I think it's great that he's made so much progress on life skills. That's terrific. I wanted to add that even by ps standards, reading chapter books at age 6 would be an advanced reader. Both my sons started off school in one of the largest school districts in NC. My older DS, still in ps, was reading chapter books in second grade, and he's always been an advanced reader. Both of my sons love to read despite ps, not because of it. PS kindergarten is far too academic, IMO. It's the wrong set of skills for that age, regardless of whether the kids are SN or not. As long as you're in compliance with the laws of your home state, do what you think is best. It's great that you're starting out so early with him. You have the time to get acquainted with how he learns and research which things to try. That's also terrific. :grouphug:

How good has been at actually doing the exercises? I know that I didn't do mine willingly. It took a family member making me do them to get it done, frequently in front of one of them so I'd do it correctly. I was also in leg braces for a few years early on, around four to six years old. As long as you believe you have a complete and correct diagnosis, I think PT is the most likely thing to help. I still can't sit cross legged, and I limp a bit when I'm really tired. But otherwise, my gait's been normal for years. It wouldn't have been without those exercises I hated so much. I'm not sure why you've having trouble with the rest of the family seeing this as a problem. It impedes his ability to do anything athletic, and it's one more things for other kids to make fun of. I understand my family thought it was cute when I was two and walking that way. That was until my mother saw an adult woman walk that way and realized I might be doing that forever. Maybe ask them to visualize his walking this way when he's 30? And constantly bugging him about how he's walking will probably drive him crazy. That part did not help me walk better at all, just made me more self-conscious, especially in my teens. I was also forced into ballet, but I don't think it helped much. I hated it and spent each class wishing I was downstairs in the tap class. My remaining tendency to turn my toes in was fixed with being forced to wear heels, unfortunately not a good option for a teenage boy.

I too wish the internet had been around. I had the misfortune of visiting a college with a small classics department while the department head (big misogynist) was away and one post was held by a visiting professor. Additional information would have changed my decision about where to go, and I might have ended up in a school that wasn't still packed full of professors unhappy about the decision to admit women. I'll confess that my longest reviews on Amazon are of products and books that have given me particularly bad experiences. I know it's a failing, but I'm still working on it.

I think it's great your son is having success and that you're getting good support from the ps. Our very large system requires the same reading program be used in every classroom. Experienced teachers were forbidden from using alternatives even if they thought a child needed it. Amazingly, my sons can read anyway.

After my DS finished his last round of evaluations in 5th grade, both the ps and the psychologist told me that my DS wouldn't be able to spell, so just use spell check. He couldn't do math, so give him a calculator. His writing stank, so just have him type. There's some truth to all of these, but his spelling was so dreadful that spell check couldn't help at all. Using a calculator didn't help him because he didn't understand any math concepts. While typing is a great strategy, my DS wasn't able to sign his name to a document or leave a note if he had to write it out by hand. While I brought him home last year, it was primarily because of bullying. But he was also flunking out of most of his 6th grade classes, despite these accommodations. I'm not planning any spelling bees, and we'll be returning to the calculator when he hits algebra. And my DS types, although he can sign a document without embarrassment. But I think the middle road I took will better prepare my son for life, with the bonus that he actually understands math now.

My son is 2E, so reading aloud and taking turns have allowed us to tackle more advanced books than he'd be reading on his own. We're still in middle school, but I'll be surprised if we stop at high school. It's fun for us and we can keep pushing the envelope on what my DS reads.

I'd love the link to Eliana's post too. I can be pretty picky about translations; I was a classics major. However, some really good translations have come out since then. I didn't throw out recommendations since I haven't decided on the titles you mentioned. I am happy with the Fitzgerald translation of The Aeneid that I have, so I expect I'll stick with that. My Fitzgerald copies of The Iliad and Odyssey got moldy in storage, so I'm going to look at Fagles.

