Help with my interesting learner?

[Evergreen Academy]

I am rethinking my teaching materials for ds 6, an interesting little guy who keeps me guessing as to how he thinks. For background, he joined us through adoption at age 3, and had virtually no language at that time. He did speech therapy for two years before he tested out, but he was recently retested at my request, and has lags in his expressive language. He also has a great deal of difficulty recounting anything read to him and restating it. I am filling out paperwork to have him evaluated by a developmental pediatrician, but in the meantime, want to do the best I can teaching him. He is undoubtedly bright and has some "spectrumy"/sensory traits like an obsession with trains, incredible eye and memory for detail, unusual interest in order and schedule, inability to think unless he is moving, concrete thinking - trouble with the abstract. However he has decent social skills and great motor skills.

 

The issues:

 

1. Math - we are using CLE 1. He is having trouble with the abstract concepts. When there is something to count, he does great. But understanding tens and ones places confounds him. He can do a story problem in his head, but when asked to put it on paper, he can't think of what numbers to put where or why. I don't know if it's not developmentally "clicked" yet, or if it's the wrong approach. However he LOVES the timed math tests. I am considering getting levels 2 and 3 of Developmental Math for him. Any ideas?

 

2. LA - He reads well and the Pathway Readers are great for him - simple, black and white, not distracting. We're using FLL and he is great at the poem memorization. He learns best with repetition - lots of it; in fact we are memorizing the book of James with the bigger kids, and he floored us all by opening his mouth one day and reciting the first 11 verses - perfectly. But read a paragraph and ask him for a few details - ugh! I have found that using books with pictures (if I'm reading to him) helps a lot, but abstract concepts like what a noun is, or even a grandmother or uncle, are just impossible. Because he is a visual learner, I've tried drawing a family tree to illustrate the grandparent concept, talked about it to death, and while he knows who his grandparents are, simply cannot recount that they are his parents parents. On the one hand, using FLL helps me to uncover some areas of weakness in his learning style, but it can be maddening! Should I keep using this, or is there something that would be better?

 

We are also using WWE 1 and while it can be crazy-making as well, when asking him to recount detail, I think it is good practice for him in listening, and he does enjoy it - even when I have to read the paragraph two or three times for him to pay attention.

 

I would appreciate input if any of you have a learner like this. He is a fascinating, delightful little person and I'd like to serve him best and help him live up to all his potential.

Blessings,

Aimee

mom to 6 great kids ages 6-19, schooling grades 1, 3, 3 and 6

[bigdogs29906]

I don't have a lot to offer here...

but what about using cuisennaire rods for math (we use them with Miquon & Singapore). They work wonderfully for my son, who needs to "see" the math.

 

For LA what about Learning Language Arts Through Literature or maybe even McRuffy?

[Evergreen Academy]

Thank you for the input, I will look into those choices. Something interesting we do for math, that I started with another ds and am using with this little ones, may (or may not) be similar to the cuisinaire rods. At the suggestion of a friend, we use dried beans. I glued groups of ten beans each to a number of popsicle sticks, so there we have groups of ten we can pull out, and the singles are in a baggie. We keep the whole thing in a basket and pull them out when we need a visual. Don't know if that works the same but might be an extremely cost effective option for some.

Thanks again,

Aimee

mom to 6 great kids ages 6-19, schooling grades 1, 3, 3 and 6

[Verity]

I use Math U See (MUS) for my two visual learners on the spectrum. I have found the blocks, along with the dvd instruction, to be really helpful for both kids. Also the MUS workbooks are all black and white with lots of white space and no distractions. Very helpful here.

 

For LA we are using WWE and FLL, I like the way it is broken into small chunks of information. I observed a similar inability in my boys to summarize/retell stories but they are getting better with age.