Despite doing all our due diligence including asking a doctor specializing in adoptions to first check for FASD, 11 years later, our child from a Russian orphanage has just received the devastating diagnosis of full-blown FAS! :cursing: We are still in the mourning/numb stage so we don't know what to do next. If I have the luxury of being able to meet the mother and finding out that she has been doing something that is harmful to the baby such as drinking, I would probably wait for another adoption. Since there is no known safe amount of alcohol or safe time to drink alcohol during pregnancy, the recommendation of the health agencies of the US, Canada, Australia, England, etc. is to drink no alcohol at all if one is pregnant or planning to become pregnant. I'm surprised that many women are willing to play Russian Roulette that their drinking may or may not harm their child FOR LIFE.

I had never heard of it despite asking the occupational therapist, psychiatrist, psychologist, developmental optometrist, geneticist and other specialists on what else to try after all sorts of interventions have failed for our own 11-year old DD. Here is one article about the Sensory Learning Program: I would gladly spend $3,000+ on anything that has been proven to be efficacious, but I have learned the hard way that testimonials are not enough. Best of luck with your 11yo DD.

Is Dreambox, IXL, etc. better than ALEKS? Lee Binz is advertising ALEKS in her emails, which costs $20/student/month.

Wow, that poor student was prescribed a deadly cocktail of Accutane, Prozac, Wellbrutin and Adderall?! I thought Accutane has been pulled off the market after so many suicides and class action lawsuits?

Our 11-yo DD already has similar problems so are things going to get worse during the teenage years? I'm hoping she is one of those ADHD kids who catch up from their ~30% developmental delays before they are forced to drop out of high school. Nothing has helped much from all the specialists, five drugs and numerous other interventions we have tried. :crying: We may have to be her prefrontal cortex until the day we die.

Does Dreambox and IXL start off with an assessment like SuccessMaker to put the child in the proper level? Are any of the Dreambox users from Canada? Does it only use American measurements, coins, temperatures, etc? Pearson distributes both Dreambox Learning and SuccessMaker in Canada and claims to use Canadian curriculum, but it is frustrating to use SuccessMaker when it only uses unrecognizable US coins instead of Canadian coins, Fahrenheit instead of Celsius, and no metric system. :confused1: I know IXL is not restricted to US-only math.

My child in grade 6 took each of the five tests only prior to starting the lesson in each section, and below were her initial results. Break 1 - 80% Break 2 - 61% Break 3 - 44% Break 4 - 68% Break 5 - 50% If your son is already getting 70%+, including 83% at the last break, you may want something more advanced like Barton. Here is the LTKAH thread. In case you still want to buy LTKAH, you can email the excellent support at jwor@jwor.com about which lesson to start at. He suggested that my child start at Lesson 23. Does Barton have a reading assessment to see if you can skip her levels?

An occupational therapist used the Developmental Test of Visual Motor Integration (VMI) and my child was more than 4 years behind (bottom 4 percentile). For the Developmental Test of Motor Coordination, she was five years behind (bottom 1 percentile). I thought vision therapy is mainly for convergence insufficiency (CI) and not for VMI, dyslexia, etc. My child has been doing computerized vision therapy and perceptual therapy since December, and the developmental optometrist says that her CI has improved, but we have NOT noticed any difference in any real-world activities including VMI.

Thanks for the review. A developmental optometrist also wants us to buy Dynamic Reader. Looking at the HTS webpage, it claims to be spefically designed to improve reading fluency. The cost seems to range around $75-$275. After buying the vision therapy software HTS and PTS, our child's convergence insufficiency is supposed to be better, but we haven't really noticed any real world improvement. I'm also thinking that there has to be better programs out there to improve reading fluency. Anybody else have opinions on Dynamic Reader?

That Coursera course is very educational but theoretical so far. I don't know if the future videos will give your DH practical ideas on how to work on the issues bothering him with your DS.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of ignorant people like your sister. Just like those who insist that 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing are US government conspiracies, she may be unwilling to change her mind.

Does your DH have a CD player in the car and willing to listen to it while commuting? The book is light enough to be listened to, as opposed to Dr.Barkley's information-dense books which require re-reading and a highlighter. Superparenting is like "ADHD is a gift. Here are anecdotes and ideas to make it positive for your child" while Dr.Barkley is more like "ADHD is a serious disorder and you need to take charge. Here is a lot of information you will need to keep referring to about medication and how to cope with this disorder."

Below are two suggestions. THE ADHD expert Dr. Russell Barkley, e.g., Taking Charge of ADHD: The Complete, Authoritative Guide for Parents, 3rd edition. Attention Difference Disorder, Dr. Kenny Handelman.

I would recommend this ~$144 software to parents who would not be comfortable homeschooling with an Orton-Gillingham program or not sure about spending $50/hour for long-term O-G tutors (like I was). For most homeschool veterans, I think Barton (if the screening tests are passed) or other O-G program would be more effective. My 11-year old does not like doing any of the therapies, including LTKAH since it usually takes 30-60 minutes per lesson. She has the most problem with the spelling exercises (Dictation Words and Dictation Sentences). I don't think her spelling improved as much as her reading. Now that we are reviewing the LTKAH lessons, we are doing more kinesthetic activities such as writing incorrect words in cursive on a notebook and skywriting. If I had your homeschooling experience, I would choose one of the O-G programs often recommended by "BTDT" posters.

Doesn't Dance Mat only have 4 levels (up to Shift keys)? Is there a better alternative to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing? Instead of trying to remediate my 11-year old on cursive with Handwriting Without Tears this summer, I'm thinking of teaching her how to type fast instead.

Below are the results from the first Cognitive Benchmark Report. I like the physical exercises of Neuronet better, so we have not had the time to do the C8-Kids exercises. Flanker Test Accuracy Reaction Time Score 100 % 774 milliseconds Percentile (Globe) 100 % 62 % Dimensional Change Card Sort Accuracy Reaction Time Score 63 % 700 milliseconds Percentile (Globe) 49 % 92 % Go/No-Go Test Correct "Go" trials Correct "No-Go" trials Score 98 % 33 % Percentile (Globe) 55 % 26 % Working Memory Test Overall Score Part II Score Score 15 6 Percentile (Globe) 58 % 61 %

jwor.com. I posted a detailed review, but that thread seems to have disappeared. :confused1: Feel free to post any questions.

When is the best time for an 11-year old girl to follow the CD, e.g., upon waking up before school or at bedtime? We tried to get her to do Superbrain Yoga and EASe therapeutic listening upon waking up, then EASe at bedtime, but she hated all of them. She also did not like her Hatha Yoga class, and she is taking a cheer dance class this spring instead.

Unlike in the US where there are things such as Wright's Law and Right to Intervention (RTI), dyslexics in Ontario seem to be neglected. I had always wondered why so many high school graduates could not even read or write properly, then I later found out DD has dyslexia but the school board does not even recognize it and there is no intervention offerred. It may take another 6-figure lawsuit like the Jeffrey Moore victory in British Columbia to force the Ontario government and schools to provide dyslexia intervention. :rant: Here are some Ontario-specific resources: - The International Dyslexia Association Ontario Branch (request their list of dyslexia professionals and other relevant documents). - Learning Disabilities Association of Ontario, which may have a chapter in your area. - The Claremont School: dyslexia school, where I had DD tested. I am using the Orton-Gillingham based software "Language Tool Kit At Home" for my 11-year old. If it is not enough, I may pay for an O-G tutor ($35-$95/hour) or reading camp in the summer.

DD has very low scores in many assessments, and I'm also desperately searching for any interventions that would help, but LearningRx is probably not the solution. There have been many complaints about LearningRx, e.g., see the complaints in the past four years by employees and parents at http://www.complaint...956.html?page=4. May I ask how much LearningRx charged you for the WJ-III test? Many of the brain training tasks that LearningRx does can be done on your own for free, e.g., dual n-back, flash cards, C8Sciences.com free trial, Neuronet free trial, Interactive Metronome app. If she does have dyslexia, then an Orton-Gillingham program may be advisable. Good luck!

It is better to first try the free interventions before forking over $1,500 for Cogmed and other commercialized products. Read Brain Games Are Bogus

Is Kathy Kuhl's book the best homeschooling book for children with special needs? If having two educational assistants and many other accommodations/modifications in public school don't improve the 30% or three-year delay of 11-year old DD by the time she starts high school, I may have to reconsider my doubts about homeschooling her.

Since that EducationalResourcesManual.pdf is just a .PDF file, it may still be in your computer or anybody else's who looked at it today.

In case anybody else was researching the numerous auditory interventions, below is our experience with EASe. We bought the EASe Personal and EASe Lite apps for the iPod, along with bone conduction headphones. We also tried the EASe Funhose video game and the12 CD samples. After listening 30 minutes twice a day for almost every day for a couple of months, we did not notice improvement. Due to the limited time available after school, we have decided to focus on her other interventions.

Where do you get the prices of $35 and $7? I only see a price of $79/year. Is Khan Academy or other interactive program better at remediation than IXL? My school district is using Pearson's SuccessMaker, but it has so many bugs that I shake my head during every lesson.