Hi Goldberry - I teach part-time at a university. Can't help with resources to help her improve her reading speed. But can offer suggestions for her strategy now. Contact (or have DD contact) the school's Disability Resource Center (or some such name). Don't wait. Do it today. Finals will be here before she knows it. Tell them that DD has not formally used accommodations for her diagnosed disability - ADHD - but is finding out she needs to now. Find out what their process is for registration with their DRC. Once she's "registered" she should go through their process for identifying her accommodations - they will likely include the option to take any and all exams (it will always be her choice) at the DRC testing center. Taking it there could include a range of options - more time, ability to type her responses, even perhaps oral reading to her of test questions - depends. Registration with a DRC is good - they communicate to profs that a student has needs and profs are required to find out from the student what needs they have and make a plan (can be as informal as an email...) to accommodate them. Also, she should ask the disability center people about audio resources for her class materials - there may be an audio version of her textbook and even assigned PDFs of articles, etc. Not sure if hearing the material would be better than reading - but there are tons of resources now that she can use to listen to materials, even train herself to listen at higher speed. Check out the website Headstrong Nation - and the video on speed "ear reading": Saving Time with Superfast Speech . Good luck! There's no good reason for her not to get hooked up with her school's resource center....

A lady in an office we were submitting some paperwork to mentioned she was going to Italy and that she was going to start by visiting Rome. My son said, "Don't you know?! You are too late! Rome was sacked and overrun by the barbarians in, like, 400 BC!" Decided it was time to add some 'current events' and maybe fast-forward a little in chronological history... :huh:

Hi Vgoss - Your little guy sounds like he'd be so fun to be around! Here's a news article based on good research - youngest kids in class also do worse than peers - grades, graduation rates, SATs, college, etc. Youngest kids more likely to go to jail. Small difference, but there. Research even found differences between siblings within even high-income families. Why do we stick with this ridiculous age-grade system??? Whatever path you take with your DS' schooling - I hope you'll keep in mind - if the kid is having trouble, the problem is likely the environment/system/tasks he's being asked to handle. Start with the assumption the problem is his school, not him. Tough to do with teachers sending notes home about "misbehavior" and "problems"! But worth keeping in mind as you work with your DS and advocate for him with his teacher/school. [Of course there are kids - I have one! - that have real challenges - gifted, ADHD, etc. - but even with them starting with the environment (while working with the child) is still a good idea.] I just listened to podcast of talk SWB gave recently (on her book, Rethinking School)...in case you might like it.

Happy dance time! Congratulations to you both!!!

I think what you're doing looks great! I'm particularly impressed you've got regular handwriting and cursive (!) going on. I agree with others - I don't think you have to totally count out languages - if it's important to you and there's interest from your DD. We've been doing pretty gentle Latin this year (My DS is 10 and dyslexic) - we like Getting Started with Latin - A fairly inexpensive book and you can download all the lessons read out by the author for free - great for pronunciation! In case you haven't seen this - Bravewriter has a lot of good direction on her website for what she calls the "Jot it Down" stage - narrations and copywork ideas, ideas for a "writing project" that child narrates and parent does most/all of the actual writing out. We only just started working on writing - and my DS is really at a beginning stage - consolidating handwriting, starting to do short "freewrites". I also had to focus on reading and left the (probably equally) difficult writing for later. There's only so much difficult stuff you can do at one time, ya know? For everyone's sanity...

Hi OneStep - I don't know how old your DD is - so these might be too below her level - also, they wouldn't be comprehensive - but you might check out the YouTube channels - the'd be a fun supplement at least: Crash Course World History and/or Extra History Crash Course World History has a free curriculum to go with it: http://thecrashcourse.com/curriculum/world-history.html

Congratulations - hope y'all have continued to have a good week!

Can't share anything helpful about future expectations for your DC in terms of improving his fluency/enjoyment of reading - I'm still in the trenches with my DS 10 with dyslexia. But: my DH was an undiagnosed "stealth" dyslexic - not recognized until after high school. He reads, but rarely for pleasure. It's too much of a chore to be relaxing or fun. He reads to DS. He reads articles and things he wants to or needs to. But not novels, for example, generally. He's completed a B.A. and is working on an M.B.A. So, just to encourage you both - my DH has found so many more tools available (even better in the last few years alone), it's incredible. He can listen to nearly all of his M.B.A. "reading" assignments - and trained himself to do it at high speed. I'm getting over my bias against "eye reading" and have been lately listening to audio books with him, something we never shared before. TBH, I will probably have to do some private grieving if DS never enjoys reading like I do. But I really do feel confident that he will be capable. And have all the advantages of a learning life steeped in literature and stories and all the rest from our family read alouds, videos, and audio tools. Ok, I hope that last didn't sound...snotty or anything...just meant as good vibes for the end goals I'm pretty sure we all share. :blush:

Think of it in generational lines. The number comes first. Once a 1st cousin, every generation that follows is your 1st cousin "removed." First cousins have a grandparent in common. So your 1st cousin's kids are your 1st cousins, once removed (1 generation removed from you). Your 1st cousin's kids' kids' are your 1st cousins twice removed. And so on. Your kids and your 1st cousin's kids are 2nd cousins to each other (but 1st cousins once removed to you/your cousin). Second cousins have a great-grandparent in common. The "removed" continues down the generational line. So my kids will be 2nd cousins once removed to my cousin's kids' kids. If your kids and your cousin's kids have kids...those kids will be 3rd cousins to each other - they share a great-great-grandparent. And so on. Clear as mud, no? Sorted this out before a big family reunion last summer - it was so fun - lots of people got an instant upgrade! (from second/third cousin to first cousins removed).

