Tokyomarie
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Posts posted by Tokyomarie
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The physical act of handwriting requires that a student have good core strength & postural control and, interestingly, good development of proximal muscles of the arm- ie good control of the muscles around the shoulder and the elbow, not just the wrist and fingers. I think it would be a wonderful idea to have an assessment with an OT who will look not just at the hand and fine motor tasks but also development through the trunk and shoulder.
It might be a little early to re-assess areas that were already tested in Grade 2. Usually, psycho-educational re-assessments are done about every 3 years in the schools. What is the learning center seeing in the way of behaviors that makes the instructor suggest meds? One what basis was your son diagnosed ADHD inattentive? If it was just based on parent and teacher questionnaires you might talk with your primary care physician about having some other measures that could substantiate the ADHD diagnosis before trying meds, such as might be done in a full neuropsychological assessment.
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I guess what I'm thinking of, other than audiobooks, reading aloud to her, and appropriate educational videos is educational software. Since my son has gotten past the elementary age programs, I'm not sure of what is all out there for that age range. My son used the Jump Start and Reader Rabbit type software which added to regular curriculum. Homeschool Buyers Co-op's specialty is group buys for educational materials, mainly online and CD/DVD software.
Are there specific subjects/topics that you want to know about?
You say it's a long story about not yet having a diagnosis for the reading and writing difficulties. Are you pursuing any avenues to get evaluations done? Honestly, at this age, your number one priority should be to have a plan in place for remediating the written language difficulties. It sounds like you've already accommodated her well in content areas- maybe there are things you want to tweak- but what are you doing at this point to deal with the weaknesses? I say this as one who is trying to read between your lines but not make too many assumptions. I have been there on the "long story" comments. It took me 6-7 years beyond the point at which I knew we needed professional help to actually get to the point of getting help. My number one regret in parenting that child is that I didn't make it my number one priority to make sure the child got professional evaluations and proper identification. There are difficulties we could have prevented had I put on my big girl panties and advocated, even though it would have caused short-term problems for me.
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Innisfree,
I want to encourage you and say that it sounds like you've done some really clear thinking and have worked hard to figure out how best to meet your children's needs. Bravo!!!
You haven't yet gotten to where you want to be, but you've tried some potential solutions that haven't been effective. That can feel like failure, but in reality what you've tried gives you data points on what isn't helping either at all or not enough. Another challenge is, as you might have already heard or read, that solving the puzzle of a complex child is like peeling an onion. Even when you find something that helps, it's rarely the only thing that needs to be done. Peeling one layer of the onion can allow other issues to come to the front. The other cliché statement is that raising these kids is a marathon, not a sprint. Now that I am (mostly) on the other side of raising my complex children, I can say that it is really true.
Younger wasn't a discipline problem, but also wasn't receiving any extra help to sort out her LD or behavior issues. Because the teacher couldn't see any behavior issues, she objected to dd being pulled from class for therapy, and gossiped about dd with other teachers, who then spoke about it to dd, leading to meltdowns at home. Because dd was trying to hold things together at school, she'd come home every day and melt down. Because she was not failing, the school didn't think there were LD issues that needed addressing. If I can get appropriate diagnoses and work out an IED, I could perhaps improve this situation, but dd strongly objects to the idea of going back.
This is exactly why I threw out what seems to be a counter-intuitive solution: putting the older child in school so you can focus one-on-one with the younger. I see that there are considerations that make that choice not ideal, which complicates the matter. I see your dilemma. I will say that my son didn't begin to make some of his best progress until his next older sibling left home for college (she is much older than he). They had a dynamic going on that was cute on the surface but unhealthy as far as helping ds become a more competent, engaged, mature learner. When she left home, that all changed and made it easier to work on some of ds's behaviors.
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Finally, there is also the option of putting your younger DD back in school and continuing to homeschool the older. Younger would keep learning, you'd have the time to focus on her the older one needs, and you can focus on behavior/support with the younger when she gets home.
