Bookworm4
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Posts posted by Bookworm4
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We are just about to get started with Equipping Minds and so I am going off just what I remember from all the training videos I saw. I agree with cbollin to skip it for now. I seem to recall listening to Carol mention once that you could skip some things for non-readers. I remember something specifically said about non-readers and that activity (stroop animals activity), but don't remember if I saw it in discussion on the DVD or the free YouTube videos where she had a free 8-week training session and some people asked questions that were at the in-person training. Carol Brown was very helpful the one time we did a zoom call with her. I wouldn't be afraid to call them if needed.
Roses designed to have an online access to a video demonstration of each step for each activity along with tracking capabilities of where you are in each area. Once you have the teacher's manual and student book, it doesn't cost the $1000. It is $500-800 depending on whether you select to have 12 sessions with a trained therapist to get you started. I've looked at this in case I need help as we get started on this program. We were going to start this week, but too many got sick in our household. We'll pick it up once everyone is healthy again.
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On 6/10/2021 at 9:55 AM, Lecka said:
Does she have speech therapy? Can you ask a speech therapist at the school?
This is a speech therapy kind of thing, and I would say — try to talk to a speech therapist about it.
The thing about grammar programs is that they are going to assume a certain level of oral language. They will use that as a base. They will not be teaching that foundation.
Unless you are using something intended this way, and then you would be using a speech therapy kind of program.
You can Google around sites like Super Duper but I would say to do that after knowing what kind of things a speech therapist would do.
Thank you. She does receive speech therapy. We finished updating the IEP this week and ended up keeping articulation and phonemic awareness on it and adding irregular past tense verb usage. I was just hoping to find material to also practice it at home. I don't know what the actual test was called, but she mentioned that DD only had 53% accuracy for her age, she struggled with some of the correct irregular past tense verb usage that 6 year olds should know, and it was enough that we could add it to the IEP. This fall they will start working on it, but I also am hoping to put some more focused effort into it with our school work at home. I did look at little at Easy Grammar and Daily Grams and thinking that maybe I should start at a lower level, but hopefully I can find someone local with a copy to look through it to decide if that would help. DD is also dyslexic and I don't know if that is impacting her grammar.
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On 6/10/2021 at 4:52 AM, Kanin said:
That's unusual for a 10 year old. That would raise red flags with me as far as needing speech-language evaluation. For materials, I'd start looking for speech-language resources.
Thanks. It actually came up in discussion with DD's SLP as she prepared to determine which tests to use in her evaluation. She went through one of her tests with DD.
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It's been a while since I've posted on here. I have a 10 yr old dyslexic whose grammar (correct usage of different verb tenses) scored low on recent IEP update testing. We do homeschool, but use the school for some services. Just correcting her grammar usage during conversation hasn't been enough. Do you know of any curriculum that target grammar tenses, not just other areas of grammar? Her reading is near a 3rd grade level, but I am fine reading through any material orally with her.
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We have liked Reading Horizons Discovery for younger kids and Reading Horizons Elevate for older kids. We also did a trial of Nessy, but my kids preferred Reading Horizons at the time so stuck with it. The initial year costs more, but to renew the subscription is about $50 for a year. It was good as a stand alone for one of my dyslexic kids after age 10 and it was good a supplement for another dyslexic kid.
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On 1/19/2020 at 11:58 AM, 6Acorns said:
I want to use Equipping Minds and Pyramid of Potential with my 9 year old with expressive language disorder and dyslexia. The 2 programs seem to complement each other and even recommend each other. I am listening to Carol Brown's free training sessions on youtube. What else should I order to quickstart as economically as possible?
TIA
Marcy in NC
If you can swing the cost, you may want to consider the ROSES program with the Sound Therapy Program. I think that also comes with the Pyramid of Potential if I remember correctly. I ended up buying the DVD program, student workbook, and sound therapy program. However, I think having that weekly therapy session to get me going and keep me on track would have helped me get started sooner. I ordered it this fall after talking with Carol and watching her do an online evaluation with my 9 year old. DD9 is also in speech therapy and OT each week and we are doing Barton at home for the dyslexia. I watched the training, but got overwhelmed with life (I also have other kids that need help in other areas) and didn't implement it right away. We are just now getting back to a good routine after our break so plan to start on Monday. All that said, I would call their office and see what they recommend. Carol was very nice and helpful.
