Geo and Heather, that is actually fascinating. We still have all the "gear" from OT from yoga balance,trampoline, balance boards, so I will try these with him!!! I never thought of blindfolding him, but that a great idea!! Ben has seen a COVD, since Miles had major issues with convergence binocular etc. He has been completely cleared.. the only thing found was a slight astigmatism, that he's not even required to wear glasses for consistently. We have them for the days he wants to wear them. So nothing going on visually- it's all in the motor. It's a huge part of his "issues" on frustration since he can see what he wants to do knows what he wants to write and no matter what he does he cannot produce what is in his head. And he can see that it doesn't match. If he is cued auditorily he has beautiful handwriting. But I have to say each step on each letter, and after months of HWOT he still has not developed an internal voice. "Magic c starts at the middle line-good-bump the bottom line- now all the way up to the top line" for one letter. Same with drawing. If I draw a nest next to him he can follow my steps and make one, but he cannot produce it without explicit help. I really think relying on things other than visual will help. Off to find a blindfold!

Ben received a new OT assessment via our homeschool charter. Although he graduated from medical OT over the summer, what they worked with the he most was proprioceptive and vestibular stuff. I felt like this ot had an incredible grasp of Ben's abilities and did a great job testing him. He has improved in all areas but still has the bad habits of proping himself up, and having by walls but noted he can do all activities EXCEPT handwriting. His testing shows: Visual Motor Integration 51 Very poor (<1st%) Motor Reduced Visual Perception 97 Average (42nd%) General Visual Perception 78 Poor With these discussions: Motor-Reduced Visual Perception Quotient (MRPQ): This is the purest measure of visual perception in that only minimal motor skills (i.e. pointing) are required to show perceptual competence. Visual-Motor Integration Quotient (VMIQ): To do well on this composite, children must demonstrate their visual perceptual skills by performing complex eye-hand coordination tasks. Low scores do not necessarily indicate poor visual perception; they may mean that the children have awkward hand movements or that they have difficulty coordinating hand-to-eye movements. I'm at a loss of how to help little man. Once a week ot will help, but what about at home?!?. I guess the chasm between the vision and the integration is throwing me. I'm just not sure what would be the best activities for him. Any advice?!?!?

Crimson, the problem with Davis Mind Institute at the moment is they are turning away from most standard LD. And focusing primarily on Autism, and I'm looking for a different focus, leaning towards learning, memeory, and EF. My son's were all diagnosed there and they have the best testing clinicians, we had to go elsewhere for treatment and actually had to follow a doctor who left due to the change of focus. I am going to look into LEND as I had somehow missed it in all my searches. I would love to work on some of the research going on at the dyslexia center at UCSF, but that is a ways down the road!

This is a complicated issue. For those going into psychology, fairly early you need to decide whether clinical or research. BA or BS. I'm at a point where I need to decide. There is no sampling of both worlds before deciding. Schools tend to focus on either Reseach or Therapy, and so the school you go to will also strongly influence which way to go. Here is what I have learned so far, from talking to 3 different Universities, A med school and a Med school with a Dyslexia Unit. 1) Everything is disjointed because there has never before been a reason to unite these issues. Education has nothing to do with dyslexia, neurology, medicine none of it. Everything is literally in its infancy, so there is no cross over. In order to pursue my degree, they will have to MAKE ONE UP. How insane is that? 2) The most likely path I will take will be A.A. is psychology, A double major of B.A and B.S. is Cognitive science, with the BS is neuroscience and the BA is in cognition.(This is already "done" with the guaranteed transfer agreement" So I will be going to UC Davis for that ) Then I would either decide to get my Ph.D . UCSF Med school in neuroscience, or Ph.D. at another university in neuro psychology. 3) Every field I want to do, and pretty much everything you guys have asked for (with a few exceptions) require multiple degrees. There is absolutely no CROSSOVER!!! It is insane!!! That is pretty much what I've discovered, but I figured I would ask and see if I could avoid the degrees but it looks like no. 4) I WAS TRYING TO AVOID THE MATH! seriously I could do it, but I just wanna be a whiny brat and NOT do it. I will have to suck it up and just do it. Ultimately my dream job would be here, http://dyslexia.ucsf.edu/ But I want to do MORE than just dyslexia. I want to deal with cognition as a more holistic thing, but I just don;t believe I can pile another degree on what is already up above, BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL SEPEARATE !!!! It makes no sence that it is all seperate but it is.... I think even if i stop after the BA and BS it will be the closest to holistic as I can get within even the college educational system. (They may even let me tripple major with neuropshycology, because the BA and BS are so similar, but they want to wait until I attend classes before approving it) Essentially thank you, for confirming that this really crazy path, is the path that is needed out there and honestly what I want to do...And as more work is done in cogitive science, hopefully it will not be such a crazy path in the future!!!

