Please forgive me if this has been talked about before. It didn’t come up in my search. My DS is profoundly dyslexic (dysgraphic, yada, yada). I was wondering if I should be asking for accommodations for drivers ed. He has an opportunity to take the standard state program with other homeschoolers, but I don’t know if they will honor accommodations, what to ask for, or even if he needs any (are there written tests, lots of reading, etc?). What have your experiences been? Thank you for any help Jennie

My son was diagnosed ADHD at 6.5. The doctor recommended meds. We opted not to medicate at that time, because I felt I could change his environment to suit him. We are homeschoolers, blah, blah, blah. I tried exercise, supplements, more time outdoors, school accommodations, more structure, etc. Everything helped- a little. He had a full neuropsych eval last year (at 9 yo) and the doctor was pretty clear that he wasn't able to succeed in his life, because he couldn't get out of his own way. It felt like he was not learning anything. He was rarely quiet, always touching something, and defiant about school. We decided to try meds after that. We are lucky that the first med worked. My son even remarked on the first day that he could read so much better because the words weren't moving around so much. It has made a huge difference in his ability to focus and the defiance is nearly gone. Some days if he's really acting up, I realize that I've forgotten to give him his medicine. He gets dry eyes and loses his appetite for lunch. Those are his only side effects. It has been worth it for us, but I know every one is different. AND, now that he can focus much better, we spend a lot of time working on executive function with the hopes that meds won't be forever. Good luck.

Thanks. Nice to know someone understands. Love the poster idea! He will see that more consistently than us practicing.

My son is almost 10 and we are on lesson 5. He had 10 months of vision therapy and his eyes are working together much better. It sounds like I'm on the right track (lots of repetition breaking the syllables apart, fluency sheets, 2 weeks per lesson), but need to slow down slightly. Or maybe my expectations were a little off. He gets through it, but some days it's painfully slow. Although, this morning he read one of the advanced stories in a minute and a half. :svengo: I love the games idea and I will check into the RAN/RAS dot pages. Thanks guys.

I have another question and not sure how to tag this. My son (almost 10) has significant memory issues. Examples- he has trouble remembering friends' names that he's played with over hundreds of times (no exaggeration). He has trouble memorizing any school work, e.g., 5+3. He still cannot remember his address. It seems like he needs to see/hear/do something a million times before he can remember and understand it. He had an eval last year and has multiple things going on- ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, dyspraxia, working memory and processing speed issues. His I.Q. is in the normal range. We have practiced with pictures of his friends, write his address often, etc. Not sure where in his list of challenges this is coming from and where to go for help. Thank you :001_smile:

Hi everyone, Need a bit of help. My son has been cruising along with Barton for the last year. We are in level 4 now and things are going much slower (as I expected). He is struggling with his word attack now that we're on multi-syllable words. He does a great job with encoding. He can spell almost any word I ask. But reading is painfully slow -like a whole minute for one word. I've tried the fluency drills and the quizlet app, but then he just starts guessing wildly (and freaks out). Any recommendations? I'm hoping with repetition we'll get there?! Thanks

My son was involved with a music therapy/social skills group when he was younger. It was one of the better social groups we've been a part of. It ran like a regular social skills group, but was centered around music. How do they incorporate the "social" bit? They worked on communication skills and teamwork mainly through guided interaction. The kids had to share, negotiate, problem solve with regards to the music, songs, instruments and such. There was a check-in where the children each shared something about their week. Everyone else had to listen and comment. No one was allowed to monopolize conversations, etc. They modeled proper social interaction throughout. The therapists made sure every child said greetings to other children and parents. Stuff like that. You might want to see if you can have your son sit in once. I love using social stories and books about social intelligence. A few we have used- http://www.amazon.com/Social-Rules-Kids--Kids-Succeed/dp/1934575844/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426431487&sr=1-1&keywords=social+skills http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Be-Friends-Workbook-Social/dp/1572246103/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426431519&sr=1-23&keywords=social+skills http://www.amazon.com/What-When-Your-Temper-Flares/dp/1433801345/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Thank you, OneStep and OhElizabeth, for your advice. It was what I needed to hear. I live in a town with both O-G and Lindamood Bell centers and both are out of my price range. At this point, it is me or the school. I don't think the doc has any personal experience with Barton. He did say Barton may be fine and he wasn't telling me I can't use it. My hubby said I was slightly defensive. Oops. I am loving Barton thus far, but our progress is slow. We have tried many other things, so any progress is good. I am committed (made it through 10 mos. of weekly VT :closedeyes: ), but we fight so hard and seem to have many obstacles. I need to consider, through this process, not only my commitment, but whether I am capable to tackle dyslexia, ADHD, possibly dyscalculia, etc. Thankfully, my hubby is my biggest cheerleader. Anyway...thanks again.

