My kiddo is just like your students. He is almost 15 and is in 8th grade (retained in 2nd grade) in public school but I pre-teach and re-teach math at home. He likes the social opportunities, STEM center, interactions with teachers (gets tired of me), and science at school. He is extremely dyslexic but now reads well above age and grade level. Also he has dyscalculia but LOVES math, and has a tenacious grip on grade level math. He says "I love math, but math doesn't love me." Anyway I let him use a calculator and never make him go back over basics. When a kid does grade level middle school math they do get to practice all of the basic math functions. Sometimes they will just suddenly discover that after plugging the same math facts into the calculator repeatedly in order to do grade level math that some of those pesky math facts seep into long term memory. If not, who cares, they will need to at least algebra to survive in the real world so let them do it with calculators. These days everyone has a calculator on their phone all all times. It's degrading to have to do remedial math. I fought very hard to ensure that teachers weren't torturing my son with the same remedial math facts year after year. Let the kids do whatever their logic can handle. Otherwise, they will learn to hate math, hate math facts, won't memorize those math facts, or learn anything above their current fourth grade level. Often struggling kids have grade level logic but can't consistently produce correct answers. Praise correct logic, and help them fix the pesky little mistakes on their paper. Let them do grade level work and they will be motivated to surprise you. Anyway, we loved the DragonBox app for introduction to the logic of algebra. Then we used these Kumon Algebra I and Kumon Algebra II workbooks. They have plenty of room to write the answers in the workbook. It is exhausting for struggling kids to have to rewrite the problems. Lots have eye tracking issues, transpose numbers when copying the problem, or have messy illegible handwriting. Let them write in the books. Also these Kumon books break all of the topics into tiny incremental steps, so success is almost guaranteed. Finally the pages aren't too overwhelming (uncluttered pages). Struggling students need lots of white space and less problems on each page. Otherwise the page looks like an overwhelming impossible task. People worry about having the most through curriculum but sometimes less is more. Then once the student feels competent, they might decide that they like algebra enough to go more in depth by themselves. If so there are lots of khan academy videos. Anyway the two books cover topics up to linear functions including finding equations for parallel and perpendicular lines. The titles are misleading - they cover Pre-Algebra and Algebra I. I wish they made some workbooks for algebra II. Good Luck to you and your students.

Math Zombies was okay for my son with slow processing speed. I say "okay" because the speed was fine but he wasn't thrilled with the game. He has dyscalculia so it is hard to find any math game that he would enjoy. In the beginning he played it without prompting. Then he got stuck on a level and became frustrated - game over. Lori

In response to, onestepatatime, I haven't read the Dyslexia Advantage. I can't say that we have all of our eggs in that basket. My son is classified as multiply handicapped at school, because he is dx'd with dyslexia, dyscalcia, dysgraphia, motor disorder (tics), r/o Tourette's, attention deficit disorder inattentive type; plus some undiagnosed motor planning issues and sensory issues. Often it seems that he has more in common with kids a tiny bit on the spectrum. He even gets OT and Language Therapy. However, a neuropsychologist said that he doesn't have enough characteristics for asperger's or pdd nos classification. I read stuff about dyslexia and wish that it was his only issue. On the other hand, it seems that kids with Dyslexia often have other comorbid impairments too. It is so hard to tell there is so much overlap in many disorders. After lots of money spent on advocates and lawyer, my son gets many accomodations, at school they are using the mainstream math curriculum supplemented with touch math. This was great when I originally demanded it from the school for addition and subtraction. Now for multiplication and division, it is cumbersome because my son has trouble skip counting. He gets pulled out the of mainstream into resource room for writing, math, and reading. For writing, they use the regular curriculum with accomodations ie graphic organizers to compose his thoughts then dragon dictation, or types with a predictive text program. He is learning to spell with the Wilson Reading Program. I sporadically afterschool when my son can tolerate it. So far, this year the homework has been too demanding so we are on a break except for reading. For reading all I do is provide interesting books on his iPad app (read2go). This school year he has read nearly everything that Rick Riordan has written (11 books). Now we are out of ideas. I need to find another series for him to fall in love with reading again instead of video games. Any ideas? Thanks to Rick Riordan, he loves Greek mythology. Enough of the academics, because I really do feel optimistic that my son will overcome some of his obstacles. My biggest worry is really executive functioning. How to support him yet challenge him to be more independent. At the moment we are about 2 or 3 years behind I this area. no matter how much I read about it , it just seems hard to implement. I think on this board that it is probably a big issue for all. Anyway, sorry to OP, because it feels like I've hijacked your topic. The read2go app can be found in iTunes, but first you need a membership to bookshare.org. To get a membership, you need to have a learning disability such as dyslexia that makes regular print inaccessible. Some professional that can certify the disability has to sign the application for membership. Then the membership is free if you are enrolled in public school due to a department of education grant but I'm not sure about homeschoolers. I hope there is some waiver otherwise it seems unfair. It is an amazing deal because all of the book downloads are free too and the selection is extraordinary - thousands of popular books. The voice is digitized but once you start reading it becomes unnoticeable. I think there is a sample in iTunes. Lori

