer with my other sons I'm just mentally, emotionally and financially exhausted dealing with it all - the thought of going there again is more than I can take some days. Thanks -

I just updated most of our curriculum plans in my siggie. I didn't include the planned list of readers/read alouds (still organizing) and I am planning to include a "course" on poetry, continuing Child's Introduction to Poetry. My 12 year old has Asperger's, but high functioning - the 9 year old is dealing with ADHD and dyslexia and the 5 year old is unknown but delayed socially/emotionally and totally uninterested in school - should be interesting to see how he does in K this year!

My kids did Greek Code Cracker at the start of last year and enjoyed it for a while, they were 3rd and 6th grade at the time (immature though). We dropped it to get back into Latin (LfC doing Primer A and B currently). During his annual hs evaluation my oldest mentioned that he would like to learn Greek. I've talked to him and he is gungho about learning Greek and keeping up with the Latin. He is a bright 12 year old with Asperger's. He seems to have a knack for language, memorization and perhaps rhythm as it applies to sound. He learned to play the recorder last year and I've been shocked at how well he did, playing with rhythm and expression. He's asked to learn to play piano this year, we have a keyboard and a curriculum we will be starting this month. I mention this because I've heard/read that language and music skill/ability seem to have some connections and so I'm willing to go out on a limb to start with Greek. I have no Greek background other than GCC...but I'm good with language as well and I'm excited to start this year! Following this thread closely for suggestions for a 7th grader starting Koine Greek. :D

Kathy, Just wanted to say that I truly understand how you feel. I am an introvert too and sometimes feel that I can't cope. Currently my kids aren't involved in any outside activities other than weekly church...but I am struggling with guilt over that and reluctantly considering something for the younger two (my oldest as Asperger's and hates social stuff). While I agree we should do things for our kids the thing that they need the most is a healthy and happy Mom. Hang in there!

I started this last year - I was borderline breakdown after my first year of homeschooling two special needs kids plus a developmentally delayed 4 year old. Every afternoon 2 hours where they don't see a screen and don't talk to me or each other - they can read, play with any toys in their rooms, rest...just a break for me to either nap, watch a mindless tv show, read a book, catch up laundry, etc... it's a godsend!

This is what we used last year interspersed throughout the year - will finish it this year.

Struggling so much that I don't even know when we are going to start the next year! I finally got all my documents together for to get the eval for last year - so that's progress...but between my fibro (pain and fog), death in the family and serious financial pinch I can't even stand to look at the plans that I worked up a few months ago since I can't buy anything right now. We didn't finish everything from last year so I'm just planning for the boys to continue from there...but I don't know what to do with my new kindergartener. He wasn't much interested in preschool - had to be bribed to do the little bits of phonics and math we did last year...so continuing with the same thing isn't appealing to me. I've been toying with public school kindergarten, I would like to be able to focus more on my Aspie 7th grader and ADHD 4th grader...but there are so many drawbacks to school - just matching their schedule to start... /sigh