I started this year, in 7th grade. My DS was feeling insecure and didn't think he was getting enough feedback, so I started doing a quarterly report card. I wouldn't have done that if he hadn't wanted it; I was mainly practicing grading to prep for high school. I'm hoping to try a syllabus for at least some of his classes in 8th grade and continue grading. For middle school, I'm a big believer in working towards mastery. However, I'm also trying to transition him during middle school. Once I'm not teaching him anymore, he won't get multiple chances to redo things. So I plan to be a bit tougher in high school. (He already thinks I'm pretty tough.) :001_smile:

As far as trying to understand the book, steer clear of the movie. It's a fine movie just so long as you don't think of it as The Iliad. It's not. It totally removes the gods from the story, leading to some stupid plot twists. Sure, Paris might fall in love with the wrong woman, but would his older brother and father really go to war over it so Paris could be happy? Totally unbelievable. And it makes Achilles overly sympathetic in a modern heroic kind of way. And he's simply not. It was kind of cute that they threw in Aeneas at the end, but he's not in the poem. What made a man or an action heroic was completely different from our standards. But it does raise interesting issues. What is heroic? What is honorable? I do think of Achilles as pouting in his tent, but it was completely understandable from his perspective. How much control do we have over our fates? Certainly in The Iliad, the gods are constantly manipulating things. How much free will did each hero have? Was Achilles acting as a Greek hero should when he was dragging Hector's body around behind his chariot? There's not necessarily a right answer to each question, but I do think it's important to first ask the questions from the perspective of the ancient Greek value system before trying to impose modern values. It's late, so I hope at least some of that made sense.

The book I'm familiar with is Food Chaining. We ended up going a different direction with a (mostly) Paleo diet. My DS and I have strong addictions to sugar. I recommend checking the book out. It seems to be a good plan to slowly expand your child's list of foods he'll eat. And the author isn't under the delusion that you can starve your kid into trying new foods. Around 5% of kids would rather starve than try something new.

Aspies can definitely have imagination; my DS has a very strong one. And many of them have sensory issues; that set of problems was what started convincing me that the psychologist was right about the diagnosis. I think anxiety is also pretty common additional diagnosis for Aspies; it is for my son. One of the psychologists in our area who specializes in Aspies say, "Aspies can outlast God." Whether it's a tantrum or something else, they have incredible tenacity. Hopefully that'll be a good thing when they're older. Good luck, and I hope you get a good evaluation once you get in. :grouphug:

I definitely can't. :D Though sometimes it's hard for me to judge. I was really good at memorizing but now I have fibromyalgia. That hit my working memory and short term memory pretty hard. It does mean I can sympathize with my DS some. Thanks so much for your reply. I am actually doing it right, and that's a huge relief. We keep quiet fidgets on hand that I get from The Therapy Shoppe. They're a major life saver for both of us. I love that the site has a category for quiet fidgets. They help him sit still long and concentrate and discourage other (usually more disruptive) coping techniques that distract my fibro fogged mind.

My DS will be in 8th grade next year. Grammar: R&S6 Spelling: A&P C (maybe D) Handwriting: Practicing his HWT cursive on copywork. Reading: Still working on the book list to support early American history. Writing: Starting IEW (much trepidation) Math: MUS Zeta & Pre-Algebra (Could be summer school this time around.)

I ended up changing churches (and denomination) for a better church environment. My old church wasn't child friendly for any children. It was awful taking my older son there. My younger son was very hyperactive as a toddler and taking him anywhere near the church was not possible. (There was the disastrous Christmas Eve service when they closed the cry room, and I spent the entire service in the rec building for over an hour. He never stopped screaming.) We're not active now because of my health, but we were fortunate to find a small church near us that was very welcoming and accommodating. My DS didn't need lots of special support at that age, but we got what we needed. For example, he still wanted to leave with the little kids after the children's sermon so he would spend the rest of the service with the kids and not in the sanctuary. No one minded, and he eventually decided he'd stay with his older brother. In my experience, bigger churches can provide more programs. That can be a plus if you need lots of support and accommodations. Smaller churches give more opportunity for connecting with other individuals. In the smaller church, my child wasn't a "problem" anymore. He was the sweet kid who'd follow the big kids to the front of the church to sing along with them. My only regret is not changing churches sooner. My older son had some negative experiences that carried over into his attitudes towards church in general and Christianity.