By the way, it's late and I just saw your "as economically as possible" comment. The DVD training (slightly different than the free classes online) with the teacher's manual plus the student workbook is the most basic. The sound therapy program is expensive, but after discussing with Carol how it was supposed to work and help, she thought it would be very beneficial to my DD after discussing the situation with her. It made enough sense and I had talked with her about people they had helped enough, I went ahead and took her recommendation and purchased the sound therapy program as well. I would call their number and see what they recommend about the sound therapy program for your child and find out why they recommend it before purchasing it. -
On 10/25/2018 at 7:09 AM, PeterPan said:
Oh that is a hoot! It seems so DANGEROUS to take ds rollerskating that I haven't tried. Was your ds wobbly at first? How did it show up with the skating and how did you know it was improving? Totally fascinating.
Ooo yes, this would be great!
Hadn't seen that, so now I'll have to go look! That's definitely my pricepoint.
Well there is a thing called the Willbarger brushing protocol you can google for. I have significant sensory issues myself and let's just say when I tried to do it properly on dd she howled and said I was awful, that I did it too hard, blah blah. Ds isn't so over-sensitive, and honestly I just take a nail brush or the willbarger brush (I have both) and rub it back and forth on the thing I'm working a while. I did it on feet for a different reflex, and now I'm doing it on the hands. On the feet, well let's just say he gets exfoliated, lol. I do it more lightly with the nail brush and more aggressively with the boar bristle, because I want the contrast of sensory experiences. There's a lot of data on contrasting (hot, cold, wet, dry, rough, smooth, etc.) for sensory regulation, so that's the effect I wanted. I also do finger stroking (run the tip of your finger like a pen up and down the body part, will be crazy annoying). Since the stroking was so annoying, the brushes were another way to get in input without driving him crazy. It just seems to work for whatever reason and costs me only time. I also did it on his back for spinal galant, but obviously I was very careful with these more tender parts like back and hands. With the feet, you can be pretty rough, lol.
We got improvement pretty quickly with the hand brushing, so either it wasn't horribly present (like it was partially integrated) or it integrates quickly or something. I always figure just plunge in imperfectly and see what happens, lol. Like what is the worst that happens if you don't do it optimally? And I usually try to do it at least twice a day. It just seems like it speeds up progress. And if it is a really ugly reflex like spinal galant was, well we've worked some of those 4X a day. And each time I was spending 5-10 minutes per body part. I don't exactly measure, but I'm not going whoosh whoosh and done. I spend a good long time on each component, which again why having 4+ ways to work it is helpful, because it breaks up the tedium and makes it seem like oh yeah it's supposed to take that long.
Well I'll be interested to hear your progress! The PT we used to work on reflexes had trained with the PoP stuff, and what she did was good. We're just at that point where I'm like oh what's left, what got missed. We had reflexes that were partially integrated, so now I'm like fine let's just dig in and do ALL of them. Maybe stuff is partially present and got missed. And that Babkin was not strong. She had tested it, I know she had. But it showed up subtly in a way that he only now, two years later, can finally verbally express. Like if the outside response doesn't show but the kid is FEELING the irritation, I think it's still there. At least that's my theory. And really, because it was so subtle, about a week of twice a day stroking like that (4 ways, twice a day per hand), and the mouthing stopped. I'm just continuing for good measure. In the past, when I've stopped too early, the reflex has reappeared, so I'm pretty much of the overkill, keep going camp.
I looked around some on you tube, but couldn't find a demonstration of the same integration exercise that PoP uses for the Palmar reflex. This is the closest to it, but this adds a few things, including the ball, to the exercise.
I think the PoP sale ends today or tomorrow if you're still considering it.
Also, the book the Symphony of Reflexes by Bonnie Brandes has additional reflexes and exercises listed if you want to know about more than the ones that Bloomberg's website lists.
https://www.amazon.com/Symphony-Reflexes-Interventions-Development-Neurological/dp/150285502X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541136912&sr=8-1&keywords=symphony+of+reflexes
I watched the Pyramid of Potential DVD recently, but don't think that DD will have enough control for some of the exercises, particularly the exercise she uses for the moro integration. I also have class material from the Brain and Sensory Foundations course by Move Play Thrive so may start with the suggested activities listed there to help DD build enough control to even do the basic exercises by PoP. That said, I've also heard of a father that was a PT by vocation and he integrated his DD's moro by startling her right before she went outside to play on toys. It's an interesting thought.-
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On 10/31/2018 at 7:28 PM, 4KookieKids said:
Thanks for bringing this up again and adding so many more good thoughts!
