It may not be practical to complete over the summer, but have you considered Neuronet? It works on automaticity in general and seems to help handwriting automaticity. We are in the middle of it right now.

ITA with the previous poster that www.visual-spatial.org is a great site! Please consider the Davis Program. I know there is a lot of advice in this thread, but for kids who are strong visual-spatial learners, have difficulty grasping 2 dimensional symbols yet do well with 3 dimensional objects, Davis can be the right fit. My father and son are Davis "grads". There are alternatives to print-based phonics programs.

I am not sure what to tell you about some of the test results, but wanted to say that ITA that working memory deficits completely affect IQ tests. How would he test well if he couldn't hold information in his mind? I would also get a 2nd opinion from a really good psychologist. Do a ton of research and find the best one you can. And no one should tell you what your child's future will be based on a test result. If you don't perceive him as intellectually disabled, then don't proceed as if he is. Just try to find out what is causing his academic difficulties and work on them. If you haven't already, I recommend the book "The Mislabled Child". Has great information about all kinds of things that can be perceived as intellectual disabilities, when really they are processing problems. Also gives ways to work on working memory. Good luck and keep believing in your son. You know him much better than a test.

This is a great book. It was recommended on another thread. It has good information about dyspraxia and then it reads like an OT manual for parents. http://www.amazon.com/Developmental-Dyspraxia-Identification-Intervention-Professionals/dp/1853469882/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1370318189&sr=8-9&keywords=dyspraxia

I just got done researching timeline products as well. I am not sure if you are looking for an already made timeline or one you can fill in? I was looking for a blank one that we could fill in as we studied. I chose the Sonlight Book of Time and also ordered some of the timeline figures. I've received the product and am very happy with it. I like it because the pages are thick, and they are not lined/structured so we can really write and place figures wherever we choose. I also looked at Wonders of Old. It is more like a regular hardback book and the pages aren't as thick.

I would also be thrilled if my 8 yo (dyslexic and dysgraphic) could produce a hand-written sample like that. I think it's great!

The AlphaSmart is a stand alone word processor, with the ability to transfer files to a PC. It comes with software that you can install on your PC. To transfer what you type, you will need to use a cable unless you purchase their wireless transfer device (we have not done that). I can't remember if you can transfer it into Word or maybe Google Docs. Yes, you type directly on the AlphaSmart and you see what you type on the screen. I suppose it is a little small, but the font size is very nice and until you mentioned it I hadn't given the screen size a thought. With CoWriter installed, yes, the Word Prediction choices show up right on the AlphaSmart screen. If you are thinking you don't like the screen, I'd recommend looking into buying CoWriter to add to your PC and just skip the whole AlphaSmart. I believe you can do that. The portability of the AlphaSmart is very nice though. If you ever think your child would go back to a traditional school setting it's very possible they could use one there too. You might consider calling and asking if they have some sort of money-back guarantee or return policy. Maybe you could try it out to see if would work for you? HTH.

Have you considered investing in an AlphaSmart Neo with Cowriter? Basically it's a battery operated word processor - has a standard keyboard. Cowriter is a word prediction program. You type in the first letter or 2 of the word, and 6 word choices come up on the screen. You enter a number (1-6) to choose the appropriate word. Seriously it's fabulous, and I think it helps with spelling too - because they see the correct word and learn to choose it. The word prediction is quite "smart" - it predicts grammatically correct word tenses and gives choices based on the frequency of what words your child is typing. http://www.neo-direct.com/NEO2/keyfeatures/cowriter.aspx It's one of the best investments we ever made.

I received this book today and it looks great. http://www.amazon.com/Developmental-Dyspraxia-Identification-Intervention-Professionals/dp/1853469882 Again I appreciate the recommendation. It has a ton of OT type exercises you can do with your child, including ways to assess them. It is a great resource if OT is out of reach financially or geographically, or if you just prefer to work at home.

Thank you for this book recommendation. It looks like a great resource.

