d helps ....everything? one study showed that taking D was more effective at treating SAD than was the therapeutic light box. there is other evidence supporting the use of D as well....for mental health issues and much much more. the current thinking is that appropriate levels of D would prevent 50% of current cancer deaths. there is so far evidence that higher levels of D decrease rates of lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer and pancreatic cancer......not to mention lupus, ms, psoriasis, type II diabetes, PCOS and more. In otherwords, not only will it likely cure your 'SAD' but it may save your life. There is also a vitamin D/autism theory that is very sound (that d deficiency triggers the genetics that are at work), vitamin d/infertility, vitamin d/fibroids....oh the list is long. Take your D.....and lots of it. vitamindcouncil.org K

The evidence for SAD supports vitamin D over lightboxes. Virtually everyone not taking supplemental D is woefully deficient. I needed 2000 IU D per day when I was still getting some D from sun - ie incidental exposure only and i didn't wear sunscreen. Now I need more. I'm retesting again soon after taking 4800 IU per day for the last 8 weeks. K

My child is 9.5, dyslexic/dysgraphic and has historically hated writing. She did really *no* writing at 5 b/c of her intense aversion to it and minimal writing in first grade - and what little she did do was with tears and tantrums. For her it was specifically a grapho-motor weakness rather than a fine motor issue as her fine motor skills are *fabulous* (ie sewing, cutting, kiragami). From first grade on we did some daily practice but did much much less in terms of overall writing and it wasn't until 4th grade (this year) that I'm requiring any significant writing. And when I say 'significant', I mean 'a few sentences' in two different subjects. We're also doing keyboarding with "Read, Write and Type!" (talkingfingers.com). It's an exceptionally strong program that has fundamentally changed, for the better, her reading, spelling and writing skills. I used FLL 1 and 2 in first and second grade (leaving out most of the writing) but she got little out of it. I started with FLL3 this year and feel like I should have skipped 1 and 2 except for the memorization. Like others mentioned, good uses of time would include offering lots of opportunity for fine motor work - tweezers to transfer cotton balls, craft 'puff' balls or other items, droppers to transfer liquids, small tongs to transfer items (ie small stones, craft items etc)....montessori 'practical life' work offers many many ideas. We did a lot of early writing in sand - Moon Sand specifically....she's make it flat and smooth, then write with a skewer, a pencil or whatever other tool happened to be handy....writing on windows was always (and still is) a helpful activity (we do lots of math there now). All the best, K

Fwiw, I'm writing phobic myself and absolutely positively could not teacher my 9.5 yo 'writing' with any other program. This has been a lifesaver. We do 2 lessons most days and will start skipping lessons soon b/c she's 'getting' it. Today at our homeschool group, in her Jr. Great Books class, she was given an assignment to 'write an essay' talking about the lessons she learned from their reading selection. She wasn't at all nervous or concerned about it and actually wanted to do it tonight. Knock me over with a feather. Two months ago, the request for an essay would have incited tears, tantrums and more. I still can't quite believe it. This is a child who 10 weeks ago couldn't give me a 'complete' sentence upon request and is dyslexic and dysgraphic. :) K

2nd that recommendation. and I'd start him on FLLFTWTM 3. for WWE, I'd personally go with just the workbook rather than the text. and for FLL you'll need the teacher guide and the student workbook. K

Anything that teaches syllabification will be helpful (ie all of the dyslexia remediation programs with a few additions) All About Spelling Barton Reading Wilson Reading REWARDS! HEC Reading Horizons Recipe for Reading I'd start from the bottom up to make sure the decoding is sound on every level. :) Katherine

math games from Right Start (and lots of abacus work)....Times Attack.....Flashcards from Memorize in Minutes.....games games and more games. :) katherine