She did eat a bigger variety of veggies before, but Her favorites were stuff that we eliminated temporarily for the inflammatory side of the AIP (red peppers, for example, which is still hard because they’re everyone’s favorite, but I’d really like to get in two full weeks of right eating without cheating (DH struggles with cheating... lol) before we start adding stuff back in.
On the up side: she started eating a lot of other veggies this week. Still refused a lot, but ate baby bok choy, kale with avocado, spinach, cucumber, broccoli AND cauliflower this week, along with her carrots. She even ate 3-4 slices of her dreaded fried plantains one morning, even though I’ve only be requiring one bite. It felt like such a relief to me!
I did buy a jerky cannon and have been making our own beef jerky with just meat and salt. We keep it in the freezer most of the time after it finishes, but it’s easy to pull out for a snack or even toss in a bag for a few hours if we want to go hiking or something. At first I made 3 lbs, and then I made 5 lbs, and yesterday I made 8 lbs at once! Lol.
my ds 9 with ASD and ADHD told his psych this week that he hates eating healthy but his brain feels so much better and life seems so much easier when he eats healthier. This just made me feel good as a mother, and gave me some extra motivation to keep it up.
That's great that your DD is trying a lot more veggies. I need to work with expanding the types of veggies my DDs eat better. I also think it's great that your DS 9 was able to recognize how much better he felt.
I have actually done the AIP diet so I know how hard it is to not cheat. I have started it a couple times and would only make it a week or two before giving in and ruining the work I had started. I did make it about 6-8 weeks once on the AIP diet before morning sickness set in so bad that I didn't care what I ate as long as I kept it down. I share that just to say that I understand the difficulty in following this diet without cheating. I am also preparing to start the AIP or a modification of it again to bring down my inflammation markers on some blood work. I know you really want to add back more foods after just 2 weeks of not cheating, but I would encourage you to consider waiting to add back foods until you have been on it for at least 4 weeks, possibly more. The Paleo Mom discusses some of the research behind it if you want more information, but if you are doing this due to inflammatory or digestive issues, it can often take at least 4 weeks of the foods removed from our system for the inflammation to come down enough and the gut to start to heal for you to be able to fully catch reactions to foods as you add them back into your diet. A couple of my friends who have stuck it out the 4-6 weeks before starting any re-introductions of foods said it made a big difference and reinforced to me that I must not cheat during that time for it to really work. You may be doing it for different issues than what myself or my friends with autoimmune issues did the diet for, but just sharing in case it is a help or encouragement.
Also, while many other non-AIP foods are usually good and healthy foods, just be encouraged that there are still so many healthy options on the AIP diet and the non-AIP foods are temporarily eliminated for a reason. Many people who benefit from the AIP diet find that, at least while their gut/body is healing, that many "healthy" foods aren't actually good for their bodies. There are a lot of healthy foods that actually cause problems for me that I never would have known if it weren't for the AIP diet. Since you are all seeing so many positive changes on the diet, hopefully it will be easy for each of you to identify what foods have been causing the issues for each of you.
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17 hours ago, PeterPan said:
I've been working on #12, Babkin reflex, with my ds, because it was one that I knew no one had actually checked for or addressed. It's associated with mouthing when you stroke their hands and causes speech and handwriting problems. I decided to treat it with brushing and stroking, mainly because any form of brushing was SO agitating to him that I figured we'd probably get somewhere. There's a reflex on the cheeks (name?) that is set off with brushing/stroking and that was also the treatment.
So we've been doing that brushing (nail brush, boar bristle brush, stroking, firm kneading) usually twice a day, and the mouthing he used to do has stopped. He's also been having amazing language gains lately, but that's probably more the growth spurts he's been having. But for the mouthing to stop, that is more direct. It had gone on a long time and now it's just gone. If you've got a kid who mouths, you know what I'm talking about, lol.
