I think you are making a very important point. That vision-related OT (or OT-related vision? :)) sounds fascinating. What kind of provider did that - OT or optometrist? VT is often different depending on the provider. I don't know whether there are a lot of standards - some optometrists like to do things one way (e.g. spend more time working with lenses) and some like to do things another way. For my dd's VT, about a quarter of the time she was sitting down. The rest required standing, not as a balance exercise or even as OT; it was just the nature of the exercises (e.g. put chart on wall, stand x feet back from wall and do various things - read letters from far to near and back, clap hands in certain directions according to a chart, etc. etc. etc. We had a spot on the wall where there were nearly always vision papers). There were some seated exercises with the "flippers" (lenses on a stick LOL that you flip between strengths). But I know other people who were mostly prescribed glasses to make the eyes focus in a particular direction - to be worn most of the time - a very different approach. There were a few bead exercises. I even recall one where dd had to lay on the floor and move arms and legs in a certain sequence (a bit like making snow anges, but different) - she loved that one - I think it had something to do with the two sides of the brain working separately and then together. I look forward to the day when there are more standardized approaches, but our kids can't wait for that.

I believe SSL is written for K-2. DD in 3rd grade enjoyed SSL, but finished it in a couple of weeks. We didn't listen to every single song on the cd, and she'd do multiple lessons at a time, more or less teaching herself. She picked up some fun vocabulary words, and continued to be interested in the language, but that's about it. We moved on to Getting Started in Latin, which is much more substantive in terms of grammar. So, for my first graders, who were more reluctant, we didn't do SSL and started right in with GSWL. She's moving about twice as fast through GSWL as they are, at the moment. (All three of them are bright students, but by no means HG, and also have language processing issues.) For an accelerated student, unless they're in K (or younger and reading) I'd probably skip SSL and at any rate I'd anticipate finishing it in less than a school year. It's only 30-something lessons.

I have two observations to make, both of which may point to OT as an alternative/addition to VT. First is that OT helped dd tremendously in her ability to do the vision therapy daily exercises. This was coincidental - we started VT briefly, then stopped because a spot opened up for dd to do OT in a short, intensive 3-month program, and after OT was finished we-restarted VT - the VT was so much easier for her to do; it was obvious even to me. Her issue was tracking. The second thing is that the OT place we went to also happened to have a piece of equipment that one or more of the local professional sports teams used, to help them improve. I only have the vaguest memory of it - it involved lights that the person had to hit or something. Also, FWIW, a number of the vision exercises involved looking at a distance (often a few feet, occasionally across a room), in addition to close work. I don't know if any of that helps - that's all I've got. I'm not familiar with sports vision therapy. I'd ask your optometrist, if you've already seen one.

As far as handwriting goes, I second the recommendation for typing. DD9 recently started learning to type and she is loving it. It was the recommendation of the psychologist who tested dd. I saw this link here at WTM the other day, and then when she got home from school she informed me that she had been using the same site in her technology class at school to learn typing! http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/ Anyway she's been working away at it ever since, on my computer of course :tongue_smilie:. I'm starting to think the kids will need their own computer sooner than I thought (she's our oldest). For Latin, she had been translating orally (time consuming for me!). I'm anxious to have her do it in writing, er, typing :)

I think it varies a bit depending on geographic location. We paid around $2500 (give or take; I can't remember exactly) for 24 weekly visits with the vision therapist plus it included occasional progress checks with the optometrist. That was over two yrs ago.

Here are some ideas for whole word reading instruction http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/wholwrd.pdf http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/wholes.pdf

When my ds was first diagnosed with his peanut allergy, I found helpful The Peanut Allergy Answer Book. http://www.amazon.com/Peanut-Allergy-Answer-Book-2nd/dp/1592332331/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271217407&sr=1-1 :iagree: Same here, right down to the ds who won't eat the Sunbutter (he is a very picky eater, which comes in handy sometimes re: the allergy). Thanks for pointing out the ball park issue - interesting. Ds7 is now very into baseball, and I was thinking DH should take him to a game. He passed an inhalation challenge with peanut butter last summer, but I don't want him touching peanut residue. He'd probably freak out if he saw peanut shells on the ground.

