ssavings
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Posts posted by ssavings
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I'd been leaning toward R&S to remediate my bonus homeschooler for next year (rising 6th grade) in math.
She struggled a lot with some areas of R&S's 4th grade placement test, so I'm thinking of starting her there.
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I apologize - I've skimmed but not read all the posts.
I have a fairly severe anxiety disorder and panic disorder. The benzos (kolonapin for me), sleeping meds, and Effexor are great at stabilizing my thoughts - I don't go into the spirals of anxiety that I would before where I would be convinced of something terrible happening. However, I had a lot of issues with the heart palpitations - and they sent me into a spiral (heart rate causes anxiety over a panic attack and the anxiety causes the panic attack). I did a round of biofeedback therapy, hooked to sensors to learn to control my heart rate, breathing, etc. It might be worth exploring for DD?
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We tried everything we could before making the jump to LIPS, then Barton, and I regret the time we spent on the other programs. Barton has just been the ONE that works for DD8. She's able to identify ending and middle sounds, blend words, etc.
We've gone through Barton VERY slowly - she has memory issues, so that might be part of why it's so slow for us. But we're seeing actual progress - progress that we didn't see in other homeschool programs or public school interventions. -
SWI-A in 30 weeks with my oldest two, but we also went through the Partnership Writing section of Bravewriter and Writing Strands.
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We live in Florida.
My second to youngest DD is technically supposed to be going into 3rd grade - she's no where near ready.
We pulled her out of public school in March after multiple years of failing IEP goals and no progress. We're making more progress, but I'd like to keep her in second grade another year.
Any ideas what that process is?
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My DD (almost 8 now) has a series of diagnoses from a variety of evals.. All the "dys-", memory deficits (all the memory), processing speed deficits, auditory processing, visual processing, etc.
Since pulling her out of school, I'm noticing that she loses focus VERY easy, and when she does, it derails everything we've been doing. She'll be understanding just fine, then suddenly you can visually see her get distracted, generally by something I'd not even notice. And then she's totally lost whatever concept we're working with.
While I know that, if this is ADD, fixing it obviously won't fix all her problems; and I know we have a lot of remediation to do to get her to a level where she's functional and able to do things like hold a job, etc.. My question is could ADD contribute to any of these thing? Is it worth asking her doctor? -
What are your favorite tools for helping with memory?
We're doing the auditory memory on Hearbuilder. We have No-Glamour memory.
What do you use? What's helped?
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We got Barton Level 1 in the mail today (woo-hoo!).
There was a flyer included for the Imagine Reading Games, that, from the little flyer, follow the Barton scope & sequence and provide extra practice.
They're not cheap, but I'm willing to pay for them if they'll provide reinforcement in a way that's less discouraging.
Anyone have any experience with these?
nks,
Meg -
I get a nice discount, so if I LOVE it, I can get my own. That'd be happier for him, lol.
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I have the 9.7" pro. Hubby has the full-sized, though. Maybe I can convince him to trade?
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We homeschool all four of them. The older two are much easier, with no learning disabilities. They're also now new to homeschooling (never in public school), so they have a fairly consistent system down. Not remotely independent, but easier. The youngest is just at a very basic age for school, and also absorbs a lot by being around the others.
Our main focus is Barton and Ronit Bird. Some of Ronit Bird is easy for her, right now (we just started this week), but we're still taking it slow, doing lots of review to get it into her memory. From just starting Barton this week, I'm envisioning it taking a long, long time. But I'd rather be using something that works - we did 18 months of public schools, essentially spinning our wheels, as they kept pushing rote memorization reading tactics at her. At least this way we're using a program that might work.
I'm not even at the point of thinking about the writing in Barton. I can't even really imagine doing handwriting with her, honestly, except for basic letter formation. She's just not ready yet.We're not stressing science and history. She watched a movie about eggs and how they hatch (magic school bus or something) and was fascinated. So, we're going to spend a few weeks hatching eggs and picking up books from the library about eggs and birds. Super easy, very low stress for her (and me). She absorbed some of the movie, and wants to learn more - so, that's what we'll do. Very low stress.
STOW is going to be too much for her. It's just too advanced for her to be able to comprehend, even with audio books. We're going to start on a way lower level, when we do. I don't want gravy subjects taking away from the meat of her education. We can always catch history up later.Typing we will add, at some point. VT is in the mix, just slowly progressing. The waiting list is forever just to get seen.
We're playing a lot of games, going places, getting experiences. They took a tour of the local football stadium earlier this week, science center next week.
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So, we gave public school almost 2 full years, and we've just not seen the progress we wanted (or, really, any progress at all).
Over the last few months, we've gotten tired of the constant fighting - over too much homework, over homework she can't do, over the fact that they'd fail her on her report card and pass her on her IEP report, just over everything.
So, as of Monday, she's homeschooling.