Another thought, which is similar to the direction we went for a time: Put the older, better functioning daughter in school. If she was thriving in the ps school setting before, she likely will be just fine again. This will give you the ability to give undivided attention to the younger child who needs to build better relational, coping, and educational skills.
Another thought, for sometime after you've gotten through some evaluations, is to hire an educational therapist- someone who is skilled at helping children build cognitive, language, and academic skills but is also well trained in helping children work through the emotional barriers to positive learning and family life. When my son was 15yo and we had just gotten through his neuropsych eval, we were referred out for remediation in reading and writing. The referrals were to some highly qualified people who knew how to work with a highly resistant student. They were people who appreciated the benefits that homeschooling can offer and worked with my to support my work with my son.
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Have the therapists given any indication of what they think is driving the behavior? Until you get at what's driving the behavior, you can't budge it much. You can blame the kid, "He's just a discipline problem" and try to punish it away. You can try to medicate it away, and end up trying multiple medications as you grasp at straws to see which med works when you don't know what's behind the behavior. You need professionals who don't jump to conclusions quickly, but work to get to know the child to see what really makes him tick. You don't have to answer publicly that first question unless you're looking for some feedback on their hypotheses. It's more to make you think as you try to figure out where to go from here. In our case, I tried the "punish it away" approach- with no intentions of being harsh in my punishment, but sometimes because of the level of resistance it ended up being harsher than I wished. I can't tell you how many different "punishment that still respects the kid" approaches I tried that all failed. We never tried the medication route, in part because we never tried the "working with a professional" route for dealing with ds's behavior and learning issues until he was in high school. Sometimes meds are absolutely necessary before progress can be made with changing behavior, but I believe they should only be given after there has been careful analysis of what is likely driving the behavior.
Here are some other random thoughts:
Do, do, do read both Ross Greene's work and Howard Glasser's work. They both have long experience working with kids who exhibit exceedingly challenging behaviors. From years of reading message boards dedicated to special needs kids, especially bright special needs kids and homeschooling special needs kids, Ross Greene's name pops up over and over. One of his mantras is "Kids Do Well If They Can." When they are not doing well, we need to do some careful analysis as to why. I have read his Lost at School book and found it quite helpful. The Nurtured Heart Approach is what really helped me learn how to break through the passive resistance. I was even looking for therapists using the Nurtured Heart Approach and never had to follow through on it because applying what I learned in the book so dramatically changed my interaction with my son.
You might even decide to read both books before seeking another therapist, even if that means going a short time without therapy. It will change your perspective on what you need in a therapist that much. I am amending my post above to include the websites of both of these approaches to working with behavior.
In rereading your original post, what pops out at me is the language based difficulty. You might consider getting an evaluation with a SLP whose practice is mainly focused on language processing difficulties. One of my daughters was first evaluated when she was 9.5yo, by both a psychologist who did a psychoeducational eval and a SLP who did a language evaluation. This child's difficulties were subtle enough that I kept putting it off, even though I had concerns since she was 2.5yo. She was "getting by" in school, and to casual observers seemed to be just fine. In fact, she was bilingual and was "getting by" going to school in her second language. But I knew she really wasn't "just fine." Sure enough, the evals picked up that she was 1-1.5yrs behind her age mates in certain language skills while having extremely strong visual-spatial abilities that were significantly ahead of her age mates. With therapy for language and auditory processing difficulties and a home-ed program that focused on building up her weak language areas, her negative behaviors gradually began to fade away.
When looking for a neuropsychologist, look for someone who uses terminology like "understanding a child's strengths and weaknesses," "finding islands of competence," "helping a child to build resilience," etc. The more we can tap into what helps a child to feel competent, the better we will be at helping her to lose the negative behaviors.
I wish you well as you continue to try to solve the puzzle of your child and figure out what will help her blossom and become an engaged learner and a loving family member.
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I would encourage you to not wait on a learning disabilities evaluation. It is highly possible that one major factor in your daughter's mood issues is the presence of a learning disability. When children are aware somehow that they learn differently or that their performance doesn't meet their expectations or the expectations of the adults who work with them but they can't seem to figure out how to do better, they act out. Younger children don't have the perspective of life experience to understand or the language to express what they are experiencing, so they act out. They get stubborn and actively or passively resistant. They melt down and shut down.
