We used Learning Ally for awhile with my DS, but it was not his favorite venue. When we used it, we used it in association with his literature coursework. Whenever he had a book to read, particularly a long one, I would see if the book was available in LA. If so, I would check it out on behalf of DS and let him listen to it in the manner of his choosing. Sometimes he would listen to the book as he read along in the book, but most often he just listened to the book. My DS preferred it when we could get the audiobook version from the library. I think he found it easier to have the CD to pop in his computer or CD player rather than having to log in and navigate within LA.

It was a HUGE toss-up between Food Science and Mechanical Engineering. He was actually going to pursue both initially and see which he liked better, but the career-path decision was made for him when the Food Science department wouldn't let him sign up for the "Intro to Food Science" course because he had not declared it as his major yet. He basically decided he'd just go all in with Mechanical Engineering then and if he likes it, he'll stick with it... although he did say this last semester that Materials Engineering looks interesting! He likes that mixing things and creating things kind of activity.. so Materials Engineering wouldn't be a bad choice either. WHO KNOWS what he'll actually end up with, but at least it was a place to begin. ;-)

When my DS was entering 11th grade and had NO CLUE what he might want to do... We did several online interest inventories that helped us get ideas for career exploration.. Some that matched his personality were ones neither of us had EVER considered.. Like "Food Science"!! Specifically, I remember http://www.sigi3.org/ was the one we really liked. It provided a lot of information about the careers that matched my DS' personality profile. We used Strength Finder, which wasn't really a career type of inventory, but gave the top five strengths and careers that might be good for the personality type. I had my son use a couple of other career profile assessments, but I don't remember what they were! With the tools we used, we were able to come up with 3-4 areas of interest, so we started talking to individuals about what those careers "looked like." For example, one of my DS' primary interests was psychology, but after talking to professionals and finding out that the work day was basically talking to people and writing up notes, it didn't seem as exciting as learning ABOUT psychology. My DS wanted a career where he'll DO SOMETHING as opposed to talk and write! LOL! It was an interesting journey to figure out which direction he should launch out into and I liked the route we took. It at least gave my son some thoughts about what to pursue and clarified what he did NOT want to do (= anything that is a desk job with "lots of words".) He's much more of a hands-on guy, so he's headed for a hands-on career. Hope that helps!

Similarly, my DS had an "Arena Evaluation" when he was 3 and he had quite a few expressive language issues. It's difficult, though, at that age to pinpoint the neurology for learning disabilities to know what is simply a developmental delay versus what is definitely an LD. As your DD gets older and has some help with her language issues, you may see her problems disappear. As she gets older, it will become clear to you whether she has LD issues or not. So for now I'd focus on the basics with multisensory or audio-visual types of programs so as to maximize the effectiveness of any program you use. The easiest route is to use audio-visual apps or programs. I have some free programs listed (scroll down) for reading, math, and spelling on this webpage: http://learningabledkids.com/multi_sensory_training/free-multisensory-curriculum-online.htm. I have a page specifically listing interactive reading programs at: http://learningabledkids.com/reading/online-interactive-reading-games-and-programs.htm. You probably wouldn't need to do a heavy-duty program yet.. Just keep it on the fun side and see if she progresses with the programs you select. As she approaches 6-7, if you're seeing signs of significant issues with learning to read and do math facts, then you might want to consider a more intense, structured approach. I don't know if that's the kind of input you were looking for at this time, but feel free to ask questions if you have specific criteria you're wanting to apply to your search for programs.

