4KookieKids
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Posts posted by 4KookieKids
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Yes, I am actually the one who mentioned measuring metronome! ? We like it, though it does have glitches like reversing the error messages when you were too fast or too slow. As best I can tell, it is only available for iOS, and there is no real equivalent for other operating systems. That is one of the reasons why I asked my brother if he might be able to develop something for android maybe. ?
We do you use measuring metronome on an almost daily basis, and we also do a variety of metronome work, including some vision therapy stuff.
I think it would be amazing if the App could somehow pick up sound from a stomp or a clap and also give you feedback on if that was too fast or too slow, rather than just being able to identify if your tap is too fast or too slow. But I’m not sure how ambient sound would interfere with measuring claps or stomps or something of that sort.
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I have been talking with my brother about developing a better IM app then I can currently find in any App Store. Made me wonder what features others would find valuable in an IM-like app, or if there’s no real market for it? He prefers to develop apps that cost a few bucks up front but don’t contain extra paid features or ads, I believe. What would you want to see, besides basic beat and immediate feedback regarding your pace?
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3 minutes ago, Sk8ermaiden said:
It's like my daughter's brain just couldn't put it all together. My friend has a son in various therapies and she's been told that the amount of pre-planning that has to happen for writing makes it a very hard challenge for those with executive function issues.
I didn't mention - in print my daughter (now) would have that done in 5-10 minutes per paragraph (though she would want breaks between paragraphs to do another subject or something - part of that is that we are still building writing stamina after years of it being so difficult), in cursive I could see a paragraph taking 20 minutes, but her cursive is very pretty. It still takes forever, but it's pretty.Hmm... This is interesting, because he definitely struggles a lot with EF issues, and sees an OT for them (but there have been other things we've wanted to work on more pressing than handwriting when we're with the OT).
I know his cursive is messy, but he prefers it to print and it's actually much faster. It takes him roughly twice as long to print as write in cursive.
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4 minutes ago, wendyroo said:
This is very true. My son is also on ADHD meds, and without them his writing would be MUCH slower and sloppier. In his case, it would be a general impulsivity and lack of focus, which would also greatly impact his ability to do any type of school work. Without the meds, all his work in all the subjects would be slow, messy, full of mistakes and false starts, etc.
Wendy
You know, this idea of adhd has been suggested to us a lot for a variety of issues that I ask questions about for this child, but the neuropsych who evaluated him wouldn't diagnose it because she said he's hyperfocused. I know that's part-n-parcel with adhd, but also haven't wanted to pursue it too much further and seem like I'm wheedling to get a diagnosis I "want."
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3 minutes ago, hollyhock2 said:
I never ever had my 9yo son (who is now 10) write more than 3-4 sentences at a time. So the fact that yours is writing multiple paragraphs is something. Maybe the reluctance is because it's so long? Just a thought.
Also, are you asking about the writing itself or the penmanship? It all seems very good to me. The penmanship isn't exactly pretty, but I'd say it's very normal for a 9yo boy.
I think I was asking primarily about his penmanship and slowness. We do only write 3-4 sentences at a time. I wanted to write more, but when it takes 30 minutes to write 3 sentences, and that with me sitting with him keeping him on task as best I can -- well, we're both done after that! lol.
Hmmm... So maybe I am just too critical! My dd6 writes so much nicer AND faster than him (not trying to compare... just couldn't help but observe it...) that I've been getting more and more impatient with his penmanship and speed! But if I'm just being too critical, I'll try to take a chill pill. ?
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4 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:
At this point in time, this is better than what I expect from my own DD9. Having said that, DD9 has been delayed in reading because I basically had to start over with her in grade 2. She is for the most part caught up now, but I never expected comprehension, and writing, to be on grade level before the reading was. So, my opinion might carry differences on my beliefs regarding how the these things follow each other.
FTR, we haven't transitioned to regular ruled paper yet either. I plan too within a few weeks but, haven't yet.
Also, DD9 is also a very early 4th grader or older 3rd grader. She has a mid school year birthday.
DS9 misses the grade cut-off by two weeks, and I'm glad for the extra time to work on his writing. ? What do you mean about regular ruled paper? This is still wide-ruled, I believe?
He does not have reading delays (he can read Secret Garden and Harry Potter in a second language, and his English reading is far better, to put it into perspective). It's part of why I find his struggle to write so odd.