2nd the 'common symptom of dyslexia'. fluency issues are common -and lack of fluency is what you describe. while some will try to attribute it to vision issues, the bottom line is that with appropriate help and fluency practice virtually all kids (99%) can learn to be excellent readers with fluency, comprehension and speed. so that leaves 1% (maybe 2%) with other issues. yet many are attributing isuses to vision problems.....much more than the 1-2%. bottom line is that appropriate intervention in reading (phonics, fluency, whatever) will fix what is broken 99 out of 100 times. vision therapy is ever so rarely the answer. practice reading aloud - in specific ways - is the answer most likely and is highly effective. lack of fluency often leads kids to avoid reading....avoid reading aloud and later, when the text becomes hard enough, causes comprehension difficulties. start working on it now....reading loud with him for 15-30 minutes per day 5 days per week. ideally, pick something slighly below his level. read over it first to find tricky words...cover those words with him - breaking them down into syllables and sounding them out.. then have him read the passage to himself. *to himself*. silently. then you read the passage (a paragraph maybe) aloud...clearly...at a normal (maybe slightly slower) cadence, with fluency. track under the words with your finger...scooping the words into groups as you go. then read the passage together - at the same time so he gets the feel for it. then have him read it aloud alone. chances are, he'll hate it. and chances are that it'll be highly highly effective. work on a specific passage four times (maybe over 2 days)....then move to another one. key things: 1)daily or nearly so (ie 5-7 days/week) 2)over long periods of time....ie don't quit after a couple of weeks....keep at it until he can easily do this on his own...it might be 6 mos or a year. stopping to soon is a most common mistake 3)shorter and more frequent is better than longer and infreuquent. :) katherine

absolutely! I'd totally allow it. My parents had all sorts of ridiciulous rules about makeup and, honestly, all it taught me was to get very good at sneaking things when I wasn't around them. It was a bad dynamic for them to set up and they shouldn't have done it. imo lipgloss and mascara are fine. not heavy eye makeup.... K

We were in this boat for awhile.....couldn't remember facts, couldn't remember a concept from one day to the next. word problems? forget it. Fwiw she's got ADHD, basically hates anything requiring any sustained mental effort, is dyslexic and dysgraphic. Tons of games cemented her addition and subtraction facts (took 18 mos). We used the CD songs from rightstart math (only two songs iirc), followed by the recommended activites to cement the facts that add up to 10 (took forever).....then the "5+" facts so she could start thinking about how to break numbers up. _Memorize in Minutes: The Times Tables_ cemented her multiplication facts. She 'learned' them in three days. Took many weeks though of walking her through the stories to actually get to an answer. We try to do as much as possible that's active......Peggy Kaye's game books are great as is _How To Get Your Child Off The Refrigerator and onto Learning_. Love that book. Lots of fun games. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that as we began remediating her dyslexia and she began to learn to pay attention to each letter.....breaking down words incrementally, then putting them back together to form a whole....there was an interesting effect on her math learning. She's in 4th grade....we did rightstart C (took 18 mos and lots of tears). Now we just finished singapore 3A in about six weeks (skipped lots of it) and are on 3B. We'll finish that likely in another six weeks. holy cats!! Something changed. It's not a singapore/rightstart issue.....it was something developmental that changed. Just like dyslexia can be remediated with the right kind of instruction, my current feeling is that dyscalculia can be remediated in a similar way. think intensive (frequent/daily), incremental, systematic, multisensory instruction. :) K

All About Spelling will very likely help with reading as it's an Orton-Gillingham based program and is designed based on those principles. it's sequential, incremental, systematic, comprehensive (for spelling) and thorough. For a reading who's truly struggling, you can do All About Spelling in a way that focuses not just on the encoding, but the decoding....ie working on the reading and the spelling simultaneously. :) K

I'd 2nd, 3rd and 4th all of the recs for an OT evaluation and would Laurie's recs for other testing. Can you get the reports from the school testing? It'll make it easier to figure out exactly where you need to go. While some of the things you mentioned say 'adhd', other symptoms indicate sensory/motor issues or asperger's or even nvld. Wishing you all the very best, Katherine

We have heated mattress pads that we use to *warm up the bed only*, then when we climb in, I unplug them. I don't want them on or plugged in while we're in bed. Getting warmer comforters is key (IKEA level '3' comforters are perfect).....and warmer pj's - ie 'blanket' sleepers or long underwear jammies. In my youngest's room, I keep an electric fan spaceheater. Her room gets exceptionally cold....colder than the 55 at which the thermostat is set. I keep the spaceheater set at 65. We also have buckwheat filled items that get microwaved before hopping into bed....starting out warm is half the battle....the other half is having a comforter on the bed that traps that warmth. :) K

this sounds more like the result of a public school/school system evaluation rather than a full 'psychoeducational' battery that would be done privately. I know there are school systems that can and will do them, but this seems more often to be the exception rather than the norm. What tests were done? achievement? IQ? Tell us more about the tests..... :)k

