The reasons that they discussed why they are having a hard time assimilating make perfect sense. A lot of legitimate reasons were brought up why. It makes sense that a lot are coming because their country borders ours and they are not going through the process that some other immigrants go through. There are more immigrants from Mexico so they live in neighborhoods where there are more people that speak their language and share their culture. It is easy to travel back to their country since they do not have to travel as far. The kind of labor they are coming over to do is low paid and keeps kids out of school during different times of the year. The original assertion was not compared to other modern immigrants it was to immigrants in all time periods. It makes it sound like people are refusing to assimilate but it more complicated then that.

This is not comparing them to any immigrant group in the past but recent ones. It makes sense they are less assimilated because they are coming to the country easier then the process is from other countries and it is easier to go back and forth between the Mexico and the U.S. There are also more immigrants since Mexico is so close and they do not all go through the rigorous process others go through so that does make it easier to not need to learn English. It is not really about them refusing to adapt but the reasons they immigrate are very different and it is easier to go back to their country of origin. Just like comparing the situation in the past to now it is comparing apples and oranges when you look at reasons different immigrant groups immigrate or not in the past or now.

His biggest weakness is his working memory obviously so I would work on that. I also agree that I would get him checked by a COVD if you have not done so. It looks like something could possibly going on there. It also could have been the motor planning aspect that lowered the scores there. With his weak phonemic awareness and articulation issues I would do the pretest to see if he would benefit from LIPs. If he passes the pretest then I would use dyslexia friendly curriculum.

http://haltcommoncore.com/2016/02/15/middle-school-reading-lists-100-years-ago-vs-today-show-how-far-american-educational-standards-have-declined/#sthash.mJ3nw3Wh.dpuf I have seen the above article plus another comparing grade levels that compares reading lists from 1908 to one from 2014. They are saying we are much less educated now but I do not think it is neccasarily true. IQ scores have been going up over time and that comes from increased knowledge and exposure. A lot of people did not even have the chance to get an education in 1908. Life certainly was not ideal back then. I am all for exposure to classics and I do think it is good but I think the typical adolescent from 100 years ago is much smarter then a typical adolescent from today.

My ds is similar. He is very good with Legos and k-nex and he can get a strong visual in his head from listening to books. He can even picture how things like engines work and see how the parts fit together but he could not copy a whole word while doing copy work but did it letter by letter. He does reverse a lot. He is not as good at puzzles as he is things like Legos but he does not struggle with them either. He did struggle with the visual memory stuff in jungle memory. He struggles with picturing what words look like visually for spelling and I always wondered why since he usually is good at visualizing. I never realized that 3D and 2D visual memory could be so different but that does make sense and explains a lot.

http://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/au-et-al2014_nback-training-gf-meta-analysis.pdf I researched this when I was deciding on Jungle Memory. There were studies that said it did not transfer and I remember some if them included cogmed too. The studies were not perfect though and there was not a lot out there that looked at those specifically. I also found the above meta analysis. I decided to give it a try because working memory is an area that can be improved and in my kid's case I believe it is the biggest reason for their struggles. I tried Jungle Memory because it was easy to implement and because it was more affordable then other options. It was hard for ds and he did have to work at it. I provided him some tips but he did the problems themselves. I noticed immediate improvement once he got through hard parts. His teacher said that he has made so much improvement on things I could not even observe like his confidence and demeanor in the classroom. I do not think it was about the program itself but just working to improve how much info can be stored a little later while busy working on something else and if it is hard but they eventually get through it. I do not think jungle memory would work for every kid. It would not have worked any earlier for ds because to get to the hard part for his memory he had to be able to do math he wouldn't have been able to do yet. When it got hard he would get upset but I told him that it was ok that it was hard. After seeing that it really can be improved in my son and just how far reaching a change can be I am definitely looking to find other ways to work on it especially in games. All my kids have the profile of a weaker working memory and processing speed then other areas and it manifests in different ways. My youngest is too young for jungle memory so I want to find other ways for her but I am not good at coming up with my own stuff. It needs to be clearly laid out. I think that it can be improved even in younger kids but that what is out there just is not effective for younger kids.

Most of New Zealand is switching to that system? That does not sound like a good idea. None of my kids would do well with that. They need some direct instruction. One would love to have self directed time to purse passions and one feels put on the spot and does not do well with anything open ended but all of my kids need some instruction. So many kids would need more then that.

I remember a lot of details from my childhood. My earliest memory is from around 18 months and I have a few from 2 and a lot from 3 and after. I have less memories from high school then I do from childhood but there is stuff I remember from all periods of my life. It is not from hearing stories because I remember more details then my mom.

That was the game I was talking about that was linked. Any other cheap games for either auditory or visual working memory especially for younger kids?

I agree with OhElizabeth that the foward span is not the most important thing but if they can hold it while doing other things. My ds foward span was ok but he had a much weaker backward span which was showing he just was not good at keep things in his head while doing something else. I saw a game on Amazon called distraction that looks interesting. I gave done jungle memory with ds but I do want to do more and IM is something I am considering for the future. You can do it low tech instead but if you can make it so he has to keep info in his head while working on something else it will help in other areas.

I have a kiddo with a much much lower processing speed and a weaker working memory that really bumped scores down. After doing jungle memory there has been a big difference in his performance. I will be doing more memory boosters with him. He also has ADHD and I think it is a common profile for a kid with attention issues. If you have difficulty holding things in your head especially when busy and also you take time to process then a lot just slips through. I heard good things about Bright Kids Who Can't Keep up since it specifically addresses the processing speed and it is very hard to find things that address it. I have my copy reserved at the library and will be starting it.

