I would definitely ask. DH and I are reading Love Languages (just because everyone I know has read it and always talks about their love language so I wanted to know what the hoopla is about). Well, I love buying gifts. I love giving gifts..big, small, whatever. I get pleasre thinking about what to buy, going out and purchasing, wrapping it, anticipating how the recipient will receive it. The first few years we were married I always got DH one or two big gifts for his bday that I just knew he wanted and would love. He did like them but always complained that I had spent so much money on him. Well, after reading this book and taking a little test thing online, turns out that DH really, really likes getting lots of little gifts (and in that case cost would not be an issue) but really doesn't like getting one or two big things. (as an interesting aside, I scored 0 on the receiving gifts as one of my love languages. Although I adore buying them, I absolutely hate receiving them because the only way my dad would ever show his interest or I guess his affection was by buying us things at the last minute that were really not about us or even geared to our interests. I associate gfts with being "bought off". Causes huge issues for DH who wants to give me gifts. So I told him I would rather receive little surprise gifts at random times than a bunch of gifts or one/two big ones just because it is my bday or Christmas when you are "obliged" to get me something.)

I just ran into this issue tonight. I was sending out my cards and realized my eldest niece is doing an internship in a different province than her parents, but when it is over she will be moving back into their home. I believe she will be with them for Christmas, so I just went ahead and addressed the card to all of them. My kids are way too little for this to be an issue. My parents never signed our names to any Christmas cards anyway, she always just said "The LastNames".

We had a small wedding so bridesmaids and I walked down to Ave Maria. It was DH's mum's favourite song, and was played at both his mum and sister's funerals so it was a nod to them so they were there for the rest of his family. We walked out to Ode to Joy which is one of my favourite pieces. I really wanted to stick Ride of the Valyries in there somewhere but we both agreed it really wouldn't fit and might confuse people. We both just really love it.

I don't think the sound of a laptop would be distracting in the classroom. Each classroom has a desktop for students who need to use it and I know a little girl who is autistic in DS9's class uses the desktop to do most of her work. The school itself actually has no problem letting him use one, but worry that he needs to be able to handle the NAPLAN and Year 12 tests written and on time. The school ed. psych is trying to fit him in for a test before the 18th (which is our year end here in western aus) but she has thngs on her schedule until well into term one and even into term two next year. I need to see if he has any trouble typing on a laptop but I don't think he does. For the time being he may have to use my little Netbook when school starts up until we can save the money to get him his own. We have a bunch of "new baby" expenses coming up. The only issue I see with getting him his own laptop is that his siblings igh be a wee bit jealous.

I will ask again, but the OT, private ed.psych, school psych, and teacher all told me without a valid reason from a educational psych evaluation he would not be granted extra time. I also looked into the Alphasmart Neo and they are great priced....in the USA. Here in Australia they are almost $500 so may be better off just getting him his own laptop or something (can an Ipad have a keyboard?) The school is going to look into seeing if they can get a laptop for him for next year, but I think I might prefer to just have one that is his so he could have it all to himself and not have to share.

Saw the OT today and she finished her evaluation. His only real problem is his writing and particularly his writing speed (he is in the 1 percentile for speed for his age). In her report she will classify him as severely impaired writing speed due to fine motor dyspraxia. Once I get the report to the school (yikes another $165) they will allow him to use a computer in class to do longer assignments and he will be allowed to type longer assignments at home. However, the OT, the school, and I all agree that he does need to do some actual writing so that he improves his speed because he will not be allowed to have extra time on standardized tests. So, the school will allow him to use his special paper and pencils to help with that. The school is no longer talking about holding him back for the year, and will do an IEP for him for next year (starts Feb here). They may not be able to provide any special equipment for him (but his teacher is looking into it for me) and our salary is probably above the range where we qualify for any help from educational charities, so we may have to provide a laptop (or notetaker) and printer for him. All together, I am happy with the outcome. He feels better knowing that he has a fine motor problem and that it is something he can work on or around.

My boys love their Lalaloopsy boy dolls

I used to love Christmas. We are secular but it was always a special time of the year (we also did Hanukkah as most of my firends growing up were Jewish). However, it is an extremely hard time of year for my husband as his dad passed away on Christmas morning. I hate the commercialism and the expectations but I love the idea of family and celebration.

