Everything OhElizabeth said. We've started VT again and it's rougher every year he gets older. We do our VT homework 2x a week instead of the prescribed daily, but that's all we can manage. Still, there are gains, whew. For CI, we were sent home with a computer program - http://www.homevisiontherapy.com/. It's playing games wearing red/green lenses and shooting at some image on the screen that isn't apparent to anyone not wearing the lenses. It sort of teases out a 3d of the image, so the brain has to work hard. While I completely agree with OhElizabeth about taking it easy, I can't help feeling that I goofed somewhere along the line and need to make up for lost time. VT is working. Tk goodness. So is OT. And the structure we have at home. Ds does NOT agree with me that he needs VT etc, but for now, he's taking it in his stride without complaining too much (it's all relative!). I shudder to think if we have to do this at 14 (please, no!).

I want to emphasise how subjective this sort of judgment can be. :glare: I certainly thought so at the time, but we're always doing a multitude of things to address issues. Currently, another improvement in handwriting is likely due to VT and the fact that I get him to write Diane Craft style. At one stage, I had wanted to be very scientific about all this and administer one variable at a time. Impossible! Pen, I'll be checking out the orthomolecular guide and the vit C. Tks!

We did it several times. The biggest impact was when ds 1st did it at age 6. Suddenly, words stopped jumping and he could read fairly sophisticated books. After that, another round got rid of his convergence issues. He started scooting at 9yo and shortly after, was able to ride a bike. But improvements in tracking has yo-yo'd. I think I finally found the problem - computer games. Ds was introduced to PC games at 8yo. I saw a drop in the amount of time that he would read for leisure. When he started playing big screen xbox type games at 10yo, the reading trickled to nothing. When he did read, it was a restless sort of read, to fulfil a requirement rather than to fill the mind, like he did before. I finally put a stop to all gaming (DH and I are not on the same page on this) earlier this year, but the reading did not resume. A recent vision test showed that whatever tracking gains he had made was all lost (although convergence is fine). At the VT session I was in with him, he seemed to have developed "gaming" tricks like staring ahead and relying on peripheral vision to track objects, which was clearly not possible. This continues to be ironed out. It's been about 6 weeks worth of the new therapy. He's now reading in his leisure and will actively discuss stories. He asked for and started tennis lessons, which he loves. Handwriting continues to improve in isolated big steps (he just had another step up). For eg, he volunteered to take notes while watching Khan Academy videos so that he can think though better. This is major step for a dysgraphic kid. He does have OT going on as well and I've revamped our homeschool to require MORE from him, so I can't say for sure that all this improvement is entirely due to VT. But it certainly helped in a big way.

Sorry, I meant his system was crawling with candida. The candidase program took about 4 weeks. It was tough in that there were specific times that the pill can be administered- 30mins before food and 2 hours after. Ds has mid morning and mid afternoon snacks, so I had to time it carefully. He doesn't swallow pills either, so it's a nightmare getting him to drink the vile potion (the powder in the pills smells awful!) without gagging 2x a day, not to mention the enzymes he had to take with every meal! I'll find out how effective just dousing a kid with probiotics is in a few weeks from the test results. There is always a chance of regrowth, and my sense is that it did happen. When ds started with water kefir, we saw die off symptoms again.

All ears about explanation re dairy. In ds' case, he had a test that showed he had leaky gut, and his system was positively crawling with candidase. The cause was dairy. He did a yeast cleanse (Candidase) and at various times, was put on S boulardii, oil of oregano, curcumin, to name a few. We now rotate among various probiotics and drink home brewed water kefir for more variety. According to our nutritionist (digging around in my memory), the L-carnitine and coq10 improves hand to eye coordination. I was surprised at the time. The handwriting actually became smaller (from giganto previously).

Commiseration. I've "taken over" in my house, ie I don't put up with the whining and I-don't-like-it's. We've come full circle and I wonder why I had such unformed ideals about self directed learning. For some kids (like mine) who are immature, it just doesn't work- too much choice can be confusing. In giving choice, I was trying to elicit self motivation, but what I saw instead was self selected shutdowns in specific areas for no apparent reason other than, "I don't think I'll like it". These days, he reads a book 1st to tell me what he doesn't like about it. Or we do an area of study regardless, since he can't form an opinion without more information. We discuss ideas, whereas in the past, I'd bust my butt looking for things he liked, but he blew it off all too easily and was the worse for it. Ds is finding out that interest comes hand in hand with effort. We're over a hump and I'm holding on to a new order. It's been a trying period, and at the worst, it heightened ds' OCD tendencies. But things do seem to be calming down. Ds tells me he's actually enjoying what he used to actively dodge, and we're having discussions that lead to other trails :o. It's early days and all that, but for sure, this structure remains.