The doubling rate (time it takes for the number to double) slows down after the level is at a thousand or two. Once you're at this sort of level, 16k, an ultrasound is a better indicator of the health of the pregnancy. I didn't see the earlier post, but good luck!

Thanks, that's good to know! One of my kids loves Murderous Maths, which has a bit of a comic book quality. He reads them just for fun.

I'm not silaom and I don't know about Seeing Stars (my older kids are past that stage and my younger ones not yet at it), but I'll take a stab at these questions. Letters on a page, particularly for a VSL who is just learning to read, are meaningless images. It's not just about learning visually, but about learning through actual meaningful information and connections to other pieces of information, i.e., where the new information fits in context of other information the person already knows. You are correct that often a greater emphasis on whole language may make learning to read easier in the early stages for a VSL. The longer the word the better, since longer words are more unique-looking. (Of course this wouldn't be to the exclusion of phonics.) See, e.g., http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/wholes.pdf . My dd could read unique things like "Dr. Suess", even in different fonts, at 3 y.o., but struggled, and I mean really struggled, with "cat" at 6 y.o. Ultimately, a combination of listening therapy with OT for sensory issues, and vision therapy for eye tracking issues, got her over the hump and she progressed a couple of grade levels in reading in about six months. But I'm not sure how to separate out her weaknesses with the general VSL stuff, and I can't tell for sure whether it was her vision issue by itself or the listening therapy having some sort of auditory effect (it was not for the purpose of auditory issues but may have helped anyway). Many people do "hear" inside their head when they read, even though they're not reading aloud. People with auditory weaknesses tend to have a more difficult time blending phenomes when learning to read (honestly I'm still not sure I understand the reason why, except that I know this is often the case, as it was for my dd). that's my two cents ;)

Regarding Latin, we're using Getting Started With Latin (first and third graders) and loving it. All three of them are VSLs, with left-brain weaknesses. The page layout is fantastic, as is the organization of the book. Ordinarily they're much better whole-part learners rather than part-whole, but this book breaks the lessons down into teeny tiny bites, with just the right amount of review in each one. I'm not sure what we'll do when we're finished - dd is already on lesson 50 of 134, and we've only been at it for a few months of afterschooling (we don't do it every day, but rather randomly, whenever I can get them to sit still long enough :D). I love it so much that I ordered the author's similar book for Spanish. My first graders are moving at about half of dd's pace.

:iagree: I have a copy, and have read it several times (each time with a different child in mind, and a few times with myself in mind :) ). I think it's time to read it again - thanks for reminding me!!

I'm using Khan Academy http://www.khanacademy.org/ There are 4 videos on divison there. I think the second one introduces long division the usual way. http://khanexercises.appspot.com/video?v=8Ft5iHhauJ0 FWIW, I learned to carry down the 7x1 way rather than the 7x100 way, and I think the 7x100 way makes more sense. But I don't think it matters, ultimately. Re: the zero, maybe show him using lined paper turned sideways so that the numbers all stay in the proper columns.