I only used it for a few weeks before switching to MUS. This wasn't because I didn't like Semple. I went to a hs convention and saw MUS demonstrated. I'd planned to try to do MUS with a Semple supplement and then did just MUS. I have a Level One set of Semple that is virtually unused. Just some highlights in the early pages of the TMs. I'll eventually list it for sale. In the meantime, please PM me if interested.

Has anyone used the Knowledge Quest maps? I've been looking at them. We're starting early American history next year.

Some of the labs are very difficult to pull off. I remember one from the first book that required us to have cubes 2 inches square of various materials: aluminium, glass, etc. Not something I had around the house. Someone mentioned an experiment set that covered some of the same topics. I can't remember the name unfortunately. The thread should be on this board if you search. I did have to go through the kit's book to match experiments up with the book but my DS enjoyed having more labs. I like the series and think it's very readable, though that doesn't mean it's easy. It's really a history of science along with some major mathematical developments. So I wouldn't try to use it as science, history, and geography. I counted it as 7th grade science. We're not going to finish the third book this year. I'm going to save it for supplemental reading for another year.

OhElizabeth is much more familiar with the books than I am. Here's a link to the first one, the elementary book. However, from what other posters have said, you want to start with the first book regardless of age. Right now, I'm still in the first section which is meant to strengthen working memory. That's a very weak area for my DS.

I forgot to mention that my DS still has some words he stumbles over. Fortunately, not entire morpheme groups. But he's just as likely to spell "want" as "whant." I keep a running list for each spelling test of problem words. I do a study sheet for each test that includes the words from the book plus the problem words. Some he masters, and I drop them off. "Want" and a couple of others keep popping up though. For us, that means approximately five extra words per unit, so not a huge addition. I expect for some children, the list would be too long.

:grouphug: Many of us get personal over here. I think everyone understands. It is the best way to let others help us.

I have another question. I feel foolish on this one, but I didn't find the instructions clear. In the very first section, there are five series of numbers to memorize, then words, then the instructions. Is the goal to memorize one sequence of numbers at a time or all five of them? Perhaps I'm confused because there doesn't seem to be any point to memorize anything other than the entire set of instructions. But I hope we're not supposed to be memorizing all the number sets at once. In that case, it'll be a chance to work on my working memory. (Fibro take a big bite out of it.) OhElizabeth, I've already taken your advice about skipping around. My DS was getting testy after two days of the first section, so we're trying the second section for a change of pace.

Thanks for exploring the idea. It did sound good for note taking, but I agree that spelling is more important. We've made so much progress in spelling; I don't want to lose that.

Puberty is rough, regardless of the child. My NT DS is 16, and we've had rough patches with him too. I do think it can be worse for Aspies. It's not unusual for them to be 2-3 years behind emotionally and socially. But their bodies hit puberty right on cue. My DS can still be so sweet, but then he has times he is suddenly just awful. His hormones just seem to surge. :grouphug:

:iagree: If you have to make a choice, I'd go with the eval. I do think it'd be a good idea to do the MRI. I had to have one a few years ago. It turns out I'm missing a piece of my brain. That was a surprise. While I didn't have the usual complications from this condition, it turns out that I was at risk for certain hormonal imbalances. Knowledge really is power.

A&P is what has finally helped my DS learn to spell better. We're almost done with Book B, and I think we've seen four spelling rules at most. In ps, everyone told me to let him use spell check. Now he can spell well enough that strategy might work. :001_smile: Since we started in B, I'm not sure how the lessons compare with A. I do split many of the lessons into two days. He can handle the writing, but his brain gets too tired.