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I just need feedback on what's appropriate (in terms of penmanship and speed - I'm not concerned about content right now) for a 9 yo boy, and if these pictures (below) of his writing are concerning. Because he's always complained about it, I haven't really pushed the writing thing, except to make sure that he does a little bit most days in hopes that it would build up his writing muscles. But is it normal to write like this at 9 years old still? He's either a young 4th grader or old 3rd grader. Cursive has made writing easier for him (as in: doesn't complain about it hurting), but each of these paragraphs took him a *full* 30 minutes to write down.... I had him tell me what he wanted to say beforehand while I wrote that down, and then he just re-wrote it in a notebook, and I couldn't believe that it still took him 30 minutes per paragraph! I intended to write one book response in a day, and we're spending entire weeks writing 3-4 paragraphs, because I don't have him do more than one paragraph per day.
Please note that we did most of our correcting during the dictation/scribing phase of things, which left mainly spelling/copying mistakes on these "final" pages. I guess the writing doesn't seem awful to me - but it certainly doesn't look like the kind of writing I'd expect from a kid who just spent 30 min on a 2-3 sentence paragraph, you know? We do all the normal "sit up straight, feet on the ground, tilt your paper, etc." spiel every time we write. Also, these writings were done with me AT his elbow, reminding him of things constantly ("Make sure you leave a space there!" right as he's starting another word without leave a space, or "You forgot a t in little!" or "Make sure you capitalize ..." ) I had him re-write stuff on his own once this week, and I'm wishing I'd kept it now to include here, but we had to rip it out of the notebook and throw it away because it was completely illegible, I felt.
ETA: He does not have reading delays. He read each of the books written about below in an evening - maybe 1-2 hours.
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On 8/21/2018 at 10:36 AM, Jackie said:
There are group buys going on for Beast Academy and AOPS books here: http://homeschoolgroupbuys.com/current-buys/
I should note that this is not a fast way to buy. Once the buy closes, the company ships all the books to the buyer, who then has to sort and ship to individuals. It could be three months from purchase to books in hand. However, for any long-term planners out there, this is one of the only places I’ve ever seen offer a discount on these books.
Dang it... I just bought what I needed last month!! ?
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On 8/23/2018 at 3:19 PM, Ellie said:
copywork is good. When y'all start doing Official School Stuff, you could require him to do everything in cursive (I'm assuming you're talking about cursive; if not, then...manuscript). The more children write, the more stamina they have.
Yes, my ds9 who resists writing prefers cursive. Granted, it's just as messy as his manuscript (with the exception of it being more clear when one word ends and another begins)... But it's easier for him to write and he complains about it less. He has been doing much better since we switched to a fountain pen and cursive and can now write three sentences without too many tears... lol. I tell myself it's baby steps... ?
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4 hours ago, PeterPan said:
I will check that out! Thanks!! I did to the TLR reflexes already, but I haven't ever checked the head righting. Unfortunately, we cannot find another vision doc. Although there are several in our area (and one we like much more, even), the place we are at is the only place within a three hour drive that does VT and also accepts our insurance (I called them all...). Our current plan is to get as much as we can out of google searches on VT and the current Vision doc while it's covered by insurance (4ish months of VT is covered), and then go back to the doc that we liked a lot who originally diagnosed, get re-evaluated, and get additional support as needed (crossing our fingers and hoping that it's not needed by then and we will have done enough on our own). I have two kids who need VT, and there's just no way we can drop $5K PER CHILD over the next six months to pay that out of pocket... ?
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That’s interesting what you say about bike riding being a good thing, because Dd has always been calmed by bike riding. Even at just barely six, she could ride over 13 miles and then would actually sleep well that night.
She does not lack coordination in general, and intense physical exercise does help her manage her anxiety. So she does intense ballet Ina class of older girls twice a week for an hour, and then practices at home daily.
I had been hoping to transition right over to vision therapy exercises. I need to get in with the vision therapist though and ask for more exercises, because she currently only has two, and she gets bored very easily. We had been doing the vision therapy every other week, because of how far away it is, and because we had a lot of other stuff going on, but I intend to switch that to weekly now, and try to make good progress this fall. With any luck, I won’t have to be making that long drive with four kids come winter, with its snowy and icy roads!! I have been supplementing the vision therapists’ assignments with vision therapy exercises that I have found online but DD is resistant to them, more resistant to the ones assigned by the therapist, at least.
I did want to ask More about how to find information on the visual reflexes that you mentioned, PeterPan. I tried finding those with a few brief Google searches, but couldn’t really find anything that seem to match with what you were saying.
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Well, I’m not very good at deciding when I am doing enough. What I have gotten better at is realizing when I am doing too much… So then we back off… But everyone suffers in the process, so I really wish I was better at understanding when I am doing enough before I overwhelm both my kids and myself! ?