Now I'm moving on to #13, grasp/palmer, and going to see if I can figure out what to do for that. The Pyramid of Potential people have a fascinating youtube video where they show how it might look. At this point, I'm tired of people clearing him on reflexes, saying they're not issues, and then realizing they are. This grasp/palmer gig is directly correlated to writing issues and he still has significant issues with writing. The test I've seen some people saying to do online is to put thumb to finger for each finger separately, but I need a video to know what it's supposed to LOOK like by a totally integrated, typical person. My fingers curve along with the finger I'm bending to touch to my thumb, and I have the thick middle finger callous the PoP lady mentions, so I'm assuming I'm flagging there. Haven't yet figured out what to do about it, so maybe I'll break down and buy her $35 video.
Anybody else working on reflexes right now? ?
I own the PoP video and watched it tonight to refresh my memory. I've been meaning to start it with my older kids, especially my DD currently in speech and OT. I think I've seen a YouTube video of the same exercise she demonstrated on the video for the Palmar reflex. I will try to remember to look tomorrow. Feel free to remind me. That said, I did notice that the download of her video is on sale for $15 right now if you want the whole video cheaper.
I've been wanting to work on the Babkin reflex as well and never considered brushing. Did you use a video to demonstrate what to do? The Babkin and Palmar are both reflexes that I am sure DD has retained (along with many others). I am now wondering if it is linked to some of the oral motor struggles we are currently working through as well.
I have some other resources I am using as well to work on reflexes that I can come back and link later this week. I am running out of time today.
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1 hour ago, Mainer said:
I'll go look at it! Thanks!
The US version is here: https://toebytoeusa.com/
If you sign up for their VIP club (which is free), you can access some videos that demonstrate how the programs works and see some of the workbook pages. It also has some downloadable forms as well in the VIP area. I didn't get through all the videos last night, but the couple I watched were interesting. From my little understanding, Toe by Toe takes a little different approach than OG programs that I have used and it seems to teach and some things in a different manner, but overall it looks like it would help with where my older DD is now (it would be a fail for younger DD who didn't pass the Barton screening). However, it does look like it's designed to be used one on one and with each student having their own workbook/book. It does use nonsense words which may help if your students are doing DIBLES testing.
ETA: Toe by Toes does not combine spelling and reading if you need a program that does both.
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15 hours ago, Terabith said:
I'm guessing it depends on the quality of the teacher. A really awesome teacher who has a good understanding of the principles might be able to absolutely ROCK Wilson, even without the training or fidelity. Someone who isn't a rock star might have better results with something like Recipe for Reading. Honestly, my kid's dyslexia isn't super severe, and it didn't remediate spelling at all, but she got to significantly above grade level reading just with intense work from Webster's speller (and some other stuff). Toe by Toe and Dancing Bears get good results even with kids with pretty serious issues, though they're UK based.
I just thought I'd mention, in case someone searches for Toe by Toe on here (I did not that long ago and didn't find much), Toe by Toe now has a US version with US spellings in their book. I have been considering purchasing it to use with my daughter that I just bought High Noon 2 to use with as well.
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I don’t know if you are still looking for ideas, but I took regular olive oil and mixed in some lavender oil and melaleuca (tree tea) oil. I applied to the hair for about an hour and then combed through with a nit comb. I then applied a thick layer of conditioner and combed through the other a bit comb again. Afterwards we shampooed with regular shampoo. In the meantime, I changed bed sheets daily and we bagged dolls and stuffed animals. After no longer seeing live bugs, I decreased the frequency to about every other day. Two weeks after the last live bug was seen, I stopped combing through hair.
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On 9/11/2018 at 4:22 AM, PeterPan said:
What's Equipping Minds? Is that for a different dc or the younger with the reflexes, fine motor, etc.?
Ooo, I hope you like it! I'll bet your ships when my stuff does. She said she'd run the batch today, so yours will probably come promptly.
Equipping Minds is a type of cognitive therapy. I first heard about them from a HSLDA newsletter. They identify both strengths and weaknesses during an evaluation and then work to strengthen the weaknesses. They look at areas of retained reflexes, visual processing, auditory processing, working memory, processing speed, and more from my understanding. Obviously it won't be the same as a full exam from a vision therapy center, or an exam by an audiologist, etc. I have read various reviews about how helpful it was in various types of struggles and how people also in other therapies at the same time made much faster progress in those other therapies than was typical. They offer services that range from providing the therapy themselves 5 days a week to doing a mix of therapies with their therapist and the parents doing the majority of the therapy work to providing a program with video training and materials that a parent or other adult can buy, watch, and learn and then implement on their own. They provide both in person and via skype services as well. If you are an HSLDA member then they will even evaluate your child for free.