My son (age 11) has dyslexia and other learning issues and has been doing Wilson Reading with a tutor for about 3 years. I think he is in book 6 now. About 8 months ago, he began using a DAISY reader app (read2go) with a bookshare.org membership. He downloads books onto the iPad and they go directly into his read2go library. It highlights the text as it is reading to him so it is much easier to follow along. Actually it highlights the whole current sentence in one color and the current word in a different color. it is great for kids like mine who also have trouble with eye tracking. After eight months of reading along with this app, he has jumped grade levels in reading. Of course it is hard to tell which caused the dramatic improvement because he is also getting the Wilson tutoring. However he believes that the reading app helped immensely because he could finally gets lots of independent practice reading interesting books instead of babyish primers. His school just started doing lexile reading scores this year. His score in September was 695. I was estactic because he finally closed the gap and was reading on grade level. Then in Februay his lexile score was 993 and I was shocked. I think it is equivalent to gaining 4 grade levels in reading skill. He is now reading well above grade level. This development is remarkable because at one time he was more than 2 years behind in reading, perhaps even 3 yrs behind. Now his reading skills make me wonder and dream. Could there be a gifted kid hiding under the learning disabilities. He is still tremendously behind in writing and math. He has a long bumpy road ahead of him, but one day he might just surprise everyone and go well beyond just closing the gap in everything. Adversity builds character. Lori

Minecraft is a great game. It is difficult to use on the computer but very easy on the iPad.

I have a 10 yr old boy with dyslexia and other learning challenges. He attends public school so he can get language therapy, OT, PT, and a reading specialist. I've also supplemented with private reading tutors after school and over the summer. We use Wilson Reading. He is making good progress - might be less than 1 yr behind. But I'm really responding to give you another idea beyond selecting the best reading program. Books open a whole world of experiences. So while he is still learning to read, my son is using assistive technology in order to enjoy books independently at his proper intellectual level. He uses bookshare.org and read2go (iPad app). The result is a digitized audio book where he can follow the print while it reads to him. He is now a bookworm. He is on the fifth book in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan and has developed a keen interest in Greek mythology. Also by following along with the digitized print, he is gaining reading fluency. He still practices reading with regular books too. But the digitized audio books were a game changer because they changed his whole relationship with books. Also it has improved his self esteem because he can confidently talk about books with his peers. Instead of feeling like a failure, he feels like an intellectual. Also he is exposed to vocabulary that would have been inaccessible at his reading level. The benefits multiply. Good Luck, Lori

I have both ends of the spectrum. A son who was a couple of years behind and a daughter who is a few years ahead. Both attend public school. I after school inconsistently. I provide a very rich environment at home with many ideas garnished from this forum; but, with my son's needs, formal after schooling isn't always possible. I knew my son was behind early on, so I put him through a Herculean after schooling routine to catch up starting in pre-k. Despite my positive attitude and lots of positive reinforcement, he was exhausted and down trodden by first grade. I became very alarmed for his overall mental health. I completely reversed direction. I stopped formal after schooling and even refused homework for a year. I continued to read to him, listen to NPR and documentaries with him, etc. His interests led and I enriched accordingly. I am so glad I changed my approach. This change in attitude has lead to some amazing experiences. Surprisingly sometimes it even led back to some formal afterschooling. One year we worked up to doing 100 math problems every morning before school for about 5 months. He loved bragging about it and didn't want to stop until we got tripped up by some exhausting school work demands. My son is still lagging in some areas. Now I think he might be about 1 year behind in math and reading but he is ahead in science. He loves to learn and is self directed and highly motivated. There are many kids who develope right on schedule (or even ahead of schedule). Then they graduate and never pick up a book again. I've let go of needing my son to get caught up as soon as possible. Instead I'm nurturing him to become a person who is always curious and evolving. In many ways my son has set me free of needing to compare and measure up to others. We are very outside of the box. It feels like all of the rules and expectations don't even apply to us. We don't follow the normal trajectory and yet sometimes there are unexpected bursts of greatness. Adversity builds character. He is really a very interesting person, and you can't honestly say that about most 10 year old kids. I don't know where your son's struggles might lead. If you make sure that you are nurturing him at his own speed, valuing him as person, and protecting his self esteem, while tuning out all of the background noise and competativeness, he will have the best outcome. Good Luck.