Thank you! Such helpful responses. Our interview went very well. Both my husband and myself were comfortable and impressed by the doctor. My son was comfortable, too. It was a very relaxed environment. The doc did say he's not "impressed"with Barton. He prefers Lindamood and O-G, based on research. I get it. He's published several papers on dyslexia diagnostic tools. He is informed. It feels like we hit the jackpot. I am starting to feel a bit sensitive though that we'll find out a bunch of good info for ds and that I suck :/

I found a doctor, by referral, to do a neuro psych. One of his specialties is dyslexia! Not only does he come highly recommended, but he accepts our insurance. Woo-hoo. We are headed there tomorrow to have our first interview before testing (next month). Besides talking through my concerns, I am wondering what may be important to ask. He does approximately 5 hrs of testing. Any recommendations? Thanks Jennie

My son is almost 9 and has ADHD. Developmentally he is about 2 years behind. He has always had regulation problems and struggles socially in waves. He is very sensitive and a good friend, but can't hold it together when frustrated and misses social cues. It is getting a bit harder as he gets older, because of the other kids. If he missed a cue or flipped his lid over something small at 5, only the parents were giving me queer looks. It is much more obvious to the other kids now and in that way, painful. You've been given some good advice already. A couple of things that have helped my son are social skills groups and role playing. Those ideas may be a bit young for you guys. I role play through some of the tough situations he deals with. I make social skills part of our curriculum. I also need to provide more emotional scaffolding during the transition ages, so at least he has a safe place to land. I'm selective about classes, social activities, field trips, etc. Not saying that's right, but just trying to set him up to succeed. It's hard. Just wanted to say I understand.

Sorry for the tease...trying to watch the stove, too. ST Math has been a positive experience, so far. We are one month in and 20% done with the 2nd grade syllabus (trying to take advantage of our six month trial). It is meant to be a supplemental program to classroom teaching. The company suggests 90 min per week. We are clocking in about 2+ hours. It is a mastery-based program and broken down into different objectives (modules). It is game-based and almost entirely visual, so there is no language barrier. The student uses the visual images to reason through the problems. Then symbols and language are added. When the problem is answered correctly, "Jiji", a penguin, is able to cross the screen. An incorrect answer blocks Jiji's path and shows the mistake visually. There is a pre-quiz before each new objective and a post-quiz, when all games are completed. They have a confidence level question with the quizzes. The student solves the math problem and enters their confidence level, as well. It is meant to provide some "meta-learning"- making the student understand what he/she knows or doesn't. What I like- -The motivation factor. The games are "fun". I never have an issue with whining, etc. -It tackles each objective from multiple angles. -The incorrect answer is shown visually. There have been a couple of games that I have no idea what to do. If you guess wrong, it shows you how to complete the puzzle. It does a good job in helping reason out the objective. -The login. Each student has their own 13 picture login. They train the student to remember the login, visually, in order. It's pretty cool. Maybe not necessary, but is supposedly based in neuroscience so it probably has some purpose. I guess they have applied for a patent for it. -Their training for the teacher/parent is helpful. It explains everything from how to get students set-up, how the program works, the best "teaching techniques", etc... Not crazy about- -We do better with a spiral approach. My son is working through the measurements objective right now and not getting it. Yeah- not pretty. Need to work through it. -We could do with more symbols and words. I like that it is highly visual, but I need it to bridge the gap to a "regular" math problem more. Not sure how else to say that... The modules feel like a computer game and the quizzes are all symbols. Need more overlap. Those are my impressions one month in. I would continue to use the program, as a supplement, depending on price point. Anything I missed?

