2E: How do you balance the difficulties with the need for high level content?

[FairProspects]

What does this look like in your homeschool? This is my biggest challenge and I'm particularly interested in those with dc a couple years older than mine.

 

When dc are still struggling with reading or writing fluency, how do you give them the processing challenge of content that they need? I feel like our skills work takes so much time because it is so challenging physically, that it is easy to just gloss over the higher level content that actually is the only thing keeping ds engaged. (I'm hoping I'm coming across here.)

 

How have you adapted to meet this challenge? Accommodations? Timed skill work and then move on to content subjects? Ideas that have worked well for you and your dc?

[chiguirre]

Audiobooks and videos are very useful for keeping up with history, literature, geography and science. There are some good science sites that have experiments and explanations of science concepts as well as the Sonlight experiment videos. You can use those to recreate the experiments at home instead of using written instructions. The Great Courses are also wonderful, but for a 7 year old, I'd try the highschool ones first. The guy who dresses up to teach history would probably be fun.

 

If you want to encourage independent reading time, there's a text-to-speech feature on the Kindle that works with lots of children's classics from gutenberg.

[peacefully]

.

[FairProspects]

Audiobooks and videos are very useful for keeping up with history, literature, geography and science. There are some good science sites that have experiments and explanations of science concepts as well as the Sonlight experiment videos. You can use those to recreate the experiments at home instead of using written instructions. The Great Courses are also wonderful, but for a 7 year old, I'd try the highschool ones first. The guy who dresses up to teach history would probably be fun.

 

If you want to encourage independent reading time, there's a text-to-speech feature on the Kindle that works with lots of children's classics from gutenberg.

 

Interesting feature on the Kindle! I didn't know about that and I don't currently have one, but I might have to add it to my Christmas list.

 

Science experiment videos is one of the reasons I think Supercharged Science is working so well for us. We can rachet up the concept difficulty and attempt really interesting and challenging experiments by watching the videos rather than having to wade through dense written work. I'm still trying to figure out how to pace myself so that I have enough energy for the fun stuff though, because the difficult skills work is enough to finish me some days.

 

Any ideas for math? I think ds is getting slowed down by putting the pencil to paper and I wish there was some way I could be more confident about teaching applied math. Making Math Meaningful is working pretty well for us but I really need more. Singapore was too visually stimulating for ds and I couldn't get the placement right but perhaps I need to try again.

[onaclairadeluna]

Singapore was too visually stimulating for ds and I couldn't get the placement right but perhaps I need to try again.

 

I skipped around in Singapore to get the right placement for DS. He was 3 grade levels ahead in somethings but closer to grade level in others.

 

The other thing I did with DS was a game I invented called "dinosaur olympics" he chose a dinosaur and an operation (+,-, divide and x) and a level (easy, medium, hard). I'd give him a problem and he'd solve it. We did this mostly on walks when I was pregnant with DD6. That really cut down on his writing demands.

 

And the game "What's in my pocket?" I have 78 cents in my pocket. what do I have. He had to guess. Or he could do it like 20 questions. Do you have a dime? etc.

 

Yes and videos, audiobooks, ttc lectures and lots of read alouds.

[quark]

I skipped around in Singapore to get the right placement for DS. He was 3 grade levels ahead in somethings but closer to grade level in others.

 

We did the same. I suggest using a good sized whiteboard for math (about 3x4 feet should do the trick). And I third/fourth the audiobooks, videos suggestions.

 

My son, who will be 9 in a few weeks, isn't exactly 2E but he does have issues with writing. There is something going on in his head that stops him from being able to focus his thoughts for written assignments and I don't know what it is. But helping him write (taking turns writing things down) seem to be working for us. I assign only odd numbers in worksheets/ workbooks for example. Or I may write for him and sometimes, if he's looking closely, I may purposely write a wrong, silly answer. It makes him laugh, lightens the moment and he will often take the book from me to erase and write the correct answer himself.

