Which curriculum / materials work (ed) best for your HFA / Asperger ?

[blessedmom3]

My ds is almost 7 and today he was dg with HFA with Aspergers tendencies . I've always suspected that but nobody agreed with me , including husband,inlaws, specialists, etc

A mother must have a supernatural instinct :)

 

So what has worked/works for yours best?

Right now we are using and seems to work:

FLL

Climbing to good English

HOD (even if any reading aloud it's hard to comprehend , I think it's still helping him)

CLE math

Singapore (he has a very hard time with this or anything that requires thinking but since this is his weakness, I am determined to make it work)

 

I am looking on a curriculum planning for next years , so I'm interested in anything up to high school !

 

Also any books to improve his social skills are greatly appreciated !

[NotSoObvious]

My ds is almost 7 and today he was dg with HFA with Aspergers tendencies . I've always suspected that but nobody agreed with me , including husband,inlaws, specialists, etc

A mother must have a supernatural instinct :)

 

So what has worked/works for yours best?

Right now we are using and seems to work:

FLL

Climbing to good English

HOD (even if any reading aloud it's hard to comprehend , I think it's still helping him)

CLE math

Singapore (he has a very hard time with this or anything that requires thinking but since this is his weakness, I am determined to make it work)

 

I am looking on a curriculum planning for next years , so I'm interested in anything up to high school !

 

Also any books to improve his social skills are greatly appreciated !

 

FLL and CLE math work for us! She loves Story of the World, which is her favorite subject. Writing with Ease was a life saver for us, as was All About Spelling.

[blessedmom3]

At what age did you start WWE? I started it with my typical child when he was 5 and he did wonderful . But my ASD child he is almost 7 and I think WWE is still way over his head .He has comprehension issues.

[elise1mds]

My son despised Singapore, too. MUS has worked much, much better for him. I tried keeping the Singapore as a supplement, but it just didn't work with the way his brain functions, so I dropped it. We also love FLL, and he is really getting a lot out of a book called Writing Skills. He hated WWE because of all the writing and copywork... he never saw the point of copywork and would fight me, though he now enjoys the dictation out of FLL3. Go figure. SOTW has always been our spine for history (though it took him a long, long time to even look at a coloring page), and we used RSO for science until this year - we switched to Elemental Science. Congrats(?) on getting a diagnosis so you know what to shoot for!

Edited September 1, 2011 by elise1mds
SOTW is not science... derh :p

[ktgrok]

FLL, WWE, Math Mammoth

[Misty]

FLL

Easy Grammar Systems

Growing With Grammar

 

RightStart Math

Teaching Textbooks Math

 

SOTW

Turning them loose in the library

 

What is he good at and what does he struggle with?

 

Things that were PURE TORTURE were Singapore, Saxon, Analytical Grammar, and making them read books they didn't want to read..:D That just doesn't work for Aspies.

[Dandelion]

My DS8 has Asperger's - here's what's working for us for the main subjects:

 

- FLL (we're wrapping up FLL 1&2 right now and already have FLL 3 ready to go)

- HWT - handwriting is a real struggle for him, but this series has been great (he wouldn't admit that, but I can see that it's working)

- Spelling Workout

- Abeka Math - we used Singapore Math last year and it did not work for him at all. He seems much happier with Abeka, and actually announced the other day that he's really "starting to love math"!! I like it better too - their approach just makes more sense to me.

- SOTW - he absolutely loves SOTW (we've completed Volume 1 and are almost done with Volume 2 - taking our time since he enjoys it so much, so we supplement quite a bit with library books, online history videos, etc.)

- Science is his strong suit (he reads our old college science textbooks for fun) so we're not using a curriculum for this subject - just going with his interests, with books we have on hand, lots of library books, and the plethora of information available on the internet

 

HTH!

[Jennifer-72]

Also any books to improve his social skills are greatly appreciated !

 

The book "Thinking About You, Thinking About Me", by Michelle Garcia Winner and her Social detective books are great. They are probably the most widely recommended. http://www.socialthinking.com/books-products?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=124&category_id=14

 

Some other books I have used for social skills that have helped are "Raise Your Child's Social IQ" by Cathi Cohen. I also am currently using "Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success" by Duke, Nowicki, and Martin. They both have lots of practical and easy to implement ideas.

 

There is a fairly new book out that our developmental/educational aide was discussing with me this past week, I think it is called the "Zones of Regulation". She also runs the social group ds attends and they will be using this book as their main curriculum this session. It sounds really excellent.

[mchel210]

My aspie loved Abeka math. She just got it and I never had to teach it. Now, 5th grade, we have switched to Lials Basic College Math which is pre algebra. She loves that too. Very straight forward and easy to follow.

 

For english...she used abeka la and she did ok. I ended up making my own mix. I used TWSS SWI B with her and she liked the structure of that.

 

I am thinking of moving her to Easy Grammar this year as she is struggling a bit with the grammar in writing.

 

She did wonderful with the Sonlight history using historical fiction. She liked that. She loved SOTW.

