Yes, I switched to cloth and cup years ago.

Oh, and check out www.ravelry.com if you haven't yet to see tons of patterns for both crafts.

I learned both through YouTube videos. If you are wanting to make afghans I would learn to crochet, it's quicker for big blankets. Crocheting can be a bit tough on my wrist and it can be harder to see which stitch you are working into when you're first getting started, but for me it was easier to coordinate one hook instead of two needles at first. I love knitting for socks, hats, mittens and sweaters and it's easier on my wrists. Since all of your stitches are lined up on the needle it's a bit easier to see what you're working into than crochet. I say go with whichever has more projects you are instrested in and have fun! You can always learn the other later and collect a ridiculous yarn stash along the way!

We switched to Barton but I strongly suspected dyslexia or we wouldn't have gone to such an intensive program. We moved through level 1 and 2 quickly and have slowed down for level 3. It has addressed his b/d confusion and eliminated guessing issues. It break things down so that I can see where his difficulties are occurring and target problem areas. If Dancing Bears is working I would stick with it; it's a much faster program if it's doable for your son. Also, we definitely added in readers for interest to the DB program.

I remember reading somewhere to use the cursor for every word but move it across the word quickly, only moving back if necessary. Continuing to use it improves tracking. The book is definitely drilling, we eventually hit a wall where my ds just burnt out with it but I think it does improve fluency.

Hits: MEP math: After trying 4 other math curricula for my oldest we finally found our perfect fit. It's conceptual, incremental, hands on, just one worksheet a day and it's free! D'aulaires Greek Mythology with MP study guide Barton: ds doesn't like this at all but it is working so I'll take it Misses: SOTW 3. We're going to stick it out but we enjoyed volume 1 and 2 much more, they seemed to be more narrative and this one feels a little more text bookish to me. Not Sure: Science in the Ancient World: pros- science and demonstrations are getting done...cons- I feel like the text goes right over my kids heads and they aren't really connecting the demonstration to the concept that I'm trying to get across

I'm with you! I don't watch the show but they are at the dentist office, doctor's waiting rooms, my Facebook newsfeed and referenced from the pulpit of my old church. I don't think I've ever had so much trouble avoiding pop culture!

The page is Asperger Expert. I follow the Autism Discussion Page too and have found it helpful.

I don't pay a monthly fee for this. There are some free videos on the website I think that will get you started with the concepts. I did the Getting Out of Defense Mode course when it was offered at a big discount. Also, just following them on Facebook will give you lots of articles and ideas about approaching different situations with your child.

Not at all! Just wanted to clarify that I do agree that the general view is helpful! I was kind of picking up on the idea that the OP was having a hard time with this and wanted to say, it's ok not to dive into learning everything about aspergers all at once, because I remember the feeling. I probably didn't communicate very clearly, sorry! I definitely agree with you here. 😊

Oh, I definitely agree with all of this. I personally have a tendency to research and obsess over things so when we got our dx I read everything autism I could find...to the point of overload. At times, I think I lost sight of the fact that he was still my same son; everything didn't change because of this new label. For my sanity, it helps to take a step back and say, how can I help my son with a specific challenge. But, certainly don't neglect reading a couple of good overview books. Just don't feel like you have to live there, iykwim.

Aspergers Experts and Uniquely Human by Barry Prizant are my favorites. I'm sorry it has been a rough week! I remember the feeling clearly when we got our diagnosis; I promise it gets better. For me, it helps to not focus so much on the autism/aspergers label and general books about it as to take a specific issue my ds is currently struggling with and tackle it with specific resources.

I haven't read through the entire thread yet so someone may have mentioned this already, but in Orthodox Christianity there is an idea that prayer is like sending arrows into your own heart. The words that I pray I'm trying to internalize and live out. In his book, Beginning to Pray, Anthony Bloom challenges Christians to pick even just one or two phrases from their morning prayers and try to earnestly live them out in that day. An example from my morning prayers would be the phrase, "O Lord, grant me to greet the coming of the day in peace, help me in all things to rely upon your holy will." On a grumpy morning when my kids are bouncing off the walls it's a lot easier to keep my cool and parent gently when I keep repeating this phrase and try to live up to it. So while my prayers are absolutely about worshipping God and taking time to recognize Him throughout the day, it is also about shaping me into His image, which is my goal. Concerning intercessory prayer, I also think this has a kind of benefit for the one who prays. I pray for my MIL daily though we have a strained relationship and it helps me to love her despite the current circumstances at play. I believe God does answer intercessory prayer, but certainly not always in the way we would want, or in our timing. I think that is an entirely different question though, as others have said, about the problem of pain, evil and free will.

I find the value of stories to be tremendous for my son with autism and my NT son alike. I've noticed that my ds on the spectrum is more likely to pick up a lego encyclopedia or nonfiction science reader with lots of pictures just to look through on his own as opposed to fiction (though this is my struggling reader) but he loves our family read aloud time. I can't say that I've found it helpful for targeting specific problems with my son. I have found it to spark imaginative play, to give us another way to connect as a family and to make comparisons in our everyday life. We talk a lot about what a character should do and think of the possible consequences for various decisions. We find the idea of building a family culture around books as espoused by Sarah McKenzie, Cindy Rollins, etc to be incredibly inspiring and valuable. So, yes I would love if my son became an avid reader as he grows, but realistically, I will be happy if he will listen to audio books, continue read aloud times with the family and enjoy story telling. Now if listening to family read alouds were frustrating for my son I don't know how much I would push it. I think I would stick to short, engaging stories. I would limit screens and other highly stimulating forms of entertainment to make reading more enjoyable.