 

This semester I have let grammar go. I really wanted to begin a grammar curriculum (we've done very little grammar so far, it hasn't been a problem because he reads a lot but I felt we should start focusing some time). But you know what, I figure I'm not going to achieve anything by forcing him to do grammar when he's reluctant to. Ask yourself if there are some things you can let go for now. Or keep them short and focused, with a maximum of 2 skill-based areas back-to-back.

 

I'm also breaking up our schedule so that he has clear rest periods between subjects. I plan to purchase some beeswax or silly putty and have him play with it while we do read-alouds too. I've noticed how it helps some boys focus and stay on task.

 

Hoping these work for you too. Hang in there!

[Laura Corin]

Calvin read well but his writing was delayed. I worked on his handwriting with HWT, but most of his content subjects I scribed for him. He very gradually took over the writing - perhaps by age eleven. I also made sure that he could type well from a young age, as he found that easier. For maths, he sometimes used stickers or stamps rather than writing by hand.

 

Laura

[Enough]

For my DS, his fine motor skills (esp. pencil grip/writing) are way lower than the level of content he is able to process intellectually. My solution has been- and I think I read about this in one of Nan in Mass's 'basic skill' threads- to expect the quality of what he writes to be super high, and the quantity is at his level (generally one very short sentence). I use classic, excellent literature for any writing we do (and he uses WWE, among other things- Graded Studies in Great Authors, etc). I don't expect him to be able to hand-write more than 5-7 word sentence, but I *do* expect those letters to look great, and any intellectual work he has to do, I demand his utmost output :) .

[gracyomalley]

With my oldest here is what is working well:

 

His reading good books at slightly above his comfort zone (SL has been a God-send here), discussing the books and expecting good discussions. Not expecting written analysis.

 

Reading to him/having him listen to books at his understanding level (high school) and discussing them. Again no written expectations.

 

Grammer at level of ability but slog through it! He is densely dyslexic and output is the big problem, so we use an on-line thesaurus and dictionary for writing work. Narration helped in the output area - but he couldn't do it well until about age 9-10...could answer ANY yes/no questions, however....for him, memory is a strength, so we use it but don't emphasize memory work - he needs to use other skills.

 

CURSIVE early and always (but small amounts) - makes words a unit, helps with LDs that are language based. typing once cursive is mastered...as spell check will be a necessary friend.

 

Working on mastering Dragon dictation for entry into actual "papers"...so he's not limited by his spelling...

 

On-line science (Plato) which reads the lecture to him - and the test questions partially. Kahn academy lectures for pre-algebra. He does an experimental science class at the local University - so that's hands on and auditory learning - which works great for him. And they don't test! Whole family watches adult documentaries for fun, Grandpa is loaning him "Great Courses" to listen to.

 

Math - well, white board, some writing the answers for him when he was/is tired. And I have given up on his being able to learn at his level of conceptual processing without me doing a "lecture" for each lesson...he needs to hear it, he needs to try it and get feed back before he will go on on his own...but again, this is to keep him doing math 2-3 years ahead - if we did "5th grade math" he would be totally independent, get As and be bored!!! but then, maybe expecting homeschool kids to "be independent in math" isn't a fair expectation anyway - I am gifted in language and still learned math better from someone who liked it and taught me!

 

Lastly, and many would disagree with this, but we have him registered as a 5th grader with the state of OR - although technically he makes the cut off for 6th grade (although young end). As I teach whatever level they are at, this hardly matters academically - but it gives us time to push his interests to a high level while not worrying if his weak areas are moving along but slowly. I want him to be ready for high school and dual enrollment college when he hits the districts "9th grade", as I expect this kid to do much of his "high school" math and science at at least community college level. He also is very busy with his music, spending 1-2 hours a day practicing, and having 7+ hours a week of lesson/ensemble play. This is his passion and he is quite gifted in it. It gives him great joy and has built his confidence when he struggled academically. There will come a time when he will not be able to dedicate as much time to music (probably)...but as "schoolwork" takes him about 2X as long as a kid with similar academic gifts but without the LD, I want him to have time now to explore his musical talents...and he also needs to sit and think alot, and do his chores, and be an active part of the family/community...so what we have taken to calling "4 years of middle school" seems wise right now - luckily , I can "move him up" anytime if I want - on his state testing he scores in the 93% despite his LD...so Oregon will let me do "whatever I want"!!!

