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displace

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Posts posted by displace

  1. I thought I would give an update to my original post, almost 4 years later, as I happened to see the old thread.  Diagnoses were: dyspraxia/dysgraphia, dyslexia, ADHD (not yet diagnosed but present based on criteria, but he didn't meet criteria until the last 1-2 years), SPD (never diagnosed but treated) and vision discrepancies (not quite meeting diagnoses for proven treatment interventions).

    We did PT sports for years (gymnastics, karate, swimming), 2-3 times weekly.  DS still does karate-type sports by choice now, a few times per week.  I stopped "requiring" sports as PT about 1.5 years ago.  Sports, for us, needed to be non-competitive to give him a more leisurely pace to learn physical actions.  We did 6 months of VT with some improvement.  We did OT on and off for years.  They focused on: fine motor, attention, sensory, handwriting, eating, self-regulation, and gross motor.  OT is about to discharge him after getting more handwriting-specific help for the last 6-12 months.  She feels she cannot give more support that wouldn't benefit from time just spent practicing cursive.  We're still working on typing (years practicing that), cursive/copywork.  Continuing things we're working on: cursive, typing, minor social interaction concerns (loudness, eye contact occasionally - all stuff that peers don't really care about), self-regulation (likely as a result of ADHD), selective eating restrictions, and other ADHD typical needs (attention and endurance).  

    As far as school, when we pulled out of public school he was already anxious and self-depreciating about his differences, though bright.  As he's gotten older, even though I KNOW public school was not a good option, I still wonder if we could have made it work.  We are still homeschooling.  He wants to be in public school and around peers because he is super outgoing and social, but there's still learning issues, and now they're compounding.  Multiple teachers, inability to get accommodations for typing/computers/notes, and his self-regulation.  IDK if forcing him in the public school box earlier would have made him fit and been an option now, or just made it worse.  I do know that the schools aren't doing the right thing as far as teaching reading, spelling, writing.  And even with a list of diagnoses, they only support they could give would be extra time and generic help that helps no one. 

    I think with these issues, it just takes a lot of time. practice, and patience.  The kids may not have the patience, but parents need it to help their kids to continue to persevere. 

    • Like 1
  2. If anyone is interested in watching the 2e movie, it's free this week after signing up on e-mail.  I started watching it to make sure the links work and I'm not spamming the hive, but I haven't seen more than a few minutes.  You can only watch it this week (July 18 is the last day).  The group supporting it, Bright and Quirky, seems to have other seminars and self-educational topics but I haven't spent much time with them yet either.

    Link to sign up: https://brightandquirky.com/2e-movie-signup/

    • Like 2
  3. I looked online at the samples for LA 6 (G?), and I couldn’t find examples of literature concepts.  The history IG seems to cover a ton of vocab, minimal comprehension, and LA covers vocab, one day of grammar, and some writing comprehension.  I’m looking for literature topics too, like inference, settings, foreshadowing, etc.  Is that covered?

  4. IME with many standardized tests and neuropsychology tests, achievement tests, IQ tests, IOWA, Stanford, etc, I have come to think one thing- they’re all a gamble.  Your kids can know X but the tests ask Y, you could be one week away from covering 25 % of the material tested as a random mishmash of trivia.  Your kids could be paying attention well and miss questions you know they know.  Your kids could ace it even though you never formally covered something.  It’s a bare minimum sampling and only gives some basic insight over time.  As someone mentioned, with younger kids I think it’s also more variable.  If you’re concerned about your state and some homeschool threshold for an audit or some mark against you, I’d study for the test a bit, and also reach out to others in your county or state to see if they ever had issues with tests triggering an investigation.  If they are valid concerns I’d make sure I had my portfolio updated over the summer or any proof your state needs to verify homeschool requirements being met.  I’d do this only for my piece of mind.  

  5. Maybe lactose intolerance, if you eat dairy products?  The timing with the antibiotics could be a red herring.  

    Frequent abdominal pain can be a variety, ranging from infection (like H pylori), allergies, celiac, etc.  Idk about systemic antibiotics and abdominal pain causes.  Girls at that age can sometimes develop ovarian cysts and such as well as they develop, but it would depend on location of pain and her development.  Abdominal migraines are also a very painful disease.

    I will caution an urgent care diagnoses as they tend to just make sure it’s not an emergency.  If this has been going on for six months, the pediatrician could screen for a lot of allergies and infections, and send you to a pediatric gastroenterologist.