I'm afraid I can’t offer much advice on getting mojo back, except that I feel more motivated when I actually have opportunity to spend time just enjoying my kids. Today we told the kids they could do anything they wanted (1hr each) So long as it didn’t involve spending money or being on a screen. It was a blast. One kid wanted to play hide and seek and tag and go wading in the stream nearby, another kid wanted to make homemade Playdo, so we got out the glitter and food dye and essential oils and made very nice smelling sparkly Playdo before spending the rest of her time in the driveway All drawing with sidewalk chalk together. My other two kids both chose swimming, so we are lumping them together in the afternoon and are heading out in a few. It breathes new life into me. ?
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On 8/2/2018 at 9:23 PM, PeterPan said:
A LOT changed for us with getting reflexes integrated, and that just takes 40 days. We're not talking about forever. It's hard work to tell yourself to do them every day, 3-5 times a day, whether you feel like it or not, but the results may blow your mind. And if she just has the one, that's all the better, kwim? Once we really, really got into a good routine and had compliance (not as easy as it sounds with ds, ugh), we actually had noticeable improvements in 2-3 weeks. But we were seriously doing them 3-5 X a day. Small effort, big benefit, costs nothing.
So we did them almost religiously 2-3 times a day (usually one longer 20 min session and two 10ish min sessions - but broke it up by doing just a few minutes each of multiple exercises targeting the same reflexes) except Sundays for the last four weeks. I retested my kids today and didn’t flag anything as being unintegrated anymore (despite me looking with an extremely critical eye). Can they stop the exercises? Or maybe just back off to a few times a week to make sure things get/stay fully integrated?
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7 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:
Who is doing the asking?
If your child has an state benefits card from other programs like Medicaid or SNAP, I would enclose a photocopy.
The first time it was a local strings (orchestra) thing where kids could get the cost of an instrument rental covered. They decided that homeschoolers didn’t qualify, regardless of income, unfortunately (something about how the money has been designated through the local school system).
Currently, I’m looking at the financial aid at Numats.
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As this is the second time this has come in our lives recently, I'm wondering how other homeschoolers handle financial aid eligibility criteria that involves a school providing verification that the child qualifies for free or reduced price lunches. Do you just write a letter yourself, stating that you qualify? Do you submit a copy of your tax documents?
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13 hours ago, PeterPan said:
I have no clue. Obviously not every book needs to be narrated, but she needs time when she's reading, definitely reading, at a level that is improving her reading. So I'd be more concerned about making sure she's also reading something she CAN decode than I would about taking this stuff away.
To be clear, this is not assigned reading or reading for school, since we are currently not requiring that. This is just pleasure reading that she chooses to do on her own. So I am not requiring narrations, but I just sometimes ask her what she read about or what is happening in her book. Until we get the reflexes and vision sorted out, And spend some time working through lips and working on sounds and syllables and the like, I am not requiring any sort of reading.
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1 minute ago, PeterPan said:
This is so exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's amazing!!! Whatever they're doing, it's having a good effect!!
These tests are a mix. You'll learn something, yes, but it will basically be stuff you already know. Has she had a psych eval? Once she has a psych eval, you'll actually have paper trail saying what her accommodations should be. Until then you're guessing. And it's not so much that you can't do that (obviously the testing company won't know, since you're doing it in-home), but you'd feel more confident having the paper trail. I think given where she is it could be more discouraging than anything. I probably wouldn't bother unless you can get something like the Woodcock Johnson that is open-ended, making it less apparent where she's not doing well.
I have no clue. Obviously not every book needs to be narrated, but she needs time when she's reading, definitely reading, at a level that is improving her reading. So I'd be more concerned about making sure she's also reading something she CAN decode than I would about taking this stuff away.
Yes, she has had a psych eval, but they didn’t address the learning or reading difficulty at all. They focused exclusively on her emotional state… It was somewhat disappointing. I wonder if the speech and language pathologist who evaluated her phonemic issues would be better able to make recommendations for accommodations.. I might contact her to figure it out!
As for her reading, I had about two hours today where I thought her reading had improved so dramatically it was off the charts. She was reading a book to her younger sisters (princess in black series, so roughly kindergarten or first grade level), and it sounded absolutely stellar. I sat down to listen with them, and she asked me to hold the book while she read, and then she started dangling upside down facing a different direction while “reading.” Then she looked at me with a goofy smile, and just said, “I just memorized these books!”
