How well can he read? Has he just memorized the words or can he decode nonsense words and words he has not learned before? http://www.teacherweb.com/CA/PomeloDriveElementary/Mrssakamoto/printap2.stm is a place to get the I See Sam books sets 1 and 2 for free download. Now these ARE going to look childish and might be below him (test him on the last one and see if he can read it fluently) but you might explain that these are more like comic/cartoon books and WILL help him learn to read. I think that finding a program that really works will help him, esp. if you can do it at home where no one else sees his reading material. He could go through this program quickly and then really be able to move on to grade level reading material and non fiction, etc. My 13dd is on the 6th set of these books now and can read a great deal--chapter books, lots of non fiction, etc. http://www.piperbooks.co.uk/index.htm here is the link for the upper sets of books to see samples and then order them--you will need to US link to order them.

Thanks. I can get a few books before we leave and several more are on hold. I am trying to expand what I read to more than stuff on special needs kids, Christian romance fiction, and my devotions--oh, and horse stuff. I plan on enjoying my trip. It is not overly relaxing as we are in seminars/clinics from 9am until 7pm each day but we do have our evenings and just being away is nice.

Yes, get in ASAP. If they can't see you in a day or 2, I would go to a larger hospital ER and they will see you. I think you need blood work and a CT at minimum to start. A larger hospital ER could get this done in just 1-2 hours. Make SURE you tell the nurse all of your symptoms---esp. loosing balance, having difficulty talking/stuttering, etc.

Sorry you feel that way. My friend is in a similar situation. We live in Michigan but her husband works in Alaska and is home for 4-7 days ever 6-8 weeks. She is like a single mom but not single. Could you invite some people over? I know it is hard alone but maybe if you invite a few couples the ladies could talk, men could visit, and kids play.

I am going away on Wednesday with a friend and her daughter and daughter's friend to a horse expo for 4 days. I know I will have down time in the evening and would like some nice, easy reads. I enjoy horse, animal, vet type things (like James Harriot), stories set in the 1800s, easy modern fiction, etc. I would like some books that are well written but they don't have to be necessarily Christian as I have read many of those. I do not want lots of details of intimacy, lots of foul language (a few words are OK), stories that are very "dark", etc.---just nice, ligth reading. I don't want to have to think too hard on my vacation either. Give me your best ideas.

Thanks for the link.

I don't know anything about the QuickReads so I can't comment on those. I have used the I See Sam readers for several years. Have you seen the samples at http://www.piperbooks.co.uk/index.htm? Likely you would start with ARI 2 or 3. You could have your son read the samples for each level and see how he does with them. The I See Sam books teach the new words/sounds in a very systematic way and then use the sounds over and over again in the story they are introduced and then again in following strories. Esp. in the early sets they keep confusing things apart---like b and d, p and q, etc. These books are almost self teaching. The key for the parent/tutor/instructor is to let the child do the work. You introduce the new sounds and then have the child sound out the new words. If the child misreads a word you take the cursor back and show them the part they got wrong and see if they can self correct. If they don't know the sound, you give it to them and then have them blend the word. There are also lots of stories at each level so that they get lots of practice before being expected to move on to harder stuff. I LOVE these books because they are working here. My 12dd has completed the sets. My 13dd is almost done with ARI 4 and she was never supposed to learn to read (cognitive impairment, LDs, and seizures). She is now reading simple chapter books on her own.

Are you planning on keeping him or will he be for sale? He sure is cute. My girls and I went on our first trail ride of the years. It was short but went well. It was only 36 and a bit breezy so the girls said they were COLD. It was supposed to be 52 and sun. We are leaving in 1/2 hour to check out a pony for them as well. Chauncey is a 13.2hh 20 year old POA mare. Supposedly a bomb proof, babysitter type horse with show experience as well as lots of trail miles. We will see. Not everyone is truthful about their horses. We need another horse as right now they share their 31 year old 16hh gelding.

Congrats. He is cute. What color will he be?

