curriculum help

[lorrainejmc]

This is my first time posting on the SN board, so hi:001_smile:

 

I have a 7yr old ds who had long term glue ear in his younger years. He is still very behind in speech and understanding. He is a very visual learner and does well with Starfall as it shows him as well as tells. I am looking for suggestions for curriculum for him for math/LA skills that is NOT computer based as we are following a developmental style of ST and we need to have a lot interactions through the day, rather than him working at the computer, and this would also help with listening and understanding, as well as his sound production and general sociabilty.

 

I could put together something myself such as flashcards with matching magnetic letters to the words and moving towards matching words to pictures etc and something similar for math, but if there was something already available put together I would really prefer that as I have 2 other kids to homeschool as well and, TBH, I am exhausted just choosing curriculum ATM.

 

I look forward to any suggestions:001_smile:

[PeterPan]

The poor thing! I had to look up the term glue ear, as I hadn't heard it before. (It's recurrent ear infections with glue-like secretions, for those who don't know.) Did you investigate food intolerances? I haven't read this whole book, but what I did read was interesting and fit with our experiences. http://www.amazon.com/Gut-Psychology-Syndrome-Depression-Schizophrenia/dp/0954852001

 

Are you now doing formal speech therapy? Don't want to duplicate what your therapist might have suggested, but you might find something like this interesting http://www.amazon.com/Melissa-Forneys-Picture-Speller-Writers/dp/0965242226/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305148355&sr=1-1 I use it with my ds. It has 110 pages with 12 pictures and words to a page. I just read it to my ds, because he's only 2. But with your ds being 7, you could make it more interactive, having him point or read out the words or play little I Spy games. It just has a lot of potential.

 

WTM also gives you a lot of suggestions in the K5 section for how to talk with children and create a language rich environment. Although your thought is to go visual, I would suggest you do the opposite and force him to use his language/auditory. With both of my children, what we have found is that the brain puts its energy into using the thing that it can do easily. If you want him to improve in language, you have to remove the crutch of using visual all the time and balance him back out. I'm sure your ST has recommendations on what you should or should not be doing. For us they basically said to require speech for EVERYTHING. WTM does it sort of covertly in the K5 recommendations, suggesting that you narrate your day. So as you cook, you tell him what you're doing. As you play, you say what you're doing.

 

Well I don't even know if that's helpful. That's just how we're handling it in our house. Welcome to the boards! :)

[lorrainejmc]

Hi, no he has no allergies. He has a high palate which made him more prone to glue ear, except the doctors didn't tell until he was affected for a long time.

 

I totally agree that he is using visual to learn because it is easy for him and I do also agree that he needs to move towards auditory learning. I'm just a bit stuck right now with what to actually purchase for the school year ahead that will help achieve this.

[PeterPan]

Well where is he at with language arts? Is he still working on learning to read? I hate to tell you what we used, simply because it might not be what he needs. We used SWR, FLL, and then Shurley. All of those are interactive and would give you the verbal side. I think you'd do really well to play games with him. There are lots of nice games for this age to work on basic skills. For instance I just picked up Boggle Jr. at the thrift store. You form little words to match the pictures by rolling the dice. Also I got a Charades for kids game where they read the words and act out for the others to guess. For SWR we tended to play phonogram (letter sounds) bingo and spelling games like Mother May I where you would advance for each word you spelled correctly.

 

Your ds might also enjoy listening to books on tape. Do you have access to those? Are you really in Ireland? My dd listened to LOTS of books on tape when she was that age. With your ds, I'd look for books paired with pictures, and after you see how those are going start introducing some audio books without the accompanying picture book (just audio). Did that make any sense? That's what I was talking about with creating a language-rich environment. You can just turn on the audio book and let him play while he listens. His brain will absorb and process it, even if it doesn't seem immediately obvious. Let him listen to the same book over and over. We also had a series called "Your Story Hour" that my dd enjoyed listening to. Let him listen to the Little House on the Prairie series, and later when he reads it the words will already be familiar and go faster.

 

There's a lot of speech interaction to play. If you don't have time to play because you have a lot of kids, then maybe assign someone else to play with him. Encourage them to TALK about their play. Whose turn is it? Ooo, I rolled 5! I will move 5. Now it is your turn. What did you roll? Or you can use I Spy books or play I Spy games.

 

Have you tried Usborne books with him? They're very visual and have short snippets of text. Comics are another way to lure him in. My dd's first book was a comic book in fact, Calvin & Hobbes. :)

 

For math, I used RightStart when my dd was that age, and I like it a lot. I also like Math Mammoth that we're now. I think in your case the important thing is interacting with him, whatever you do. You could even do an inexpensive workbook. I'd just make sure you're getting some manipulatives out and TALKING about the math. That way you're working on speech all day long. Have you seen Kitchen Table Math? It's a book with lots of activities to work through elementary math concepts. I'd like to get it to use with my ds in a couple years. It would give you some ideas.

[lorrainejmc]

Yes, I really am in Ireland:D (Northern Ireland to be exact)

 

This year we used Letterland early years, Hands on Math and HWT preK.