We never decorated unitl after my brothe's and my birthday and now we wait until after DS7"s b-day. We leave stuff up until usually January 6th. This year, we had to lave everything behind when we moved to Aus so not sure if we will decorate and if we do how much we will have.

I used to be hyper-organized before I had kids, to the point that people would tease me about it. Once I had kids it went all to heck. I really need to get back into it because I am much more productive and comfortable when my life is scheduled and organized.

He was diagnosed by an OT but I was assured by the school that he would not be able to qualify for any accommodations with his diagnosis. They told me that if he got an ed.psych eval and something showed up there, then he might be able to get more time to do standardized testing. I am going to ask the OT for her opinion on accommodations I may ask for or recommend when I see her on Tuesday. (personally I was surprised that he would not be allowed some accommodations like scribing or typing in school without the ed.psych eval too)

I am a natural speller and always have been. I don't recall learning why certain words are spelled certain ways, and I never learned any of the rules (like, if two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking). My kids are not natural spellers. They can memorize the lists they get at school but they want to learn the "whys" and "rules". Is AAS the best program for that or is there something else? Before they went to school we used Spelling Workout and they did fine with it but I don't think they actually learned why words were spelled the way they are.

Unfortunately, in western Australia, at least, he is not allowed any accommodations at school with a diagnosis of fine motor dyspraxia. His teacher did say that if I have a psychological evaluation done on him, and they discover that he has some clinical/brain reason for needing extra time or help that he would be given time when doing standardized tests. However, the psych test costs almost 800AUD to have done privately, and the school pyschologist works one day a week and booked up already into Term 2 next school year (so probably April sometime). I think I will still have it done to, as mentioned, create a paper trail, but not sure I can afford the private so will have to wait. I do not believe I am ever allowed to scribe for him. His OT says that part of his therapy is to write daily and she recommended we try it for a while before we turn to computers or scribing. I will ask her for more specifics when we see her on Tuesday. I am actually very pleased. Having the diagnosis seems to have alleviated some fear in DS9 and his teacher says his handwriting and phrasing has even improved a little in the few days since our evaluation ust using the special pencil grip the OT gave us, and also doing some of the tricks she taught us (like highlighting the area of the lined paper where the body of the letters is supposed to go, etc.) I am hopeful that the OT's belief that his problem is mild enough we will be able to learn to work around the difficulties quickly.

Oh I wish you guys had never mentioned Coursera!!! There are a ton of courses I want to take and so little time (and a pretty sucky internet connection right now).

Domino is just a brand. Love that we can get Pavlova at Woolies here. I'm kind of a dork....just spent my whole X-Mas card budget on buying Koala and Kangaroo-themed cards to send to family and friends around the world. Really wanted to find some kind of card with "six white boomers" but, alas, none were to be found. I fully expect my first aussie X-Mas experience to involve sand, salt water, extreme heat and white wine. Maybe a good case of sunburn to turn me rosey-cheeked. It is nice to be back somewhere where Christmas Crackers are easily and readily available in every store (missed that when I left Montreal), but seriously what is with purple and silver being the chosen X-mas colours, or is that just a WA thing?

There is actually one just about 10 mins away from us. Wouldn't the at home DVD require a piano at home? We do not have one but could probably get a keyboard.

Unfortunately, I don't think he is allowed to have a scribe at school or use a word processor. I will be talking to his teacher today but I am not sure what kind of accommodations they can make for him, especially as there is less than a month of school left before our 6-week summer break. Hopefully I will know more after the next OT session. Good to know that piano and a physical exercise help. She (the OT) suggested a music program here is Australia called "Simply Music" where they learn by ear first and then learn to read music, which she felt would be best for him.

Two different children. DS9 has convergence insufficiency and now has been diagnosed with mild fine motor dyspraxia. DS7 is the one who is ambidextrous. No his brain doesn't need to shut down but he needs to learn to keep his left hand from trying to get involved while his right hand is writing. At the moment, according to the test they did on him, his left hand keeps moving and gets in the way when he is doing things with his right hand, and vice versa. Both my father and I are ambidextrous so it is not something I am unfamiliar with.