SWB says, "young children progress at very different rates through acquiring the skills. The levels are roughly equivalent to grades, but reluctant writers may need to start at a lower level. Essentially: if your child can do copywork well, but struggles a bit with one to two sentence dictations, start with Level 2, if your child struggles with three to four sentence dictation and/or has difficulty with coherent, brief summaries, start with Level 3, if your (slightly older) child can think of what to write but can't get it on paper, start with Level 4. There are diagnostic tests in the Writing With Ease text to help you place your student. " Based on the above, I started level two with my just 7 yo 2nd grader who "can do copywork well, but struggles a bit with one to two sentence dictations" and my 4th grader who struggles with writing in general. :) katherine

Counter service (in fact all food options) are wonderfully detailed in the UGTWDW. I take my copy to the park with me after clearly tabbing all the pages with post it 'tabs' that I label index style. I don't tend to be that organized about most things but I knew this level of organization would make our park time much more efficient and enjoyable. My dh thought I was *insane* until after our first day in the parks. Then after listening to SIL's experience and reminiscing on ours, he was totally on board. Nary a word from him about getting up at o'darkthirty or carring around the ugtwdw or following touring plans. He now sings the praises of the planning;p

I've done Disney multiple times, multiple ways. Personally, unless I'm getting the meal plan, I won't stay at a Disney resort. Why? It's multiples more expensive than staying offsite. And while there are EMH, you don't acutally want to go to the park that has EMH b/c it's so much busier (all explained beautifully in the Unofficial Guide to WDW, which I strongly recomend getting). We get rooms on hotwire, hotels.com, priceline etc for around $90/night. Similar rooms would be in the $225/night range at Disney. I don't use Disney trasnportation to and from resorts b/c 1)it's slow 2)it doesn't start early enough to make the best of the critical morning hours 3)it's *awful* at night when you're trying to get out So even when staying at Disney resorts, I drive to the parks (thought parking is free when you're staying at a resort...and $9 or $10 when coming in from offsite). Once you pay for the day, you're set - ie if you leave and return or leave for another park, you don't have to pay again. We bring food in a cooler and it's always been fine. There are a few exceptions. We do one character meal. There are a few places where we always get snacks (dole whip...fronteirland iirc), and we eat a bunch in world showcase at epcot (norway, morocco are our faves but norway is ung-dly expensive). I follow the touring plans from UGTWDW....arriving at the parks very early to make the best of the time when there is minimal crowding. It's made all the difference. While my SIL and her family complained about not getting to experience enough attractions and having to wait so long, we experienced every attraction we wanted to experience, and many of them multiple times. I had the fast pass thing figured out to a T....so much so that I have saved and used fast passes from previous *years*. I stack up fast passes and use them throughout the day. When you fully understand how it works, it works much better;) All the best, K

disclosure: the following contains info on a 'controversial' diagnosis. it's basically just an inborn error in how our bodies use b6 and zinc. repleting the lost b6/zinc is easy, symptoms go away. I believe it exists and that the symptoms/treatments are spot on. I've seen it in action with me and one of my kiddos. I suspected it for myself based on symptoms/ancestry and with dd, we have test results (urine or blood, i can't recall which....it was done by an orthomolecular M.D.) http://www.nutritional-healing.com.au/content/articles-content.php?heading=Pyroluria pyroluria symptoms: Little or no dream recall White spots on finger nails Poor morning appetite and/or tendency to skip breakfast Morning nausea Pale skin, poor tanning or burn easy in sun Sensitivity to bright light Hypersensitive to loud noises Reading difficulties (e.g. dyslexia) Histrionic (dramatic) Argumentative/enjoy argument Mood swings or temper outbursts Much higher capability & alertness in the evening, compared to mornings Anxiousness Preference for spicy or heavily flavored foods Abnormal body fat distribution Significant growth after the age of 16 http://www.healthrecovery.com/HRC_2006/Depression_06/D_Hide_In_Closet.htm#pyroluria This disorder is connected to an abnormal production of a group of body chemicals called pyrroles. Pyrroles are a worthless byproduct of hemoglobin synthesis. Most people have very little if any of these pyrroles circulating in their bodies. We know that through measuring levels of pyrroles excreted via the urine. Some of us, however, are not so fortunate. Pyrroles are abnormally high in about: 30% of schizophrenics 40% of persons with psychiatric problems 11% of normals 25% of disturbed children 40% of alcoholics Pyrroles do damage to us by binding to aldehydes throughout our bodies and causing their excretion along with the pyrroles. B6 (pyridoxine) being an aldehyde is systematically removed from its many needed sites and a severe B6 deficiency results. Equally damaging is the further scavengering done by the combination of B6 and pyrroles. Together this duo also seeks out and attaches itself to zinc and so both of these essential natural chemicals (B6 and zinc), are promptly dumped into the urine. The loss of B6 and zinc is a psychiatric disaster. Many seemingly unrelated symptoms develop. Our interest in pyroluria is that it creates symptoms of inner tension, and bouts of nervous exhaustion and fearfulness that can be traced back to childhood or teen years. Without proper identification and treatment, pyrolurics slowly tend to become loners to avoid stressful situations. Their lives become an ongoing struggle to protect themselves from too much emotional and physical stress.