DH is 100% against meds as he's very seen negative outcomes, so I'll be following the idea of supplements closely. We're in the queue for the dev pede and have no access to specialist CBTs for OCD for kids. So it's back to the nutritionist. In any case, we started going organic about 3 years ago. Ds was prescribed a slew of amino acids and minerals. I didn't think the results were so remarkable, although going dairy free was like night and day (he had leaky gut). With him off most of his supplements (6mths now) except for the basic omega 3, probiotics, and recently, magnesium, it's been disastrous. We're awaiting test results before prescription. Wapiti, good luck on the L-carnitine. I now recall that ds was put on this together with coq10, and it seemed to improve his handwriting. The improvements have largely stuck although he's no longer on L-Carnitine. Another supplement that seemed to work was cholesterol pills*. Ds has abnormally low cholesterol, which we had to monitor. I suppose we will be reacquainted with many of his suppments again once the results are out. * eta: ds had meltdowns that went from 0 to 60 in a heartbeat. It didn't happen often, but it happened enough. All that had seem to slowly dissipate. I thought it was a developmental thing that he improved, but that has come back too.

Thanks so much, Arcadia, Geodob,Tiramisu, Lecka, Sbgrace, and all others who have helped. I found a therapist who purports to deal with OCD, but she seems to be more focused on adults. I'll be asking his Ped and doing lots of calling. Right now, I have a lot of contradictory feelings - relief to know something can be done to help, guilt that I've been so impatient with him, and fear of the unknown.

Ds has been to *so many* therapists and psychs. None of them has ever picked it up. But when I run through the number of times I've said he's got rigid thinking, it all adds up. Ds did a test at his previous nutritionist which revealed low serotonin and dopamine levels. I had gotten tired of all the dosing (and the $$$ we had to spend), and since things had started to look fine, I had taken my foot off the pedal late last year. She's our first stop this week. His OT is a patient man. He coaxes ds and they generally work well together. I thought I was starting to see a reduction in his avoidance behaviour.

I see what you're saying, Jennifer and dsmith. No one has ever mentioned OCD. His OT in particular, "hates to label", which doesn't help much at all. This really is an eye opener. He recently expressed dismay at himself for repeatedly ordering the same dish from a particular restaurant that we frequent, even though he doesn't particularly like it. He couldn't understand why. Are the remedies to this primarily medication? Can CBT help?

I just googled and frankly, the description doesn't fit ds at all. He has no compulsions to wash his hands etc. He's been worried before about the state of the world and how he can help it, but that seems to have passed. He's usually a very cheerful and optimistic kid, just not a very functioning one when he gets into these episodes.

Thanks for that, Plink. At least there's a name or something to work off! As I'm googling, can you tell me what OCD means? Other than the acronym implies, what are the issues? Is it very serious? Sorry I have no idea at all :(.

Dsmith, ds wasn't particularly wiggly when young. He had no problems sitting in his seat at school as much as the next kid. But he loves to pinch at things, say, a scab, or a piece of skin. He loves to get his hands all wrinkly in a shower (he spent a lot of time in the shower till I put a stop to it recently) and then proceed to peel. Any loose skin, even on me or dh is fascinating to him, and he can't help staring at it. What is particularly destructive is that he loves to peel the corners of his mouth, and several times, he's worked them into huge sores. On a regular basis, he likes to stretch his mouth in an exaggerated yawn for that tearing sensation. I tell him to be self aware when he does it, but he's just not. Scratching is a new problem. When asked to do exercises at the OT, he'll descend into a fit of scratching to delay performing the exercises. At its worst when he was younger, ds has sat through days of being barely functioning at the work table as he pinched away. Lately, all this worsened again (although he's never been completely free of this). I'm wondering if it's because I've become slack in giving him his vast array of supplements. What seems to be helping is if he keeps his hands (palm side) in contact with something all the time, to give him constant sensory information rather than a complete deprivation (he doesn't like to touch anything), and then have an onslaught of information via pinching. I've also become more consistent with his supplements.

Thanks for the info, sbgrace. I'll find out more about pycnogenol. Feeling the pain :(. I'm doing Brainology with ds to educate him on taking active control of his situation. He does seem to be responding with less zoning and more willingness to try new things. Not helping with anxiety however.

