Need advice-- retention issues

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I am sure this is a common problem on this board but ds is going to be a 1st grader. He is 6 now will turn 7 in Oct and he just does not retain. We work on handwriting and he does great towards the end then next time we do handwriting he starts over again and needs all the help in forming letters. We are re-doing ARFH K.

 

Same with phonics, same with AAS 1. We are still trying to get all the letter sounds correct in AAS1. He can not remember all the sounds for the vowels and Y.

 

Any advice? Do we just keep plugging away? Should I double the amount of time we work on it? We do it daily except for sat and sun. I am considering doing Handwriting, phonics and math on Saturday and Sunday as well to keep those skills up but would 7 days a week frustrate him? Would it do any good? I don't mean all day, maybe just 15 mins each subject those days?

 

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[rafiki]

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[wy_kid_wrangler04]

My son is VERY music oriented. He LOVE all things music. Do you have any recommendations for that? He does have sensory issues (SPD, SID) so I don't want to over do it with him, kwim? Our budget is so busted for this school year- went way past what I should have (BUT I sold abunch of stuff to get some of that ;)) Anyways, I know there is a phonics program with singing, I can not recall what it is but it is well over $200 and that might as well be a million dollars right now. Do you know of anything online (free) that might help?

 

We do phonics pathways, ETC (he loves workbooks- go figure :001_huh:) We do starfall (there is some audio/visual)

 

I have word works. I should stop trying to sell that to get more curriculum money and actually start playing the games with him, huh? :lol:

 

What games do you play? We have a sunken ship treasure ship phonics game that I think all the pieces are there- ds's do NOT leave stuff alone :glare:

[Mom22ns]

I don't know that I have advice, but I want to offer encouragement. My ds seemed to constantly lose... well almost everything. He would do great for weeks or months then one day it would be as if we had never studied it at all. Math was the worst for him.

 

This gradually improved through elementary school, and is now almost totally gone. A rare concept will disappear in math still, but overall, it just isn't an issue any more. Keep plugging away. There is hope.

[rafiki]

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[peacefully]

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[amo_mea_filiis.]

Just throwing this out there since we're dealing with it-

 

My son has had 2 sleep studies, both of which show he spends minimal time in REM sleep. REM sleep is crucial for making memories concrete in the brain.

 

I don't know how to fix REM sleep which is why we're still working with a sleep disorders team, but knowing his brain can't possibly form things correctly helps my patience. We have to go over things ALL THE TIME before it sticks.

 

When his sleep is normalized, I'll let you know if anything changes!

[Dobela]

When we first started with our reading tutor, she told me to have him practice every day, twice a day, until it was well engrained in his mind. So, twice a day, every day I would do simple drills with him for short reviews. We then slowly backed to once a day, then not every day, and so on.

 

My son's handwriting problem resolved after vision therapy. It seems he never saw the letters the same way twice and as such couldn't pull them out of memory.