Getting a full neuropsychological evaluation with a neuropsych who is highly experienced with children who have a variety of learning and behavioral issues can help you better understand how your daughter learns- both her strengths and her weaknesses. If significant learning weaknesses are identified, a good neuropsych can give you recommendations for local resources to help you get past those roadblocks. A good neuropsych has tools for conducting the evaluation in such a way as to get the best possible performance out of a child. The child may not always score in a way that demonstrates their highest potential, but the evaluator will usually be able to gather data from a large enough list of tests that some good conclusions can be drawn.
Here are a couple of names/resources for you to consider for tools in working with children who exhibit challenging behaviors:
Ross Greene: The Explosive Child and Lost at School
Greene's website: Lives in the Balance
Howard Glasser: Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach
Glasser's website: The Nurtured Heart Approach
ETA: added website links
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MyLittleBears, it took me a long time to get over the possibility of labels that would have negative consequences for future education or employment. One thing to note is that the information generated is protected medical information. There are only certain conditions under which is can be disclosed without the individual's (or parents for a minor) permission. As others have noted, it can sometimes negatively affect future insurance coverage, but this has changed to some degree over the last decade or so and, I believe will continue to change as we deal with how pre-existing conditions are handled in this country.
In the end, I had to realize that it was better to get help for my child than to allow him to continue to languish. And that decision has paid off. I got connected to resources that helped us get past some roadblocks to learning that we were experiencing and helped to set my child on the path to educational success.
What was most helpful was that in relatively objective terms, I learned about both my child's learning strengths and learning weaknesses. That made it easier to leverage his strengths to help him learn content while attending to the weaknesses to build up those skills.
Just to clarify. I am trying to get a neuropsych evaluation for my 12yr old dyslexic. He has a really hard time with math, getting school done in a timely fashion, and I believe, processing speed and working memory. I suspect auditory processing. Anyway, it is long overdue. I called an office that deals with such issues like ADHD but also deals with other types of psychological problems: the kind that can label you for life. They told me that they will not call things "learning disabilities" because insurance won't cover them. If I go ahead with this, am I essentially having my child labeled with issues that will follow him through life? Like say, not being able to get a hunting license when he is older? I really need some good advice. :sad:
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Psychs vary quite a bit. If you think it's dyslexia, find someone who deals with a lot of dyslexia. Your state dyslexia association will likely have some docs on the board, or you can see who is doing public speaking in your state on dyslexia. But there are a fair chunk of kids who you think are going to get a dyslexia label who get a different label. The online information you read is not correct and doesn't reflect the DSM (diagnostic code manual).
Please be careful, Elizabeth, about painting all online information with a broad negative brush. As with other topics, there are online sources that contain blatantly inaccurate information. That's the nature of the internet beast. But there are also sources that have solid, well-reasoned, and well-written explanations of dyslexia- as there are for any topic one might write about. It is important to choose one's sources wisely and also to consult multiple sources.
While for insurance purposes, diagnoses that are made by mental health providers, including those for developmental and learning disabilities, must conform to the DSM-IV (soon to be DSM-V) criteria, it's also important to remember that interpretation of the criteria is informed by research and writing by experts on particular disorders. Good clinicians keep up with recent developments which help them to decide whether to assign a diagnosis when there is lack of clarity in the evaluation. It is also true that experts can and do disagree on interpretation. This is why a child might get a different diagnosis from two perfectly competent clinicians.
The research on dyslexia is constantly evolving. The new DSM-V will have the diagnosis "Specific Learning Disorder," which combines Reading Disorder, Mathematics Disorder, Written Expression Disorder, and Learning Disorder NOS, because of the recognition that learning difficulties in all of these areas often co-exist. Apparently, somewhere in the description, the word "dyslexia" will appear to acknowledge that it is an internationally used word to describe certain reading deficits.
The trouble remains, however, that some experts narrowly confine the use of the word "dyslexia" to describe reading deficits, while others recognize (rightly, IMO) that dyslexia is really a constellation of characteristics that affect not only reading, but math, written expression, and other functions, including executive functions.