 

She also did very well with Rosetta Stone. Science we used Apologia but she didnt like it. We also used SL science and she liked that.

[Joyofsixreboot]

All will vary but when my boy was younger the more cut and dried something was the better he liked it. Just the facts ma'am.

[tlcspcarcetc]

My dd is 9, 3rd grade. We are currently using

Sonlight b+c core for history & bible-she pretty much reads them herself because she loves to read

WWE2-but she probably could do 3. We just started really working on grammar this year and I wanted to make sure she didn't miss anything.

Apologia science-again, heavy on the reading, which she loves

 

We are getting ready to start:

FLL3 & CLE 2 math

 

We used Righstart B last year and I don't really have any idea how much she picked up. She struggles in math and is still having a hard time remembering her math facts. She understands the concepts, but can't process fast. Needless to say, she kind of dislikes math.

[littleWMN]

I don't have a child with HFA but I do have one with special needs and she benefits from social stories.

 

I found an app called Pictello that was $16 but so worth it! You can create your own stories.

[jeffcolemanfamily]

Sounds like your plan is great! My daughter has HFA and she is 8, 3rd grade. We loosely use Dianne Craft's Phonics {for reading practice} as well as her Writing 8 Exercise. She uses HWT also. She struggles with reading as she is also dyslexic so she also has reading therapy 2x a week using LiPs and Seeing Stars. She also has vision therapy. We are doing Right Start B for Math and so far I am supplementing that with Math U See. She does well with math problems but often flips the numbers backwards. Has trouble memorizing facts as well.

 

We also use Dyslexic Games workbooks http://www.dyslexiagames.com . Its also advertised as workbooks for kids on the spectrum. My daughter loves them and I use them with my HFA son who is 10 and he loves them too!

 

I am not too sure how great Right Start is yet though it seems like in the first 7 lessons we haven't really covered much although it has been fun. I am debating about whether to use Saxon with her because of the scripted lessons and repetition and wondering if that would help her?

 

My daughter LOVES to be read to! We read a lot. We are reading SOTW 3 aloud and she colors the pages while she listens. She loves to draw and color. We are reading aloud a book about American History to supplement and also Desperaux since she picked that out for read aloud this time.

 

For science we use CC and we do CC's memory work and geography which I was surprised that my HFA daughter has loved! to my complete shock she has done well with the memory work {something she struggles with}. We are learning how to skip count each week using a familiar song and she can remember all the songs and all the numbers, even when I forget!! She knows how to skip count by 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s. This week she'll learn how to skip count by 7s and 8s.

[Critterfixer]

I think it varies from child to child, and that's not so different from children who don't have an ASD. Probably the biggest thing that I have noticed in my hFA son is that he has trouble sequencing stories and story format material. Actually drawing out the sequences and modeling retelling have been useful.

The other thing that I've seen is that a glazed look and inattention do not always mean "I don't get it" or "I don't want to learn this". I've lost count of how many times I've thought that he wasn't paying attention only to have him actually retain when I thought he couldn't have heard a word I said. Other times, when he actually is trying to pay attention, he actually isn't getting it. I heard it said that autistic spectrum children hear the world a little like a radio station that is in and out of focus. So sometimes, when he is really trying, it is almost like he is trying hard to listen to a broadcast that is out of focus. I learn to watch for his "I am paying attention, Mom" look to know when I'm going to need to give him that material again at a later time.

 

Other issues with my son--his fine motor coordination makes math with manipulatives an absolute no-go. He has done much better with MEP and a strong focus on the number line to see math. Phonics was tough with him, until he began to spell every word before he broke it down phonetically. He seems to need to see the whole thing before he can break it down.

[tlcspcarcetc]

The other thing that I've seen is that a glazed look and inattention do not always mean "I don't get it" or "I don't want to learn this". I've lost count of how many times I've thought that he wasn't paying attention only to have him actually retain when I thought he couldn't have heard a word I said. Other times, when he actually is trying to pay attention, he actually isn't getting it. I heard it said that autistic spectrum children hear the world a little like a radio station that is in and out of focus. So sometimes, when he is really trying, it is almost like he is trying hard to listen to a broadcast that is out of focus. I learn to watch for his "I am paying attention, Mom" look to know when I'm going to need to give him that material again at a later time.

 

 

 

 

Completely agree with this. I've always said it's like my daughter has to be on the right channel. If she's not, she's not getting anything. Some days, she's tuned in just fine and others she doesn't pick anything up. I have no idea how to help her find that right channel.

[JessicaLady]

Although my son is on the spectrum he is not an Aspie. My good friend's son however is and he uses Switched on Schoolhouse. This works really well for him as he has difficulty grasping and writing so he can type it out. He also seems to respond well to the computer instruction. Not sure if this program is in keeping w/ TWTM model or not.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

zach is 8 1/2 and has asperger's....this year we're using abeka and other things mentioned in TWTM (WWE,SOTW,etc).....so far so good-I mean he's understanding it all but we're nowhere on schedule like I wanted to be-still having to take alot of breaks inbetween lessons.....