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Ok so I’ve had time to work with dd more, I’ve had more questions arise:
1) when we go to the library, she routinely chooses books that I don’t think she can read. She sits in her room or in the car looking at them, Paging through them (at a speed that not even I could read…) And she tells me she’s reading them. But she can never actually tell me what she’s reading about, if I ask her but she read for what is most interesting. Should I discourage this? On the one hand I like that she still enjoys “reading”. On the other hand, I worry that it might be reinforcing bad habits of skipping words and skimming and not reading things carefully.
2) looking ahead to ITBS or other types of standardized testing, do I need to apply to make accommodations If I were giving a test at home, or only if I go through someone else? Is it only school tests that get accommodations? Does achievement or intelligence testing. Also get accommodations? Are there particular tests that are more suited to someone who is dyslexic and still very verbal And possibly still gifted in other language areas?
I’ve never been a fan of the idea testing before, but all of this has made me genuinely question is perhaps my expectations are too high, and I think it might be helpful for me to have objective information as to her progress.
3) This one is not a question, just a thank you: she loves her talking book player from NLS. She spends 3 to 4 hours a day with it, carrying it around the house, and listening to her talking books.
4) She started OT, and I think it’s a huge hit. Yesterday, after her appointment, she came home and told me that she wanted to work in that same office when she got big, so that she could help kids have good feelings too. I thought it was great. I’m still working on getting access to that OT book recommended, and I think I am working on it even more now that I see what a benefit it is to her. ? Again Just an update, not a question! ?
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7 hours ago, Rush said:
I envy you so much. None of my kids wants to listen audiobooks for some reason?
Ha ha! We're in the car a lot for appointments (some over an hour away), so I have a captive audience, and they don't always get a say... lol
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We just finished the Castle Glower series and we loved it! They audiobooks are fantastic and everyone from DH down to the three year old was super into it, but the 7&9 year olds and I were the most into it. ? my 7 yo has since listened to it an additional 4-5 times and my 9 yo read the series after listening to it. Lol.
We are currently on the last chitty chitty bang bang book, and the second to the last Narnia book as well ( One series with just me and the kids, and the other when DH is around as well).
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Dd6 came down this morning sobbing that she’d just had a terrible, awful nightmare. After calming down a little she shared with me her nightmare... “I had to go to school all day and only got to see you at dinner!!” (Cue renewed sobbing...) “They wanted to make me into what everyone wants me to be [sob], but I just want to be your *own* kid, in my *own* way!!”
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Well, she’s not a fan of the STNR exercises. She wants to we go and wiggle her hips the whole time. What’s interesting is that I also have her do the exercises for the retained reflexes I flagged on her brother, but did not flag on her, and she does those exercises without issue. They are slow, Controlled, and she looks completely relaxed. It’s a bit uncanny how on point these retained reflexes descriptors and expectations are for my kids. Very uncanny, in fact.
Vision exercises were also much more difficult today, after taking a 4 to 5 day break. We were back to crying and refusing to do them. Stated reason was that she didn’t want my help, but I can’t trust her to do the exercises correctly on her own… So we had a bit of a power struggle over that, but I am not sure if the power struggle is the real issue, or if the real issue was just that it was hard. I will chalk it up to a lesson learned on my part, and to not take such long breaks again…
On the whole, I talked with her Dyslexia therapist, And we decided to take a break from that aspect of things for a few months while we work on the retained reflexes and vision therapy. I am certain she will still need help with the phonological processing side of things. But I am hoping that it will go more smoothly if we can get these other things ironed out first. In the meantime, we will casually go through the LiPS, But I think our priority really needs to be on the vision stuff, and the reflexes, since those seem foundational to the vision stuff. She was disappointed with that decision, and really wants to keep seeing the dyslexia therapist, but I think I am happy to take a break from going to those appointments twice a week.
We did luck out, and have an opening with an OT open up at the exact same time as my son will be getting OT as well, and I am hoping they might be able to help some with the reflexes. Even if not, it’s still something we have been waiting for for the last 8 to 10 months, because she has a lot of anxiety and other emotional issues as well as sensory processing issues, and I am hoping that OT will greatly improve the quality of life here at home. ? maybe I’m just trading one hassle for another, but I think that we will be able to get much more out of the dyslexia help if we can make some progress in these other areas first.
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So my search isn't turning up any threads on retained reflexes, and the information I'm finding online is incredibly conflicting: do it three times a day vs. do it 2-4 times a week, do it for two months vs. minimum of 6-12 months, etc. Are the main resources for this the paid ones? I found tons of youtube videos, but how do I know they are legit and will do any good? Is there any actual science regarding these that I can read about? Should I start a whole different thread?
Interactive metronome app
in The Learning Challenges Board
Posted
No tell me about this? I think we are ready for Percision work.