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My mantra would be, "My child has already had "x" number of years with zero therapy or help of any kind. He IS ALREADY at the point where he cannot function in school and in life skills because of his neurological condition. We have already waited way too long for help. Now that he is finally in therapy, we are not willing to keep him from making progress in his ability to develop skills necessary for becoming a fully functioning adult due to your short-sightedness regarding payments. Or something to that effect. This is the story I finally gave to our insurance company several times over when they tried to renege on paying for our son's evaluations. I emphasized that his difficulties did not impact only school, but also life skills and that his ability to hold a job and become a contributing member of adult society in the future depended on his getting help NOW. By the time I told the story about 3 or 4 times, our case finally got kicked into a higher level review process and payment was approved.
I have also had success in getting payment approved (in this case, for my own care) by having the physician in charge write a letter of justification.
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Andrea, sending you hugs. Be gentle with yourself. You are taking the first step to get help. You have experience with ADHD and meds. I'm sure it's hard to come to grips with the idea that yet another child may need meds. But it sounds like he needs help in order to get to where he can negotiate social situations safely. It would be so much better for him to get whatever help he needs now, before other kids learn to avoid him due to his behaviors.
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I'm not much of a home party sales type person, but I attended one Silpada party because I was thinking of getting some new jewelry, so the timing was good. I have truly enjoyed the pieces I purchased- a pair of earrings and a necklace. I am so sad because I lost one of the earrings last week and I really, really liked that pair. The necklace is one of the 3 or so that I rotate for daily wear.
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Had 9yo evaluated by a Wilson specialist b/c of spelling issues and occasional reversals. Reading has been a struggle in the past, but has really taken off over the last few months. Writing continues to be a struggle, partly b/c of spelling. The evaluation I was given has child several grades ahead in reading, yet a dx of dyslexia was made. I agree with this based on multiple other symptoms (though may be partially a right brain issue, too), but am unsure how to help my child since most of the programs have such a heavy reading focus. The Wilson specialist will be nearly $8K by the time the set number of sessions are complete, so I'd like to try to do this at home and keep most of those greenbacks! I've read the threads comparing Barton and Wilson, but not sure if a solid reader still starts at the beginning. Appreciate any thoughts.
I agree with some of the things that others have said, but not completely- especially as regards the value of the private tutoring.
Assuming that the tutor plans to see your child 2x/week, 18mo of tutoring would work out to an average of $50/hr. This is totally in line with the typical charge for this type of tutoring. If she were asking you to pay $8K up front, I would run like the wind to a far away place. But assuming that she charges on a per session or monthly basis, it would not be unreasonable to commit on a month by month basis. In my mind, I always commit to something for a minimum of 3 months- it takes 2-3 months to establish a relationship with a new teacher or therapist and begin to see some fruit from the effort.
We have hired professionals for our children with language-based learning difficulties, including an O-G tutor for my son when he was in 9th grade and still could not spell beyond a 2nd grade level despite everything I tried at home. This person was trained in multiple methodologies and had the ability to adapt her teaching to his specific needs. Yes, it was expensive! By the time we got to this point, I was desperate, however, and every penny spent was worth it.
That said, here are some things I would consider in my decision:
1) What are this person's qualifications, other than having taken the Wilson training class? What is her degree? How many years experience does she have working as a tutor? Does she take part in any professional activities or conferences that help her further develop her skills and network with others in the field?
2) What actual tests did she do and how did she come to a conclusion that your child is dyslexic? She may be absolutely correct, but as others have said, unless she is a fully qualified psychologist or, possibly, a speech/language pathologist, she doesn't have the qualifications to actually make a diagnosis that schools and colleges will recognize. She may well be fully qualified in her realm to test for current skill levels and use those tests to plan intervention. That's different from making a diagnosis.
