How do you classically educate your special needs child?

[Renee in NC]

I know we talk about diagnoses and remedial programs, but I really want to know how people classically educate their children with special needs. I am speaking of the methods rather than actual specific recommendations. For example, I am not using OPGTR with my 8yo as it doesn't meet his needs, but I am teaching him intensive, systematic phoncis.

 

Do you follow the 4-year cycle?

 

Have you delayed implementing the logic stage due to disabilities?

 

What parts of the method described in TWTM have you just not been able to do and what do you do instead? What parts have you kept in place?

[cathmom]

good question!

 

:lurk5:

[Dobela]

I know we talk about diagnoses and remedial programs, but I really want to know how people classically educate their children with special needs. I am speaking of the methods rather than actual specific recommendations. For example, I am not using OPGTR with my 8yo as it doesn't meet his needs, but I am teaching him intensive, systematic phoncis.

 

Do you follow the 4-year cycle?

 

Have you delayed implementing the logic stage due to disabilities?

 

What parts of the method described in TWTM have you just not been able to do and what do you do instead? What parts have you kept in place?

4 years ago I started out trying to follow TWTM and didn't because of life issues. Then as ds learning issues became apparent, I got further away from it and focused on bare necessities because they took forever. At this point I don't know how to reincorporate it and do it for his age -9. I would love to hear what others have to say.

[Quiver0f10]

I am far from an expert in things classical, but we are trying to stick to classical in our approach to the best of both my son's and my ability. We do memory work, we do copy work, we do narrations to our history, science and lit. We stick to the 4 year rotation. We talk talk talk. I am not sure if we will do latin or not. I'd like to, but we might end up doing a root program. We might never get to it. Time wll tell.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Quiver0f10

[EKS]

I don't know if I can say that I "officially" classically educate my son, but...

 

My son has dyslexia and ADD. He is also gifted which helps quite a bit, but he still struggles and he struggled *a lot* when he was younger.

 

I stick to the classical model in concept but I use whatever resources work for my son. So, for example, the incremental method used by Hake Grammar worked well, so I used it. He did grammar and it was rigorous but it wasn't the recommended text.

 

I also read aloud way more that I think than most people do at my son's level and I plan to through high school. I read textbooks, period literature, historical fiction, all kinds of things aloud. My son also reads quite a bit on his own, but he reads slowly, so it makes more sense to share the reading.

 

I would have done the four year rotation for history, and did do one from grades 3-6 but since we started late he is doing a two year rotation in grades 7-8 and then a three, rather than four, year rotation in grades 9-11. I think our history studies have been wonderful.

 

I don't do science the WTM way because I don't agree with sticking to a single topic in the elementary years.

 

We have done Latin for the last two years and I have finally given up. I've decided that he can pick his language when he starts high school in the fall because I'm tired of arguing. Frankly, I won't be surprised if he picks Latin.

 

I tend to differentiate between the WTM way and the classical method in general. Just because a resource isn't mentioned in WTM doesn't mean that if you use it you aren't educating classically.

[Misty]

For my 11yo daughter with AS, TS, OCD, ADHD, SPD, dyscalculia, hyperlexia, & dysgraphia... I am able to follow the trivium fairly well.. I am easing into the logic stage because she does have some comprehension issues. She wants to be able to pull everything directly from her memory of steel, like she did in the grammar stage. Logic is definitely harder for her. I have never required much handwritten work from her due to her fine motor issues. We did copywork longer than is recommended and delayed dictation because of her dysgraphia. We do follow the four-year cycle with history, but not science. She reads voraciously so really I barely teach history and science at all. She inhales it all on her own. She is very academically advanced and writes books in her spare time.

 

For my 8yo daughter with Asperger's we have done fairly well so far, but we are a little behind due to cross-country moves and newborn babies in the past 3 years. So far no major issues with her, but I do find myself delaying some things because she just doesn't seem emotionally ready to handle the more rigorous stuff (like Latin).

 

For my 6yo daughter with AS, OCD, ADHD, SPD, & NVLD.. I am lucky to get the basics in with her and I'm sure it will be that way for many years to come. She has a lot of significant issues and we are getting ready to start ABA therapy. She just completed 6 months of occupational therapy.

[prairiegirl]

Excellent question!

 

I have just taken my head out of the sand this year and realized that all 3 of my children are dyslexic. My ds also has dyspraxia, I am new to this dyslexia thing but I am slowly realizing that we may not be able to do all things classical.

 

Latin is one area that I have had to give up (at least for now) I kept trying with my oldest but it was a plan in discouragement. I will try again in a couple of years.

 

We do the 4 yr. cycle for history and I do it for Science as well but I don't do one area for the whole year. I also came to the realization this year that unit studies for these content subjects work much better for my kids. So instead of doing history and science twice a week each. We do a science topic for three weeks and the move on to history for a month. This has been very successful for us.

 

We are able to do copywork and narration and have amazing discussions about history and literature.

