Speaking of the vision therapy...that was mentioned upthread too and I overlooked it. I do know one person who is taking her son for vision therapy. It's a couple of hours away from here. I may need to get more information from her. Apparently, from what she was saying, it's controversial around here. I don't know enough about it to know why, but there are no doctors near here that do that. The dyslexia, SLP, and audiologist, though, should be fairly easy to get locally. The dyslexia and at least an initial visit with the ENT doesn't take that long to get into. I'm not sure how long of a wait if we need to go somewhere else for audiology. And I'm hoping the SLP won't be too long of a wait either. I'm guessing though that the neuropsych though is a different story. But at least we have a starting place.

Yes, my eyes were crossing there for a minute. :laugh: Oh, and look....I can quote now!

Still can't quote, but OHElizabeth---thank you, thank you, thank you! That is very helpful (because I definitely would not have been able to put the questioning together like that! And, thanks again to everyone who commented---I still sort of feel like I'm going to battle, but now, at least I know how to use some of the armor :laugh:

I would normally say private school over public (but I know that's based on my bias from my particular area, where the public schools are consistently among the worst in the nation). With the info given, I would not hesitate to choose the public school over this particular private school. With 2000 students, she will find many that share her Christian worldview.

For some reason, I'm unable to quote today....sorry about that..... but thanks for confirming! That's crazy about the hearing loss. I'm going to call the ENT's office that did older ds's hearing to see if they do the complete tests. I know I can get in there in just a couple weeks or so. If they don't do it, I'll start asking around to see where to go. I know insurance will pay for the hearing (after small copay) so we are going to start with that, and go from there. In the meantime, I'm going to need to ask around and see about a SLP and the NP. I think the SLP will be fairly easy to locate. I'm a little worried about finding NP, but we'll see.

Ok....so in looking closer....and trying to understand not only who does what, but also what they need to do exactly...... I need to ask the audiologist or whoever we end up getting the hearing testing done with if they do the "Scan 3". And I need to ask a speech and language pathologist if they do a " CELF or a CASL". Is this right? Also, I'm looking back at the info from older ds's dyslexia testing and they did the following things with him (and will do the same with ds10). With these tests, would our direction be more clear with results with any of these? RAIS--2 "informal alphabet assessment" CTOPP-2 WRMT-III WIAT-III TWS-5 OWLS-II CELF-5ST And, I just noticed as I was typing those that the CELF mentioned above will be done with dyslexia testing, but it is denoted that it was a "screening test". So I'm guessing the SLP would do the "real" one. Does that mean that the if he were to "pass" this at the dyslexia place, then I wouldn't need to pursue this with the SLP? Sorry for all the clearly ignorant questions. I feel so lost. But y'all are making it better;-)

Thanks everyone! I don't know about neuropsychologists in my area. I will have to look around. He has a regular check up coming up soon, and I will ask his pediatrician. But we really don't have a good relationship with him. (There haven't been any issues really, just have never really "clicked" and we only go for checkups once every few years and ds has only been to dr for illness maybe once in last 5 years). Regarding the SLP.......He did have speech therapy for several years. I forgot to mention that earlier. So theoretically, they did the vision/hearing/etc during that initial visit to get set up for that. It was through the public school, and it did not take very long at all (less than an hour for everything they did which included large and small motor skills assessments). He was preschool age at the time. He received the therapy for speech only (normal childhood speech delay type issues). Once he could speak where others could understand him, they of course released him. Should I take him to a private place for re-evaluation? Audiologist.....My older ds went to an ENT place for hearing evals prior to the dyslexia screening he did, and that will be required before I take dd10 for the dyslexia testing also. So I will find out how extensive that testing is, and if it is detailed enough to get the information referred to above. I think it may be what we need. I honestly didn't know too much about what they were doing with older dd, because we just needed to "check that box" before they would do the dyslexia testing. But he told me that he was put in a soundproof box, so I'm hoping that means that is what we need as far as the audiological part--especially since that only cost 25 bucks! But this is definitely good info to get me started in the right direction. Someone above mentioned "receptive language" problems, and that is a term I have not heard, so I'm going to look into that as well. Thanks for this!!