3) On the COVD: over the years, some COVDs have marketed their services in such a way that they have made claims that their vision therapy can "cure dyslexia." This has made neuropsychologists and dyslexia professionals wary of vision therapy because true dyslexia is a language-based learning difference and training the eyes does not change the way the brain processes language. The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued a position statement about vision therapy that includes this statement:
"Scientific evidence does not support the efficacy of eye exercises, behavioral vision therapy, or special tinted filters or lenses for improving the long-term educational performance in these complex pediatric neurocognitive conditions. Diagnostic and treatment approaches that lack scientific evidence of efficacy, including eye exercises, behavioral vision therapy, or special tinted filters or lenses, are not endorsed and should not be recommended."
This is why many professionals in the learning disabilities field do not recognize vision therapy as a valid intervention for learning difficulties. HOWEVER, my opinion, based on years of reading message boards like this, is that many children with language-based learning differences ALSO have difficulties with visual function, including convergence insufficiency. Those students frequently do not make progress with evidence-based methods for teaching reading (based on Orton-Gillingham principles) until they have had therapy to improve the way their eyes function as they try to read.
In our family, one child with language-based LD (probably should have a dyslexia diagnosis based on her history, family history, and educational trajectory) does not and never did have difficulties with visual function. In fact, her visual function in all areas is exceptional. But her brother, who has a dyslexia/reading disorder diagnosis does have documented difficulties with tracking, accommodation, and visual-motor integration. Unfortunately, he didn't get fully tested until he was 15yo and at that point he was resistant to vision therapy. We had to pick our battles and I went with O-G tutoring and therapy for the language-based difficulties related to the writing process.
There are a couple of ways you can go from here. It is perfectly reasonable to get a developmental vision evaluation from a COVD. It adds data to the pot and will help you understand your child's situation better. Assuming that the Wilson tutor's qualifications are more as a tutor or possibly as a certified teacher turned tutor, I would think about further testing to confirm her conclusions and expand the information you have about your child's function.
On this board, we often recommend a neuropsychological evaluation. These are very expensive (ave. $3,000 in our area, I've seen lower figures posted on this board), and only inconsistently covered by insurance. Given that you don't mention your child having major difficulties with all aspects of school function, being depressed or anxious about his school or life performance, and/or having other major behavioral difficulties, it could be hard to convince your insurance company to cover the cost. Another direction you could go for next step testing is a speech/language pathologist (SLP) for a language and literacy evaluation. Many SLP's are not trained in the area of evaluating literacy, but those who are can evaluate both oral and written language skills. This type of evaluation is often more in the $500-$600 range. This can help fill in the picture in a way that a neuropsych consult often does not.
For great information on all things dyslexia, check out this website: DyslexiaHelp. Also check out the website of the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). Other than the fact that both of these organizations are not as positive about vision therapy as most of the posters to this board, these two websites have some of the best information on dyslexia evaluation and therapy.
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Your daughter has missed out on so many developmental experiences. Right now, the best thing you can do is meet her where she's at, however much support that requires. In time, as she moves back onto the developmental track in areas where she's struggling, it will get easier. It sounds like you are giving her a reasonable balance of challenge and support, since she is responding to your working one-on-one. Just be careful not to cram in work just because she needs credits. Think about using part of the summer to fit in some of the work- though summer is also a great time to work on life skills. If she is willing, it could be a good thing to give her an extra semester or extra year before graduating her. We did that with my daughter at home, and my son is doing something similar in school. Though he's taking CC classes, he still has the safety net of being a high school student living at home.
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I read about the problems with minerals, so my kids have been taking it at lunch (no dairy products). They are both taking zinc and magnesium just before bed along with probiotics (about 10 hours later). My 17yo hasn't had any problems at all, so I'm very happy about that, because she has tried everything to get her skin to clear up and nothing has worked. My 14yo just started having an issue recently, but she has such sensitive skin that she breaks out with most products, so the dermatologist thought going straight to an oral med would be best.
Was your 14yo taking zinc and magnesium before she started taking doxy? Or did she start that around the same time? Zinc is also well known for causing stomach upset if not taken with food. It's guaranteed to make me throw up if I take it on an empty stomach.
I am not on doxy now, but I have been on it at times. I never take it on a completely empty stomach, despite the instructions.