    Unfortunately, abdominal pain can have so many causes that it tends to be a step wise approach in going through a long list of what is most common, seeing if it’s that, then checking for next most coming, seeing if it’s that, etc.  

  6. If you can spare a prayer or a moment, please pray for my cousin and his family.  He was in his 30’s and died of an accident unexpectedly.  He has an infant son.

    It’s so horrible to lose someone young, and him having a young child who will never know him, plus his partner, mother, sister, nieces and nephews all living without him has hit us hard.

    • Sad 14
  7. 2 hours ago, KidsHappen said:

    I think that the medical data before the vaccine was available was that it was a fairly benign disease. And I think when it first became available there was no thought that the vaccines themselves came with risks, so most parents though why not get the shot, it may help and there isn't really any danger to doing so. But now we know that there are some risks and it is possible that in this day and age there would be even less dangers in getting this disease. Even with this outbreak (not epidemic) they have been very few hospitalizations and only one death I believe. 

    I am not absolutely anti-vaxx but this is not one I would pursue. To me it is in much the same category as chicken pox.

    Hospitalization rate of measles per CDC is about 1 in 4 kids in ages less than 5 and older than 20.  Data up to mid 1980’s.

    https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/meas.html

    Chicken pox hospitalization rate was about 0.5 per 10,000, early 1990’s. 

    Eta - sorry link didn’t report but this was the article 🙂

    download?doi=10.1.1.518.8323&rep=rep1&ty

    • Like 2
  8. I’d research respite care.  Many counties have emergency care aids so you can get a few hours break.  Are you able to outsource any work (grocery deliveries, cleaning, etc?).  Caring for three people who have a lot of needs is probably enough work for three people.  Your health insurance may have aids that can help.  Schools are required to provide full day schooling and it may not be the best option academic wise, but may be necessary for the whole family’s survival.  Schools may have isolated classrooms or programs dedicated to special needs.  Sometimes decisions made when kids are younger, when we can do it ourselves, is not sustainable when they are older and bigger.  Lots of states have programs until kids are 21.  

    Idk how much research of all the options you’ve done, but that would be high priority so you can get support. 

    Something else I’d highly suggest is make your home appropriate for everyone.  If the kitchen or pantry needs to be locked, do that.  If bedrooms need to be made safe to prevent injury, do that.  Anything that can help you to not be on your toes all the time is necessary.  If sleep is an issue, maybe white noise machines or ear plugs or medicines.  Living your life quietly for an hour or two daily is one thing.  Not being able to function is not an option.

     

    • Like 2
    • Thanks 1
  9. We have protein shakes most mornings, usually made with whey protein.  There are a number of possibilities, including Pb/Pb and j/Pb and chocolate/fruity.

    Kodak pancake mix is high protein and pancakes can be made ahead of time, but of course syrup is a trap.  Some yogurts are made with less sugar and are high in protein.  Cheese is ok, and some cereals are high in protein.

  10. 14 hours ago, DawnM said:

     

    Just for the record, it wasn't poor, it was a 3, which is "doing what is expected of you" and nothing more basically.  If it had been actually bad, it would have been an entirely different conversation.

    Right.  I should have worded it better, like lower average/etc.  Sometimes evaluators feel average is fine and just generically give out average scores, but when it’s worded as a stronger negative comparative it may help him back track.  For ex: if “communication” went from 4 to 3 and you actually kept what you did before (emails weekly or website updates, etc), that’s a good place to get something concrete.  If your score went down but the thing you did was the same, how is that worse?  I wouldn’t push much because I’m non confrontational, but you could probably word it in a nice way.  And if there is some admittance of lack of time to evaluate you, that should be an addendum.  

    Here, there is little consistency with  public school staff, teachers, admin, and a principal can get shuffled about easily.  The principal may not care about these evaluations, but what if you need a transfer, or the principal changes, or there are cuts, etc?  There could be others who use them to make decisions.  Of course, it’s probabably all unlikely, but...

    • Like 1
  11. Personally, I’d ask for a meeting with the evaluator to discuss your poor performance vs prior performance and ask for clarification on what needs improvement.  Things like this can too easily get swept under the rug and later on become evidence for pay/bonuses/etc.  I’d gently try to figure out what is required of this evaluator to get a better objective score or help him understand how to evaluate better or even put an addendum in your evaluation if there are statements like, “I haven’t known you long enough to score X.”

    • Like 8
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