Is this what I need? I did not see a "clinical kit" unless this is it of course... http://www.ganderpublishing.com/LiPS-Kit-Fourth-Edition.html

When we got the report from Leah's speech and language specialist and these were her recommendations... -Seeing Stars program {has anyone ever heard of this?} -LiPs {i went online to that link and could NOT find the clinical program! Help!} -Speech and Language therapy -Social skills group *I am looking up Oral Language Exercises from Abeka right now... Thanks, Steph

You guys are awesome. I came here to read more and I am in tears because its great to have someone else who's "been there, done that"... thanks! As for doing just 2 things... yes, I can do that. That's doable and does not seem as overwhelming! I definitely want to make the therapy happen for her... however we can. She has an appt in two weeks to be evaluated by an optometrist. I didn't know there were two different kinds! LOL Anything in particular I should ask the optometrist for when she is being looked at? As for phonemic awareness... we only got through part of Level 1 of Barton. I am sure its because she probably needed LiPs first and I didn't realize it. As for my phonemic awareness, no offense taken. Yes, I have good phonemic awareness... can read nonsense words, I know how to sound out words, etc. I have taught all my other children how to read the same way I was taught back in 1984 with phonics based reading programs. Reading is actually my strong suit and I think this is why this is so difficult for me... knowing how reading/writing opens up a whole world to a person and feeling frustrated that my daughter still can not grasp something that I learned to do when I was 4 1/2. Reading/writing came easy to me. Once it clicked, it clicked. I have a high vocabulary and reading comprehension. I personally haven't been tested for awhile but I am the speller, the reader, the teacher in our home for that area as I am sure my husband is dyslexic himself and refuses to get help for that. I know this is part of my problem with teaching my daughter. I do not understand nor can I grasp at all how she is looking at these words or letters. I am not getting what it is that she is not getting. Is she seeing the letters upside down and backwards? I see a word and I read it. If I don't know the word, I sound out the letters of the word until I figure it out. I don't have to do that for many words. I taught my other kids the sounds of each letter of the alphabet and then we started putting the letters together to form basic words and they progressed. They started out with short readers and now are in larger chapter books. We used Sonlight phonics and Well Trained Mind. With Leah we tried those two programs plus Hooked on Phonics and Barton. All three of my other children that read are a grade level or two above in reading and my soon-to-be kindergartener has already started reading! I guess I am not understanding how all of this fits together and yes, there are so many things/issues to worry about... it makes my head spin just thinking about it. I don't know how we'll afford everything either. One step at a time. How do you do LiPs at home? I thought I had to see a trained person to do that program and is it very expensive? I don't even know where to start. My daughter is in serious need of speech and language therapy along with some reading help and possibly some OT. She had OT a year ago back in Washington where we used to live and she loved it and I really think it helped her. Thanks, Steph

Thanks Shari. When my daughter was tested just recently, her phonemic awareness was really low. I remember doing the testing with her before starting Barton but it is possible that she did worse than I thought and I passed her anyways thinking that she could do it. I have heard of the LiPs program before and it was recommended by her Speech Language Specialist that tested her. So so so expensive. Why does all this have to cost an arm and a leg? ugh. And yes she has had her vision checked. She wears glasses and can not read at all without her glasses. She just had a well child check and did not pass the vision screening in one eye during the eye exam with her glasses on so she has an appt. next week to check her prescription and hopefully fix that. I know when she first got her glasses a year ago she went from just sounding out words to putting them together finally for the first time. I thought her vision was the only problem but I do not think that's it... I think it's a combination of vision AND dyslexia. We have done vision therapy before and it seemed to help for a little bit. I have an online program she is using right now for visual therapy that her pediatric opthalmologist created for her to use. We also use an online program called Reading Assistant which is great and she loves it... but I wonder how much of the words she is "reading" and how much is she just guessing at from having them read to her first? Does it matter HOW they read? I have been so gung-ho on making sure she knows the sounds of the letters so she can decode words and programs like this make me scratch my head as they are for kids with dyslexia but they don't do any phonemic awareness, just reading stories. Has anyone heard of Reading Assistant? I bought it through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op. You use a headset with a microphone for it and the program reads the story to her with the words highlighted as they are read to her. Then she reads it herself into the microphone and records it so she can listen to herself read. She can click on a word and find out what the dictionary says about it... there are pictures for each word when she does that. Anyways, she loves it and its the first reading program I've bought that she enjoys. :001_smile: Our speech and language specialist recommended LindaMoodbell and honestly I don't think we can afford that! yet on the other hand, if thats the only way my daughter can learn how to read and speak correctly then can we afford NOT to? Ugh. Thanks everyone for your input! Steph

anyone?

Ok, I am new here but not new to homeschooling or kids with special needs, but I need some serious help! I have 6 kids that I homeschool currently and they have never been to public school. This August I have signed them up to attend a charter school in our area that practices a classical education model complete with the Socratic method. Great Hearts Academies. They are all very excited to attend and so am I. I never thought I would put them in public school but I always said only if it had the values/educational ideals that I try to work towards here at home and they do! http://www.greatheartsaz.org Anyways, I have one daughter {just turned 8} who has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia and mixed receptive expressive disorder. She can not read on her own more than a few three letter words even after much practice and work on phonemic awareness and all kinds of phonics programs. She is currently undergoing neuropsych testing as well and I believe she has high functioning Autism {Aspergers} with a ton of sensory processing issues. My concern is... what do I do with her for next year? Do I send her to school with the other kids in an environment and a school heavily involved with reading... {They use a language-based and heavy word problem-based math program- Singapore Math} and hope that with an IEP and speech and lang therapy and reading therapy through Lindamood Bell {which we can't afford} that she will not get behind and be alright? Do I put her in a private school that costs $17,000 tuition {we can't even afford a 1/3 of that!} that has small class sizes and works with kids with dyslexia and social skills? That school is a 45 min. drive one way! Do I put her in another charter school just for kids with autism that has speech/lang/occupational therapy all rolled into her school day and is tuition free but is also a 50 min. drive one way and scholastically... educationally... it does not utilize the educational ideals that I want for my kids {more dummed down curriculum, etc}. Or do I homeschool her again next year with private therapy for her on top of that to get her at least reading by next year so she can attend the school her siblings will be going to? Either way she will be bummed if she can't go to school because everyone else will get to but her. However, I am more worried about her long term success and I know that whatever we decide to do, she will be ok with. I am completely overwhelmed and feeling like a failure that I could not teach her to read after all these years. We even tried the Barton Reading program without success. :( So I don't know what to do. My husband has Aspergers... trying to have him tell me what we should do is a joke... he just wants to do the cheapest option and he thinks he turned out ok too in his public education. He is also dyslexic and can't read past a 4th grade reading level, even though he has a college degree. Regardless of what we decide to do, what do I do in the meantime? I feel like I should be doing something. My daughter HATES reading now and I feel like that is my fault for forcing her to practice so much when she couldn't even see anything that I was seeing at the time! Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas, would be so helpful! Thanks! Steph