For me, I didn't grow up in church at all. My parents were not spiritual at all and raised us up believing nothing. Three weeks before my 18th birthday I had a supernatural close encounter with Jesus Christ. He literally saved my life as I had been planning to commit suicide that day. A co-worker had been inviting me to go to church with her and I never went but when I was finally at the end of my rope I agreed to go with her. When I got into the church, God was already there waiting for me. I was immediately convicted of my sin just upon walking into the place the Holy Spirit was so strong in there. I literally wanted to run out of the place, but I rationalized that there was no way I could possibly do that so I sat down in the very back and waited for the service to be over. I kept telling myself that I didn't belong there and that this was all a big mistake and I just had to bide my time until it was all over and I could go home. But then the pastor started to speak and somehow actually spoke my whole life story outloud. I know it was for me and for me alone because there were so many private and personal things that he said that he could not possibly have known that were so specific that I soon realized that it was God himself speaking to me. That was very startling and a little scary, but also amazing because then I knew that God was real and that He really existed. He kept saying, "Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come. Come. I love you. I want to forgive you. I want to wash you clean. I want to make you white as snow. Come to me." And I said "okay". That was it. I was born again in that moment from the pew where I was sitting. I never said a "sinner's prayer" or went up to an altar, there wasn't even an altar call. My salvation experience was God called me and I said yes to Him. After that I started reading my Bible and as I read it, I heard echoing through the words the same exact voice that called me in that church that day. It was God and it is His word. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. I am now 37 years old and I have been walking with God since 1989 and He is the only thing that I am absolutely sure of. He has revealed Himself to me over and over and spoken to me many times over the years and He has loved me like no other ever has and I just thank Him continually for meeting me in that church that day. He saved my life and my soul and set my feet on a new path and I just cannot imagine my life without Him. I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for Him. Thank you Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you. :)

I love reading myself and always wanted so much for my kids to be readers too. I guess the first thing I did to take steps in that direction was that I prayed about it. I specifically prayed each day for my kids to love to read. When my daughter, who is my oldest, was young, I would get books out of the library for her and I would always read with alot of excitement and change my voice for each of the characters and shout if the character was shouting or make silly faces if they were being silly and she used to crack up and then stick her face closer into the book to try to see if that is what the book really said. She was the one that wanted to read and so I started teaching her. She has been reading on her own ever since. She loves books and always has one in her hand although she does like tv and computer too. With my son, it is totally different. He has severe Autism so everything with him is different, but I still prayed that he would love books and he does too. He is actually teaching himself to read and his very favorite things in the world are Veggie Tales books. I think fun stories, with bright colored pictures read aloud with alot of emotion and excitement worked for me and above it all prayer. I hope this helps. :)

Thank you kindly for your reply and suggestion. Is this like biofeedback therapy? I used to do that when I was a teenager for chronic migraines that I had.

LOL Your life sounds alot like mine! hehe :)

What grade are you looking for for the Singapore?

I do the same thing. I buy things throughout the year second hand. I also rely heavily on the library for readers and such as they usually have most of the books, if not I buy them online used. I already have bought almost all of my things for next year's school already and what remains (a microscope and BJU LIfe Science kit) I will buy over the 2 months before the next school year starts and take the money out of the groceries. :)

Wow!! That's scary. So is it the psychiatrist then that shouuld prescribe the meds?? My daughter doesn't have a psychiatrist, just a neurologist and a pediatrician.

Oh thank you!! I'll take hugs any time! :) I'm so glad that your son was so greatly helped. That's wonderful. I hope that there will be something to help my daughter too. She is so wonderfully bright and creative. She just finished writing a book!! No kidding! A 106 page book about kids who are spies! We're going to see if we can get it published. She's such a great kid, but she just really struggles in Math. I'm going to call her doctor tomorrow and see about setting up a consultation appointment. I pray that God will just lead us where we need to go to get this kid the help she needs. I have tried everything that I could do thus far and nothing has really helped her. I hope that this route will. Thank you again. :grouphug:

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it. I'll call her doctor tomorrow. I think for my daughter the side effects are going to be the tricky part because she has so many other issues. Her neurologist already alluded to that. She has ticks that go along with her OCD and she has the Asperger's too to contend with. Hopefully there will be some medication that she can take to be able to help her with the ADHD without exacerbating the symptoms of the other disorders. Thank you again kindly for all of the replies. I cannot tell you how much better I feel just knowing that I'm not the only one dealing with these issues. It really is a comfort. :)

That is what I have noticed too. For kids who have allergies or intolerances, it really can do wonders, but for kids who aren't allergic, it really doesn't do anything.