 

I am not sure about the logic stage as we will be entering it this fall. I plan on doing logic stage things slowly. I am learning that building a strong foundation takes time. I can't get impatient. Slow and stready wins the race.

[HeidiD]

I don't follow the 4 year cycle, but I do like the WTM suggestions as a jumping off point and a guide. DS (starting 5th, dyslexic/dysgraphic) loves history, but learns best by watching documentaries, travel films and historical drama, as well as caption/picture books and history magazines, reenactments and costumes. We've covered most of the history cycle once already (although quite out of order). :)

Copywork, dictation and memory work need to be modified, so I've made up copybooks with short selections and lots of space for writing. They include Latin passages and prayers, but we haven’t done formal Latin yet. This year, I'm hoping to squeeze in a very simple, multisensory Latin program.

Thus far we've used a "living books" approach to science, but I'm planning to switch to Dr. Nebel's elementary science - adapted for multi-level use. His teaching method looks like it will dovetail nicely with the goals and techniques outlined in the WTM, although once again, material won't be covered in the same order.

I like the WTM book as a framework rather than a program to be followed to the letter, either in method or content. Treating the 3 stages as separate entities has always struck me as somewhat of an artificial compartmentalization of intellectual development. I've seen that grammar, logic and rhetorical abilities can develop fairly early, and in the case of my kids with ld's, I am consciously working on logic and rhetoric (albeit at simpler levels than recommended in the book, and orally rather than written) from early on in the grammar stage. I want them, as early as possible, to develop the habits of thought that lead to making connections and communicating clearly and logically, and from what I've observed, (I have a big family:)) these skills aren't dependent on covering a designated amount of content beforehand, although they are certainly enhanced as the child matures and covers more material.

[Orthodox6]

Not sure how best to describe what I have done for all these many years. I'm not going to express myself very well, because this is not a formal essay !

 

I have not distinguished among my three special needs dc and my one "regular" dc other than to search for materials and methods that "fit" each child individually.

 

I ignore the regimentation of "classical education", ignore the literal application of classical programs (such as WTM, St. John's College, etc.), and extract the essences of a classical education, the skills and knowledge areas that I hope my children will learn, each child to the extent that God enables him or her: (1) reading for enjoyment; reading for analyis; reading until that "light bulb" flares into illumination and into creativity; (2) writing with mechanical clarity and good-quality content, for persuasion, for teaching something, and for pure enjoyment; (3) learning the basic rules of logical thought and of effective bi-directional communication; (4) learning enough of a foreign language (ANY foreign language) to enjoy another culture's literature and to communicate effectively with speakers of that language; (5) studying the sciences in order to appreciate the organization and reliability (as well as the exceptions) that God placed directly into His creation, and to understand that if God did not uphold and maintain His creation, everything would cease to exist; (6) seeking to understand history and geography "holistically" (forgive the hip-jargon term) with understanding that history, geography, science, religion, literature, language, mathematics, economics, politics, art, music, and every facet of human life are woven together into that complex, often mysterious, never fully-comprehensible to the mind of mere mankind, sometimes hideous, sometimes sublimely beautiful tapestry we call "Life."

 

How one applies those essences of a classical education to teaching any particular student, is going to vary, if one honors the individual integrity of each child. If our special needs dc are "different" from our one other, it is only the degree to which we have had to "trial-and-error" curricula until we found the best fit.

Edited June 10, 2009 by Orthodox6

[dalynnrmc]

For my probable aspie/ dx'd lang. processing delayed son -

 

Delaying entering logic stage, for certain, and then probably prolong it to make for a very short rhetoric stage.

 

Writing... very... slowly... one thing at a time. First we worked really hard, for two whole years, on his ability to narrate. YAY! Got it! And now we are learning to break things down into outlines, and at the same time learning to brainstorm for personal writing using a fantastic easy-does-it writing program.

 

He's way ahead in spelling and reading, but behind in comprehension. Before we tackle Latin, we're doing vocabulary. First we used a curriculum that was "just a list of words," but it had little to no cohesion, and therefore little to no retention. So now we've begun EFRU and I think this will work fantastically, and give us an easy intro to Latin. Halfway through it, I plan to introduce "Getting Started With Latin," so that by the end of the year, or halfway through next year, he can begin Latin Jr from Power-Glide. (Which I just picked up at a used sale for... $2. I know!!! I was amazed.)

 

 

History we're following a tweaked 4-yr cycle. Really, it's the 4 year cycle with a lengthened first year and then a year and a half on Am Hist... So it's 6 years, and he won't get it all twice.

 

Science... I gave up, and Dad took over. :lol: Units seem to be what will work for him in this area. That and Dad doing it. I'm just not a science person. Don't like doing experiments, and don't know enough about it all to be doing it. I could handle it if he could learn and retain from reading it out of the textbook, but since he can't, someone else needs to handle this. Dh decided to take over; I gave him the option of that or finding a class. We'll see how dh does. ;) So far he's done well... except they've only had one class. LOL