Have you considered speech-to-text software instead of keyboarding? A program like Dragon Naturally Speaking would allow your DS to dictate his compositions and that would bypass the physical aspect of dysgraphia. With dysgraphia, it is exceptionally difficult for a child to be able to get his thoughts onto paper, and trying to concentrate on proper spelling too would make the task more difficult. Keyboarding is a valuable skill for anyone with dysgraphia, but I'd highly recommend just separating the two completely. When he's working on keyboarding, let it be as "light" of an activity as possible by not putting pressure on him and just let him work on the typing. We used the Timon and Pumba Typing program where the typer is shooting bugs when typing.. It's right up most 8 year-old boys' alley. ;-) Then work on the spelling issues separately. He can practice spelling verbally and not have typing or writing be a factor, which will allow him to focus solely on proper spelling. If you are at a point where he needs to build a strong foundation in spelling skills, there are several apps and programs out there which are good for teaching the phonemic structure of words rather than outright spelling drills. Often those programs can be more "fun" than weekly spelling lists (not that you're necessarily using those). Aside from that, A comprehensive neuropsych eval will be a good thing. Since you have one scheduled for August, just do what you can now and wait to invest a lot of time and effort into things AFTER you have a definitive picture of what's going on and what you need to work on. ;-) Hope that helps! :-D

I'm with OneStep... I'd keep it until you know whether your younger kiddos will need it or not. It should continue to sell well on the used market whether you sell it now or later. ;-)

I dunno.. When I read through your first two posts the biggest red flag that jumped into my mind is a deficit in working memory or memory recall. Given the cross between difficulties in areas of spelling, writing, reading, AND Math, it is much more likely that the root cause is something that is pervasive across all areas of foundational academic skills. It might be a sequencing and/or fluency issue -- something rooted in the executive functions. The thing is, you won't know what the root cause is unless you have a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Until you have that, everything is pretty much guess work. Yes, you MIGHT hit upon the right solution, but chances are greater that you'll be trying all kinds of approaches and programs until you happen upon the right solution. Meanwhile, you're wasting your time and money on the wrong solutions, and both you and your daughter are experiencing frustration. It wasn't until we had a comprehensive evaluation by a highly qualified neuropsychologist that we were able to put the RIGHT programs into place to overcome our son's LDs. I have an article about comprehensive evaluations at: http://learningabledkids.com/testing-evaluation/comprehensive-educational-evaluation-options.htm - I need to update it with additional info I now know, but it's a start for considering public school testing versus private evaluations.

I'd suggest Earobics or one of the online programs listed at http://learningabledkids.com/reading/online-interactive-reading-games-and-programs.htm. There are a lot of interactive, audio-visual programs out there which can be helpful when a child is struggling otherwise. If you have your son work in a program for about 30 minutes right before bed each night, research shows that the learning retention is better (no interference from things that come after the learning). I'd keep it simple with that until you know more about the specific issues your DS is having. It could be any number of issues.. phonemic awareness, memory/recall, developmental vision issues, etc. so waiting to spend your money on the RIGHT solution helps a lot in the long run!! GOOD LUCK! :-D

We took a two-tiered approach in separating the math facts from the math lessons. We worked on math fact fluency as if it were a subject each day using flashcards, Quartermile Math, and Treasure Math Storm. These days, ReflexMath is one of the best programs around for working on math fact fluency. When working math problems, allowing the use of a calculator can enable a child to continue to move forward in her math concept and problem solving skills. There's no reason to hold a child's learning back just because she isn't fluent with math facts. With a learning disability, using assistive technology is no different than using aids for physical disabilities. It's kind of like withholding crutches from a child with a broken leg because it seems like "cheating" to let them have crutches when no one else does. In other words, just because the disability can't be seen doesn't make it any less worthy of support or assistance. Additionally, using a calculator is a common accommodation for a child who has a math computation or math fluency disability. That said, in order to get that accommodation in any public school setting (including college), you'd have to have an evaluation proving the child had an actual disability, so that is something to think about for the longer term. For my DS, he was about 6th or 7th grade before he developed fluency with the math facts themselves. We just kept working on math facts until he could recall them within a few seconds without a lot of thinking time. After that, he was a fabulous math whiz!!