I'm so sorry to hear your struggle. I wish I could give you a hug. It is so hard. These kids are so special and wonderful but so challenging as well. Have you taken your son to a pediatric neurologist? They can tell you if he is bi-polar or ADD. They may also want to do tests to determine any physical causes to his symptoms. I wish you all the best. :) Jennifer

It does seem that we are at the same point that you were out. It takes on average about 4 hours for us to do math each day. The other stuff we breeze through, thank God, and she loves to read and story time is pleasant for both of us and we do alot of hands on activities in school to keep it fun and to give her a physical activity instead of just sitting, but there's just no getting around the math. hehe I talked to my husband at dinner about the possibility of trying meds for her. I thought he would give me an adamant, "no", but he listened and he is willing to go to the neurologist with me and talk to him about it. I want to do some research first on what meds are being prescribed for this condition and the side effects/dangers. If someone can give me some information on that as well I would be very grateful. Thank you everybody for contributing to this thread and being so open and willing to share your own personal stories. It really helps me to know that I am not alone and that there are other people out there dealing with the same problems that I am. It really is quite comforting. :) Thank you all so much. :)

Thank you so much for your reply. This is exactly what I am asking myself. Am I harming her by not exploring meds. Can you tell me more about your experiences before taking the meds and how they changed after taking them? You can PM me if you prefer but I really am interested in how they affected you. Thanks so much. :)

hehe Thanks for your reply. I haven't tried a koosh ball or anything like that when she is doing math. We aren't doing the diet in my house because first of all, I couldn't afford that diet, secondly, I'm not entirely sure that it even works. My brother has 2 kids with autism and he has all 4 of his kids on that diet. They've been on it for years and I've never seen any difference in them. I think that diet is great for kids who have allergies that manifest themself in Autistic type symptoms, but that's not the case with my kids. They're not allergic to anything. I couldn't do the diet with my son anyway because he is already as thin as a rail. He only eats, white rice, cheerios and Digiornos pepperoni pizza. All of that is off the diet, but trust me, that kid is so head strong that he would starve himself before he would eat that other stuff. He has serious sensory issues. But my daughter's math problems are really more a problem with her ADHD than the Aspergers. I've learned to work around the OCD and the Asperger's in our homeschool by phrasing things different ways and explaining the nuances for her, but it's just the ADHD is killing us in the math area because of her inability to focus long enought to solve a complex word problem. We switched from Saxon to Singapore 2 years ago and she really likes the Singapore, but it's strong suit is that it teaches you to think instead of just how to solve a certain type of problem and that is where she is struggling. On the one hand, it is good for her to have her mind trained to think problems through to solve them, but that is also where it is difficult for her because of her disability. I'm just wondering if medication would even make a difference for her at all. She has two friends with ADHD and they are both on meds. I just don't know if my own prejudice against medication is hurting my daughter or helping her. Am I protecting her from some possibly harmful substance that she would have to take over the long term, or am I making her life more difficult by not taking advantage of all the options available??

Hi everyone. I'm new here. This is my first post actually. My name is Jennifer and I have 2 kids with special needs. My son (8) has severe Autism and he goes to the Autism cluster in Public School. My daughter (11) has ADHD, OCD and Aspergers. I have homeschooled her pretty much all of her life. She went to a charter school for 3rd grade because my husband insisted that her problems were a result of her not being socialized by other kids. After 2 months of her being in school he informed me that he wanted me to homeschool her again the following year. She is extremely bright, but she has trouble staying focused. It was fine when she was younger because the work load was not as much as it is now and the material was not as complex. I would teach her, she would get it, and we would move on. We did alot of hands on learning and would always do a fun activity after book work to give her a break and let her have an opportunity to move around and expend some energy and do something else. Well now that she is in 6th grade, the math is getting alot more challenging. It's not that she doesn't understand what to do so much as that she cannot focus long enough in order to complete more complex multi-step problems and she is making a lot of careless mistakes. I am so frustrated because I feel like I am failing her. I keep trying different things and to approach the problems in different ways, but everytime she has a test she is failing miserably because she just can't stay focused. We have never put her on medication, mostly because the thought of her having to take it for so long I find very troubling and on top of that, the neurologist told us that medication for the ADHD would worsen her other problems and visa versa. I have tried herbal remedies, relaxation techniques, aromatherapy, music therapy etc and nothing helps her. I just don't know what I should do anymore. Has anyone else had this problem that can maybe offer some advice? I feel like I'm failing her miserably and I just don't know what else to do for her. Thanks to all who reply. :) Jennifer