It's for national parks and sites. I think this is the thread http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/554126-a-cool-accommodation-i-didnt-know-about/

Thanks for the link. It was a very interesting webinar and I'm excited to see that youtube has many other videos from Dyslexic Advantage that I look forward to listening to in the future (whenever I can find some time). We will keep trucking along with typing (as soon as we decide which program to commit to) and continue scribing until his keyboarding skills get up to useable standards, It's good to hear that scribing isn't a crutch, but will allow him to learn the writing process better so he can write independently later on.

I will look into Keyboarding Without Tears. So far we have tried Type to Learn 4, Touch Type Read and Spell, and the keyboarding lessons on Clever Dragons (we got a free subscription through the summer with HSBC). We haven't tried Bravewriter. We used WWE 1 a couple days each week when he was in 1st grade and then continued through the summer. The copywork took him forever so we started doing more oral narrations. I like what I have read about partner writing that Bravewriter encourages. I'm going to try a few different things this summer and see which (if any) he likes. Thanks for the suggestions.

Yes, I would love more info about how to start a team. I've read the info on the DI site, but would love some btdt advice and experience. Thank you!

We just started trial offers of a couple different typing programs and it is slow going. I was hoping to find something for ds9 so I won't have to scribe so much for him next year when he's in 4th grade. His written output is not at all a good indicator of what he knows and we want to begin changing that next year. We've done narrations that I turn into copywork but that has also been slow and tedious for him. I saw Ginger offered at HSBC awhile back but must have misunderstood it's main purpose. Thanks for the clarification.

We currently have an ancient Nook tablet, windows 8 desktop and laptop, and a Galaxy tab 4. We've been Barnes and Noble supporters, but just broke down and got amazon prime last month because BN doesn't have good audio books (we got an audible subscription at Christmas and have been loving it). I will try to turn on dictation for windows. Thanks.

We are trying to decide what activities to put our sons in next year. The oldest is indecisive and wants to do everything we have suggested as possibilities. We live in a small town and the closest clubs we have found are over an hour away. So my husband or I would probably have to start/lead something to make it happen. He loves hands-on projects, talks about inventions all the time, loved the 45 minute lego robotics class he went to at legoland and wants more opportunities to be around other kids. If anyone has experience starting or participating in Imagination Destination, First Lego League, Young Makers club, or something else along those lines that I haven't heard of, I would love to hear from you!

Any suggestions for best speech to text software as we begin accommodating my ds9 with dysgraphia? I've seen several people recommending ipad or kindle. Are those much better than dragon naturally speaking or ginger for a regular desktop or laptop? It's encouraging to read how others are accommodating their dc and gives me a better idea of how to implement these changes. Thanks

