what type of educational diagnostician you asked. She is a Certified Educational Diagnostician. She has a MS or MA in something, and many years experience as an Academic Language Therapist, the credential for remediating dyslexia. You could google Certified Educational Diagnostician and see if you get a better explanation. She was a personal referral from a relative who teaches at one of the "Lexus" private Cx schools in the area, and she came recommended as having the most comprehensive, helpful writeups. When it came to applying for the CollegeBoard accommodations, everything I needed was right there in the report, like clockwork, so that really helped. I'd have hated to pay the big bucks and then ended up with a marginal report. The second lady I mentioned is also an ALT and has a masters in counseling. She too is credentialed to do testing, and she actually helped us with some additional testing to nail down a dysgraphia dx that the first lady had not really made obvious. I'd see what you can find locally if you google CED from above. http://www.ncedb.org/ Also get recommendations from privte schools in the area, or check for a referral from an ALT in your area. www.alta.com HTH

<<She was tested by an educational psychologist but he does not test for dyslexia so she was not diagnosed. >> I would move heaven and earth to get the correct dx for her. More later. << Is it time to get word recognition software so she can dictate her written work on the computer or will she improve on the written work as she does it more and more? I'm looking for opinions and experiences. >> We have not needed speech recognition software for ds#1, but I'm betting we will for Ds#2, who is much more severely dyslexic. It is extremely important that your dd learn to type fluently. That will help in 90% of the cases, and she'll need her own laptop. Ds says almost everyone brings their laptops to class in his CC college these days, except in his math classes, and we're *not* in an affluent area. From what you've shared, I'd start with the intensive typing work, then consider the SR software if she still needs more help. Save your money on the laptop until she needs one, because the technology is constantly changing. <<From all my research, it is very hard to diagnose dyslexia and since she has made a lot of progress she probably isn't severe enough to be diagnosed anyway. >> I'd disagree on this, based on personal experience. The educational diagnostician we used and the language therapist who also tests both indicated that there are very specific tests and patterns of results on those tests that indicate learning disabilities. Ds #1 was dxed with 3 DSM-numbered disabilities, including dyslexia-- partially remediated. IOW, if the results are so many percentage points lower on this, this, and this score subset, when compared with his score on the aptitude and intelligence testing, it is clearly a case of an LD. Not hard at all. From the detail you shared, I'd also be looking hard at the possibility of a dx of dysgraphia. In my (pardon me) very adamant opinion...it is a critical path that you get this dxed ASAP, complete with DSM #s and a list of accommodations that she should be granted. Then put those accomodations in place and get them working for her. Document before and after results, grades, classroom (!) observations, etc. If she has any outside classes, start a paper trail there as well. When she goes to take the SAT or ACT, or placement tests like the Accuplacer at CC, she will need that documentation. The College Board requires that you have the accomodations in use for a minimum of 4 academic months. Longer is better. It takes about a year from applying for College Board accommodations til they are processed for her first test, which will be the PSAT, so time is of the essence! When it comes to dealing with the College Board, there is much hoop-jumping, but the accommodations they grant, while usually stingey, will help her do well. The CCs we have dealt with have been very helpful, much nicer to work with--they want a kid to succeed. But they also need a formal assessment to grant accommodations. Finally, it can be daunting...just take it one step at a time, you'll get there! I'm sure I can speak for Claire, also, when I say that we will be glad to cheer for you, encourage you, and help you with any information we can. Blessings on the journey to you and your dd! Valerie

Here's another one, Aubrey. This is the midwife, Anne Crowell, who always partnered with Donna, and she was at one birth but not the other. She has a new birthing center in Hurst, not that far from you, if you'd prefer a birthing center. http://gentlebeginningsbc.com/index.htm I will pray that you find just the right place for you and your family. :) Val

Aubrey, Here is a URL to her page on the Texas Midwives website: http://www.texasmidwives.com/midwives/midwifepg.asp?mwid=212 Her name and contact numbers are there as well. The website also has a find-a-midwife feature, if you want more options. She is a sweet Christian lady who is both spunky and gracious. I hope you like her. Will you please tell her Valerie Rhodes said hello and sent her a hug? (I should call her myself, too, but it won't happen this week.)