"I am confused about the "severe reading disability." " another name for ........dyslexia. " Educational Psychologists or Neuropsychologists do not do specific testing for dyslexia" I keep hearing this on this forum and I just don't get it. Why not? <<The test results both times were almost identical. The Neuro. said that she was an normal, average child. The EP did additional testing specifically for dyslexia and found that she does have dyslexia. The tests her had her do for dyslexia were very specific>> Probably the CTOPP and GORT.....then there is the reading fluency component of the WISC and iirc some spelling component as well. When doing reports for kids in public schools in the two 'main' counties here, our EdPsy doesn't use the term dyslexia b/c the schools here don't use the term. She uses 'reading disability' and makes the same recommendations that she would for dyslexia. She writes different forms of the report as needed to get accomodations as time and needs change (ie different schools, SAT testing etc) For homeschoolers and private schools, she uses the term dyslexia. Katherine

"She told me to wait until my dd's permanent teeth were all in." Yes and no. It depends on what the issue is and how significant the crowding is (assuming a class II malocclusion). iirc, you want first and second bicuspids (erupt at 10-12 years usually, though my dd had hers by 9)....but other than that it depends on how bad the crowding is, where they are in terms of eruption (with x-rays too), where the canines are coming in, how many and which teeth might need to be pulled.....etc etc :) K

My dad is a dentist with additional training in orthodontics....I have lots of experience working in his office and discussing trends with him. There was a move in the 80's to start orthodontia very early.....6,7,8 and to get braces on asap. The pendulum is swinging back again b/c when it's started very very early, various components of treatment needed to be redone all too often. Now it seems that the evidence base only supports exceptionally early treatment in rare cases (crossbite being one of them)....and for extreme crowding, there is universal support (in the scientific literature) for pulling baby teeth as needed so that adult teeth will come more or less where they are supposed to. The rest should be determined by readiness. I looked long and hard to find an ortho who followed *the evidence*....not the $$ (ie start 'em as young as possible) or their own personally held beliefs (they need to be '11' or they need to be '14' or whatever other ridiculous number). Our ortho likes to wait until they're 10 simply for hygiene reasons....he finds that before that they just don't keep up with appropriate brushing/flossing around braces/appliances and it's problematic. Anyhoo, my 9.5 yo is precocious wrt getting adult teeth. He's been following her for 1.5 years (we needed a spacer due to an early lost baby molar) and at her last visit, she was exactly 9y6m and he said she was ready to go....that we could wait till next spring, but then we'd have an additional issue b/c of canines that were coming in out of place (very). So we're starting now.....she'll have a palate expander (so did my brother and I.....we have HUGE teeth) and she'll need a couple extractions. My dd 7 has had 4 baby teeth pulled since the adult teeth were coming in so far out of alignment that they wouldn't have pushed the baby teeth out. It totally worked. Her two bottom central incisors were coming in *one in front of the other* (like a shark!!;p). pulled the lateral baby incisors and wow!....the centrals lined up with in 5 days. it was amazing. we just did the next set to her adult lateral incisors could come in....sure enough, they moved from behind her teeth into their proper positions within 5 days and hopefully will continue to rotate into a straighter position. She doesn't have the precociousness wrt teeth that her sister has, so she'll probably not be into serious treatment until she's 11 or 12....but she'll have had lots of extractions by then. Her treatment will likely be two stages. Earlier with expanders etc.....later with braces. Also, since her skull and jaw are small compared to her huge teeth (my teeth), there is hope that as she grows, things will change. She'll still be severely crowded and will need adult extractions, but it will look very different in 5 years v. how it looks now. So in short, I'd say that other than starting most treatment very young (with rare exceptions for cross bites), most of the time it's about developmental appropriateness and less about a specific number. All the best, Katherine