I gave him the Barton screening test and he passed. I looked at lists of symptoms of dyslexia and he meets a lot of them. Trouble sounding out words, reversing letters like b and d, q and p. Saying saw for was, no for on, and home for house. Really poor speller. Bad at foreign languages (attended an immersion school and still had a LOT of trouble saying anything in the language by the end of the year, compared to his older brother who could almost completely communicate in the foreign language by the end of his first year). Really bad at sequencing. Still has trouble remembering months and days in order (will sing a song of them in order to remember). We didn't have a good experience with public school speech therapy. He scored in the 3rd percentile for articulation (this was after 8 months of private speech therapy) when he started 1st grade and the evaluator seriously tried to tell us he didn't need services because it was just articulation and shouldn't interfere with learning since he had friends and the teachers could understand him (he was considered to be 50-60% intelligible to strangers). Thankfully he had an nice and experienced English teacher who agreed with us that it was impacting his reading because he couldn't sound out some words well if they included blends that he was still struggling with, so he got services. But he only got 30 minutes of speech therapy with 2 other kids 3 times per month. The SLP seemed annoyed when I would email and ask how he was doing or what we could be working on at home to help support him. We also had him in private speech therapy for 30 minutes each week and it was like night and day. They always gave us homework, would tell me exactly which things he was improving on and which still needed work. By the end of his 1st grade year the private therapy place said he was meeting the goals they set for him with 95% accuracy, so they recommended we take a wait and see approach and continue to practice the things he had learned and correct him when he made mistakes (mostly when he is tired or talking fast because he is excited) and then if we started seeing other issues or regression then we could look for an SLP in our new state (we moved last summer). I'm not concerned about APD for this kid. When the school did their testing he scored 97th percentile on a test where they would say a sentence and he had to pick the correct picture (there were 4 choices). The tester said she had never seen anyone score that highly on that test in her 15 years of working in schools. He loves audio books. He's my best listener. Scottish Rite said they need a recent hearing test (including tympanogram) to make sure there are no hearing issues or structural issues that could be causing the reading or speech difficulties. We've been using AAS to practice phonics and reading. We tried reading books they had assigned him at school last year but he was guessing and rushing too much so we backed up and started BOB books from the beginning and Nora Gaydos Now I'm Reading books. I have to cover the pictures or else he will just guess (and be pretty close to right, but clearly not sounding out the words). We build short sentences on the whiteboard. We practice rhyming by erasing one letter and replacing it with another. It's not that our budget is zero for his testing, it's more like we realize our oldest is in need of VT and most likely OT, our youngest ds is impulsive and most likely has ADHD and will eventually need a full neuropsych eval, so we don't want to spend more than we have to to test middle ds right now to figure out what to do for this upcoming school year (since he will probably need some kind of therapy as well). We chose Scottish Rite because a friend recommended them after getting good evals and then therapy for her kid. Free therapy if they find anything sounds really nice at this point. The person on the phone for SR couldn't tell me exactly which tests they would run, said it would depend on his symptoms/needs. She did say based on his history of speech services at public school they will have a SLP test his language and then most likely reading too. She said if the school didn't terminate his speech therapy then he would probably qualify for services at SR (but again no guarantees, they won't know for sure until after testing, etc). She said if he does end up qualifying for reading help he would be required to come in for one hour 2 times per week for OG tutoring. If you don't show up for your appointments then they will give your spot to someone else. So if a lot of people don't show up (or only show up sporadically) then he could move up the list faster. We are hoping to be able to afford a full neuropsych eval for him in the spring 2016. If we can get him free services through SR in the meantime that would be great. We will schedule a COVD vision eval to rule out possible vision processing issues that could effect reading. I was wondering if I should start Barton because I am planning for the next school year. We school year round. Our last day was on Thursday and we are visiting grandparents and cousins over the next few weeks. We're planning to start back the monday after 4th of July for the 2015-2016 school year. That should give us more of a buffer for therapy appointments and whatever else comes up over the year. Plus it is super hot here in the summer so nobody wants to be outside after 10 or 11 in the morning anyway. I'm trying to decide what to do with ds8 for reading and writing. We're going to do Aurora Lippor's online science stuff and some BFSU, SOTW, some state history stuff and field trips, Miquon, MM and lots of manipulatives, music appreciation (listening to classical music, going to high school choir and theater performances), art (visiting art museums and doing the mark kistler online drawing classes that are free this summer through HSBC). He is on book 3 of explode the code. I think that has been good for him and plan to continue it for next year, but I'm really not sure what else to use for him for ELA. I still have to sit with him when he does ETC or else he will make a lot of mistakes (because he still has trouble reading the directions and will rush through it without me there). We've been using AAS because I had that from when ds9 was in K. My oldest learned to read before K and it was mostly easy. It's feels crazy to have been working with ds8 for the past 3 years and still be about where my oldest was before K. I'd love suggestions for curriculum options or things we can be working on over the summer before his name comes up on the SR list. Thanks!