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I can give you the name of the mw who delivered my two TX-born children. She does homebirths, and she is just wonderful. I was very concerned that I would not be able to find anyone I liked after my "second mom" midwife in FL, but God provided beautifully. She lives in Euless, so would not be as far as Dallas, and she'll come to you! You wouldn't need to risk having that baby by yourself in the 90 minutes before the other mw could get there. Of course, ahem, ds#3 came in a record time, less than 20 minutes after I called her, so he arrived about 2 minutes before she did. (I had called her and said, "D, I think you should head on over, my water just broke, so I'm betting things will pick up within the next few hours." I was clueless how fast this one would go.) Dh and I were old pros at it by then; he was calm, and I knew how to suction a baby's mouth, and our dear friend was there with the kids. My dear midwife was so disappointed not to have made if for the actual delivery, because she had listened to me gripe for the entire three weeks that ds was overdue! Anyway, let me know if you want her name. Best wishes! Val

ds has been reading Macbeth, and his lit tutor has asked him to watch a movie or video of it as well. I have the Ian McKellan version in hand, which is probably the "purest" version, as it is simply the play on stage--no sets, almost no props, purely the acting. It is, however, very hard to hear (not well miked), thus even harder to follow. I was wondering if any of the other movie versions would be worth watching? Your opinion? TIA

<<Over the years, I've had about half a dozen kids in these classes that I felt had significant learning challenges that the parents were not addressing. .....Would public school deal with this? Maybe. >> Re. hsing -- it has always bothered me when parents are given blanket advice that some children are just late bloomers, and that they'll "get it eventually." For many, that may be the case, but for kids who are dyslexic, it is not. The signs are there early, and when remediated early and intensively, dyslexia's impact can be markedly diminished. On the flip side, just last week, a mom told me that her ps-ed child finally scored enough checkmarks to be labeled w/ dyslexia. They have been watching and testing her for years, gradually modifying her work to compensate. Now that she is "labeled", she has a whole new range of accommodations available to her. I, rather stupidly it turns out, asked if the school was offering any kind of remediation instruction (we live in the center of the Orton-Gillingham universe), and she said no, that the child is doing very well on her own. Now, mind you, this child is scoring more and more deficiencies every year, with a growing gap, enough that they finally labeled her. But the school is not offering remediation, only accommodation, and the mom did not respond with curiosity or interest when I asked. I would say that this is a case of the ps not serving the interests of the child. It cuts both ways--there is failure in both hs and ps. v

Those who know us IRL, please keep this in confidence. We are in such a difficult season with a ds. Pride is such a stronghold for this son, and it is wrecking any ability to grasp reality and accept truth about others and about himself. This kid is not out *doing* terrible things--he's too smart and cautious for that. His attitude and lies are wreaking destruction at home. In addition to praying that God, in his mighty power, would break down this stronghold, please pray for me to be a wise and smart mom, to think well on my feet, to pick my battles wisely, to have self-discipline to know *when* to engage. Thank you! Heartbroken this morning... Val

I taught Spanish 1 and 2. I found that the students needed basic instuction in notetaking, keeping a notebook, and in study skills. Many of them had never taken tests, or if they had, they went directly from finishing a chapter to taking a test, as though it were simply the next assignment. They had no concept of studying, reviewing, summarizing, memorizing, grappling with material til they mastered it, nor how to take mid-terms or cumulative tests. Some of the old-timers on the boards probably remember me coming and venting on the boards during those two years! :) So, my solution was to offer (that's a misnomer, it was mandatory) "workshops". I had a class of parents who were cooperative and wanted their students to learn, so it worked out well. You may not be that fortunate, but I hope you are. If you can show the parents that they students really need to get up to par in this area and can demonstrate their need, perhaps you can sell the parents on making the kids available for a workshop outside of class. Several other ideas: -I'd recommend that your first writing assignments be fairly simple topics related to your material, ones that you've discussed throroughly in class and that do *not* require outside research, and ask them to write in the required format on that topic. (One skill/focus at a time...IOW, build up to the research.) - I'd invite the parents to your workshop. After walking the group through a 5 P essay format and a well-done sample essay or two, I'd then hand out a deficient paper or two that have been turned in...perhaps not from your students, if you think that will be too painful. Ask them to evaluate whether there is any discernable format, purpose (thesis), or logical progression to the paper. (On the format sheet, on the "good essays," and on the poor ones, I might even have the class highlight in color the various parts--hook, thesis, opening and summarizing sentences in the Ps, transitions, supporting statements, etc.) This is really writing 101, but it is surprising how many of us are intimidated by it and have a hard time teaching it to our students. In class, when you a ready to tackle a different kind of paper, a compare and contrast, an analysis, etc. you'll probably need to teach the new format, just as you did in your workshop. Sigh--thank you for not being afraid to tackle the big ones! I expect to be remembered by my students as making them work like they never had before...hopefully, it will serve them well. Val