 

I haven't really started phonics with him yet. He has difficulty repeating the sounds and his knowledge isn't secure. I was drawn to AAR level pre1, which in some ways is similar to what I used this year. There seems to be a lot verbal interaction required in AAR which would be a struggle for him, but I know he could do the activity sheets towards the end of the curriculum *now* as he has done the same sort of activities on Starfall.

 

He loves puzzles, especially montessori type puzzles. We do have some story cd's and I am also waiting arrival of Music For Little Mozarts, which I think he will really enjoy. I have another ds5 who will be using MUS primer, HWT K and Jolly Phonics. I wonder if I should just take the plunge and try these for ds7 as well? I am always guilty of underestimating this poor boy:001_huh:

 

I think I was hoping there was some curriculum that would be perfect for him that I just had not heard of yet:confused:

[peacefully]

.

[Mom0012]

I'd take a look at Rod and Staff Math and either Spell to Write and Read or All About Spelling.

 

Lisa

[PeterPan]

Lorraine--Sorry to take so long to reply. We were out of town for a few days! Have they checked his oral tone? My ds has low oral tone (or did before speech therapy) with a small amount of tongue protrusion, and the speech therapist said left unchecked it would affect his palate shape. I'm just putting a couple thoughts together there (your comments about his palate shape and issues with speech). When you said you're following a developmental style of ST, is there a speech therapist guiding you? Is he in speech therapy?

 

I just think it's concerning that he can't repeat the sounds. That's a symptom of apraxia (dyspraxia) which is motor control, not developmental. My cousin had some hearing loss due to recurrent ear infections but quickly caught up when they recognized the problem and started treating them. In other words, I'm saying you could have *2* problems going on, not just one. I would do some research on apraxia/dyspraxia, oral tone, high palate, etc. and see where that gets you. I did some googling for it in Ireland and found a yahoo question with a lady in Ireland looking for PROMPT therapy. PROMPT is what our speech therapist does with my ds. It's AMAZING. It would be worth looking for a 2nd opinion on the speech evaluation, if your speech therapist hasn't looked for these issues.

 

Just to get you started, here are a few links.

 

http://www.promptinstitute.com You can contact them to see about therapists in your area. If there aren't any, and if you conclude it's what you need, it would actually be worth traveling for.

http://www.fragilex.org/html/physical1.htm I'm not saying this is what he has, but it just happened to discuss several of the things I was talking about (low tone, high palate, oral and verbal dyspraxia/apraxia, etc.).

 

Well maybe that will get you somewhere.

[lorrainejmc]

Lorraine--Sorry to take so long to reply. We were out of town for a few days! Have they checked his oral tone? My ds has low oral tone (or did before speech therapy) with a small amount of tongue protrusion, and the speech therapist said left unchecked it would affect his palate shape. I'm just putting a couple thoughts together there (your comments about his palate shape and issues with speech). When you said you're following a developmental style of ST, is there a speech therapist guiding you? Is he in speech therapy?

 

I just think it's concerning that he can't repeat the sounds. That's a symptom of apraxia (dyspraxia) which is motor control, not developmental. My cousin had some hearing loss due to recurrent ear infections but quickly caught up when they recognized the problem and started treating them. In other words, I'm saying you could have *2* problems going on, not just one. I would do some research on apraxia/dyspraxia, oral tone, high palate, etc. and see where that gets you. I did some googling for it in Ireland and found a yahoo question with a lady in Ireland looking for PROMPT therapy. PROMPT is what our speech therapist does with my ds. It's AMAZING. It would be worth looking for a 2nd opinion on the speech evaluation, if your speech therapist hasn't looked for these issues.

 

Just to get you started, here are a few links.

 

www.promptinstitute.com You can contact them to see about therapists in your area. If there aren't any, and if you conclude it's what you need, it would actually be worth traveling for.

http://www.fragilex.org/html/physical1.htm I'm not saying this is what he has, but it just happened to discuss several of the things I was talking about (low tone, high palate, oral and verbal dyspraxia/apraxia, etc.).

 

Well maybe that will get you somewhere.

 

Yes, we have a speech therapist guiding us.:001_smile: Ds was born with a high palate. We had genetic testing to ensure there was nothing more going on. He has been assessed by a craniofacial speech therapist and he made sounds and was talking normally for his age until the hearing problems. It less "can't", more "won't" repeat sounds. He will repeat the sounds when playing in Starfall, but won't "perform" for me. He has a lot of anxieties regarding his speech, so what I really meant was that he can't repeat the sounds *under pressure* IYKWIM? He is doing well now *outside* of school time, though. Apraxia, ASD etc have all been ruled out. His motor skills are fine for his age, can ride a bike and use the computer mouse/nintendo ds etc. He has baffled a few therapists before now.:confused:

Edited May 14, 2011 by lorrainejmc

[LizzyBee]

Singapore Math is very visual. Right Start Math is hands-on with lots of games, and my dd absolutely loves it. For spelling, you could look at All About Spelling, which is visual and hands-on. Or if he still needs a phonics program for reading, Sing, Spell, Read and Write is hands-on and fun.