I had a lawyer and tried to get my son placed in a specialized private school for kids with language based learning disorders. The suit dragged on forever. Then my son suddenly made some small academic progress which jeopardized our case so we dropped the lawsuit. The bar is really low for what qualifies as meaningful progress. It is very difficult to get the public school to pay for a private out of district placements. We really can't afford the private placement because it is about 3x more expensive than a regular private school and that doesn't even include OT or language therapy. So I'm still after schooling as tolerated by my son. I must say that private school was incredible. Parents raved about their kids gaining 3 yrs of academic progress in one school year. Plus the private school addressed executive functioning so well that parents wished they could send their neurotypical kids there along with their SN child. It's bittersweet that my son is doing better in the public school. But, who knows, maybe he would have hated the commute. It is an hour away from our home. So I'm in a holding pattern - back to putting out fires, supplementing, and hoping that I can sustain him through to 12th and onto college.

I think earlier is better. He already knows he is having trouble reading. Without your guidance, he could be worried and might be formulating crazy ideas about his inadequacies. You want to be able to prevent any negative self image. My son was 8 when we discovered he had dyslexia. I told him right away. He was relieved that it is a fairly common disorder. It meant he wasn't alone in his misery, wasn't stupid, and didn't have to hide his struggles. I explained that Dyslexia has been well studied, so we know what reading programs work. Again I think he was relieved that I had a plan for him. I explained that learning to read was going to take longer than average and he needed to be persistent. The adversity builds character speech. Now he is 10 years old and is on Wilson Reading step 5.2. He is still diligently plugging away. He isn't a fluid reader yet, but he has come very far. He is getting closer to grade level reading - just very choppy, skips words, adds extra words. My son has a positive attitude. Once he saw and wanted a shirt that read "If life gives you melons, you may be dyslexic." It didn't come in children's sizes. But I love it that he feels comfortable enough to want THAT shirt. My son has other issues too but the dyslexia is very easy to accept. Good Luck.

My daughter (5 yrs 7months) loves "The Wizard Of Oz". She has been watching it over and over again for about 2 yrs. It is a little scary but manageable. She likes "Wiily Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," but it worries and bothers her that bad stuff happens to the kids. For awhile she watched "Ponyo" repeatedly. Then it wasn't on netflix instant play anymore and she forgot about it. It has amazing animation. She giggled hysterically all through "Tangled." "Hoodwinked" was also a big hit because it is a fractured fairytale with lots of classic characters from different stories all mixed up together. It was funny without anything frightening. Good Luck, Lori

Let's list our kids best toys and gifts. Particularly the stuff that has gotten the most play value. Especially things that meet with parental approval. Toys that you have in multiple and/or would replace if they were lost or broken. For example, my children love their Nintendo DS but I don't think I would recommend it. It just doesn't seem healthy to be buried into it. On the other hand, my children have some engrossing toys that please me: Superstructs - a construction set with wheels, rods, and panels. It is much more interesting than leggos. Easy Shapes Pattern Blocks - My kids spend all evening quietly making elaborate designs on the floor. They are made out of foam. World Map, magnifying glass, C-Rods, Jenga, Scrabble, colored pencils, balance bike, iPad ( loaded with educational apps). Lori

Thanks everyone. I'm in the phase where I have more questions than answers. My son has deficits in all areas of his life - but somehow no diagnosis fits well. He is my oldest. We love him as he is. I just wish I had a clearer idea of how to make life easier for him. It is hard being a square peg in a round hole. He is only 9 yrs old so maybe I will get more clarity in time. It is inspiring to read everyone's posts. Lori

Sorry the Solo series is not free. I was mistaken. Bookshare provides Read Outloud free.

Sorry I was wrong I saw Read:out loud version 6 by Don Johnstone and I thought it was probably the same thing as Solo 6. I should have read more carefully. Lori

Hold the phones, it looks like the bookshare membership comes a free version of that Solo 6 software. That changes everything. Nothing lost if I can't figure it out or train my son to use it. Thanks so much Shay. it is brilliant. Now I just got to get a qualifying specialist to sign his proof of disability form. Lori