from experience, I'll mention two things: 1) like another poster suggested, I make it mandatory that they read along and not just listen. They need to be seeing the words in print, highlighting and/or making lists of the new vocab, etc. I vary what we do with each book, according to our purpose for that book. Some receive a cursory reading, others we really study. 2) Spoken word is much slower than reading. If a student doesn't learn to read faster than reading aloud, it will be very difficult for them in higher education. I'd be careful not to allow my student to plateau at the read-aloud speed. HTH

so that he has the feel of taking high-stakes tests without the downside of risking his first SAT to nervousness or stress. It won't be exactly the same, since the SAT is longer and had the essay, but it is a fair approximation of the atmosphere. HTH

and it was wonderful for us, as I taped many, many classes. I was caring for an ailing/terminal FIL and had no idea how much I'd be able to do with three children in their high school years. I popped in and out tapes every day on a very strict schedule. Not much fun, but economical compared to paying for every course individually. I taped everything we could want (and more) in two years and a summer. If I were only interested in a couple of courses, by golly, I'd never tape. I'd do the DVDs and call it good. Many, many things can go wrong with taping, everything from short power outages, to bad reception, to unexplained signal failures on their end. (They send you an email notification, and if you have paid for the course registration, they will replace your lessons.) At one point, I realized that nothing had taped for three days. (They had to send me lessons, as it was a software glitch in the receiver.) At the very end of my 2.25 years of taping, literally with only two weeks to go, we had a lightning strike that fried my dish and receiver. It was cheaper to order dvd lessons for the last two weeks, so that's what we have in the boxes. :) I hope my missive helps you decide what to do. BTW, we found that most all the courses were good, but the high school grammar and lit teacher (9th and 10th full year, but just the grammar portion of 11th and 12th) and the physics teacher were not worth our time. We'll do something else with my next two students.

Dyslexia runs in my family, ds 18 and ds 13 both diagnosed and dd 15 has a couple of the traits. So, our reading: Ds18 - struggling, since abstract thinking is not his forte, through a Brit Lit textbook this semester (sonnets at the moment) after having read Sir Gawain in Old English, Beowulf in Old English, Piers the Plowman, and selected Canterbury tales in a side-by-side translation. he had asked for "whole books" but now is happy to revert to a textbook and get "just the facts ma'am". Dd15 - reading To Kill a Mockingbird and just began Sayers' Gaudy Night for her Inklings class. Trying to make the leap to Brit culture is a stretch, as there is so much with which she is unfamiliar, but she's enjoying the relative "lightness" of the book, as compared to the other Inklings they've read. We were LOL at various aspects of "Talboys", a Lord Peter Wimsey story. I'll have to find more. Sheis also enthralled reading her new study bible notes for pleasure. Ds 13 - reading The Hobbit. This is a major undertaking for him, and was of his own volition. He is *very* dyslexic, so this is a big deal. We have just been issued a new tape player, so reading along with books on tape will resume shortly. I wanted to share, because for some of us, the educational path is not so stellar, not so superlative, but we keep on plodding, glad of the small triumphs. Val

We've used Physical Science (Mr. Harmon), Biology (Mrs. Ericson), chemistry (Mr. Harmon, again) and Physics. With the exception of Physics, the above were all excellent, and the labs were much better than Apologia or Abeka. I will not use Physics again. Earth Science (Mrs. Vick) has been revamped, but if you have a younger child, when Mrs. vick teaches *anything*, it is great. What a talented, enthusiastic teacher. HTH

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My dd just got her own facebook page to help her stay connected with friends during the week, as we live in "the next town over." At any rate, part of our deal with her is that any pictures that include her face must be thumbnail sized so they can't be copied and exploited. Only problem is I don't know how to do it. Help, anyone? BTW, we have photodraw and photoshop to work with. Thanks a million! Valerie