Since this is my first time posting on this board I will give a little background: DS9 was diagnosed with Convergence Insufficiency when he was 7 2010. We were given exercises but he still had trouble reading. I spent most of my time just working on his reading. When we moved to Australia we saw a behavioural opthamologist who prescribed special bifocals for him, and his reading took off. We decided to let them try public school here and I was really worried that his reading was going to hold him back but it turns out he now reads at or above grade level, but slowly (which will improve with practice). His teachers are, however, very concerned about his handwriting and his ability to actually write (like letters, and stories, etc.). His main teacher asked that I have an OT assessment done because he can answer all their questions and do all his spelling audibly but as soon as he has to write it, he gets it completely wrong. Well, we went to the OT today and it turns out he has very mild fine motor dyspraxia. He is atypical because he actually has advanced gross motor skills and can trace wonderfully, colour, draw etc. She said he has fine motor issues and also issues with fine motor sequencing. Basically, his brain is spending so much time trying to get his hand to do the right thing, that there is just no "power" left to spell properly or write out proper sentences/paragraphs. She says he seems to be above average in intelligence and as his problem is mild it should be very easy to bring him up to level with some exercises and practice. We are scheduled to see her next week and the week after, and then the kids are on summer holiday for 6 weeks. So, I guess my question is, does anyone have any curriculum ideas or extra supplements that I can work with to help his fine motor coordination, his fine motor sequencing, etc. I think I will probably use All About Spelling once we get these problems in hand to help with his spelling. Recommendation for good writing/grammar programs? I have WWE and FLL but would those be the best options. His issue is also affceting his math ability because they work almost exclusively with word problems and those are an issue for him because of the sequencing. Looking forward to more fun OT stiff because DS7's teacher discovered that he is ambidextrous and does most things leftie, but write righty so his brain/body gets all confused and righty gets in the way while lefty is doing sports, and lefty tries to get involved while righty is writing. So, he needs to learn how to a) shut down the opposite side that isn't supposed to be working at the moment - so lefty has to stay out of it while he is writing; and, B) how to get both sides to work together rather than against each other doing tasks that require bilateral integration (like riding bikes and swimming). The OT suggested that DS9 (and she said DS7 too even though she hasn't done his assessent yet) would greatly benefit from piano or violing lessons to help with the fine motor control and sequencing; swimming lessons and dancing lessons to help with the sequencing issue but while using his excellent gross motor skills. Anyone else have a child with these issues? I don't want him to struggle because he gets so frustrated when he can't do something and he is really upset at the thought of maybe being held back a grade (which the OT and the child psych she asked me to confer with, and I all agree would be devastating to him).

We have dear friends whose DD is allergic to both dogs and cats. She tried coming to our house but it was just painful and uncomfortable for her so she would not come (stayed home with Dad). We actually had several friends like this, but she was the worst case. We tended to do a lot of ou parties outside so everyone could be inculded, but we understood that she just physically could not come to our house. It was never taken personally and if anything, I always felt horrible that she couldn't come.

I could be wrong, but I thought the original story I read said that she was in absoulte agony and spiked a realy high fever so she was given antibiotics. I thought she was in the hospital for days waiting for the heartbeat to stop and then as soon as it did, they gave her a D&C but she died the a few days after that so it wasn't caused by the surgery but rather something that happened right before she started miscarrying or during the miscarriage. I cannot even imagine the pain she must have been in. For her to die of scepticemia and multiple organ failure whatever it was must have been bad. As a practising dentist, she had the medical knowledge to know and understand what was happening to her body, too.

I'm sorry you won't be using the song. I am a fan of his and I always find his lyrics thought-provoking.

Ooops double post

Just in case you don't know much about his past, his mother has Munchausen by Proxy and used to abused him horribly. He had a horrific childhood and has been damaged deeply by it. His mom went on to make a song about him after he got famous because he didn't give her his money and I believe this was his response. She allowed him to be abused by a series of her boyfriends, also. Not to justify his lyrics which are harsh, but I think you need to understand where the artist comes from before you can truly analyze lyrics. To add to this, he was given custody of his younger half brother, he has full custody of his own daughter, the daughter his ex-wife had with another man, and also (I believe this may have been temporary) the daughter of his ex-wife's sister. It may be an interesting facet to interpret these lyrics against his real life past and his present to see how that has changed.

I read it as "walking" too and thought....finally someone else who will know my pain )okay it was cruising until 6 mos but it was awful). Yes, there is a growth spurt around then that will mess everything up in terms of night time schedules. DD5 nursed before she went to sleep, then before I went to sleep, then at 2am and again at 5am when we woke as her general rule, but from about 4mos to 6mos she was up every hour. DD3 just nursed all the time. Seriously, b00baholic.