My just turned 8 year old ds is still having a lot of trouble reading. He had speech articulation issues and did private therapy in K and private and public school speech in 1st grade before we moved last summer. We are on the list for testing at our local Scottish Rite language center (they said will probably be early fall before his name comes up to be evaluated, but they couldn't guarantee any time frame, just depends on how many others before him show up, need help, etc). So should I go ahead and buy Barton and start that with him? Or get a vision evaluation? Or just wait until after testing at SR to do anything? We have a hearing test scheduled for next month (SR said they would need that). We would like to get a full neuropsych eval, but it will have to wait because we just finished getting neuropsych eval for our oldest ds and it will take awhile to save up enough for another. Any advice on how to prioritize all of this would be very much appreciated.

My ds also gets great enjoyment out of things others his age consider too babyish to be worth their time. I didn't connect those dots before. Can ADHD also make kids seem immature? We have an HMO type of insurance so if they cover it then I only have to pay a copay, but if they don't then I have to pay for all of it. We are waiting to see if the pediatrician will give us a referral for OT, VT, and an APD eval. I will also ask about any other services they offer for SCD behavioral/social stuff. Thank you!

The psych recommended that we continue homeschooling. I guess I just would like to keep my options open and the difficulties with writing and social stuff would make a public school environment far from ideal. I am sad that a door has been closed. I am exploring the at home charter option here in CA because they give you $1,000 per child per semester in exchange for you meeting with a certified teacher once each month and taking standardized tests at the end of the year. I already have most of the curriculum and materials I want to use next year, so almost all of that money could potentially go to extracurriculars. I am less concerned about an IEP than accommodations in general, maybe a 504 plan would be fine. If I could get something like swimming or gymnastics or martial arts or music lessons for free from the charter funds to supplement the therapies, then that would be great. But I wouldn't want to sign us up for that if they would be unwilling to allow him to have extra time on tests or access to a computer and keyboard for essays later on. I'm not afraid of oversight because we work our butts off, but I am concerned that they may have unrealistic expectations and make our lives more stressful. I should probably stop dreaming about this "perfect" at home charter option that so many have told me about and just focus on the other stuff and be glad we don't need to deal with the school system for the time being.

Can you get an OT evaluation? It could be a sensory processing issue, developmental coordination disorder, specific learning disorder of written expression, or something else. OT seems like a good place to start (and a lot cheaper than a full neuropsych evaluation).

So I think after reading that second link that he could have ASD. This kid flaps his arms when he runs, loves to spin and loves his patterns/routines. I just think he functions well enough that people don't notice those things. NO one suggested he had any issues the whole 2 years he was in public charter school. I'm not very hopeful that he would get an ASD diagnosis because he is better at looking people in the eye when they are talking to him because we have worked on that and he loves hugs (probably sensory seeking behavior) and is affectionate and outgoing (although socially awkward and misses other people's social cues so has a difficult time making/keeping friends). He has a cousin who is a couple years older than him and she has been tested 3 times (once as a toddler, again at the beginning of school and then a couple years ago) and both the private/insurance-covered psych and the public school psych said she couldn't have ASD because she looks them in the eye and is affectionate and "too social" to fit the label. She has a LOT more issues than my son that scream ASD to a lot of people around her and still didn't get the label. Maybe when they test her in middle school it will show up? Anyway, how do you find someone who will look past the affectionate/look you in the eye stuff to give the ASD label. I could argue my kid meets the criteria (and I understand a lot better why the people who didn't meet him wanted to give him the label). But I don't know that he would actually get it. We have already paid for the private eval. Should we just wait until after the OT and APD evals and then send in the reports to the private neuropsych testing place and ask about ASD again? Should we attempt to get him tested through the school district or through our insurance? Would those places have experts in ASD? Or would we have to pay out of pocket again? Should we just wait until middle school and test again after doing VT, OT and whatever else is needed? What measurable difference would we see if he had the ASD label now instead of his other labels? Thanks for helping me think through this!