I would also find out asap who his teacher will be. I would contact him/her over the summer and give him/her all of the background on your child. Try to get together in person if you can. Getting good accommodations in an IEP is essential, but in my experience getting the teacher on board is even more so. The teacher is the primary person who is responsible for implementing the accommodations, so you really need him/her to understand why your child needs them. I was able to do this with my son when he was in school and it helped a lot.

You can be a parent provider if you do not have a provider in your area. That is what I am doing. You do have to go through the training in order to do it. If you purchase the program, you will be sent the materials/kit for the program, and on the first of the next month, you will receive a link via to that week's training videos and handouts. There are about 4 hours of training videos to watch per week. Then you must answer the comprehension questions each week. I have also received emails from several staff at Neuronet offering to assist if I have questions. I am watching the training videos right now, and they are very in-depth and there is a lot more information than what is on the web site. Neuronet's whole goal is to increase automaticity so that basic skills, such as handwriting and math facts, can be used for further learning. There is a lot of discussion about how to strengthen attention, memory and automaticity in the brain, as well as how to implement the program. Hope that helps.

Does your state offer dual enrollment? Here you can dual enroll and do everything at home, but still get Special Ed services.

I am using it right now with my 2nd grader and am very happy with it. Is there anything specific you wanted to know? They also have it at christianbook.com.

It's Jonathan Rowe, Nancy Rowe's son. I'm guessing they don't have a really engaging person or lots of expressions just to keep the focus on the exercises. I did purchase the Integrated Rhythms program and recently got the materials. I'm getting ready to start the online training videos too. Someone I know who did the program said the videos have a ton of info. about how to coach and guide your child through the exercises, so I am really looking forward to that.

Thank you! I put it on my tablet and I am not sure it is really working? I tried it myself several times, doing my best purposely and then doing badly the next time - and the scores did not reflect that. I wonder if my tablet isn't registering the touch properly or something? So far it has been very inconsistent for me.

I bought it from Linda Silverman's web site, linked above, and feel it was totally worth it. It's very easy to read and just provides so much insight and practical strategies. That said, if you really don't want to spend the $, there is a lot of similar information on visual-spatial.org.

Personally I think "right brained" and "left brained" aren't the best terms, but I do think there are different learning styles that are helpful to understand. From what I have seen, the term "right brained" is just a phrase that means "visual spatial" and "left brained" is code for "audio sequential." I prefer using the latter terms because I think they are more accurate. Of course children do not fit into neat little boxes in terms of their learning styles, but there certainly are some kids that are highly oriented one way or another, and others are a blend. I don't think the point of those books is to put kids into neat little boxes, but just to help parents understand if their children are more on the extreme ends. I have read several of them and found them helpful. I just wouldn't get too caught up trying to prove or disprove the hemisphere thing (unless that is your goal) and would just use the information if it happens to help you work with your child. One of my favorite people who discusses learning styles is Linda Silverman, who was mentioned by some previous posters in this thread. She was the one who coined the term "visual spatial" learner and her web site www.visualspatial.org is filled with great information on both visual spatial and audio sequential learners. She actually has a chart based on her own research which claims that around 33% of kids are strongly visual spatial, about 25% are strongly audio sequential, and about 40% are somewhere in the middle. If you have one in the middle, then I think you just have to do some trial and error in terms of curriculum to see what works best. I also don't think the Dyslexic Advantage material contradicts Silverman - I recently heard Brock Eide speak and he actually incorporated Silverman's thinking about learning styles quite a bit. Keep in mind that the Eides are MDs and use functional MRIs in a lot of their work, so their analyses are very technical, while Silvermans work is based on a questionnaire called the Visual Spatial Identifier. Brock Eide also talked a lot about finding a child's best "inputs" and "outputs" from a sensory point of view, which I have found helpful.

I can totally relate. But ironically, we do Davis methods and I get just the opposite for comments! To me it seems like Davis is the "black sheep" of methods... I hear that my son should still be receiving O-G instruction and most often that he isn't "really" reading because he isn't sounding out words. I even had someone tell me that although he reads well, he's still reading "dyslexically" so it doesn't count. Sigh. I would just thank for them for the ideas and say that what you are doing is working really well for you. Hopefully that will be happy that you found what is right for your child.

Hello, I wanted to share that Neuronet is now offering a free trial of exercises you can do, before you purchase the program. The program web site is www.neuronetlearning.com I began looking into this program about a year ago and had a phone consultation with the creator, Nancy Rowe. She did a structured interview with me and gave me info. about what program would be appropriate. She is very accessible by phone and will definitely tell you if she thinks your child is appropriate for the program. I also contacted a few providers via email to ask a few questions. Anyway, we did not do Neuronet last year for a variety of reasons, but I was ready to really start it this year. So I signed up to receive the introductory articles here: http://www.neuronetlearning.com/?/site_v2/workshops/ A few days after the last article was emailed to me, I got an email offering the program at $29/month, with the option to cancel at anytime. (This is opposed to paying close to $400 up front.). Then shortly after that I got an email offering me a free trial. I signed up for that and was sent videos for 4 exercises. I was also given the email address of an OT who works for Neuronet who was available to answer any questions. I did email her with some questions and she got back to me that same day. We are doing the Integtrated Rhythms free trial. At first I thought it was too hard and didn't think my son could do it. But we've been practicing for 1 week now and he has definitely gotten better. I think we're going to do the whole program now. I was told it can take 2 weeks for a child to master each level of exercises. It may take us a bit longer, but hopefully not too much. So if anyone is curious about Neuronet, it is nice to be able to try it free of charge, and to get started with it at a more reasonable price.

That's great news! I have considered IM but we decided to do Neuronet first. Did you do the IM home in between sessions, or just the sessions with the provider?

I am just curious, for those that say it is a scam, how do you explain improvements in children after receiving VT? There are plenty of reports here and on other boards. It sounds like you are saying it is all in parents' heads, and that they are imagining improvements because they paid a lot of money and need to see those in order to feel okay about spending money on VT? I think a better post might be to offer caution to those who want to try it, for whatever reasons you wish to site, but not to discount the reports of those who have found it beneficial. In my experience there is very little that works for ALL of our kids. There are many things I read about that I am not doing for my child for various reasons, but I'm truly happy to read when those things have helped other kids.

I have not done Interactive Metronome with my child. But I have looked into it a lot. I have talked with providers, as well as people who have done it with their kids. I personally would not want someone who had never done it before as the provider. From what I have read and heard, you want someone who can adjust this program to what your child needs. It is more complex than it sounds. I totally hear you about the drive - that would not be fun. But I probably wouldn't put my time and effort into it with a first time provider.

P.S. I wanted to add that my father, who also has dysgraphia, stated that typing was the best thing ever for his spelling. Seeing his misspelled words autocorrected on the computer screen was what finally taught him the correct spellings.

OhElizabeth, I saw your post in a quote, so hopefully it's okay to respond to what you asked. The workshop I went to was at a school for dyslexic kids, and Brock Eide was the keynote speaker. So he spoke some about dysgraphia as did the staff at the school. Dr. Brock was the one who discussed the lack of automaticity. I don't know if he said it would "never" get better, but he absolutely encouraged keyboarding for kids who could not express their high level of intellect through writing by hand. The school folks use the Wilson method of reading (O-G based), and said that writing the letters is a very important part of their multi-sensory approach to reading, so they practice writing for that purpose. Dr. Brock said that was fine, but if it was not necessary for part of the reading program, typing should be used for any kind of writing expression. Overall I found his talk very freeing, because he discussed the neurological basis for dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, and I felt he really gave me permission to use accommodations. He recommended the use of tables and calculators too for math fact assistance. Certainly I've heard that before, but hearing it from such an expert in the field was really helpful to me. In terms of my goals for my son, I'd like him to be able to write a bit - his signature, a note, a grocery list, etc. So that is why we practice. But any kind of written assignment, essay, etc as he grows older I plan for him to exclusively type.