Sbgrace, that is amazing information. Thank you for giving me hope! Our previous nutritionist had recommended CoQ10 and axtaxanthin. Could the effects be similar to pycnogenol? The dosage is very low though. I forget how much, but it was a pill every other day. Do you have articles on NAC with dosage indications? I plan to bring it to the nutritionist to inquire. Tiramisu, PWW made me smile. Oh how I need some light heartedness at this moment!

Tks for the information, Plink, Tiramisu and Wapiti When it was 1st suggested to me that ds has anxiety, I had brushed it away. After all, we homeschooled subjects that he liked to the risk of being so lop-sided (I was hoping to balance things gradually especially in the last 2 years, but the time was never right to add subjects, or if we did, few subjects really gained traction). But I'm not so sure now. I see a reaction, a flare of anger as a coping mechanism, when asked to do something new. The lengths he goes to to avoid anything new is remarkable. An increase in flexibility sounds like a dream! Plink, I read up on hyper focus. Bingo. He says he just can't stop thinking and visualising and just loves to be in the same groove over and over again. Orienteering him to a subject in a conversation takes time, although it can be done. I have heard his friends call him obsessive, because he couldn't talk about anything else other than his pet subject at the time. His OT thinks that the two sides of his brain is not connected strongly. Well, he is ambidextrous. I'm taking extra care that he writes with his left hand steadying the paper. This seems to be helping with the pinching and the focus somewhat. Is there a definitive test that reveals dopamine levels? ADHD/OCD tests are, if I'm not mistaken, highly subjective. Could a nutritionist help instead? Goodness knows, we've been through this route too, but maybe there's something our previous nutritionist missed.

nm

It's been so hard for us as well. One step forward, two steps back. Sometimes, I even think we're doing well because there are little pockets of relief amidst a lot resistance, but when I look back a year later, it's a giant meh. I'd like to think that I finally have an answer to ds' sensory seeking issues (my latest latest epiphany). But I have to be very vigilant all the time to make it work. We have no ADHD dx, not even a sensory processing one. But what the OP has written, as well as what others have mentioned, is uncannily similar to ds' presentation. He has tremendous opposition to change or to anything new. The idea of meds is very appealing to me, although dh is vehemently opposed. It's food for thought at the moment.

Congratulations to you and kiddo, Quark!!

Voted. Awesome kiddo!!

Ds 1st did VT at 6. It was very helpful in that afterwards, he could read with stamina. Before, he'd complain that words jumped on the page. The gains haven't stuck though. On and off, ds has had vision therapy for about 6mths to a year at a time. Each time, there'd be improvement in his reading habits, but it seemed to ebb. He did get rid of his convergence problem permanently. But tracking is a continued issue. I should add that last year, ds became very addicted to computer games. This is specifically the large screen, playstation sort that requires the use of peripheral vision (at the neighbor's). I finally managed to put a stop to it, but his reading did not pick up. A recent check revealed that his tracking has really declined as a result. We're back on track with VT, and already, there are gains. I'm hopeful that *this time, the gains will stick*. Ok at least he knows what to avoid.

11yo 6th grader. I had outsourced a number of subjects as I got busy starting up a business (still rocky and very sporadic!). These plans are a continuation of what we're doing now that I foresee will leak into next year, as well as books I haven't added. The general idea is that we'll do a lot more co-reading and there will be more required reading of different genres. Math. Outsourced. Abstract Algebra and Algebra 1 revision (Dolciani). Paper Square Geometry. Science. Outsourced. Chemistry with labs. DS has been reading a lot of science books on his own. But I plan to co-read more with him. Book list includes The Magic of Reality, Dr Art's Guide to Science, Chemistry for You, and more to come. History. It's been stop/start for us here. Perhaps Big History, following up with Human Odyssey. Language Arts. Outsourced writing. But Writing and Rhetoric looks great (drool). I'll likely start him from Fable. Killgallon Paragraphs for Middle School. Jacobs Ladder for comprehension. Word Roots. Still thinking of literature. Logic. Pack of logic workbooks like Perplexors, Analogy Crosswords, Deducibles, What's Next. We're getting together to do Thinking Toolbox with a friend. Technology. Scratch. Arduino. Foreign Language. Outsourced to a very excellent language tutor. PE. TKD. Swimming. Therapy that he finally likes. Bal-a-vix! Considering tennis, rollerblading (good chance that his balance has improved to this level), water polo.