<<Narration and dictation are not new skills to him since we have been working on them for 6 years now. >> Since you've been working on this skill for six years, I'd be reluctant to chalk up the difficulties in comprehension to ADHD. <<He cannot answer the comprehension questions with any reliable accuracy, but if I give him the information he is quite capable of expressing himself in a complete thought. He can write his dictation sentences correctly, but he cannot hold the sentences in his head. I have to break them into small chunks and repeat them several times, and even then he often changes the wording of the sentences. I haven't noticed much improvement yet.>> Sounds like there are some issues with working memory. Laurie's suggestions may be helpful.....I am looking forward to the point at which I can use REWARDS! for my 9.5 yo (for reading rather than comprehension). I'd also consider investigating further....to work on this skill for six years without much change, and for an 11 yo to not be able to hold in short term memory the sentences in WWE1, would to me indicate that there is something else going on. Since LD's occur more often with ADHD than in the general population, I'd be wondering about various things along those lines.... Fwiw, we've been using brainware safari with 9.5 yo dd. She has working memory/processing speed issues. I see clearly improvement in those skills while doing brainware safari. It remains to be seen if those skills transfer to 'real life' and schoolwork. Wishing you all the best, Katherine

Also, Daniel Amen's books are great. As I sit here this am, I'm thinking of all that we do to help dd along. She gets adderall and I woulnd't want to be without it, but we continue most of the 'natural' stuff too. ~protein at every meal and snack ~minimal grains/maximum nutrition (most of the time;p) ~fish oil, multi (super nutrition 'perfect kids'), 30 additional mg zinc every other day, p5p every other day, 1000 IU vitamin D daily in addition to the D in her multi and the wild salmon/sardines she eats, ~optimal amounts of exercise....vigorous outdoor activity every afternoon for at least an hour.... ~as much 'outdoor' time as possible (evidence supports this as part of adhd treatment) ~optimal amounts of sleep. Anyway....Amen's books. He goes into various brain issues and their effects.....epilepsy has a significant temporal lobe component iirc which is which mood stabilizers are often used to treat it (I think this is what I recall reading....it's not an issue I've ever studied so I could be remembering it wrong). Then the question becomes, what else can I do to support normal temporal lobe function....or in the case of ADHD, what are the neurotransmitters that tend to be low, how does that affect prefrontal cortex function, what can I do to optimize that? I found SAM-e, D and fish oil when taken in combination at sufficient doses to be about 50% helpful for my ADHD symptoms. Adderal...about 90% helpful for my ADHD symptoms (but not without side effects...that I manage with other natural stuff). The adderall gives me this intense edge and worsens my hyperfocus - bad if I'm on the computer;p good and bad if I'm doing school with the kids (ie I often will want to push through something when they need breaks) good for 'getting stuff done' around the house. inhibitory amino acids support inhibitory/calming neurotransmitters so I take more GABA, more glycine, a little tryptophan (though that can worsen adhd symptoms so I'm careful with that), niacinamide for the irritability. Fish oil alone wasn't helpful, but helpful in combination....and so helpful for the anxiety/depression I used to have....and helpful for things (heart arrythmia, joint stuff, inflammation, triglycerides etc). It's worth it for everyone to get fish oil or fatty fish daily. I can't remember if I posted this here: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/567073 all the best, Katherine

Let me just toss in with a '2nd' here. In anyone with asthma or eczema, allergy testing should be done asap, and if there is an allergic component, start allergy shots as soon as it's possible. it can make a huge huge difference. :) k