Just on general principles, dyslexics so often benefit from multisensory approaches that I would go for the letter tiles, particularly ones that have the vowels in a different color. Handling them, moving them around, helps learning. I see that in the Barton program a student is even supposed to use a particular hand to use the tiles. I know that is a solid program, so I don't argue with it. When I was a kid we had felt boards. The felt letters would stick to the felt board. We even cut our our own letters. (4 year olds can sometimes do that better than we can write. I remember doing it. And it you needed another copy of a letter, you could make your own! Even pick the colors for the letters in your name! Very empowering...) Multisensory is not just for dyslexics.

Your description contains several classic autism indicators. Your son is a carbon copy of my little brother, who came along before there was understanding of ASD and figured it out well for himself. Not everyone is as resilient as he is. Also, when he grew up, we as a society weren't so fixated on fitting people into standard slots. The Autism Spectrum is a spectrum, a very wide range. Figuring out what your son's needs are is huge. I am sorry I do not have book recommendations. There are so many out there. I love the Temple Grandin books, but they will not be direct help to you because her autism is much more severe (meaning that it was much harder for her and her mother to figure it out and for her to learn to succeed) and somewhat different from my brother's, or anyone else in my family. To me your description seems like a particular type of autism that is clearly hereditary and shared by many successful, famous, and happy people, but I'm not going to diagnose. In my family we now have three distinct autisms, and I can watch the inheritance patterns of all of them, my brother's over 5 generations. All of these people are wonderful people who were or are successful in life, and it has helped the younger ones to know that they are not alone and to have professionals work with them on understanding themselves and learning how to relate to others.

Thank you PeterPan!

Do you have comments on how/whether this program worked for you?

I am winnowing dyslexia programs to give my niece some advice on which ones she might want to consider. Two that look good to me so far are Barton and Pride. The family camps during the summer and doesn't have internet. The Pride program seems to be able to be done partly with booklets and cards, and the Barton program mentions DVD's. Do any of you have recommendations on these or other programs I should look in to? Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. I am all lined out now! I first followed (again) instructions I had gotten from ABEBooks, to go to an option on a certain page. They must have left something out because I could go to that page, but the option they said I should change was not on that page (or anywhere else I could find). However, knowing from you that *something* should work, I reconfirmed all of my account options (without changing anything) and that worked! I think sometimes computers just lose track of a bit of information and that messes them up...

For years I have ordered used books from ABEBooks, both for educational and personal use. They served a great purpose of getting used books and helping the used book stores sell books. Actually, something has happened to ABEBooks. They don't seem to list any American sellers any more. They list books that can be shipped to the USA from Canada and England. When I ask the company what happened, they give me information that does not answer my question. Do any of you have more information?

New user here, from Texas. I will probably have mostly questions or responses about books. I am not a home schooler, but I am a librarian and I buy a lot of children's books for relatives and friends.