Sorry in advance for the long, rambling post. I have had my head in the sand too long now, and really need to do something besides wonder what is going on with ds10. For background, ds14 was diagnosed last year with dyslexia. He's received dyslexia therapy and he does fairly well with school and quite well with "life" in general. Ds10, I believe also to have dyslexia, but I think there's more to it. For one thing, his dyslexia issues, such as phonemic awareness, and phonics/reading in general seem to be not as severe as ds14's. However, there are other issues, that I can't determine whether they stem from dyslexia or are something else, that make him have a harder time that his older brother. I have wondered about auditory processing, but when I read the symptoms, so many of them do not seem to be the case. But there is definitely something "wrong" with his understanding. He has me repeat things all the time. He cannot follow (and in comprehend) directions that seem age appropriate. He gets confused and has to clarify. But, beyond the hearing aspect, he also doesn't "get" other things as well......for example: We pulled in the driveway yesterday after a windy storm. A full trash bag (that had been by the garage waiting to go to the street tonight) had blown in front of the garage entry. I asked him to get out and move the trash bag. He got out, picked up the trash bag and walked into the garage, towards the door with it. I tapped the horn to get his attention, he turned around, and I pointed in the direction of the other trash bags. He looked at me, looked at where I was pointing, and then back at me. He had no idea that I was meaning for him to put the bag back with the others. (I have no idea if I'm painting this scene well enough, but trust me that a typical 10 year old would have understood what to do in the context). And, this was not a one time thing. Stuff like that all the time. He has started playing football, and it is clear that he is always one step behind everyone else after getting the coaching instructions/plays. He knows how to play football, and he knows the plays, etc. But he seems to have to look around at everyone else before he comprehends what the coach has just told them. Also, his vocabulary is no where near that of any of my other kids. I have always read aloud to him, and we talk about everything.....all the things you're "supposed to do". But he still seems "slow" (I hate even saying that, but I don't know how else to describe it). For a long time, I have thought it's just because he's the baby of 6 kids, and he was just late blooming, but I'm seeing that is simply not the case. So. I'm sorry this has been long and drawn out. I wanted to try and give a decent picture of what's going. We are going to definitely do the dyslexia evals soon, but that is at a specific dyslexia center. I know they don't "do" things like APD issues. We live in an area that does not offer a lot in the area of evaluations---or at least I don't know of much. What questions do I need to be asking around and/or what type of doctor/therapist should I be looking for? I'm just clueless at the moment with anything beyond the dyslexia. (This has taken longer to write up that I thought, and I've got to run. Please ask anything that may be pertinent, and I'll be back later) TIA!!

We are only up to Gamma, so I can't help you. I just wanted to say that the same thing happened at the beginning of our year with our Gamma dvd. We purchased it new directly from MUS, so I expected to get at least a discount for the repeat purchase. No such luck though. I had to fork out the $25 for the replacement. I have 4 youngers that will eventually use it, so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. But it did seem like purchasing a replacement should have warranted at least a small discount--especially since I had purchased all 3 of the levels we've done so far brand new directly from them. Oh well, I guess every business is entitled to make their own policies:glare:. (sure would be nice if I agreed with all of them:))

Wow! That was fast. Thank you soooooo much:)

I love this program, but do not want to pay full price. The homeschool buyers co-op currently does not have a deal. If you have a code to share, I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks

We started out with Shurley so my oldest knew all the jingles. My younger ones knew most of them. We have been with R&S for 2 years and they still sing the Shurley jingles sometimes while doing their R&S. They still like to put on the cd in the van (not really the olders, buy my 2 and 3 year olds always ask for "the jingles" and can now sing most of them) The only thing is that when R&S asks them to list something, like helping verbs for example, it asks for them in certain sequence--I think its something like the "h triplets" (have, has, had), and twins(will, would). Shurley's sequence is different (more jingley:)). This is not a problem for us because we do most of it orally anyway. So i would just say something like "list the helping verbs", and not have them fill in the certain blanks.