I am going to have both my girls evaluated. My oldest has a very slow processing speed and would benefit from the rapid naming work and while she has good working memory, it can always be strengthened. I feel like younger DD could benefit from a mix of everything to be honest. Younger DD was always "not quite bad enough" to qualify for different types of therapy services in the past, but as she has gotten older she has continued to fall behind peers her age and may qualify for some different therapies at this point. Time will tell with evaluations this fall.
The developer of Equipping Minds was published in the Journal of Alternative Medicine Research this summer and also has other research linked on their website. I also saw a few people mention using Equipping Minds in a Barton facebook group I'm and comments about how it helped these struggling students. One tutor mentioned a student who even had a hard time going through Foundation in Sounds so she stopped it and worked through Equipping Minds material first and then the student had no problems completing Foundation in Sounds. It's all interesting enough that I want to learn more and explore this option.I hope my High Noon order ships this week! Hopefully they will email me when they do ship it, but don't know if that is normal for them or not.
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On 9/11/2018 at 4:22 AM, PeterPan said:
I hate to say this, but you need to go ahead and get that OT/PT scheduled. If you need a referral from your ped for insurance, then let him sort out which. That buttons thing is not going to improve by working on retained reflexes. You need to go ahead and get evals and get some service. Even an imperfect OT would be a BIG HELP at this point with what you're describing. Like I meaning to be a little stern or serious here. I know things pile up and you have 20 things you could do and you get overwhelmed and are like ok well then I'll do this or that. I'm saying what you described is enough to move up that OT/PT eval. That's more than run of the mill and it won't improve just because you work your butt off on retained reflexes. The month or two you spend working on reflexes could have been doubly powerful in getting her going forward if you were working with an OT/PT. You need both. Even if the person is imperfect and you don't stay a long time, you're gonna get some useful help.
What's Equipping Minds? Is that for a different dc or the younger with the reflexes, fine motor, etc.?
And no, actually, I wouldn't say I have a great OT, lol. Seriously, it's a weird field where they work so hard, get degrees, and then don't have lots more knowledge that we, as consumers, would be like why don't you know this and this and this... So our current OT has some niche strengths and interests in visual processing, so she brings a lot on that to the table. I've challenged her on Interoception, because that's what I really, really need for ds, and I gave her a book and sent her links for training like hello, learn the thing I want you to do with ds!! She has a phd, sure, but she doesn't have a clue how to do what I really need. It's a simple concept and she has plenty of brains. If I were paying myself, I'd probably walk, just because I can't pay for that. But right now, the disability scholarship pays, and it's getting me a break where I drop him off for 2 1/2 hours and he gets high quality services. There are more reasons for him to be there than just the OT. The compliance is good, the social is good, the self-regulation (dealing with other people, transitioning, etc.) is good. But is she knowledgeable about everything I want? Nope, lol. You could say I'm training my OT, lol. Actually I gave her carte blanche, like he's yours for x time, do whatever you jolly well want.
In your case, your younger dd's needs are so glaring and so within the purview of basic, entry level OT that right now ANY OT/PT could help you. You aren't asking for rocket science, just basic stuff they all learn in school. It's stuff that could have some improvement in 2 months (the 2 months you're suggesting you might wait) and it's stuff they'd probably give you homework for. You could walk into almost any OT/PT right now who does pediatrics and they'd help you and get you noticeable improvement in two months. So I'm saying don't wait the 2 months, get the referral, get in. And if the first person is worthless, try another till you click and get some help going.
I've had all kinds of OTs. The previous one we used had ABA training and she just kicked butt with making hard work engaging. She'd make these spy games and obstacle courses and do coding and it was just stellar. And her ABA training gave her great language/interaction skills. This phd chick doesn't have that pizzaz, but she's fine and has great toys (hammock, blah blah). So they're all a little different. You start, use 'em till they stop being useful, move on.
Ooo, I hope you like it! I'll bet your ships when my stuff does. She said she'd run the batch today, so yours will probably come promptly.