ST Math is not widely available to homeschoolers yet. We are using it through a homeschool pilot program. HSBC offered the pilot program back in January. It runs through June. We are doing both ST Math and Saxon right now. I will be curious to see if they open it to homeschoolers after the pilot program is complete.

Hi everyone. Thanks for the replies. We've had company and I lost a week. I can't seem to figure out the quote feature, so bear with me while I reply to the suggestions. I live in a large town with a top-rated school district. I know I will get an evaluation. After speaking with a few homeschool friends who have received evals, they agreed about two things. How homeschool friendly depends on the school (no friends evaluated at ours) and the evals take forever. Like 4+ months. I feel if I'm going to wait that long, I'd rather just get the NP a month or two later and keep the school out of my business. But maybe that is just me being paranoid. I could get the ball rolling, with the school, and see how it goes??? We're not able to space out VT visits to save more dough. We have six scheduled sessions left. I get the sense from this thread that the NP will give me the most info. I gave DS the Barton screener (he passed). I am able to order Barton now. After doing a bunch of research, Barton seems like the best fit. He knows all of his letter sounds and most consonant blend phonograms. He loses it when trying to decode words. He'll surprise me and read "amethyst" and then not be able to read "Dan". He finished AAR level 1 strong today. Today was a good day. We will see what tomorrow brings :glare: I did realize that dyslexia effects math skills as well, but I don't understand why?! I love the idea of using the Japanese or Chinese abacus, but am unfamiliar with those. Any good book suggestions? Ronit Bird sounds great, too. I'm not sure where the breakdown is in his understanding, so I don't know what will work best. He understands number values, concepts of addition and subtraction. He understands what to do, it just takes forever as he is trying to use his fingers. I have taken out the MUS blocks hoping that it would provide him the visual, but he doesn't seem to understand. Do I keep modeling with the blocks? This is my problem. I want to try everything and see what sticks. My poor kid. His handwriting's not great, but it is legible. He is keen on writing everything cursive (we haven't attempted that yet). He writes willingly, when he is composing signs, drawings, etc. but balks when "forced" to do HWT or any other copy work. To be honest, I've dropped it for now. Anyway, thanks again for the welcome and help. :001_smile:

Hi there, I am new to the forum and have learned so much in my few weeks of lurking here. What a great community. I wanted to say hello and ask for your experience, expertise, etc. so that I may help my son. Sorry this is long. A little background- DS is 8. He has never been in school. He was in EI for speech, OT, and PT (delayed in speaking, OT and PT were for sensory issues). Around 3 he got an SPD diagnosis. He was diagnosed as ADHD at about 6.5 by his pediatrician, which basically was just me filling out the "teacher" survey and my husband completing it as the parent. I feel the diagnosis is accurate. He is currently not on meds. Some other current issues- He has struggled to read from the beginning. I didn't worry too much early on, because I felt he may just not be developmentally ready. He seems to tackle everything later (typical ADHD?). Then his eyes started to drift outward. We finally found the appropriate eye doctor and he is in VT. He has strabismus- exotropia. The doctor said he basically never has binocular vision. He has been going since May and will hopefully complete treatment at the end of the year. It has been going well. The eye doc tried to convince me that all of his reading problems are his eyes, but I'm not convinced. We've completed AAR/AAS level 1 twice. Things just don't seem to stick. He adds letters to words, takes wild guesses, and "forgets" words he's read hundreds of times. Also, writes letters, numbers, and sentences (sometimes) backwards. If I give him just one nonsense word (very large) like AB, he can't read it. To me that is not a tracking or convergence issue. I suspect Dyslexia. It feels like he has zero working memory. He also struggles with math. Just doesn't get mental math- at all! Always tries to count on his fingers. Flips numbers around. We are currently using Saxon level 2, which we both like. He needs the repetition. I just don't know how else to present the material so that mental piece will click. Ronit Bird? We have tried Horizons, Singapore, and Math U See. We are saving for a NP eval. I think it will help me tease out his issues and help to see his strengths. Need to finish paying for VT. I'm hoping to be ready for the NP in six months, so I've started researching now. Anyone know of a good NP in the Chicagoland area? What can I do in the meantime? I feel like I'm just marking time. Everything seems to bounce off. Thanks so much! Nice to be here Jennie