I just watched the video for homeschoolers on the Barton website and Susan said up until the middle of level 5 wait for your child to pick up a book on their own. She said if they don't do it on their own by then to email her and she could give some strategies. It might be worth asking her. We're about to begin level 1 so I have no personal experience with it, just thought I'd share!

Thanks for the encouragement! I ordered Barton level 1. I don't know if I'm relieved that I'm finally addressing what I think is the issue or if I'm crushed to realize that we really need it; either way we're finally moving forward. I found info on the Barton site that finally helped me to decide so I thought I would share it in case anyone else is struggling to make a decision on this. Susan said that even if a student does NOT have a dyslexia diagnosis that Barton would still be beneficial if the student still struggles with spelling and slow or inaccurate reading after years of solid phonics instruction. That is clearly our situation.

Ok somehow I missed some of your posts but I think I'm caught up now! Thanks for describing all you're using with your ds, definitely helpful to get an idea of what is out there. I know I don't want to do AAR because I think it's very similar to Logic of English which he did levels B and C of that, but even though he could get through those levels the fluency was not there so I didn't want to push onto level D. Motivation to read the longer passages is not there so I thought we needed to SLOW down and build up the confidence levels. Yes, he's passed the Barton Pre-screening. I don't think my gut is going to let it go until we start Barton. I know what you mean about seeing how those basic skills are missing and have to be remediated before you can even get to the starting point of a WTM type plan. My 6 year old has just flown past my older ds in reading, math etc, it's just so easy for him and it's like WOW, this is how a child "normally" learns. That's probably not a good term to use since every kid is different but the discrepancies are HUGE!

Yes, I posted here about Barton a couple of months ago and the consensus seemed to be that it might not be a great fit for my ds since he is strong on phonemic awareness and has been able to learn decoding (up to a point, I do think we're a bit stuck). Most people agreed that his trouble with reading probably had to do with his autism and language issues. I might bite the bullet and try anyway. When you've been working with solid phonics programs (Logic of English Foundations, Progressive Phonics, Dancing Bears) for three years maybe you just go to Barton whether you have the official dyslexia label or not. I don't post here too often, but in my Barton thread I went into how ds has selective mutism and high anxiety as well as the autism diagnosis so testing is very difficult and we have basically been brushed off by psychologists saying they really can't get any useful info since he doesn't cooperate with testing. So I'm kinding of shooting in the dark and just going with what I'm able to observe from working with ds. I am checking into the psychoeducational clinic at our state university, I just learned about it recently and it looks like they specialize in teasing out complicated issues. We did do CAT testing at home this spring and I got some helpful info from that. I found out ds is strong in listening comprehension, grammar, vocabulary, math computation and concepts. Reading I still have no clue because he refused to read the passages on the screen. I think that had to do with autistic rigidity. We have had vision issues ruled out by a developmental optometrist. Anyway, I didn't post all of that to begin with in attempt to keep the thread focused since I KNOW comprehension is a problem and maybe I could focus on that piece and get some solutions. Obviously, the answers always end up far more complicated than that and it's back to the drawing board!

He was able to read it easily. I do think low working memory is part of the problem. When he reads a phrase he comprehends. When we stretch to paragraph level he's not getting much out of it.

Yes, I don't expect him to read for pleasure at this point because things are still slow and difficult for him. I'm concerned because yesterday I had him read a short passage well within his decoding ability. We're talking "The cat will eat. The dish will be this fish." Etc. He read it fairly easily and then asked me to please read it back to him. He told me that he never knows what he reads and that's why he likes me to read out loud. I thought that was pretty huge for him to tell me! No wonder he's totally unmotivated and tired out attempting to read anything beyond bob books if he barely comprehends what he's reading. I figured this has to be some type of glitch that we can address. We've been working through Dancing Bears until we were both totally sick of it and we picked The Reading Lesson back up and he's progressing through that now, but still in the first grade level of the book. I do plan to implement daily immersive reading time on the kindle this school year to hopefully improve fluency and motivation. Yes, Lecka's ideas were great, thanks! We do LOTS of discussion like that with our read alouds. Not so much with what ds reads himself, because it is on such a simple level at this point. I googled about testing in my area and found a psychoeducational clinic at the state university nearby that looks very comprehensive and has good reviews so I might go that route in trying to sort things out. I do think we have many things at play here.

I will check into language testing again with our psych. Thank you for this detailed info! Last time we discussed language testing for ds our psych didn't think it would be very helpful so It will help me to know what to ask for specifically. He scored really well on listening comprehension on a CAT test we did in May. He seems to follow well when I read aloud but when he is doing the reading he doesn't comprehend. If I had to guess I would say it's because reading is still slow and laborious for him but even when reading well below a level he can decode he's having comprehension issues. Thanks for these recommendations; I'll check them out!

I'm considering Drawing a Blank by Emily Iland but reviews are mixed as to whether it has enough practical strategies. I would love to hear if anyone has tried it! https://www.amazon.com/Drawing-Blank-Improving-Comprehension-Spectrum/dp/1934575771/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Does anyone know of good resources for improving reading comprehension for an 8 year old with ASD reading on a 1st grade level? He will listen to me read books such as the Hobbit, Narnia etc and follows along fairly well but when he reads a short and simple passage he says he doesn't know what he's read by the time he's done reading it. Anybody tried something that has helped with this?

Both of my kids are in stages 1-3 at the same time! You can imagine what my house looks like....

Thank you for sharing the Better World Book sale Hunter! I'm deep in research mode on a new to me topic. I'd already exhausted my library's selection and had been deliberating which book to purchase next since I couldn't afford to get them all at once. I just got 5 books for less than the cost of 2 on Amazon!