Thanks. Your experience with OTs makes sense. I hadn't thought about it before, but I'm sure it's such a vast field of training that not everyone gets trained in all areas or understands all areas as well. Somewhat like seeing a general practitioner vs a specialist for certain types of medical problems. I actually brought up about an OT referral to our ped while we were there yesterday morning. He suggested I check with the school first as there is only 1 place locally that does pediatric OT and has a long waiting list. I was supposed to hear back from the school about a speech eval and haven't yet so that is on my list for tomorrow morning to follow up with them about both evals and find out why the SLP hasn't scheduled an eval yet. If she doesn't qualify at the school, private with the long waiting list is our next option. If our local school still uses skype for work with an OT (they didn't have one on site last I knew), then I will ask our ped to put in the referral this week so we can get the waiting game at the next place started. It's also time to update her vision therapy exam due to a variety of changes since she was examined 3 years ago.
I don't actually expect everything to fix itself with integrating reflexes, but I feel like she will be able to progress more once those reflexes are integrated, whether with an OT or at home. I also feel like those retained reflexes are inhibiting her from developing normally. This weekend I remembered I had several books by OT Mom that I had printed and bound from when my older DD was going through handwriting struggles. While I wait to get in with an actual OT, I will try those suggestions to at least do something. As for buttons, I didn't word her ability well. She can do some buttons that are easier (like on a dress sweater), but she struggles with larger harder buttons like on a pair of jeans. I feel like she should be able to do the jeans buttons by now. Tying shoes are an issue, but that is likely a combination of midline and fine motor issues for her.
I have to run but will be back to explain the rest later.
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3 hours ago, PeterPan said:
We've used two OTs for handwriting. Well actually that's not true. All 4 OTs who have worked with him over the years have worked on handwriting. He's diagnosed with SLD Writing, and at this point even the ps (spit spit) will acknowledge it as a significant disability. He can get single letters that he can combine into single words with assistance and enough time. So yeah, it could be an SLD. Definitely try OT. For my dd, there were some physical issues the OT could help. Our new OT has a phd and worked in vision therapy for her internship and specializes in visual connections to learning. Even she is like get this kid typing. So at some point it helps to have someone helping you make that call. I am not gonna guilt myself, because it just is what it is.
Is that Angling or something else? I looked through a lot but things jumbled in my brain. In a side note, the ATP/HN people are doofusses. They sat on my order a WEEK after I placed it, so it hasn't even shipped. Blew my mind. The lady was like oh well schools had a holiday last week. So?!?! If I place an order, I mean for it to get shipped! What idiots. So people shouldn't expect orders in timely fashion from them I guess. They have men in caves writing all the books they send you apparently.
Thanks. I am certain that younger DD also has several retained reflexes impacting her handwriting and other motor control (she still struggles with buttons, opens and closes her mouth as her hand opens and closes when using scissors, and more). I am hoping to finish wrapping my head around some of the exercises this week to start working on integration. Unfortunately, no one in this area is trained in integrating them outside of some work at the vision therapy center. If what we try at home doesn't start helping, I will figure out a way to travel 3+ areas to the person that I'm aware of that does a lot of work in this area. In the meantime, I'm hoping that a local OT and the exercises I do with her will be enough, but time will tell. I took a class years ago on retained reflexes and have been digging through my notes from the class. I am also checking into the possibility of Equipping Minds for DD.
It sounds like you have a great OT. It is nice sometimes to have someone professionally trained in an area your child struggles help make decisions of when to move on and what will help your child best. I wasn't very impressed with the OT my older DD worked with years ago and hope that we can find a good one for younger DD in the area. I really should have DD start on typing as well this year.
Thanks for the forewarning to expect a possible shipping delay from HN. I ordered level 2 last night and am still hoping it will ship this week.
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4 hours ago, Pen said:
HN also has a spelling program workbook. I think it is aligned with the main program.
Thanks. I will look into this.
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2 hours ago, PeterPan said:
Well there you go, that would be a nice thought! Right now we're at the single words up to a sentence level. His IEP says a scribe for anything sentence length and above, so it's just not his reality. Even the OT was hitting some walls and was like hmm let's move over to typing... LOL
Yeah, Apples and Pears would probably be torture for him and not beneficial. I am sure that's a challenge to find the right balance in a program for a good fit or figure out how to modify a program to work well. Hopefully it will get easier in time for him. It's hard when kids are so bright and yet have so many struggles. I need to get my younger DD into OT for writing challenges. I don't know what they may say about her struggles at this point.