I have a similar issue for my 11yo :(. While I think it's become more pronounced lately, the seeds of this may have started far earlier. No wise words here. I'm thinking aloud and hope that maybe, this could be helpful somehow to the OP and others in the same shoes. - Over empathy with LDs. Or at least, this is what I think I did. DS has vision issues, CAPD, and is dysgraphic. He would always yell out to me or DH (but primarily me) to help him with looking for his book/bag/lego because he can never find anything, even if it's right under his nose. Or he'd pass over the bag of chips for me to open because he has "weak fingers". I've been giving him instructions on how to do these things for years (complete with how to compensate for weaknesses), but he'd always refuse, countering with an "I can't". So even though he actually reads, writes and play sports fine, he's become dependant; "I can't" has become a convenient and now, pervasive crutch. It extends to joining competitions, doing programming (he was a robotics nerd and it's just sad to see him avoid it like the plague because "I can't do it"), and wanting to quit activities he used to love, like the violin. - Praise. It's not how you say it but what they perceive. Believe me, I only praise effort. But "you worked really hard" gets translated into "You're so clever", he tells me, and he loves it. The reverse is true - when I tell him he's made a mistake, he's really upset, because he hears that he's not smart enough. I've racked my brains thinking through how this can be, but the outcome, despite deliberate care to the contrary, is unmistakeable. It doesn't help that he's extremely verbal, and he's received praise for being "a genius" from virtual strangers, even his therapists :(. I've never even told him his IQ number even though he's badgered a few times, because I was worried about the outcome. I used to speak to his therapists afterwards to stop the praise, but I guess the damage is done. And I can't stop it when I don't know it's going to happen. We've always been more unschooly in that he got to pick what he wanted to learn. If he didn't like a curriculum, the first that would go was always the curriculum. But I'm wondering if I've been too obliging. To this end, I'm requiring that he stick to what he's always enjoyed but recently wanted to give up, and signed him up for a science contest. He had already rejected a few prior to this but seems quite excited now. I'm changing my praise vocabulary, directing him instead, to his own feelings when he's worked extra hard. I've also starting him on Brainology, by Carol Dweck. From what I can see, the child can only get as much as he/she puts into it. We've only started on one lesson, but he was startled with what he learnt regarding the origins of the IQ test. Crossing fingers here. It can't be a coincidence that many posters here facing similar issues have 11yos or thereabouts. Maybe this will pass quickly. :unsure:

I'm running a free chem co-op currently, my 1st ever. I'm a bit taken aback that despite my having posted prerequisites and having been assured by the parents, quite of the kids don't have them at all. I've had to repeatedly revise and cut back on the level of instruction, which is not serving the better (but far fewer) students in the class. Perhaps this is my mistake as I don't know the families well, but am getting to. They're wonderful people, but it looks like I should suss out the students' capabilities independently beforehand. My next class (oh yes!) will be for a smaller, more targeted group.

I have me one of these too. It seemed to worsen for awhile recently. Except for math, even science was getting bothersome for him, which was a surprise. I'm not sure if this will help, but I've done a few things: - I'm outsourcing in a big way this term. He really learns far better with a teacher! I plan to take the backseat but continue to direct his learning and add logic or games where appropriate. In terms of practicalities, I print out his schedule and remind him about the upcoming classes when he forgets. The plan is to eventually get him to do the planning himself. - Look at what else is going on in his life. Ds is too fond of computer strategy games. We've always restricted game time to an hour a week, but this fella now tells me that for the last several years, he's been thinking through his strategies nearly 24/7. He replays it constantly through various perspectives in his mind to improve his game, and he has, according to him, very impressive stats :cursing: . He's been able to make a bit of way in his life for other interests, but lately, it's taken a dive for the worse as he now has access to games via a neighbour (this kid has every game console you can think of :(). Some kids, it appears, just have addictive personalities, so I'm working with him on recognising this for himself. - Look for a mentor. Ds' strongest mentor at the moment is his violin teacher. I can be saying the same things, but when his violin teacher says it, DS takes it to heart and is keen to discuss the implications of, say, gaming, with me. He's even been persuaded about going cold turkey for computer gaming as a result of a conversation with his teacher! I know I lucked out here. But when you find the right person, it works beautifully. DH and I are still finding our way out of this and it's early days yet. We're taking the tack that 11yo boys want to find their way in the world on their own terms. It really does take a village!