Interesting info about Dyseidetic "dyslexia," which lead me to try to research the origins of the terminology.. I haven't found the "creator" of the label for the condition yet, but it seems to fall in line with my point about the definition of the word "dyslexia" coming into play to confuse things.. As in "difficulty with reading." Since dyseidetic dyslexia is based in difficulty with visual memory, I'm wondering if the term is actually "difficulty with reading due to a deficit in visual memory," which would be similar to saying scotopic dyslexia or ocular motor dyslexia, etc. There are all kinds of difficulties with reading that can have "dyslexia" appended to them to designate "difficulty with reading," but that is not the same as the traditional diagnosis of dyslexia that required the presence of a lack of phonemic awareness. Professionals using dyseidetic dyslexia as a term for diagnosing a form of "difficulty with reading" is an additional layer of confusion added to the pot for parents trying to sort out the solution for their child's "dyslexia". I think society as a whole has lost the diagnosis of true dyslexia in the usage of the word's definition to label everything that is difficulty with reading. Thus, I still think we ought to call diagnosable dyslexia (the original form used in diagnosis with a lack of phonemic awareness) something else if professionals are going to insist on calling all forms of difficulty with reading "dyslexia". It's an anal point on my part born out of years of frustration in trying to help parents understand.. NO, you don't need glasses, or color overlays, or special font, etc. if your child has true, phonemically-based dyslexia with no additional conditions. Hope that makes sense! Going to go dig some more to see if I can see where the origin of the term "dyseidetic dyslexia" comes from. Thanks for a new rabbit trail! (really! :-D )

This is the kind of thing, in my opinion, that just further confuses people about dyslexia!! I wrote a rant about it a year or so ago: http://learningabledkids.com/learning_disability_ld/hear-me-now-dyslexia-is-not-a-vision-based-problem.htm . I TRULY do wish professionals would delineate between the definition of dyslexia and the diagnosis of dyslexia because it really DOES confuse parents ALL THE TIME when they see references to vision (glasses, therapy, visual processing, etc.) with the word "dyslexia"... So many parents mistakenly think dyslexia is a vision-based disability because of the failure to delineate. Vision-based issues are ocular motor deficits, visual processing deficits, etc., but they are not diagnosable as the neurologically-based learning disability called dyslexia!! Yep.. I wrote about the differences in my book too... It's a sore point for me and part of the foundation for my personal soapbox because it keeps parents from knowing which path to pursue when everything that affects reading is at some point called "dyslexia" because of the definition of the word. If everyone used the true DIAGNOSIS when talking about specific areas that affect reading, we could keep it all separate. Or maybe dyslexia (the diagnosable LD) should be called something else so as not to be confused with ocular motor issues (requiring vision therapy), scotopic sensitivity (requiring colored glasses), visual-perception deficits, etc.!!

Well, Elizabeth, every child is a unique bird, as you very well know! Just because our evals for my DS (at ages 3 and 6) weren't at all helpful to US and failed to identify his significant needs, doesn't mean all evals for everyone are useless at an earlier age. It all sort of depends on what your child has, what you're looking for, and what is identifiable at the time you have the eval. Given it IS a problem and concern for you, I'd say GO FOR IT! The biggest key would be to KNOW that just because they don't/can't identify some things right now doesn't mean your DS doesn't have them--like the dyslexia angle. I think the problem comes in when parents expect EVERYthing to be identified at the first, earliest eval, then don't want to (or don't think they need to) ever get another evaluation. (I've encountered that with some parents). Similarly, some parents wait and wait and wait to see if a child will outgrow whatever the issues are and before they know it, the kid is in high school and the parent is panicking, "OH MY WORD! HE MAY NOT GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL! I NEED TO DO SOMETHING!" Then the poor parent is really wigged out and many of the early-learning opportunities have been frustrating for both parent and child. So, there has to be a balance of timing, and in some cases finances for distribution over multiple evaluations, to most effectively figure out what your child's needs are in a way that will help both you and your child. That said: I think your plan is a solid one! It's obvious you have some quirky stuff going on and it'd be good to know what some of your baselines are. That would at least allow you to begin effectively working with your son on areas you KNOW need work and would likely give you ideas for how to work with him. I had to laugh... "I'm just stressed, that's all. It's nothing important." Momma's stress levels are ALWAYS important!!! And, I know it's just plain stressful trying to figure out if you're doing the right thing or not. Unfortunately, there's no real way to know what the "perfect" answer is for you or your DS without actually attempting an eval. If the evaluator "hits the ceiling" on non-verbal assessment, that provides information and insight all by itself. Similarly, knowing that he couldn't do verbal tests would similarly provide some insight. It isn't that you won't gain useful info from an eval, but rather that you may not get the FULL picture. Since you seem FULLY aware that you may not get the full picture and are willing to go back for further assessment.. If you want me to, I'll be the "professional" telling you that you're going the right way.. You Are. ;-) LOL! There is absolutely nothing wrong with your thinking or planned approach! More to come privately to you in an email too. HUGS! P.S. Sorry it took me awhile to reply.. I was out of town!