By way of history, she has multiple diagnoses - all the dys- (dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia), auditory processing disorder, visual perception disorders, memory deficits, etc. etc She's almost 8, and in 2nd grade (though in no way functioning on a 2nd grade level, in any academic subject).
We're going right to Barton for reading/spelling/language arts (after 18 months of LIPS), and Ronit Bird for math.
Kinda of unsure what to do for science, history, and the like? Her auditory memory is much better than her visual memory. She's not in any way a kinesthetic learner. Our focus is, obviously, going to be reading and math. But we'd like a well-rounded portfolio.
Any suggestions for things that would give her some background in science and history? She adores animals and science, especially, so I really want to give her something in her day she'll love. -
Does dyslexia only occur in right-brained/visual learners? My DD is definitely not a visual learner. My 7 YO definitely is, and he fits the dyslexia profile perfectly (and the adhd one too). She doesn't fit into either of those boxes so neatly even though she has a number of symptoms of both. I don't think the 5 yo is visial either though it's a little harder to tell at that age. But I could tell the 7 yo was visual when he was 5.
I'm dyslexic (mildly),DD#2 is dyslexic (moderate/severe); neither of use are visual learners at all.
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That's interesting! So can it be a topic of her choice? Like creating something, or reading a book of her choosing?
Yep! She can request to move on to another topic, color, draw, read, go to one of the stations, do one of her computer programs, etc.
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Our IEP includes her right to request breaks to pursue another topic or to just get outside for a bit.
It was actually offered by the school, not something I had to request/fight for. My DD is very much a low-key introvert, but we accepted it on the IEP, because it gives her the freedom to be done with a certain topic for a while and move onto something else, if need be. Even during standardized tests.-
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Wondering if anyone has any reviews for this program?
We're doing Barton. I like Barton well enough and it works.
But, for a couple kiddos, there just isn't enough reptition. I'd feel better with accompanying workbooks and taking it slower.
These look like they could be what I'm looking for and I won't have to sell a child to buy them. :)
It looks interesting.. does the table to contents match Barton's Scope and Sequence (or close enough)?
We're considering starting Barton. Also looking into SPIRE.
The "not enough repetition" in Barton worries me, as my DD has a long-term memory deficit (it takes a lot for her to remember something, and requires a lot of review to keep it).
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We met with an O-G specialist today to look at Barton tutoring starting fairly soon. She recommended S.P.I.R.E. instead - her reason being, while still multi-sensory, SPIRE is a very auditory program, and that's our area of relative strength? She noted that when DD was trying to remember the names of letters, she would use the sound as a "trigger" to help her remember the word (i.e., she'd look at a C, say /k/, which would jog her memory for the actual name of the letter).
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I so always appreciate your replies/insights. You're truly amazing, and have been a blessing for me/us! Thank you!
It looks like they did some very thorough testing! That's a good thing, yay!!
Did they do an OT eval? If they didn't, you want one. What diagnoses did they give her and what interventions is she getting now through the school? And what is your ability to do private services? Did they by chance calculate a GAI for that IQ? Seems like they should have. Her GAI would be higher than her full scale score, much closer to average. Remember, discrepancy and reasonable sense of what can be expected is partly how you gauge whether you've got complete, effective intervention. So for them the lower IQ score is more convenient.
Her GAI is just a few points above her FSIQ, because it's pulled down so far by per Perceptual Reasoning subscores, which are dramatically low.
Per the school psychologist, perceptual reasoning isn't something that can EVER be remediated - "you either have it, or you don't". Not sure where to go with that?
We are pending an OT eval at All Children's. Their waiting list is approximately forever, but we'll get it soon, I hope! Once we get it, we'll ask it to be considered by the county and added to the IEP. In the meantime, we did create the IEP based on what we had - better to get started on something than not at all.
So I'm assuming they diagnosed SLD Reading (dyslexia), language delay, and maybe ADHD? Did they run some kind of EF screening or ADHD computer test? And what therapies is she giving her now? What do you want to do?
SLD Reading, SLD Math, Mixed Expressive-Receptive Language Disorder, Articulation Disorder, Long Term Memory Encoding and Retrieval Deficits Not-Otherwise-Specified...
They balked when I suggested ADD/ADHD testing, because "she's just so sweet. And she doesn't act out. She'll just sit in class and wait patiently - not hyper at all." I still feel like ADD (not hyper, but ADD) is a possibility, so I have an appointment for a private eval. Does ADD/ADHD have an impact on learning, though?The first thing is to make sure that you understand all the things they diagnosed and that you know what they SHOULD have diagnosed that they didn't. With those scores, they may have also diagnosed SLD math and SLD writing.
To some degree, they seemed to say that some things are "fine" that clearly aren't. Writing, for example - her writing's fine, except that she can't write... o.OSo I'm going to suggest that if, after a year in that school, her scores were that low, she's probably going to need some serious tutoring. And with the significant speech and language problems (you have BOTH) and the SLDs, you're going to need to balance serious, effective, targeted intervention with time that also allows her to explore her strengths and passions.