I've been at school, filling out my gen ed courses going 3/4 time. I've decided to go into cognitive sciences/ neuropsychology. The UC has already guaranteed my admissions, based on my course load, classes at my community college. It's a Terrifying prospect, but I am at a crossroads. Research, or client therapy. I'm trying to get a grasp of what parents/ people are looking for. Information, research, intervention, testing, etc. What I would like to do is soooo far from reality at this point I need to reevaluate. Short of taking over the educational system, I dont think I could be happy within the school system, I'm just too jaded. So just out of curiosity what do you wish there was more of??

Repetition Repetition. Wish I had more for you hun!

Been crazy in the house lately, sorry!! , the one we have is 18x 24. It's small, but it provides that extra "step" to think of getting up before getting up. He actual sat through entire meals with this!!

We have one for my son. It is a small lap sized one, and it helps him remain seated, and calm. But we never use it at night.

She is adorable, I hope she had an amazing day!

Thank you... I'm so proud of my little man. And hopefully I can stop tearing up every time I think about it soon. It's just so emotional to see those scores!

I hope some of you will understand. Yesterday I received the results from the standardized tests Miles took the Last year at the public school. He scored Advanced in science. He scored Standard Met is Math He scored Approaching Standard Met in ELA(very close on meeting but not quite) This is the first piece of paper that is positive and shows his a ability in a positive way that I have ever received from the public school. Advanced- I can't stop looking at it and crying. He looked at it and said "mom, I'm not dumb". He wants to do Barton for the first time in forever. He's excited to see results. The appropriate accommodations made the difference. A reader and a scribe for all testing. The use of a calculator. My boy is learning, and moving forward. I wonder how long until I stop bursting into tears.

My 2 cents are that dyslexia increases the comorbidity of anxiety and depression. In my son Ben (1st and 2nds grade), it looked like hI'm crossing his arms and refusing to participate. We ended up with him on an antidepressants. It's made a world of difference. Just come thing to consider

I find that telling them that because you are retraining it is hard and it hurts and is no reflection of their ability helps as qell. Once they've been defeated for so long, those same feelings will come up and it is almost a trigger that reminds them if school failures. Buy in at this age usually comes from the ability to do something they want. For my son it was to read skematicss instructions. I know another kid was determined to learn sports theory. Another was to be able to read a repair manual. Once the ball was in motion keeping in rolling was good.

Can I just say my resource facilitator was incredible? As he explained to me today (when the OTHER resource facilitator was arguing to let go of the 504 and just have the IEP), that certain things on the 504 plan are crucial and have nothing to do with IEP. Specifically that the IEP is a document used by IDEA for a fair and equal education. 504 is a document with connections to the Americans with Disabilities Act, and has more far-reaching power than an IEP. For example, if Miles goes to the DMV with a 504 that says he's required a scribe and a reader, the DMV would be required to provide him one in order to get his drivers licence, in order to be in compliance with ADA. In addition, colleges are required to follow 504, as are jobs, and the workforce (because it shows an existing long-standing disability) ETA: parentheses contents-

WOW!! So It's taken me a bit to process today BUT I got fantastic news. I called the school to notify them that I would be bringing a friend, and they transferred me to the Resource Facilitator who would be handling my case. I was telling him my concerns, and why I would be bringing my friend when he said, "why don't we go over it now, that way even if we can't resolve the teacher by Monday, it will all be set, and you can of course still bring your friend" Well YES!! So we spend over an hour, discussing how I was happy with his current goals, and that I didn't want very much changed. So he agreed, and said he would just redate the standing goals to August, and we could move forward from there. He did not see a need to change anything in that aspect. Then I told him about our experience with work samples and he was ANGRY at how we were treated. He rewrote the section for special factors, to include that Miles have access to speech to text, and text to speech. He offered us a laptop for all work, headphones, and was anxious to know if I wanted any other adaptive technology. He told me who ever my new teacher was, he would explain and train them on the specifics of Miles IEP. He was impressed how well documented the fact that Miles can comprehend grade-level text, and should not be doing work out of his grade work, simply accommodated with audio books and a scribe! Miles has the use of a reader and a scribe for class work, test and assessments, AND State testing (except for the section that is meant to assess actual reading, but for comprehension sections he will have a reader as well). OT, and Speech are going to be covered as well and it is NOT going to be coming out of my budget! He will maintain his current schedule of an hour of speech and an hour of OT a week! I was given the choice of in-house, online with a person via teleconference, or at any school in the district that offers those services. I did not know so I had him give me the name of the online service and if it looks promising I will probably go that route, since I will have enough driving around. He was fine with that and said we can leave that to Monday! We also talked curriculum choices and he agrees with everything I purchased and even said he would approve of Ronit Bird's book on dyscalculia, as well as a selection of Hi-lo readers as long as I can find them on Amazon. WOW WOW WOW. I feel like it hit the lotto!! I got everything I wanted, everything! My new struggle, how to keep the smug look off of my face if the teacher is there, and not stick my tongue out at her!! HA!!

Cat I love it I might just have to let my inner crazy out and play for a day. Hahahaha I can just imagine the looks on their face too. I got a friend to come with me so she will keep me from going too far out of line but she has a tendency of getting overzealous about IEP as well. You've given me hope that even if my inner crazy does come out to play it will all be resolved at the end.

I saw, they are popping up all over the place!. I like this one because the enrichment classes are at the church by my house. Makes it super convenient! Not to mention the staff, are great, it's just this one teacher who should not be teaching at all. She has no clue what to do with any LD. I'm not so afraid of the IEP, maybe funding, but I have a few tricks up my sleeves for that. I'm worried about loosing my credibility , professionalism , etc by snapping out and telling her exactly what I think. She brings out my inner crazy.

Ugh! I will not take son, as he would do horrible seeing her there. I can't take my husband as he is a vet with PTSD and I'm the calm one(although it is a recurring fantasy). I was planning on going alone, but I'm going to call up a friend to go with me. I've already decided not to sign anything on Monday as I will be too worked up to really understand it. Even if I reject every thing it reverts back to his old IEP, which I'm happy with so no loss there. Taking a friend will really help me keep my cool. Thank you just just undertanding. Seriously it's like a weight off my shoulders to know I'm not alone.

I wish I could upload a page of his IEP, it would make more sense. His original IEP from the charter school stated he received a hundred and sixty five minutes served yearly. In the comments it states "because parents chooses to homeschool they assumed the role as primary educator and are responsible for all academic goals. Consultative services available from resource facilitator." When he attended the public school it was Rewritten to where he received a hundred and twenty minutes 4 times a week totaling 480 minutes served weekly. In other words those two things are equivalent. Although they're really not that is the way it works at this Charter School since I am Homeschooling I just make time to meet the goals. . What is being Rewritten is the offer of FAPE. His actual goals will not change, and I will still be responsible for meeting them. Because it is a home-school charter they assume there is a certain amount of accommodation so they do not usually include the 504 plan. In our case the 504 is necessary because it gives me the backing I need when I'm scribing, as we are required to turn in work samples. I think my biggest struggle is going to be speech and OT which he also received at the public school but I'm sure they're going to try to make me pay for the services out of my allotted budget. As far as my understanding is they should be paying for that because they receive money for special education from the school district. We are supposed to receive $1,800 a year for curriculum and extracurriculars. If I have to pay for speech out of my budget it won't be enough. The reason I am doing this is money 4 curriculars and extracurriculars as well as the school district does not believe in multi-sensory phonics of any kind. There is no way to get miles the help he needs within the system. By going through the charter I can have his curriculum woodworking Automotive class and small engines classes paid for allowing me to continue purchasing Bartons. It should just be rubber stamping, and fairly easy as long as I don't choke out the teacher in the middle of the meeting. ( I've not had a problem with anyone else in the school just her)

So, I've got some horrible news. We have an IEP meeting on the 15th. We are going back to the charter school as this year they will allow him to do more work on the computer. The bad news is I found out we were assigned to the same horrible teacher we left the charter for in the first place. I will be able to request a different CT but not until I'm officially assigned the horrible teacher. The official assignments do not come out until the 15th ironically enough the same day as our IEP. Basically I will have to sit through the IEP process with her there. I am completely happy with our IEP that comes from the public school. Because this is a charter school it has to be Rewritten in such a way that it can meet their standards. Because the charter school specifically State they do not offer special education all they offer is consultative services to the parents/teacher, in order to meet the IEP goals. What I'm afraid of losing is the 504 plan that state he's allowed a reader, a scribe, a calculator etc. I'm so afraid, I'm going to lose my mind just seeing this teacher there. She was the person who suggested that I did Miles work for him because I scribbed for him. She suggested I was at fault for his not being able to read yet. She has insisted that miles is unable to comprehend grade-level material and that I am making it up. Although now I have records from the public schools special ed teacher indicating that he can do all of this his progess, effort etc, so it is not longer my word against hers, I'm just so worked up about seeing her. I'm afraid I might fly across the table and pummel her. It's going to be a very very long week.

I will answer, that yes all homeschool are private schools in CA. Secondly I would recommend, endorse and full encourage you to pull this DD from the charter. They are just not equipped to deal with anything to far outside of the norm despite offering "services". Because of their nature you must submit and agree to a minimum Standard for them to receive funding as a public school. Because of this they can only budge so much. I know, with my son we hit a wall, where what he could do and what they expected was too far, and we had to break away. We are returning this year because at this grade level he can submit typed wok, hence meeting their criteria. Anyways, when you tell them you can simply tell the charter you plan to homeschool independently, under the affidavit and that will suffice for notification. You can also request the educational file or simply ask them to send it to the district office. I never requested it, but I've always done elementary not high school, so I think it would be best to request it. Best of luck to you!

Gardening/ turning over our yard because we have such compacted soil. Yoga ball for sitting(bouncing) all day long, Kneending dough bread Vestibular is hard to come up with a chore for, other than cleaning under beads and couch but doing it while laying on his back as well as his stomach.

I cried too, when I first got it. Not until level 3 did I feel like I got something..

We use textbooks when they work. The science book is actually really good, but I am using their online program of it since it has the entire book, as an audio book in both English and Spanish as well. If you purchase the teachers versions, it then allows you to create student accounts and give you access to the workbooks if that is your kind of thing. I really don't and use it the way that fits my schedule best. ] This year I am actually using an English Textbook. My son is dyslexic, and this year we are pushing towards more independence and think this will book is actually REALLY well done. We will not be using it the way the schools dictate, but it makes for a great jumping off point to teach literary devices. I really like the way the close reading is modeled. Hoping this will save my voice, and some time allowing us to discuss instead of it all being instructional, at which point I am wiped out. Here is the info to sample the California Version of the Textbook it is called Collections (6th grade), I was given. Go to learn.hmhco.com/CASuccess 1. Select "Sample now" 2. Enter sample word: CAELA17 3. Complete the form 4. Write down Username and Password Sample Now!

Teaching textbooks. Since it does all the talking he dosent have to rely on reading the problems in order to solve them