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1 minute ago, PeterPan said:
I didn't realize you already had the A&P. That will be fabulous! Your plan sounds great!
Adding, A&P would have been my first choice for ds. I just needed something with a lot less writing.
I bought A&P a few years ago to try with Dancing Bears before Barton. At the time DD couldn't handle all the writing. I think she is at a place that she can handle it now though.
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23 minutes ago, PeterPan said:
And it might seem too young anyway. My ds has autism, so for him younger/simpler is better sometimes. I agree with you though that the feel is important.
You could put the words from HN into Spelling City...
My DD is also a couple years older than your DS. My younger DD may eventually do well with this. I am going to start Apples and Pears spelling with my 11 yo tomorrow since I have it and she placed mid-way through the book. We'll see how it goes before I decide to order level B or switch to something else for her (maybe even a level of Spelfabet to try). I will also have to remember about Spelling City for practice. I tend to forget about it.
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4 minutes ago, PeterPan said:
Yes, Spelfabet is a series of workbooks. Hopefully there are samples. You'd just start where you think best, I think. For my ds, starting at the beginning was right. The first few lessons were just CVC, but about mid-way into the book you start into some basic rules (FLOSS, etc.), which makes it good review.
I'm kind of of the rock star theory on teaching too, that having something where they think they're rock stars can be good, especially when it's a disability and we're trying to boost them up. So since I've already tried things he thought were too hard, I was looking for something so cunningly simple that it took him off his guard that he could do it and be successful.
Thanks. That makes sense. I will have to look more into the levels. If I start too basic with DD she will actually fight it complaining it is too young for her or "kindergarten work" (even if it isn't true).
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23 hours ago, PeterPan said:
My dd around that age used Mavis Beacon for mac, and it had really fun games. We were using the Dvorak keyboard layout, and that version had Dvorak-specific lessons.
I've been hanging on some lists for SLPs who focus on literacy, and that was how the Spelfabet program came up. It was made by an Aussie SLP, and I super love it right now. Handy thing is it's broken into so many levels that it would be a snap to place into.
Thanks. I know a friend of DD is using Mavis Beacon and remember learning typing with Mavis many years ago.
That's interesting about Spelfabet. Older DD worked with an SLP for 4.5 years and that SLP and I had a lot of good conversations. I looked a little last night, but was trying to figure out how it worked. Are they all downloadable workbooks? Do you have to give a placement test or just look at the description and pick where to start based on that? -
On 9/8/2018 at 5:49 PM, Pen said:
For typing, my son enjoyed Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum.
Thank you. I will check it out.
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3 minutes ago, PeterPan said:
The other really slick thing about HN2 is it's pretty brief. There are 65 lessons, where each lesson has multiple pages, etc. So depending on where she starts and how it goes, you may make surprising progress.
Yup, I think you're right about A&P. A similar product would be Spelfabet. I'm with you that sometimes it takes me time to wrap my brain around what these programs are doing and what aspects he needs.
I can't remember the name of the more mature typing program, sorry.
I noticed that there weren't too many lessons in HN2 and wondered if there were multiple pages per lesson. I have a feeling that DD may be excited about that after all the work and struggles she has gone to to even get to this point and then to feel like she is closer to being able to read more easily sooner than she felt like it was with Barton.
I forgot to look into Spelfabet last night. I hadn't heard of it before you mentioned it so will look it up more tonight.
I feel like there are so many good programs out there with various strengths or that teach different styles of learners better that it can take a while to sort through what we need at different points in time in this journey.
As for typing, I have a list of some names to try out. If one isn't a good fit, I can always move to the next option or compare to the others that didn't work well.
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10 minutes ago, Pen said:
I think a 7yo is likely to enjoy listening to Sentence Island and looking at the pictures with you reading aloud.
Thanks. I will look into this more. I remember seeing MCT recommended for dyslexics years ago, but haven't used any of their products yet.
How did you teach your child to read?
in K-8 Curriculum Board
Posted
Maybe check into Logic of English Foundations A. It starts with a lot of phonemic awareness activities and LOE Foundations uses quite a few games that involve movement. That helped with my kids who needed to move a lot.