We ordered the hereO watch. I don't have it yet, it was pre-ordered. I am expecting it in Dec. I chose that one b/c I was able to order a locking mechanism so that my child can't take it off (and lose it!). www.hereofamily.com

Saw the ped and she thinks it's ASD. She said ADHD doesn't strike her at all. My oldest son has recently been dx ASD, ADHD and a LD of written expression. There might be giftedness in there too. I haven't got the full results from the cognitive testing but there has been some eluding to that as well. Anyways, we're being sent for an assessment for this guy and genetic testing for the family.

The Psychologist termed it "Learning Disability of Written Output". This is a new dx for us, I thought it was synonymous w/ dysgraphia, am I mistaken? His reading is fine, just writing is a problem. He has so much going on in his head and he can't get it out. He is very creative, but shows many reversals, spelling errors, mixes up caps and lowercase, doesn't use punctuation, poor grammar etc. Mostly I'm looking for a handwriting program. We will be using Writing Tales for composition. He doesn't know how to type. He refuses to learn. He also has ASD so he is very rigid and ADHD so he is very distractible. He will be learning to type w/ a SEA this year. We are also getting him some kind of speech to text software. We were using Getty-Dubay cursive, maybe we should stick with it? It's most discouraging when there is no transference from his copywork to his own composition.

The title says it all :) I'm looking for something for my 9 y/o. TIA!

Hi everyone (who has been following this), I have a final update. We had a full assessment done and the evaluator had no doubt in her mind that my son has ASD even before she conducted the formal assessment. We received our full diagnosis, which is HFA, ADHD-combined type (and I do believe she said it is severe) and a LD of written output. The psycho-ed evaluation was very informative and even though I don't yet have the full written report, his cognition ranges in some areas from superior (picture concepts) to very poor (2nd percentile for working memory, social reasoning and practical reasoning). He is very splintered which, for those of us who live with him, makes SO much sense. I am very pleased to have this behind us. I am looking forward to setting up a plan for him and moving forward. Now we wait on our next son who is beginning this whole process next month!

We did Grammar Biology. It got done, but it was very dry. We are switching for next year.

We will be doing 2nd next year and I have decided to simplify. He is an advanced reader and ahead in math and to me those are the 2 skills that matter most. We are changing a lot of curriculum next year to better fit his learning style and simplify things for me as I had a really hard year last year w/ my oldest child (who is undergoing assessments). Here's our 'plan' LA - Learning Language Arts through Literature yellow. Since he's an advanced reader, we will probably sub the book studies either with lit studies from moving beyond the page or something else or use the time to develop other skills such as typing. Spelling - I have Rod and Staff spelling. Not sure if I'll use it or just stick w/ the spelling in LLATL, I guess I'll see if LLATL is enough for him. If not, then I'll supplement Handwriting - I don't like the handwriting in LLATL so we're just going to work on fine motor development w/ Draw Write Now and copywork. Math - We are switching from RS to CLE math 2. Bible - We're doing daily devotions (Action Bible devotions) and Bible Memory Science/Socials - I will be trying out Moving Beyond the Page. I'm only purchasing one unit at a time so we will still have time to carry on w/ SOTW which we all enjoy or leave time for bunny trails Health - Rod and Staff done orally I won't be doing everything every day. I'm aiming for a 2hr day.

I second R&S spelling. Quick, independent and effective. I would focus on reading and copywork for your grade 2 and wait for grammar until the child is reading well.

Totally depends on the kid and the teacher. AAS/AAR - big flops here. R&S has worked much better for spelling and PP worked much better for reading. RS - meh..worked fine through B then big flop TT - has been ok for my older boy so we keep at it MCT - also big flop I tend to shy away from the pricey curricula now since a lot of it flops for my kiddos. I wanted to give them bells and whistles but it seems they like quick, efficient, no-frills curriculum.

I had pretty much the same experience with ES. We did Biology, I found it very dry. I also found a lot of experiments didn't fit the topic. We will be using something else next year.

Another little update: Things have been getting worse at my house, meltdowns are getting more frequent and more intense. Behavior is getting more and more violent and my ds is becoming a threat to himself. He had a very scary episode and people are starting to pay attention. Our school has arranged for a behavior consultant for him who is devising us a safety plan and helping us w/ the more difficult behaviors. I have also recently learned that he will be in the SE program at school which means that I will have an EA coming to my house to help w/ the teaching and he will also have funding. The amount will depend on how his next ASD assessment goes. If he gets ASD we will have all sorts of help, but even without ASD the diagnosis that he has now entitles him to help and I am very, very grateful for that. His next assessment is next month and I am nervously anticipating it. His BC says she doesn't see why he would not have an ASD diagnosis. I guess we will see.

I really like RS. I've used A through 2/3 of C. My oldest son started in B after hating math in 1st grade. He did really well with it and finished the book within a few months. He then had a really long math break b/c I had difficulty purchasing the next level as it had to be specially ordered in (I'm in Canada) and had an unexpected and very difficult high-risk pregnancy. I think that break killed it for him b/c he never was able to find his groove again. I still think the program is great, but we had to move on to something else (TT) b/c it wasn't worth the tears. I started my next boy in A for Kindergarten, he is in 1st now and 3/4 through B. It is going well enough, he's not a super mathy kid and gets a bit distracted w/ all the manipulatives, but he's getting a solid foundation. I considered switching him for 2nd grade since he is a workbooky kid but I think I'm going to persist w/ RS C b/c it is solid. My math has improved from using it! I wasn't aware that there was a new edition of C coming out. I'm interested in what the differences are, can anyone give me the Coles notes version?

I'm going to repeat something someone on here said to me: "Its a marathon, not a race." Development is a spectrum. Those who develop early don't have an advantage over those who develop later as long as they all get there. Don't worry about where the school system says they "should" be. I look at the language development of all 4 of my kids, some were early talkers, some were late BUT they all got (or in my case since I still have a young one - are getting) there. Keep the final goal in mind and know that they will get there. One year while they are still little isn't going to screw them up for good. It's amazing how quick kids pick things up once they are developmentally ready.

Thanks for posting this, OE. Being behind about 1/3 sounds about right. His grade 1 brother surpasses him in terms of quality of written work, but the creativity and length of his writing is way beyond his age. He loves writing and always has. He produces such creative work and I don't want to squelch that creativity. I'm going to look into the metronome protocol, where can I find more info? Your right, it's not a race. I'm going to try to keep that in mind. It seems it's just the output that is behind. I had him do some placement tests and he's right on level with the rest of LA. It's hard finding the balance of what I want to teach him, what he needs to learn and what he is willing/capable of doing. It's so encouraging to hear that these kids can eventually catch up. Naturally, I worry about what the future holds for him. I asked him what he wanted out of a LA curriculum, he told me 2 things. 1) Not too easy and not too hard and 2) Can get done quickly. I showed him WT and he liked it, so it's a maybe. I'm waiting until we've had his assessments before I make any purchases. I don't mind spending our time more on building his EF skills then his LA. His needs are different from a typical kid. Sometimes it's overwhelming to think about EVERYTHING that he needs to work on. Right now we're trying to do it all and it's not working. We need to prioritize but we need to be efficient b/c he wants time to do his own things and that is ok.

I think I may buy Tupler's book. Was it helpful? I figure it can't hurt, even if I don't have diastasis it would be good to strengthen these muscles. Thanks for all your advise, I'm going to try all the suggestions. My self-image took a pretty big hit. I'm a size 6 and thought I looked pretty good. I knew my body isn't what it used to be, but I didn't think I looked that bad :(