Melody1 - hope you are feeling better! Not sure I can help with a program rec - but since you said you have started trying some new activities with some success (working on phonological awareness/rhyming) - here's an idea of an activity you can do with your DS (got it from AAS / reading programs I've done with my DS) that might help with multisyllable word reading, especially: Count syllables - use counters, beans, fruit, M&Ms, whatever - You say a word "elephant" or "table" or "help" - DS repeats it, moving 1 counter for each syllable into a line. Then says the word again and the # of syllables. Count sounds (this is really helpful to practice periodically with my DS) - Again, you say a word - DS repeats it, "sounding it out" and moving 1 counter for each sound. "T - e - n - 3 sounds."

Not sure this would fit your priorities at this point - and I can see that independent will be important to you both, but just thought I'd add this possibility: Beast Academy 5 or AOPS Pre-Algebra (same company). Beast Academy 5 is listed as 5th grade - but students go from it into Pre-Algebra or Algebra. There's a guide (written to the student) and practice book (which has hints and full explanations of all problem solutions - amazing!). It might be used independently by your DS. The guide is comic-book style with characters. Not baby-ish, but a 7th grader might love it or...not. I think the approach it uses might fit with what little I know of RightStart... AOPS Pre-Algebra has textbook/workbook and also an online class option. Their online classes offered go all the way through Calculus. I don't have direct experience with AOPS. My DS 10 (dyslexic) is doing Beast Academy 3 and we both love it! He does little writing and we work together orally a lot for math - but I appreciate your concern for independent work (a goal of mine for my kiddo, too...eventually). BTW - hope you don't mind if I say "Kudos!" to you both for getting his reading to "grade level"!!!

You're getting testing done and so maybe this isn't so important - but I thought I'd toss it out b/c it doesn't seem anyone else has touched on it - There are often non-reading issues/signs of dyslexia - directional confusion (esp. left/right but also up/down and front/back), coordination, especially with bilateral stuff - shoe tying, riding a bike, jumping jacks, and I'm blanking on the name - but having trouble watching and then doing when it comes to big motor (or even fine motor) activities, it's likely a procedural processing issue in the brain that also makes reading/learning to read difficult. The Barton website hits on all this, so maybe you are up on it. But if your dd has other signs that are not reading specific it might lead you to a stronger suspicion, especially given her age and the 'she's just not ready/motivated enough' conventional wisdom that's out there. If you are at all a book geek person - I liked "Reading in the Brain" a lot - but that was more for me and my interest in what's going on in there, not really immediately helpful for the (more important!) teaching my dyslexic kid to read part! :tongue_smilie:

Hi Esse Got a dyslexic kiddo - DS 10.5yo, reading on about a 2nd grade-ish level. Never tried Barton, though I've looked at it (videos, website, etc.). Done DIY phonics based instruction using Logic of English and AAS, and well, everything I could come up with. Time has helped. Repetition, especially with phonograms, syllable counting, sound counting, etc. has helped. More exposure and confidence and emotional maturity have really helped a lot too. Captions on YouTube videos on Minecraft, Plants vs Zombies, really anything video game related have helped too! I did get AAR level 1 once - still too fast, and by that age too baby-ish, kwim? Not sure that will work for you at this point. It sounds like Barton is helping but the readings are ridiculous. Can you bring in real books at this point? Do it together - she reads and if she's ok with you jumping in at weird words (usually names) or multi-syllabic words with advanced phonograms? Can you cut out the silly Barton readings and substitute (maybe at a different point in your daily routine....) other books? Or just read the words for her that she doesn't know - seriously, my kiddo doubts himself every time he sounds out a word he doesn't know due to vocab. Meaning, he'll say it correctly, it won't make sense to him, so he'll try again another (wrong) way...sigh. The dyslexic lack of confidence. Midriff would make him flip his lid. Just sayin'. ;)