If it's prescribed for more than once a day, you could try a few days w/o the med and then try it again at a lower dose and working up. This has worked well for others who need to be on it for longer than 10 days but have had a difficult time tolerating it. But it might be good to just give the doc's office a call and ask his/her advice.
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It looks like you still need some important measures of literacy development. Angie suggested the CTOPP. This one tests phonemic awareness and rapid naming skills which are two foundation-level skills necessary for reading development. Other tests should measure specific decoding/encoding skills (sounding out word and spelling), reading fluency (a combination of reading rate and accuracy), vocabulary, and comprehension. It's good to get some measures of oral language function, to see if there is a discrepancy between oral and written language. The value of an IQ test in testing for dyslexia is mainly to make sure there isn't in intellectual disability that is interfering with developing reading skills. The WJ-III achievement tests are valuable, but they only go so far in evaluating literacy.
For more information about what constitutes a complete language and literacy evaluation see the DyslexiaHelp website, which is sponsored by University of Michigan. Read the sections on testing for dyslexia. But the whole website is a goldmine of helpful information.
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How old is your son? Which tests did they do?
As for intervention, VT is a quite reasonable step to take and I would give it some time before you start thinking ahead to what's next beyond that. It will give you a feel for how much of his difficulties are related to the convergence insufficiency.
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The question of how colleges handle CC credits really varies. However, it should be the case in almost all colleges that CC credits earned *while a student is still in high school* do not affect their status as a freshman admit. As long as a student has not been declared a high school graduate, they can take CC classes and still apply to colleges for freshman admission. Being able to apply for freshman admission is important to some students for two reasons:
a) greater availability of merit scholarships for freshman students than for transfer students (helps bright student from families who do not qualify for financial aid, yet are not rich enough to fund the total sticker price for college)
b)some highly elite schools take almost no transfer students, yet will take students who have CC credits earned while still in high school
The question of keeping freshman status for the admission process is separate from the question of how those credits are handled once the student has enrolled. Every school seems to have its own permutation of policies on this count. Many, if not most elite schools, do not accept CC credits to apply toward their degrees. Most in-state schools have some sort of transfer agreement that defines which CC credits they accept and how they apply to specific courses. In this case, the student tends to get more credit applied toward the degree when they are enrolling in an in-state public university and trying to get credit for their CC coursework. There are lots of in between scenarios.
Why take CC courses if they won't transfer or apply to the specific degree program? I look at CC coursework in a similar manner to AP coursework. For homeschoolers, it demonstrates to colleges that students have/can make the transition to college classroom style education and can handle college coursework. Even if my son ultimately doesn't get credit toward his degree for a lot of the courses he's taking in the CC (and he may not for many of his IT courses), he is still learning critical skills for managing the college environment.
The answer to the question of which students *should* do CC and which ones are better served going directly from homeschooling or traditional high school into a 4 year college ends up being quite individual. The student's personality, the depth of their disability(ies), their personal advocacy skills, the quality of disability services at the four year college, and specific program issues all enter into the equation. What I have observed is that students who have mental health conditions that are not truly stable and students who cannot yet independently advocate for themselves are both at high risk for doing poorly when they go directly into a four year college from homeschooling or traditional high school classrooms. I'm following a couple of stories now (IRL and online) where the student did not have the amount of support on campus that *they* needed to be successful. When they went home and regrouped, getting more support in place, they were able to enter CC and are gradually learning the skills needed for college success.
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Thanks, Marie! That's great that he has been able to take math at a local college. Tabletclass looks interesting. He would benefit from a course that relies on video instruction rather than his own reading. Would you recommend Tabletclass as it is, without the extra tutoring your DS received?
I think it would have worked fine without the tutoring. The main benefit of tutoring for my son at that point was having someone who is a math teacher give him positive, "You are a good math student" vibes. Ds, in spite of his math potential had come to see himself as deficient because of his struggles in bridging the gap between basic calculation algorithms and the logical sequential aspects of problem solving multi-step problems.