Is guess I take the opposite strategy as everyone else. We went to DC this fall and we did not squeeze in as much as possible but took our time and read things and took in everything at the museum. We hit the Dulles Space museum first. It is harder to squeeze more in but it was full of things ds is fascinated with and read about. We did not get there until afternoon so we only did that. The next day we went into DC and separated into two different museums and walked around a bit. We did not see everything we wanted in DC but we will go back in the future. We did not have a full day because we just took a detour there on a east coast trip. We were visiting people in Baltimore.

Yea it was definitely not 45 minutes per kid.

An actual audiologist came to school to test hearing of the pre-k kids today. I wonder if they did good enough testing. How long does the testing take and what should they have tested? I will ask the teacher more about it.

I have read about the controversy. A lot of things were saying it only leads to improvement in what is being played. It was hard to find reviews from people afterwards besides the testimonials and who knows if they are verifiable. I did see some studies though where it did lead to an improvement in areas not tested. I really felt that one if the biggest things holding ds back was the working memory. I really think working memory is something that can be improved and that one was the cheapest things to try. Once he started doing better at it I starting seeing improvement in his spelling grades and he finally started making progress in reading. He is doing much better in school.

Ds had huge discrepencies in his scores but they did not use a GAI for him like they should have and he was not two years behind so it could not get him help. You needed discrepencies plus be two years behind. Would LiPS effect her CTOPP scores a lot?

I used jungle memory. It took him a while to make progress especially in the one related to speed but once he did start making progress I noticed improvement.

My older dd has that issue too. She had add and more then likely a slow processing speed. I am pretty sure we all have slow processing speed and it was confirmed in one of my children. Oops I see you already got your report back. I like the suggestion of working on executive functioning and doing games. I just started incorporating more games into our week. I found doing a computer program for working memory really helped my ds. He has made a lot of progress since completing it. I am going to have my older dd do it next.

What components are neccasary to buy? The kit on the website is 444. Do I need everything? Where can I find it used?

Dd failed the Barton screening so I am going to start looking into LIPs but I am a little overwhelmed. How hard is it to implement? How long did it take your DC to progress? Are there any tips you have about using it? I have used Visualizing and Verbalizing from Linda Bell Mood and I really did not like the format. I did not like how it was the combination of explaining about why they use the method followed by an example but it was not really in an open and go format. I really had a hard time knowing if the answers were what they were looking for and I had to flip around and read. I am much better with clear lesson plans that go day by day. I do not really have other options though because she will need this and it is too expensive for the evals and tutoring. I need some advice though. What will the lessons with LIPs be like?

She has not had any evals except for the pre-test I did with her. It really confirmed she was not hearing the differences between the sounds. She compensates rather well for speech. This is very overwhelming though. It is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. I know she is going to struggle and she will need serious help but everyone will dismiss me and think from ds that I am just a helicopter parent. She has an IEP and gets preschool services for her motor skill delay but I know they will not think her not knowing all her sounds or sounding out words etc is an issue yet. They fight tooth and nail about getting a child help never mind one as young as her.

I wonder if the reason she struggles more then ds with phonemic awareness is because his speech therapy for articulation was like LIPs. He had a really good speech teacher who really taught him how to make sounds and the difference between them. He had really bad articulation as a preschooler but made so much progress through therapy. She never qualified for speech. Her articulation was a little off but not enough to qualify

I gave her the Barton screening and she failed all 3 sections. She could not do task A. She pulled the first few words and then pulled one for the last few words. She got 4 wrong in task B and 7 wrong and 2 corrected in task C. She had difficulty with anything with a sh, th or ch some of the vowels and m m and n. I know that kids have difficulties saying the th at her age but it did seem like she was having trouble hearing the difference. Is it more common for a child her age to fail so bad? I guess I will be giving LIPs a try. I did not like how Visualizing and Verbalizing from that company was organized and I am guessing LIPs might be similar but I guess I need to try to figure out a way to do it. It is good it works on working memory too because I did not know too many ways to work on that with a 5 year old. I have been doing iPad versions of Simon. She has had her hearing checked at school but not with audiologist.

No I have not done the pre-test yet. My ds has had difficulties with reading and handwriting too but a little different then hers. She does have some warning signs but her speech is fine. I cannot afford the testing or tutoring with her right now. How hard is LIPs to implement? It sounded like it was hard to do. I guess LIPs is the only thing out there for the early weakness? I am pretty sure she also is much weaker in her working memory and processing speed then the other areas and she most likely has dyspraxia (she has a motor planning delay) She at least qualifies for OT through the school. I am so not ready to go through all this again.

My little one (5 with a fall birthday) struggled with learning letter sounds and counting but she is finally doing better. She is having a hard time learning a few vowels. Like she calls the u by the y sound and the e by the i sound. I think she has trouble hearing the difference. She has had difficulty learning first letter sounds and rhyming. Now she is better at recognizing words that rhyme but she cannot make her own. Another issue is the 13 and 14 and 30 and 40 sound the same when she says it and it sometimes mixes her up by skipping from 12 to 14 and then on to 15 or 20 to 40 and then on to 50 when counting by tens. She is getting better but it is still something she does a lot. Is there anything I can do with her to help with this issue.