So tutors for math, reading, writing. Speech therapy for the articulation AND additional speech therapy for expressive language. Do NOT let them pull some junk about just one session. And probably needs an OT eval to check for retained primitive reflexes. And I would do an eye exam with a developmental optometrist to see what's going on there.
They're doing two hours/day of one-on-one with the school's special ed teacher (an hour for reading/writing in the morning, then an hour in the afternoon for math/general information). 240 hours/month of speech for articulation, 240 hours/month of speech for language (Florida is one of the view states that views speech and language as two entirely separate categories on the IEP, and because she meets the criteria for both, they have to offer separate time for both).
If you're wondering whether the vision would impact reading, sure that's a good question. I'm scrolling back through the thread and found your CTOPP scores. I'm sure any vision problems would make it *worse*, but reality is she has dyslexia.
So, to use common language, she has dyslexia, dyscalculia, probably dysgraphia, articulation problems and severe language delay, and my guess is also ADHD. Probably will end up with an average IQ when you get a GAI. She's going to need serious intervention. Have you done the Barton screening? I would do that and see what you get. My guess is you need LIPS.
We're on.. almost a year... of LIPS. I think 10 months or so. And, it was an arduous process! We're finally, slowly, at the point where she is barely able to pass the Barton screening, so proceeding to that is an option, if that's the best idea?
The more interesting question is what's behind this continued articulation delay. You might do some reading on apraxia, just to make sure you don't have a missed diagnosis there.
Who would be the private sector person to evaluate for apraxia? SLP? The articulation delay seems to have gotten worse - well, it's stayed fairly consistent, rather than her articulation improving with age, I suppose. We did have a rule-out of disarthria, which is a good step, I think.
Any behavior challenges? Quirks? Things she gets stuck on or does repetitively? (just asking)
The behavior thing is a particular challenge. She's incredibly sweet, honestly. She's very mellow and mild. She'll sit for hours upon hours, no complaints. She's not, at all, hyper. She's the type of child who is perfect for school, because she just sits there. They feel that her behavior is perfect (and, from their perspective, it is). I think that she is, to a large degree, disengaged? I wonder if it's some sort of ADD, that she just sits unfocused, even when she's not understanding something?
I guess, what I'm asking is, is the lack of behavioral challenges, given the fact that she's had a 7 hour school day where she's literally not comprehending a single thing for the entire school year and all of last year, until a few weeks ago, odd? It seems to me, if she was engaged and if her behavior was "normal", we would have seen, at the least, some frustration or irritation? Something?
Now that you have this list, what do you want us to help you do? You want her to stay in school, or do you plan to pull her out? Are private services an option? You mentioned LMB. No I would not do that. You can do LIPS yourself, or get an SLP to do it. My ds has apraxia *and* the dyslexia, so I combined his speech therapy and LIPS work.
I'm debating pulling her out. I have to talk to my boss and see about work. The reality is, though, that after almost two years of working within the school system to try to get her help, it's clear that she's simply not going to get everything she needs there. They might do some, but not nearly what she needs to be able to function.
Private services are an option.. as are things I can do at home. My issue is that, honestly, I look at the scores, and it all looks very, very overwhelming! I'm not sure WHERE to start, what to do.
We got the first Ronit Bird book for math (dot patterns), because she still, really, is struggling with things like counting.
For the reading, should I be looking at Barton, now that she's gotten to the point in LiPS where we can do that? Is there something else/something better? I'm concerned that Barton isn't going to help with comprehension the way she needs - but maybe I need to take one step at a time and take comprehension challenges later?Perceptual Reasoning? Long-term memory encoding and retrieval? Working memory? Processing Speed? I have absolutely NO idea where to start with any of those!
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We're using it. Only a few weeks in, and DD has poor memory, so we're still finishing up consonant sounds.
I bought the manual, the fold-able magnetic whiteboard (yes, pricey, but we have a tiny house and is very handy), and the lips magnets. I make word documents with the letters, the vowels, and the small and large colored squares. Had them printed and laminated at Office Depot, then cut them up and superglued magnets to the back. Total cost about $15 and took about an hour. Used a hand-mirror I had in my makeup kit. When we need syllables, I'll make and print those, too. Saved a few hundred bucks doing it that way. :)-
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Both my older kids went through this stage. I think they want fluency, and in an effort to expedite the process, they might guess at it. I just remember saying a lot of "sound it out" and "I don't see an 'i', do you?" and "look at what's really on the page, please?".
Notecard idea might be good. :)-
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I personally am a fan of manipulative at this stage. Littles at this age tend to be very concrete..... manipulatives help them learn the skills of math while they're still very concrete thinkers, which allows them to progress into abstract.
That being said, I haven't used MUS for my kids. For my NT kids, we use Singapore with manipulatives. -
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Concise Middle School Grammar Curriculum
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
What about doing Analytical Grammar in one year?