The curriculum is meant to be a complete curriculum. I printed lots and lots of worksheets- all the problems are done on paper, which the instruction is on video/whiteboard. One thing I wished I had done when ds was in middle school was to stay away from conversations here on WTM about certain programs not being rigorous enough. That kept me from finding the program that fit my son's learning style because I kept trying to fit him to the program rather than finding the program that fit him right where he was at that moment.
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I know what you mean about minds working differently! My oldest daughter's mind is similar to mine. She was easy to teach! My other two children's and my husband's minds work differently. Teaching my kids and relating to my husband has taken all the patience I could muster and more.
Check out Hoagies Gifted for information on all things related to giftedness, including issues twice exceptional children and their parents face. Under "Parents," click on "Special Needs" and that will take you where you can read to your heart's content.
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My son entered a charter school program in 11th grade where he spent one semester in high school classes, then began to transition to CC classes. He was just shy of 17yo when he started. This is his 2nd year in the program. He'll graduate in spring of 2014. It was good for him to transition into college this way, because he is still living at home and I can oversee the process and keep track of what is happening. He needed a lot of assistance at first, navigating the demands of the schedule, keeping track of the syllabus, etc. He also needed a lot of help with his writing and handling his math homework. As time has gone on, he has become more confident and is needing less and less assistance. I still peek over his shoulder, as it were, to make sure he's not missing anything. By the time he gets to his four year college, the next major hurdles will be navigating life away from home and, depending on where he goes, maybe a bump up in academic intensity.
One advantage of starting at CC can be that student disability offices tend to be quite friendly towards helping students work out accommodations and other issues. At least the office at our CC is quite amenable to assisting students. Even so, another thing that has been helpful is that schedules tend to be structured in such a way and instructors manage their testing in such a way that ds hasn't actually had to get letters of accommodation for his classes, even though he is approved. Tests are often given untimed in the testing center. Even in class tests are not so difficult to complete because class sessions are longer at the CC and meet less frequently than classes on a residential campus. On test days, students have plenty of time to finish the test. As for note taking, ds is approved to use any assistive device he wishes to capture lecture information. However, because his teachers usually allow laptops as long as the privilege not abused, he hasn't had to ask for a letter of accommodation to be permitted to use one.
I should mention that we made our decisions regarding CC classes based on ds's ability to apply later to a four year school in the freshman admission category, rather than as a transfer student. This is the case for the program he is in. Our daughters took CC classes at age 17-18 as dual-enrolled high school students while homeschooling their senior year.
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2E kids, by definition, have scores that are all over the map, but will have at least a few scores- on IQ and/or achievement subtests that are in the gifted range. What sometimes happens for these kids in a classroom is that they get seen as rather average, but people who work with these students one-on-one see the highs and the lows. Sometimes, the school sees either the highs or the lows and appropriately identifies the giftedness or the disability, but misses the other. So it really varies.
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Unfortunately all of the Providers listed on their site are Northern VA or Richmond. At least 2 hours away minimum, and many of them are LearningRx just like I took her to today.
Hmmm, a two hour trip won't do for regular tutoring work. I would still ask around to see what you can find for private providers.
As for testing, I agree with casting your net a little wider for a good neuropsych. With the testing that you have in hand, at least you know there is something going on and can be more confident when you talk on the phone to the next person about your needs.
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Thanks, Marie! I remember that one of your kids is severely dyslexic/dysgraphic and also excellent in math (not sure if it's this DS). It's encouraging to hear how he is doing in Calculus! Sometimes I think my DS is just getting bogged down in the arithmetic, but then sometimes it seems like he's missing the whole concept. He also has difficulty expressing his thoughts to me, so sometimes the problem is more in our communication. I do feel like we need a fresh approach/ change of pace. Can I ask what you used for the rest of his math sequence?