I don't think it was MUS that "helped" her. I think it was more the change of pace. Actually, pace is a bad word because we worked quickly through the first 2 books. I guess it was just the change and relief of doing something different, after becoming so.tired.of.math. Poor kid, she is the first, so she has to be the guinea pig;). I did give up on math facts--not completely, but definitely the timing part. We have tried drills and flashmaster, online drills/games....the list goes on and on. I have settled on the fact that she knows "how" to do it, and can come up with it if given the time. I think that if we had just stuck it out with Saxon, we would actually be in good shape right now. (oh well, hind-site, right??) However, going back to Saxon is probably not a good option, just because of the mental block against it. It really may be the visual appeal. I really, really, hate to switch programs in 5th grade. I know its usually advised against switching so much, especially in math. But part of me really thinks that may be the best thing to do. I am talking it through with her as I type this, and she actually perked up when I mentioned BJU. One of her friends uses it and "really likes math". I am trying really hard not to get the "grass is greener" syndrome, and don't want her to either. That said, I think I will take a look at BJU. In the meantime, we will plug away with MUS and supplement with some other things.

I don't post very often, but read the boards almost daily. I know math seems to be a downfall for lots of people. I am at a loss as to what to do with my 10 (will be 11 in Sept) year old daughter. Here is our history: Saxon K, 1, 2, and part of 3. She was doing ok with all of it. However, she could not memorize her math facts no matter what we did. We tried everything I could think of. She understood the concepts, and could borrow/carry, but it was taking forever to work a page because she'd have to think about the facts so long. We were both growing tired of all the repetition in Saxon as well. So, we moved to MUS. I thought maybe seeing it a different way would help her "see" the facts, and therefore be able to remember them better. We started in Alpha just to see the MUS way of doing things. She quickly moved through alpha and beta, and is now doing gamma. Where we are today: Doing ok on mathfacts for add and sub. (although she is still not as fast as one would think an upcoming 5th grader should be). Although I am not *really* worried about grade levels at this point, I am getting a little concerned that she will begin to get a complex (her younger brothers and sisters are catching up with her). I thought we were moving along ok until recently I started to realize that she can no longer do "simple" things, like read graphs, read numbers to millions, and other "mathy" things. I guess I've had my head in the sand or something. She could do all of that easily a couple of years ago. But since we moved to MUS, it seems all we have done is work on basic facts. It of course covers the place value, and she did perfectly fine on that part, but once it moved on, I guess she forgot. When we began preparing for achievment tests, I was floored at all the things she could no longer do that she could easily do in 2nd grade! My first thought was to go back to Saxon, but she has such an aweful, aweful taste in her mouth for it, that I'm afraid it would not be a good transition. I am afraid to change to anything else again, because we are so far along now, and I know its best to have a program and stick to it. She is doing wonderfully in all other subjects. Math is just her weak point. I do realize everyone has weaknesses, and I'm really ok with that. What worries me is that due to trying to memorize facts, she seems to have lost everything else. We have kind of been "shopping". She likes how singapore looks, but honestly Singapore scares me to death, and from what I read, is not really a program conducive to struggling students. Has anyone been in a similiar situation, this late in the math game. What did you do? What would you have done differently? Thanks for your help. Any suggestions?

I can't give any advise because we are in similar situation, but.... Just wanted to clarify that Writing TALES (that the above posters have recommended is a different program than Writing STRANDS. (We also tried Writing Strands, and it was NOT a hit, but we just switched to Writing Tales, and though it's too early to tell, so far, it seems to be great).