So very sorry you're having a rough morning! Makes me think of one boy I know--he has ADHD Combined Inattentive and Hyperactive type, and his household is chaos. Mom has to hire someone just to watch said child to get things done in the house and even then it's a challenge. Since ADHD comes in degrees, and ADHD, Inattentive type (ADD) is much milder from the chaos/impulsive standpoint it's what I think of when I read your wording of "ADHD alone." That said, chaos can still be ADHD with the hyperactive & impuslivity component being over the top. That doesn't help with the elimination of chaos, but the ADHD parenting stuff might still apply to a degree or in certain circumstances. I do totally know what you mean though about the typical parenting advice not being sufficient or not seeming to apply. Having spent time with chaos-child.. there was just no sense of ability to control through any measure of discipline. Chaos-child has his own rules and parameters with the strong "need" to just do xyz, which I think sometimes was an inability to control his own impulse to do what he wants to do and other times I thought it was an obsessive type of thing --HAVE TO DO...because I've seen him SOOO DETERMINED to do what he wanted that every measure of containment, redirection, discipline, etc. failed (in the end) to stop him from doing it! In any case, SOOOO SOOORRY! Cause I *know* that one little boy... and I can only imagine the stress of living with it 24/7. :grouphug: HUUUG!

I'll tell you what I like to do.. Write down all of the scores from every standardized test and sub-test in chronological order. It's worthwhile to note what scores are on a downward trend and which ones are on an upward trend. While any single day of testing can skew results, when you track from year-to-year, it allows you to see where instruction may need to be more intense or where a child is totally on track. There's no concrete number at which I decided we needed to ramp up instruction either because I always considered it "relative". My child may achieve at the 97th percentile one year, the 88th percentile the next, and the 67th percentile the following year, and that is trending downward in relation to peers even if he's still technically "above average." Whereas when my child scores at the 7th percentile one year, the 12th percentile the next, then the 18th percentile, it shows he's on an upward trend, even though those skills are still well below average. I started tracking scores chronologically while my boys were in public school and my oldest went from scores in the 80th and 90th percentiles down to well below average in virtually everything by time we pulled him out of public school. It was not that he was getting "dumber," but he wasn't keeping pace with peers nor with his own ability levels, so it required my creative thinking on my part to figure out how to educate him more effectively. One of the references that really got me thinking about the trends was the very first COGAT score.. DS was BRILLIANT when he entered kindergarten! Not so much a few years later. SO, when we started homeschooling, it really got me to thinking about HOW my son learned before "school".. It was through a lot of educational TV (He LOVED watching the Discovery channel, History Channel, etc. through projects, going to museums, etc.) that he learned everything--not through books. Making sure DS received content learning in the mode that he learned best really helped his scores start trending upward again. That said, I don't know your DS' age at the HIGH COGAT testing time, but I do know the kindergarten levels often reflect higher levels than at later grades. Not sure why that is, but it always made me pay more attention to the trends with other standardized testing. For aptitude/ability testing, I relied more heavily on our neuropsych's IQ testing because I'm not sure how reflective the initial Kindergarten Cogat is of long-term potential. It would be interesting to see the trends of kids' Cogat scores when they score really high like that in the early years.. Wondering if that drop virtually always happens like it did for your DS and mine.