Hi Mamamoose I'm an occasional mostly lurker here. I hope you don't mind me chiming in on this at this late date! Got a dyslexic 10.5 (he insists on the .5) with ADHD and other stuff...so much of what you've posted (and others' posted) I get. He was not helped by typical ADHD meds (stimulants/Intuniv) and I was staunchly anti-meds for a time, but he has been greatly helped by Straterra...so I'm ambivalent on meds...can be good, might not be...up to parents/kids/docs to figure out together - not for me to say!!!! I've not tried Barton. Looked at it many times. ADHD + anxiety and other challenges meant we were not likely to be successful with a regimented program. So we have largely DIY dyslexic reading teaching at our house. I have modified Logic of English (basically slowed it w-a-y down) and use AAS as a phonogram program/review (writing is possibly more painful and slow and difficult than reading - so we use AAS s-l-o-w-ly). I've heard about Barton's recommendation of no reading until a certain point and I really don't know what I think about that. I respect that reading is often un-recognized super hard work for our kiddos and limiting it is likely to be helpful to kids. But if restricting means less exposure...familiarity, motivation, context, sight words, they all help - and that IS reading. Phonics is super important for decoding. But confidence, interest, repetition, etc. goes a long way. If my son is in the mood, he can read regular Star Wars Darth Vader comic books decently - big words, plenty of phonograms he doesn't really "know." If he's off, not interested, tired, it's out of context - no way! So endless YouTube videos on Minecraft with the dialogue on the screen helped him a lot! But not without the foundation of phonics...ya know? My advice, for whatever it's worth - sounds like Barton is helping, but reading is a no-fun chore. Understandable! I'd look for and be open to reading he's willing to do in any and all forms - comic books, reading along with your finger in something like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, YouTube videos with captions, etc. Never required, just encouraged. I do have my DS read aloud at this point every "homeschool" day (4-5 days/wk). I try to find books on level that aren't a turn off b/c they're too "baby-ish." When he reads aloud, I don't make him decode every word - I read names a lot (they often don't follow 'rules') and help him with advanced multisyllable words (serious buggers!) if he doesn't read it right away. My DS is at about 2nd - ish grade "level" -- recently he's read (with a little help, as above) Encyclopedia Brown and Tomie dePaola's autobiographical chapter book series "26 Fairmount Avenue." He practically knows the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by heart b/c we've read them at bedtime so much (until I went on strike - hey mom has to like what she's reading at least a little bit too, and after several reads I was seriously bored!) - but those might be a good suggestion others' have made too. We've read Origami Yoda to my DS - but it would be a bit hard for him to do himself, at this point, really. Maybe it's time to supplement short Barton practices with some "real" reading he likes - even if you have to do it with your guy. Finally, the motivation and buy-in part are huge. When my guy was younger, we couldn't make progress at times, we even set aside reading for 6 months or more at a time. At 6. At 7. At 8 and at 9 1/2. In between breaks, when we could, he made some progress. And I had him tested and knew he was dyslexic and the drumbeat was 'early intervention.' But when he was crying, hiding in pillows and running and hiding under the table or in the closet and called the reading book "the torture book" really? This is good? No. I only add this last part to a long post to respond to your sense of frustration and tiredness and thinking about whether you can take a summer break. Maybe a good, long break might be what you both need. If so, take it!!! Read aloud, do fun stuff. This is a lifelong skill. He'll get there (b/c you are helping him - not in an unschool it will be magic sense...) Only you can decide...but we're moms - we aren't at school and we can decide what's best overall - reading is only 1 thing - overall quality of life - surely more important, right?

Glad my post was a bit helpful to you heartlikealion. I usually feel that I get more than I give on online boards, so I'm glad you chimed in. The pass...it is an interesting idea and I can see why as a general rule of thumb it could be a good way to think about functioning - by others' reactions. the question. Often DS doesn't get the pass - and I've been talking about it for years (in a different way) as a problem - that people don't recognize how 'special' he is until it's too late. The past six months we've seen extreme meltdowns subside - a med has made a huge difference there. But still, major, obvious distress. And even then some folks don't get it - that they actually went a long way to provoking the melt. But, on the other hand, lots of people recognize they're not dealing with normal. When DS is being cute, or amusing, or just touchingly honest and enthusiastic, people can respond really positively to him. But sometimes they respond in a way that I can tell they know it's not really "normal." So, no, he doesn't always get the pass (funny to call that a bad thing). And if DS is having the bad kind of red letter day or moment, he has not gotten the pass - b/c it was obvious. Waiting in line to check in to a hotel late one night (not the o-riginal plan). An elderly couple, probably grandparents, saw DS yawn and said something sympathetic about him being sleepy or tired. Instant melt. Retrieved DS from the other side of the lobby, took back the lounge chair pillow thing he was banging on the walls and trash can, made him stand at a specific spot and put his hands on our suitcase. Held him there by the shoulders and breathed with him. Ok, "crisis" averted fairly quickly. Grandfather said very quietly, "I'm so sorry." Grandma looked confused. I couldn't deal with them, but wanted to make him feel better. "It's okay, not your fault." I said and he nodded, looking pitying. I guess my working hypothesis would say one of those two categories is accurate and go from there on working on social interaction and communication. I like the social thinking website you linked. I've been looking at materials on there for a while now and just not dived in. I just ordered a "What to do when" book and a "Social skills picture book" and we'll start with those while I work on a more long-term game plan. Step one: get a game plan. :ohmy: