IME, it's all about what they eat. Bad dogfood gives a bad dog smell. I feed raw most of the time. When they're on 80-100% raw, they have no doggie odor, their teeth are gorgeous, breath is fresh. Even on high quality kibble, there is doggie odor. On poor kibble (ie grocery store), it's unbearable - the smell. ugh. :) K

<<What you need is a supplement that has beta-carotene instead of already made vitamin A.>> but with more evidence indicating that beta carotene from supps is linked to increased cancer rates, it's not worth it. I'd go with bc rich foods, some A rich foods (eggs etc) would test A levels at some point. Then it's easy to tell if levels are okay just with bc from food, and if it's converting at a sufficient rate......or if one needs a small amount of supplemental A....like 500 IU per day or 2500 IU per day. It's likely that much of the problem of 'too much A' is really just a problem of 'too little D' but until more is known, i'm being conservative and reducing my A. there are some indications that appropriate doses of preformed A are probably 3-5x an appropriate dose of D....per day. but almost no one gets enough D. when there is too little D but 'enough' or too much A, A will take over the D receptors. But still, for now I'm cutting back and will test A once a year or so. :) K

and when you do the free demo, you are emailed a coupon for $25 off your purchase. :) K

... I'd consider a couple of possibilities..... 1)possible ADHD - treatment (if she has it)...maybe meds, maybe just a different 'style' of school (ie more active) 2)she needs a different style of information regardless....ie more active, more games, less rote work/paperwork. _get your child off the refrigerator and onto learning_ is very helpful. so are peggy kay's books. even though the games are geared towards youngers, they're easy to adapt for olders. My fourth grader is your 7th grader. :) K

I'm betting that you need more D (2000 to 4000 IU per day depending on what your levels are currently) maybe more K. And if it is arthritis, it's totally treatable (if you start now and not later) with an anti-inflammatory diet and supplements. When I started developing arthritis symptoms about 5 years ago, it became clear that I couldn't do significant amounts of cooked tomato products (ie no tomato juice/v8). I could do a little tomato sauce or ketchup occasionally. But no tomato soup;( and only small amounts of salsa. I also have major problems with wheat/gluten and even other grains, dairy and soy. I'm best when I am 75% off grain totally, eat lots and lots of produce, take my supplements incl plenty of D, sufficient but not excessive calcium, plenty of magnesium. Fish oil is marginally helpful (but very helpful for my mood:)). SAM-e is hugely helpful. Glucosamine and chondroitin are not helpful for me. :) K

I'm assuming he's having difficulty with reading? Since you mention his English is 'decent'? The idea would be for someone to get him started on one of the dyslexia remediation programs (even though he's not dyslexic). Since he's bright, it could go very very quickly and he could actually not only manage, but do very well. HEC Horizons for Home would be perfect if they could obtain it. He could do it on his own (nearly) on the computer. :) Katherine

<<]I guess I need to take more vitamin D! I thought I was doing well, since my multivitamin has D, and I take Cod Liver Oil. I also have a sunlamp, but need to actually use it on a regular basis. I wish I could rely on real sunlight, but where I live, much of the year (especially this season) is gray and gloomy. :glare:>> stop the CLO asap. there is a large and growing body of evidence that we get WAY to much A, especially in ratio to our paltry D. Switch to plain fish oil instead, then take separate D supplements (in additionto the multi). Really no one can rely on sunlight unless: 1)they live in the tropics or nearly so 2)they wear *no* sunscreen 3)they are willing to do midday exposure in a bathing suit (to the point just before a burn would occur....ie light light skins need little, dark skins more, very dark skins dramatically more) good example: I live in Atlanta. My D was tested in August of 2003. So summer. In atlanta. I didn't lay out in the sun but I didn't avoid it. I wore short sleeve vneck shirts and never ever a drop of sunscreen. Ever. We were out and about alot. Most of the day. The park, the store, running errands, the zoo. The pool. I sought shade most of the time at the park and pool but still....we were outside and there was intense sun. My 25(OH)D was 24.5ng/mL which at the time most docs thought was okay. On the low side of okay, but still 'okay'. However, the research had begun to paint a very different picture and thankfully the hcp with whom we were working, was current on the literature. Optimal levels are 50-55 and maybe higher (up to 70 ng/mL). vitamindcouncil.org I was tired, had muscle weakness, joint swelling/pain, and well....I guess I wasn't tired, it was more like a frighteningly deep fatigued to the bones sort of feeling. the fatigue, muscle weakness and joint pain went away with sufficient D. I started taking 2000 IU per day and was able to maintain my levels at 50-55 ng/mL for quite some time. Now it's clear that my newfound sun protectiveness (vanity...sundamage etc) has impacted what little D I could get from incidental exposure and I've had to doubled my dose. I'll retest in a month. Cholecalciferol/D3 is the right supplement. Preferably an oil filled gelcap or liquid/drop. Mom's need it. Dad's need it. Kids' need it. Infants need it. Breastfed infants need it. SIM fed infants need it (but they get some from the SIM). And we all need more than the RDA, perhaps as much as 10x the rda for some people. The evidence is starting to point towards D deficiency as a major possible cause of ld's, autism and a known factor in lung, prostate, breast, colon cancer, asthma, sudden cardiac failure in infants....a factor in autoimmune issues (ms, lupus, psoriasis etc). We all need it. And lots of it. vitamindcouncil.org K

dh does math and hebrew with her twice a week. I do _everything_ else. We share equally on the weekends. We both put them to bed. I have no cleaning, cooking, driving, laundry, yard etc help. He says he'd help if I ask. Untrue. You can probably tell it's a point of contention right now. K

working memory issues, ADHD......both;p make sure you're taking lots of fish oil and vitamin d;) wouldn't hurt to consider gingko and choline as well. the memory part of my ADHD has been significantly helped with supplements. K

working memory issues, ADHD......both;p make sure you're taking lots of fish oil and vitamin d;) wouldn't hurt to consider gingko and choline as well. the memory part of my ADHD has been significantly helped with supplements. K