What level is he reading at now? The I See Sam books only go up to mid/late 3rd grade level. Go to http://www.piperbooks.co.uk/advanced_reading_5.htm and lick on the books and enlarge the samples. If he can read these fluently then he is beyond the I See Sam books. If not, keep backing down sets until he can read the samples fluently. That would give you an idea of where to start. If you join the yahoo group for Beginning Reading Instruction, they occ. have sets for sale. I bought my first 2 sets on ebay but that was several years ago. I have sets 1-7 or 8 but do not want to sell them as I hope to use them for my nephew and niece, tutoring, etc.

Yes, those are the first 2 sets and yes they are in the public domain. The directions for use though are NOT very good. The whole idea of the I see Sam DECODABLE books is to teach the child the SOUNDS and have them BLEND them into the words. These books are the K level readers. The other sets take you from this point to mid/late 3rd grade level.

I really like Apples and Pears for spelling/writing for this age/stage. It is very effective for dyslexic students. It IS more expensive than other programs but well worth the cost. http://www.prometheantrust.org/soundfoundationsbooks.htm If you scroll down you can see the Apples and Pears program. Click the "see inside" to see the entire program.

Have you seen an ENT? I am assuming that they have ruled out a mild cleft palate, etc. for the one that is very nasaly. Have they evaluated if their tonsils and/or adenoids are overly large? Have the boys both have hearing tests done--the full ones, not just the screenings? You could check with a local children's hospital as they might be able to code the speech under medical for insurance reasons. Otherwise, personally, I would use the school system if you can get a therapist that can help your kids. If you move every 2 years, you will be moving before they reach any age of homeschool regulations. Speech is one thing I wish I would have pushed for more when my 13dd was younger. We are going again next week to try for more therapy as it is still severely affecting her life====esp. socially.

Check out the I See Sam books http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html. The UK link on the right is the BEST for seeing the program, samples, download of the 1st book for free, etc. I post a lot about this program because it WORKED with my girls when nothing else did. We have apraxia, mild CP, mito disorders, seizures, etc. and on and on (I am sure you understand). I can also email you some samples if you want. This program breaks the learning down into lots of smaller steps and gives lots of practice with each step.

have you checked into the gas instant hot water heaters? They don't have a tank that you have to keep the water warm in but rather heat the water on demand. I think they cost more but no running out of hot water and they save a lot of energy over time.

This looks really neat. She LOVES animals and pet shops so this would likely be a hit.

My 12dd is struggling right now with double digit multiplication. We need to keep drilling her facts so she gets them down pat but honestly, at this rate (she should be 6th grade, struggling with 4th grade math), I don't see us doing much higher level math. She is now LD per say but rather has a low average IQ and is at least 2 years behind across the board--with ADD, seizures, mitochondrial disorders, and on and on. I was wondering more about making sure she can add, subtract, multiply and divide--with fractions and decimals as well and then do more consumer math for her. She most likely will not be college material but will be able to live on her own so she needs to know budgeting, banking, money skills, interest, insurances, taxes, tithes, etc. Does anyone take this route? What programs did you find worked well for this?

NO, sorry. This is the actual truth. My brother calls me frequently to update me on my nephew's antics. I just remind him that HE was very much like this at that age as well.

Story of the day that fits in with this: Almost 4 year old nephew outside helping his daddy clean today. He decides that it is his job to clean the bird poop off the trash can---which he does by scraping it with his finger...............a bit later he proudly tells his dad, "I got all the bird poop off ALL BY MYSELF". My brother tells him that is great and thank you for helping clean up (you know the stuff good parents say to preschool helpers) and nephew responds, "yep, I got it off by LICKING it". :lol:

You might see if http://www.grocerygame.com is available in your area. I can give you a number for referal if you are interested. It costs $10 every 8 weeks for 1 store but they have a free 4 week trial. You get coupons from the Sunday paper (maybe worth buying 2 or 3 papers or getting extras from friends/neighbors). They help you match your coupons to the sale items for best savings. I find that Walgreens is great for health and beauty stuff. This is esp. true if you are not name brand loyal. For example, I bought $2/8 Pantene stuff--1 conditioner and 1 shampoo. Then I had a coupon for $1 off each bottle. Then a coupon for a free styling product when you bought 2 of the other things (worth $4.99 that I would have NEVER paid for but enjoy having). Now I am up to $15 worth of panteen stuff for $6 BUT they have a $3 rebate so it cost me $3 for these nice large bottles of shampoo, conditioner and a styling product. Last week toilet paper was 1/2 off and then if you bought $25 worth you got a $10 off coupon for any purchase in the next 2 week. Toothpaste (colgate) was 25 cents with a sale and coupon. For the grocery store, I bought $240 worth of stuff but paid only $108 this week. This did include milk, yogurt, cheese, bread, fresh veggies and fruit, etc. I can get name brand boxes of ceral for $1 by using the coupons when the cereal is on sale. It might be worth checking out to see if a store in your area has this. Sometimes the more expensive stores have better sales to get you in the door and if you watch what you are doing you can actually get BETTER stuff CHEAPER there. It does require you go clip coupons and then spend about 15 minutes on the site getting the sale lists, etc. I figure it takes me an extra 15-20 minutes in the store a week but for $120 of savings for under 1 hour of time a week I can do it. I then plan my menus based on what was on sale and what I have stocked up in the pantry and freezer. This is much cheaper than planning menus and going out and buying the stuff you need (which might not be on sale that week). For fruits and veggies, we tend to eat what is on sale that week----bananas and grapes one week, apples and strawberries another, etc.

YOu are one busy mom. If he can handle preschool medically (without getting sick), it might be a great option for him to get his therapies in an organized fashion with therapist who do a lot of kids like him and also give you a break. I sent both of my girls for 1 semester of preschool and they LOVED it. They were both in program for kids with special needs. The bus ride was a HUGE hit for them as they had a driver and aide and played lots of kids songs, sang, played i-spy, etc.---basically kept the kids engaged and happy. It can be stressful on the other kids having a sibling with special needs so some time away to be able to do a few things without him would be nice as well----as much as I am sure they love him. I would see if he qualifies for nursing care or even respite services. The break it provides is WONDERFUL. All 3 of mine get some respite and it really helps me keep my sanity. Can you have them do the EEG while they do a sleep study for him? That way they can figure out both issues at the same time--well, at least tell you what is going on, fixing them is another thing :glare:

Yes, Ottakee DOES feel like a broken record (or maybe infomercial) here at times. I do keep bringing it up though because it WORKS, it is easy to use and inexpensive. On the yahoo group for the I See Sam books there are stories from reading tutors that have taught 99% of their cases (and these are cases of kids that weren't learning to read in the classroom) to read using the I See Sam books. Even the other 1% is learning, just much slower. I don't know if there are any other programs out there with that level of success---esp. at under $50 per year's worth of materials (and they are completely reusable). Thanks for sharing your story. Shay is doing a WONDERFUL work with a bunch of K level kids that were really struggling. Just 15 minutes a few times a week and they are learning to read.

This stuff is known as Magic Butt Cream around here---our pharmacy will even mix it up if you want. The children's hospital uses it for their patients as well. GREAT STUFF> [i also made "Butt Mudd" fairly regularly. Use a cotton ball to dab it on after every change. It worked much better for me than the prescription stuff. Butt Mudd--Mix equal parts of: Mylanta or Maalox (liquid) Desitin (regular, not creamy) Lotrimin (cheap generic works just as well)

SJS---YES< I have heard of it but thankfully we have not had it here. My girls are both on Lamictal and it has a risk of SJS so we had to go up very slowly and monitor them closely for any signs of illness, etc. Hope you get better and stay away from Sulfa.

It is all priorities and for ME, I would rather have the horses and a $5 hair cut. For others, they do the $75 haircut but don't get pizza out as often, etc. I do think the money on our "big old guy" is well spent. Right now I am spending $$$$$$ so that I can build a barn to bring them home.