 

It took a while to come to this - and I had help of a professional tester and tutor who is very homeschool friendly. He helped me to find the line between "what to push" and "what to accept and accomodate". Very helpful with a 2E kid!

Erin

[FairProspects]

With my oldest here is what is working well:

 

His reading good books at slightly above his comfort zone (SL has been a God-send here), discussing the books and expecting good discussions. Not expecting written analysis.

 

Reading to him/having him listen to books at his understanding level (high school) and discussing them. Again no written expectations.

 

Grammer at level of ability but slog through it! He is densely dyslexic and output is the big problem, so we use an on-line thesaurus and dictionary for writing work. Narration helped in the output area - but he couldn't do it well until about age 9-10...could answer ANY yes/no questions, however....for him, memory is a strength, so we use it but don't emphasize memory work - he needs to use other skills.

 

CURSIVE early and always (but small amounts) - makes words a unit, helps with LDs that are language based. typing once cursive is mastered...as spell check will be a necessary friend.

 

Working on mastering Dragon dictation for entry into actual "papers"...so he's not limited by his spelling...

 

On-line science (Plato) which reads the lecture to him - and the test questions partially. Kahn academy lectures for pre-algebra. He does an experimental science class at the local University - so that's hands on and auditory learning - which works great for him. And they don't test! Whole family watches adult documentaries for fun, Grandpa is loaning him "Great Courses" to listen to.

 

Math - well, white board, some writing the answers for him when he was/is tired. And I have given up on his being able to learn at his level of conceptual processing without me doing a "lecture" for each lesson...he needs to hear it, he needs to try it and get feed back before he will go on on his own...but again, this is to keep him doing math 2-3 years ahead - if we did "5th grade math" he would be totally independent, get As and be bored!!! but then, maybe expecting homeschool kids to "be independent in math" isn't a fair expectation anyway - I am gifted in language and still learned math better from someone who liked it and taught me!

 

Lastly, and many would disagree with this, but we have him registered as a 5th grader with the state of OR - although technically he makes the cut off for 6th grade (although young end). As I teach whatever level they are at, this hardly matters academically - but it gives us time to push his interests to a high level while not worrying if his weak areas are moving along but slowly. I want him to be ready for high school and dual enrollment college when he hits the districts "9th grade", as I expect this kid to do much of his "high school" math and science at at least community college level. He also is very busy with his music, spending 1-2 hours a day practicing, and having 7+ hours a week of lesson/ensemble play. This is his passion and he is quite gifted in it. It gives him great joy and has built his confidence when he struggled academically. There will come a time when he will not be able to dedicate as much time to music (probably)...but as "schoolwork" takes him about 2X as long as a kid with similar academic gifts but without the LD, I want him to have time now to explore his musical talents...and he also needs to sit and think alot, and do his chores, and be an active part of the family/community...so what we have taken to calling "4 years of middle school" seems wise right now - luckily , I can "move him up" anytime if I want - on his state testing he scores in the 93% despite his LD...so Oregon will let me do "whatever I want"!!!

 

It took a while to come to this - and I had help of a professional tester and tutor who is very homeschool friendly. He helped me to find the line between "what to push" and "what to accept and accomodate". Very helpful with a 2E kid!

Erin

 

Thank you for typing out all of this! SL is working well for readers for us for the same reason. I also did not know that about cursive, but it makes sense - we started cursive last spring with ds and he is doing so well with it, your explanation may be part of the reason why!

[rafiki]

.

[higginszoo]

Both of my boys have writing issues. Though they balk, cursive DOES help. Now that my oldest is working more on a high school/college level, I am encouraging him to type a lot of his work. He does HWT 5th grade cursive to refine his writing.

 

The younger one is 10 and has dyslexia as well. As others have said, audio books and videos go a long way to bump up the level of material to the level and intensity he needs while not frustrating him because of the reading issues. What isn't available in those formats, I read aloud to him ... sometimes I scribe for him, though I'm trying to get him to write/type more at this point. We're also using some little cheap test prep workbooks to cover things like reading comprehension. It's slow and steady, but we're making progress on the reading now that I've narrowed down the fact that he has a processing issue and adopted tactics like isolating lines and adding color filters that make reading a bit easier for him.