My DS was also very relieved to know his diagnosis.. He KNEW he was different since Kindergarten. One day in October of his kindergarten year, he came home and asked me, "Why doesn't my brain work right?" -- It worked differently--not "right" or wrong. The kids KNOW.. they do. And I'd venture to guess that most of them are relieved to know their diagnosis because it actually gives them somewhere to belong. They can fit into a community of others with similar neurology! I think it is often the beginning of finding the RIGHT path for a child so he can feel freer to be himself rather than feeling "different" for some unknown reason. SO .. TOTALLY AWESOME about your DS' reaction. ;-)

I agree whole-heartedly with EVERYting OneStep has said, particularly dysgraphia & possible developmental vision issues. Since your DS can read, his difficulties seem more limited to the possibility of dysgraphia, visual-perception, and/or visual-motor integration issues. Having an Occupational Therapist's evaluation is a great starting point to determine if your DS has a developmental coordination disorder (DCD) that is causing his dysgraphia or whether it is perhaps of a learning-disability origin. Given that he can read, I'd lean towards a suspicion of developmental coordination rather than specific learning disabilities. This is where evaluations are key to finding out what is really going on!! If a child has dysgraphia due to a DCD, then it is treated entirely differently than if a child has difficulty with writing due to working memory, processing, or perception issues. The only way to know which approach is the right one to take is to have the evaluations. SO, given you're set up with an appointment, you're on track! Also, even if the OT finds a DCD and needs to work with your son, I would still recommend finding a developmental optometrist through COVD.org because the reversals are an indication of a visual-perception issue. It may be rooted in ocular motor issues, scotopic sensitivity or some other visual process, so there again.. you won't know without an evaluation. GOOD LUCK! Let us know what it turns out to be. Many of us have BTDT and might be able to help you with programs and ideas when you have solidly pinpointed your DS' specific issues. ;-)

OOOhhhh, there is so much I could say on this... I could write a book! .. Sounds soooo familiar. The big red flag I see here is in the difficulty your DS had in working with the phonics and blending sounds. It's critical for you to know that if a child has diagnosable dyslexia, with a lack of phonemic awareness (the hallmark of dyslexia), then he IS going to have difficulty with phonics. A child with dyslexia will not learn well from straight print-based instruction as most phonics programs are. You have to take an Orton-Gillingham approach, using multisensory instruction, to bypass the roadblocks in the child's brain. Kids with true dyslexia process reading in their frontal lobes, not in the language center of their brains as typical readers do. Therefore, the learning has to take a different approach, which is where the Orton-Gillingham programs come into play. The "boys learn to read later" is only true in the sense that most boys are not as language-oriented as girls, but any child with dyslexia is not likely to learn to read at all without specialized instruction. Not providing the specialized instruction is how public shcools end up with illiterate high schoolers. Also, it's important to know that research shows that 85% of children who struggle with learning to read DO NOT "outgrow" the problem and end up needing specialized reading instruction. Thus, the "wait" approach only serves 15% of students. It's much more likely that a child will NOT outgrow the difficulties, so it is usually better to start remedial instruction as soon as a problem with learning to read is noted. That said, it's also never too late to start! You might hear dire statistics about delays in intervention too, but even adults with dyslexia can learn to read given the right kind of program. We can't be certain from your write-up here as to whether your son has dyslexia, but the extreme difficulty with phonics would seem to be a huge red flag flying! I'd highly recommend a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation to see what is actually going on, if you can afford it, and if not--you might want to try a program proven to work for children with dyslexia. I have listed the ones I know to be among the best available on my website at: http://learningabledkids.com/reading/proven_reading_programs.htm Hope that helps!