My ds also had an abnormal stream (more like spurts) but it became normal after the surgery to release the tether. We didn't figure this out until he was 5.5 y.o. He was potty trained at 3, then the problems set in about six months later (though he was constipated since birth and our old ped had said that was "normal" for him. grrr). He has a skin tag inside the gluteal crease that was the indicator. We haven't been back to the urologist since before the surgery, mostly because I'm still annoyed that I was the one to figure out the problem - some late night googling turned up neurogenic bladder, and I thought hey, he's got that thing in his butt crack... I thought the ped would think I was crazy for sure but she had me bring him in right away, and ordered the MRI. He has a filum lipoma, which, interestingly, can be genetic. My mom had a major problem with bedwetting in her 20's but somehow the problem went away (they always told her it was emotional. She's now in her 70s). She also has a lipoma, a more visible lump, but I never knew about it until recently (though, thinking out loud, that wouldn't be a filum lipoma, I'm guessing, because it is visible). No one ever put it together with her bedwetting, though I suppose because that was fifty years ago. Anyway, one of these days we probably need to go back to the urologist, for a renal ultrasound - he had an obstruction fixed as an infant and we do a follow up ultrasound every couple of years - and I wonder if he's a candidate for PT for voiding dysfunction yet. I think there's some weird therapy - I don't suppose you happen to know anything about it? His bladder is gigantic, all stretched out, at least it was when he had the MRI a couple years ago. It's still unclear to me to what extent the nerve damage is permanent, since the stream got back to normal. :iagree:OP, I wanted to mention reflux also, since that is one of the more common issues and can also be familial (I was just afraid to mention the vcug :D). Also, constipation can be a cause of urine accidents, so ask your son about that end of things. Tracy, thanks for mentioning that group - I'll have to check it out. As I said, I've been procrastinating on dealing with this :o.

Since it has gotten worse, if the problem continues, I'd check with the ped. FWIW, there are kidney and urinary issues that run in families. (disclaimer: my ds had both kidney surgery as an infant and later surgery to release a tethered spinal cord that was causing voiding dysfunction and constipation - a rather tricky problem to catch. There are some issues that can cause permanent damage the longer they are allowed to fester. So I don't like to mess around with this stuff for long. That said, I've been procrastinating on doing something about the accidents that ds7 has been having occasionally, both day and night. Mostly he doesn't feel it due to his past history and/or is too preoccupied to go to the bathroom. but I sometimes worry about an unlikely re-tethering.)

:iagree: I haven't read this whole thread, but this is important to understand. My advice is to consider it only if you get into a really good school (are any top-20 schools nearby? do you have the ability to move? important things to consider).

I've had both, with multiple small children. Definitely attached!!!!

I think you are very wise. Personally, I'm torn between the fact that I am very private and did not want my dad to know anything about it, and the fact that it's hard to imagine not sharing such a monumental aspect of our dd's life with DH. (They are very close. However, she is rather introverted like me.) Maybe I could tell him secretly but not tell her that I told him? That sounds like lying... hmmm.... (thinking out loud here) (maybe I'll wait and figure it out when it happens - hopefully not for another five years :) )

I was just thinking about this tonight, as dd, who is only 9, has been acting really strange the last few days, and the only way I can describe it is hormonal. I didn't start till I was 14 so I would expect it'll be a long while yet for her. But oh golly now I'm afraid :lol: My advice is to tell DH but not the rest of the family. I started in the fall, and at Thanksgiving my older brother arrived home from college with a couple of buddies and announced to me, in front of them, that they had a party in my honor when I "became a woman". Talk about mortified. I blame my mother - can't keep her mouth shut. Awww. Very sweet. That sounds like something my DH would do.

Kids with ADHD tend to have visual learning styles. Maybe the following can help sort it out: http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/appendc.pdf (visual vs auditory) http://www.visualspatial.org/Articles/george.pdf (visual and adhd)

The first thing that comes to mind is the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

this is all I got - not sure if it works since I didn't know about it 9 yrs ago when I had a breech baby http://www.spinningbabies.com/ Sometimes there's a reason why they don't turn. My first was breech and I did a failed external version, which I still think was worth the try to avoid the section. Good luck!!

I'm not sure if this will help, but it might. I'm only halfway through the book myself. the Nurtured Heart Approach http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Difficult-Child-Workbook-Interactive/dp/0967050758/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270682802&sr=8-2

FWIW, I happened upon a Betty Crocker cake mix that is GF in my pantry that I bought when I was avoiding allergens. I think I got it at SuperTarget. Also, Pam's makes an excellent GF chocolate cake mix http://pamsglutenfree.com/ :)

:iagree: OP, thank you for your reminder of the risks (one of the reasons I preferred the continuous EFM for my four vbacs - doesn't solve everything but it was reassuring to me). :grouphug: I'm sorry you had a traumatic and scary birth. Congratulations on your new baby!!!