While 40% or so kids with ADHD have co-existing issues (ld's etc) and therefore a greater chance of having speech/language issues than the normal population, afaik, a speech/lang delay is not a 'symptom' of ADHD nor is it one of the diagnositic markers. :) K

WWE and FLL were the magic bullets for us. and they were/are *magical*. K

I take a long list of supplements that keep me fairly upbeat and definitely even keeled: vitamin D 4800 IU (will likely go down when I'm retested in a month) b5 250 mg once per day multi (natrol my favorite take one) fish oil (natural factors rx omega 3 per day) neptune krill (2 per day from ovulation to onset of next cycle) magnesium 600-1000 mg per day calcium 1000 mg per day total from all sources there is more. a lot more:) K

I'll just toss out that this varies by area. In Fulton and DeKalb Co in Atlanta, it's virtually impossible to get appropriate testing through the county, and even more difficult to get any kind of dx if you do get an eval. And they won't diagnose dyslexia. Or offer evidence based interventions for any reading issues. Period. K

2nd everything Laurie said. In addition, I'd skip looking at the vision peice for now. Virtually all kids with sufficient IQ can learn to read with appropriate, intensive, systematic direct instruction, multi-sensory phonics and *without* vision therapy. there is a huge body of evidence showing 'what works' with reading disabilities at it is the above kinds of phonics instruction, not vision therapy. imo, for the kids who *do* have vision issues, the above kinds of phonics instruction do remediate the vision issues....hence the 98-99% reading rate when those kinds of reading programs are used in classrooms. K

<<Like, saying aminal, instead of animal >> that's part of the dyslexia <<he chooses vocabulary that is very 3 year old-ish. When he talks, he just comes across as very unintelligent, even if he is sharing something great! He chooses 3-5 year old words... so I ask him if he can re-state it using more mature words and he can about 70% of the time... he just doesn't do so on a regular basis on his own. >> could also be part of the dyslexia. word recall is part of the weakness. <<He struggles with long words... he starts to sound them out at the beginning and then just makes something up... and will read words wrong and say a nonsense word that does not make sense instead of using context clues to sound out the right word.>> wait, how was his dyslexia treated/'overcome'? ftmp, he shouldn't be using context clues to figure out a word...this is a massive red flag. he should be able to sound it out, break down the syllables as needed based on the six syllabification rules.... guessing really has no part in it - even when using 'context clues' (ie language left over from the dreadful 'whole language/implicit phonics debacle) since his spelling is still such an issue, I'd consider the possibility that he still needs some fundamental work in the encoding/decoding areas. It's possible that just using AAS would be significant enough to help wtih the decoding since ftmp, he is reading well. iirc AAS covers syllabification. :) K

here are some math ideas (not a starting point, but perhaps at some point) http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?subject=76S&subjectdesc=Math&series=2551M this thread has helpful math ideas: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=625218#post625218 I'd also consider montessori math activities for numeration and teaching facts. :) K

<I don't have a lot of experience with reading programs. I think The Ordinary Parent's Guide to teaching Reading is straight forward >> It will not work with reading disabled/dyslexic kids or kids w/IQ's in that range. I second Ottakee's recommendation for the 3R's books http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html Or Dancing Bears: http://www.prometheantrust.org/startreading.htm Touch Phonics is also a *fabulous* phonics program....f a b u l o u s. Pricey though so want to have district support and purchasing power;p http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?seriesonly=8800M I haven't looked at developmental/direct instruction math programs but perhaps this would be helpful? http://www.specialconnections.ku.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/specconn/main.php?cat=instruction&section=main&subsection=di/math :) Katherine

Yup, that's what we're seeing too. Specifically word problems and multistep problems. There has definitely been a change in her working memory (for the better;p) even if one only looks at performance in Brainware. K

my 9.5 yo is also doing brainware safari....we are also seeing improvements since she started it. I'll toss out though that this has been a year of improvements overall and that we were seeing huge academic leaps even before starting brainware safari. I guess what I specifically see now is increased mental endurance - for lack of a better term. Her ability to stick with a difficult topic and give it significant mental effort has definitely increased. K

2nd. I'd do FLL and WWE for a sound, firm foundation. K

We transitioned from RS C to Singapore 3A wtih ease. Zoomed through that in 8 weeks and have now moved on to 3B. We'll finish 4A and B before the year is out. It's helpful to have the teacher manual. K

I'd switch to All About Spelling. it's amazing. Perfect really. for samples and complete 'scope and sequence' see the website: http://www.all-about-spelling.com/ katherine in atl

Moving to _All About Spelling_ would probably serve you both very very well. :) katherine