Do you really want to know?? I'm not sure it's a model for best practices in math! :p
When we hit the wall in Singapore, I signed ds up for ALEKS. That was both easier and harder. The easier part was that he didn't have to do oodles of problems on a concept he knew in order to get that part of his "pie" filled. The hard part was that ds is a strong auditory learner and ALEKS has no sound. Even though he could read the problems, it was like his eyes glazed over to see all the symbols and words on the page. I had to sit with him and read everything to him. Also, he has had major weaknesses in logical, sequential thinking. That was one of the issues with Singapore, because he had hit multi-step problems and was having difficulty forming a strong approach to problem-solving. ALEKS didn't solve that issue.
Then we left Singapore and worked through Keys to Algebra and Borenson's Hands On Equations while continuing with ALEKS Pre-algebra. The Keys to and Hands On Equations helped him make the leap to algebraic thinking.
After that, we found an online program called TabletClass Math. It's a similar idea to Teaching Textbooks. TabletClass was fairly new at the time we started and Homeschool Buyers Co-op was offering a reduced price. Ds ended up doing Algebra I, Algebra II, and I think parts of Geometry (he more or less did Jacob's Geometry in a co-op class but needed more work on it). What finally got ds over the hump was that John Zimmerman, the teacher for TabletClass, took him on as a tutorial student. I don't think he does this now, but back when ds was doing it, Mr. Zimmerman was offering online/phone tutoring to a small number of students.
Ds finished TabletClass Algebra II just before he enrolled in a charter school/middle college program. The program had him repeat Algebra II in one semester to help him gain confidence and get used to doing math in a classroom setting. Since then he has taken all his math at the community college. He took two semesters of College Algebra/Pre-calculus, which covers Larson's Precalculus with Limits.
At this point, ds still makes clerical errors with some regularity, but his logical, sequential thinking is stronger so he no longer has the same difficulties with problem-solving that he had when he was 10-12. His current teacher uses a very conceptual teaching style, and presents information in as multi-sensory a way as you can for college level math. This has really, really helped ds gain confidence in his math ability.
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It's clear that your daughter has, at the least, somewhat high average/above average reasoning ability and visual processing abilities. Memory, auditory processing, and reading decoding are clear major weaknesses. Those are all indicators that your daughter's challenges do not stem from lack of adequate exposure to academic curriculum. Shame on that neuropsych for even suggesting that before he had any data on which to build a hypothesis, other than that you homeschool.
Given her scores and her age, I would not mess around trying to devise her therapy program by yourself. Other professional options to consider:
1) a language and literacy or learning disabilities clinic associated with a major university, if you live near enough to one. If you have a university or college that offers graduate level special ed degrees, even if they don't have a clinic, they may be able to refer you to a student who needs hours of working with a child.
2) Go to the International Dyslexia Association website and look under the "Find a Provider" tab to get a list of professionals in your area.
3)Ask anyone and everyone you know for names of reading tutors, preferably with O-G training, who work privately.
Private tutors are often more willing to negotiate the amount of time you spend with them. Depending on the personality and their understanding of home education, many are willing to collaborate with you to help you build the home program. If possible, the person you work with could be a SLP with not only background in auditory processing but literacy as well.
If I had known what I know now, I would never have tried to stumble along trying to just figure it out on my own with my son. We got to age 15 with him before we sought professional assistance- not of my own doing but the constraints I was under with "the powers that be" in our family. That is the saddest, most regrettable child raising error I have ever made. We ended up having to pay even more megabucks for professionals to help us improve the situation for our son.
signs of dyslexia
in The Learning Challenges Board
Posted
Kleine Hexe, I understand the weariness. I have two children with language-based learning challenges. What was really hard was that my younger dyslexic has been the harder by far to teach. Now that he is 18yo and doing well in his current school, I'm starting to breathe a sigh of relief.
As for what to do with your 4yo now? Lots of phonemic awareness activities: rhyming books, practice with hearing sounds- What sounds similar? Which one is different? Pulling words apart into their component sounds and putting them back together- all orally, without reference to print as yet. You could try Earobics and/or Hear Builder. I haven't used Hear Builder since it is fairly recent, but my son used Earobics when he was 4-7 years old (somewhere in there. I think we started around 4.5 or maybe early 5). How about making little books of pictures with the same initial sounds, rhyming sounds, and the like? Hopefully, that gives you a few ideas.