Hmm, thanks everyone. We'll alternate cider vinegar and coconut oil and see what happens! Do any OTC eczema creams work at all? DH always gets the rare side effects from any medication or cream (ask about the time he took Delsym cough syrup... ugh, major drama ensued), so we try to steer clear whenever possible.

My DH always gets the strangest ailments. Now he has a weird rash on his elbow. He said it started itching a few days ago, but he didn't look at it. This morning, we looked and he has a thick, raised, reddish patch right on his elbow, about the size of a nickel. It's not perfectly round, and it's uniformly raised all over. He says it itches off and on. What the heck could it be? We could get a good picture of it because the light is too dim. I put apple cider vinegar on it, followed by tea tree oil. Fungus? Psoriasis? Spider bite?

Haha, thanks! Question: When are you getting your PhD in one of these areas?! You could be the practitioner you've been searching for!! (I know you already are, but you could charge the big $$$!)

This is fascinating! I can't see the link, though - could you tell me the title of the article and the author(s)?

Dr. Rasinski is a big deal in the academic world of teaching reading. I read a whole bunch by him for my M.Ed. - he's published a ton about fluency. I hadn't heard about his vocabulary things. Just looked up his university page, and his email is right there - you could send him an email! ?

That's so horrifying. Is it a nail??

I agree with PeterPan that starting with physical tiles is a good idea, and then move to the app later on. He may like the app, or may not. I'm not sure if there's research specifically on using tiles, but my students seem to get a lot out of physically moving the tiles around the table. It's also easy for me to put my finger on the tiles, and ask questions - not sure if that would be possible with an app (might move stuff around). I'm jealous - I think being a speech-language pathologist would be so fascinating ? Oh, and about writing... I would just stick with however much writing the program you choose recommends. For my beginning Wilson students, they write 2-3 sentences each session. I know they write in their regular LA classes, but with me, I insist on 2-3 proper sentences. Your son might not balk so much if he knew there was a limit to the amount of writing involved. I'm sure writing is a struggle when you don't spell fluidly. Someone on this board recently suggested drawing comic strips and writing the speech bubbles, and I thought that was a really fun and creative idea!

Since everyone is different, I would say that any reputable Orton-Gillingham-based program is the way to go. I personally like Wilson a lot. I haven't tried Barton. With my dyslexic students, I often use the Lindamood-Bell program LiPS. If your son has difficulty distinguishing the different vowel sounds (for example, mixing up e and i), or has trouble segmenting sounds (like "slip" into "s-l-i-p), you would want to first address underlying phonemic awareness weaknesses. The great strength of Orton-Gillingham programs is they are sequential, teaching each sound thoroughly. You should choose a program that has students building with letter tiles. Building with tiles forces students to recognize each sound in a word.

Congrats on doing the AIP! That's hard and the results sound amazing!! This is total armchair advice, but I've heard great things about the Ellyn Satter method. She's got books on Amazon. Basically, it's your responsibility to provide healthy food, and the child's responsibility to eat. You really can't do much about it except offer food at mealtimes, and a snack at intervals, too. You make a schedule and stick to it. Eventually the child will eat - unless, of course, there's some underlying issue with food, but that doesn't seem to be happening with your DD. Just thinking about the AIP... isn't meat, carrots, and fruit pretty much the base of the diet anyway? I think she could be pretty healthy with just those things ? .

Me too! This sero-negative stuff is really interesting to me. I've had joint pain in my wrists and fingers for over a decade, but no test results have ever been positive. The pain flares up and down sporadically, and only a few times has it been truly bad - maybe 3 times over 10 years? Those times it was challenging to write, type, hold things. Most of the time it's mildly apparent at most. X-rays over the years have shown nothing, too. I was strictly gluten-free for about 7 years, and it didn't seem to have any effect... although, who knows, maybe it prevented some damage! I hope you find something that works for you!

Wow. That's wild and wacky. And so, so interesting!! I know kids who can comprehend way better than what you would expect, but nothing as extreme as what you describe.

Yes, yes, definitely! At my last school, there were 2 SLPs for 75 kids, and it wasn't even enough. So much language stuff. Sometimes (often, always) I feel uninformed because I'm not both an SLP and a special ed teacher.

I'm definitely going to read this, thanks! I've had a couple questions already this year about how well dyslexic students can learn to read, if given appropriate accommodations. I gave the unhelpful answer that it depends on the kid, but that dyslexia is a life-long disability. Thanks!

Good luck to him! Sounds like it would be a good fit ?

Ah, I see now that HN has a student workbook AND a student book, which has readings. That's nice, considering 30 minutes goes by quickly. By the time you spell some words, read some words, do a sentence dictation, and work through a passage, 30 minutes is already up.

I was looking at the R4R program, and there are a LOT of workbooks. I think 8 in total. That's expensive, and kinda clunky. The HN has 1 workbook for each of the 2 levels. I think once you get through the basics of how-to-read, possibilities open up a lot more. You can do more with actual books, fluency, word roots, etc. like you were saying. The controlled readers are for a shorter period of time. I didn't see a place where HN books are correlated to the reading program. Perhaps they're separate. In any case, it's too bad that the HN reading program itself is quite affordable, but buying multiples of the controlled readers gets quite expensive, fast!

I'll go look at it! Thanks!

Good thinking! I'll definitely try that.

Good idea. We would definitely pilot something with a small group. Not sure if we could get multiple programs and test them out, but that would be awesome!

You are so right about the "big picture" going forward. The mind boggles! ?

We've got students in grades 2-6, with 2-4 kids in each group. Each group gets 2-2.25 hours a week, in 30 minute chunks mostly (random 45 minutes here and there). Budget, not sure yet! We're going to have a meeting next week to talk about ideas, and get some budget numbers. I'm guessing a fairly low budget, which is why High Noon, or Recipe for Reading + some fluency materials, or workbooks, appeals. Strangely, Recipe for Reading is labeled as a Tier 2 or 3 intervention, but I'd say it's even more sparse than High Noon, which gets no label. Gah!

I'm realizing that, lol. Waah. I'm trying to think about staff time/easiness of intervention, vs. how good the intervention is. Clearly, we need something more deocding-heavy than guided reading. But is that on the "lite" side (i.e. Recipe for Reading), or the heavy side, Wilson? What's better, a super program like Wilson that isn't done necessarily with fidelity, or something like Recipe for Reading, which is more of a get'er'done kinda program. Basic, not as comprehensive as Wilson, but more do-able? Thinking...

Yes, I was thinking about open and go vs. training vs. staff turnover vs. probably not getting any training, at least not this year. I agree with you about grad level reading training. I'd be interested to see what they have in their courses.

Huh. I'm a bit bummed. The irony is that Wilson is a better program (Fundations/Just Words) because it's more thorough, but it's more teacher intensive. I looked at the teacher manual and it's not bad, but there are more moving parts to keep track of. HN said 5 minutes of prep. I did a little looking for the Fundations materials, but they seem to be dispersed throughout the school. The full-on Wilson program is contained to one closet, thank goodness! Thanks for your thoughts. It's a big decision!

Well, High Noon emailed me back and said that the reading programs are older programs that don't have a Tier designation. ?