Cursive does help some kids, but a lot will depend upon why handwriting is so difficult for your child. It would appear on the surface, with the reversals and malformed letters, that your DD may have some visual-perception issues going on or visual-motor integration issues going on, which will not necessarily be helped by cursive. For a child with a developmental coordination disorder, the problem with handwriting is more of the sort addressed by occupational therapy (OT), and there again--cursive may or may not help. Visual-motor integration issues can be helped by O/T too, but visual perception issues require a different approach. Children can also have memory-recall issues that make writing difficult. Whatever the case may be, cursive may or may not help, and you won't really know what specific course of action to take until you have a diagnosis to know the root cause. From there you will be able to target your child's program based upon her specific, individual needs.

This is the book our neuropsychologist had me get and use: Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success by Marshall P. Duke, Stephen Nowicki, Elisabeth A. Martin and Vicky Holifield. Some kids require very direct instruction of social skills. For example, my DS LOVED, LOVED, LOVED dinosaurs and he would talk to anyone and everyone endlessly about dinosaurs. Kids would start walking away and he'd follow them talking about dinosaurs. He had executive function deficits, so he did not read body language or facial expressions. SO, we had to explicitly teach him what it means when someone rolls their eyes, starts fidgeting and looking around during conversation, etc. I truly think you're wise to be thinking of the greater impact on your child's life when trying to mediate your own listening role with how your child will interact with the world. It's a tricky line to walk because, as a mom, you want to be interested in the interests of your child, but the world largely won't be interested. Teaching our DS appropriate social skills directly improved his ability to interact with his peers and enabled him to have more friends. ;-)

My favorite was Superparenting for ADD. LOVED that book! After learning better parenting for ADHD, I wrote this webpage:Behavior Management for ADHD Impulsivity and Defiance, which features the Superparenting book... It really did help me understand my child better. (In the interest of full disclosure, the link on my website for the book is an affiliate link, but the one posted for the book here is not--it's a direct link to the book on Amazon. ;-)

AWWWW, Shucks!! THANKS Elizabeth!! :laugh: Using the term "Power Hour" was a great selling point for my sons!! "Let's stay ahead of everyone and sneak in a little bit of work each day during the summer!" ~ It made my boys feel excited and powerful to be doing a little bit of school work each day! HA HA! Truthfully too, Pen, our Power Hour was usually more like an hour and a half by time we switched gears between reading, writing, and math. Glad you all like the Power Hour idea!! :thumbup:

Just a heads up to keep an eye on your district! "They" shouldn't write the IEP.. It is supposed to be a collaborative document created IN an IEP meeting WITH you and parents are supposed to have a EQUAL role in determining a child's educational program. I stress those words because it is a common thing for schools to act like the "dictators" of a child's educational program and they TELL the parents what they are going to do. Legally, it is never supposed to be that way and the Federal IDEA laws are very clear on the fact that parents are supposed to have an equal say and their input is supposed to be given weight in the decision making. The IEP is in effect when it is written and agreed upon--and you've signed it. Have you signed it? If so, it's in effect. If you haven't signed it, the school cannot change the placement of your child from her "current" placement. That said, if her IEP says she will be co-taught, that is what the school is legally supposed to do and they are not supposed to change her placement to a small group without an IEP meeting to CHANGE her placement and WITH YOUR consent to change her placement. You are fully within your rights to write to them and say, "The IEP says she will be in a co-taught environment. That is the least restrictive environment, therefore I expect my daughter to be placed in the co-taught environment as specified in her IEP from the very first day of the school year forward." You can keep it straight-forward and factual--stating just the facts to keep the emotions out of it. It may be that they don't have a co-teaching person lined up (yet) for next year or something similar, but that doesn't mean they can legally just change your child's placement to what they have readily available. You all agreed on co-taught, therefore your DD is supposed to be in a co-taught class. I say to keep an eye on your school because if THEY wrote the IEP and handed it to you, they obviously did not include you in the process of writing it. Given the GC is telling you the IEP isn't in effect yet--If it is written to say her placement for next school year is "Co-Taught" -- There is NO legal basis for putting your DD in another placement and then meeting in 30 days to say the more restrictive environment is working. They are legally supposed to START her in the placement specified in her IEP, which is in fact the least restrictive placement, and **IF** that is not working, they can call an IEP meeting with you to determine if a MORE restrictive placement will work better. The goal in IDEA is to keep a child in the least restrictive environment that will allow meaningful academic progress. It's up to you whether you let them "get away" with placing her more restrictively, but it is likely they would then--30 days out, tell you this small group placement is working so they want to keep her there. They would then modify the IEP for a more restrictive placement and it will be more difficult then to shift to a less restrictive environment. It seems that the school is not fully following the Intent of and legal requirements within IDEA in developing and following your DD's IEP. They may be banking on the fact that you're niave about IEPs and IDEA so they figure they can do what suits them rather than what YOU think is best. While neither parent nor school can fully dictate the IEP, it is supposed to be a collaborative, mutually agreed upon plan for your child where you have equal say with the school. ;-) If I seem a little "intense" about this... OH MY! If you only knew our history and our battles and the games our school played with us and my naivety at the time, and ALL of the ways I've seen schools manipulate parents since my Advocacy training... Schools will bowl over parents if given the leeway to do so, and it generally only gets worse once a school has "gotten away" with breaking the IDEA laws. If a parent doesn't know her rights or the laws.. the school WILL dictate and as a parent, you lose any sense of having a voice in your child's education once that happens. I've just had so much BTDT, that I always encourage parents embarking on the special ed journey to arm themselves with knowledge and read everything you can on Wrightslaw.com and FETAweb.org. From Emotions to Advocacy is one of the most helpful books I read and I can't recommend it strongly enough. ;-)

Do you have a copy of the actual IEP?? You are legally supposed to have one an you should be able to look at it and see what it says. Additionally, as you seem already to know, the placement is supposed to be the "least restrictive environment" from the legal end of things. Have you read, "From Emotions to Advocacy" or visited FETAweb.org? I HIGHLY recommend one or both of those as well as Wrightslaw.com to arm yourself with information about how to advocate well for your child and not let the school do things they are NOT supposed to do--like change a placement after one was agreed upon with you. They cannot legally, unilaterally, make a change in the placement without another IEP meeting. One of the BEST articles I read about advocating was "Play Hearts Not Poker". Schools DO play games with parents who don't know their rights and their child's rights, so it is good that you are aware, concerned, and willing to advocate for your DD. BEST of LUCK to you with the upcoming year!

Our goal for summer was always to maintain our forward progress, experience no regression, and to engage in activities to build self-esteem, which were swim team, bowling, and sprint kayaking for our family. We used what I called a "Power Hour" (more about it at my website) on a daily basis to make sure our guys didn't lose ground in reading, writing, and math. Just doing a small amount of work in each subject each day helped us pick up the following school year exactly where we left off the previous year without having to review concepts they forgot. That is one thing I learned through my Special Education Advocacy training is that learning regression during the summer is a significant issue for many kids with specific learning disabilities. It's so difficult for them to learn things in the first place and easy to forget, so daily review can really help to keep a child on track. For me personally, I did all of our annual planning sitting at a picnic table while my guys were at swim practice. I researched options and planned out our lessons for the coming school year, and did our annual meal planning (yes, I planned meals for the entire year once per year!) By the end of the swim season (mid-July), I had my upcoming year planned out and we could then spend the rest of the summer doing the daily power hour and having FUN! :-D

OH how I feel your exhaustion!! Oldest DS didn't sleep through the night until he was four. I felt like I was living in a sleep deprivation experiment. It really does mess with your mind and disposition. SO SORRY you're going through that. Hope it all chills out for you SOON. I KNOW you want a good night's sleep and/or a restorative nap each day! HUGS!