[PeterPan]

I'm seeing this late, but I'll jump in. :)

 

I think one of the problems for people with younger kids now is the new curriculum tempts them. Back in the old days (4-5 years ago, haha), we didn't *have* WWE, AAS, and all this stuff to suck our time. We were able to dissociate the skills from the physical and not even blink an eye, because we were creating it all ourselves anyway. Now someone picks up WWE and thinks "SWB wrote it. If I put my kid through it, all will be well!" Well no. When the physical is the problem, you have to dissociate the concepts of the skills from the physical of the skills. So it's a skill to summarize. But that doesn't mean he has to WRITE them the way she says. And frankly, given our thread on the k8 board, I'm starting to wonder how much people have turned off their brains to the difference between narrating and summarizing. Not all kids are ready to do those things early.

 

I'm saying you have to make sure you're working on the RIGHT skills, the ones that will actually help them take the next step (not what the curriculum says, formulas don't work with these kids), and you have to separate the problematic physical from the conceptual to allow them to do what they can. Writing is first and foremost THOUGHT, so think with them, talk with them. Math, for my dd, has always been much more comfortable on a whiteboard than on paper. At that age, absolutely, I would do it all with manipulatives, a whiteboard, the chalkboard, etc. RS was very good at showing us ways to do this.

 

If your kids are still struggling with reading and writing fluency but not feeling challenged, even on those skills, then it might be you don't yet have materials that are compact enough and efficient enough to be meaty. For instance FLL isn't meaty. It's only meaty if you condense the entirety of FLL1 into a week or two (memorizing the defs) and do a week's worth of FLL2 at a time. Do less sessions and compact more. Then you have more challenge in less time.

 

If they aren't reading well (I'm just taking you literally here, haven't followed your whole saga), then maybe it's time to move on from OPGTR. Again, we're not talking the most efficient method for 2E students. You can take SWR and bump the child up 4 grade levels in a year, simply because it allows you to cover a lot more a lot more efficiently.

 

I'm saying 2E kids don't necessarily benefit from going through the long slog of regular curriculum. You need something they can do more intensely for less time, rather than something meant to take the long time of a normal child. That's not like a perfect rule, but it's how it is for us. Taking longer doesn't make it stick better. They need something that makes them THINK.

 

There's a really good book in that vein btw: "Why Don't Students Like School?" Might be interesting for you. It discusses how learning happens best when the students have to THINK. I always try to start dd's lesson, be it in spelling or math or what have you, with a tough problem, something to make her THINK. Then I teach and work it through with her to explain. And doing that, you're basically going to the hardest problem in the set and working backwards. Or you're compacting several lessons into one till you get enough meat that you have a hard problem to work on.

 

The other thing, and this is just sticking my nose in here, is to get evaluations. Have you actually gotten evaluations to know what you're dealing with? Or you're assuming? Whoever does the evaluations should give you advice. I do think some of that can get public schooly and self-defeating (starting calculator use too early, etc.), but still you'd see what reasonable accommodations are. My feeling, and this is just me, is to BUST YOUR BUTT in the early years to pursue therapy options, all the alternative curricula (Wilson, Barton, you name it), etc. to see how far you can get them. Then, as you start to hit the reality walls in a few years and see there are certain things you CAN'T teach through or improve dramatically, no matter how hard you try, then you start making radical accommodations. But I don't hear you mention therapy or curriculum changes at all, and I'm suggesting, very kindly, that I wish I had done MORE in those early years. I wish someone had pulled me aside and suggested I get the evals and worked on things. See the more I dig, the more I find. The more I read, the more I realize the quirks I dealt with for years had NAMES and sometimes SOLUTIONS or at least things we could do to HELP. And when you just do the "I'll keep teaching and accommodate" thing, you're walking by that window. Don't miss the window. Open it and look through. It might BLOW YOUR MIND what you find that could help them.

 

Some reading to pursue that line of thought?

-Barton--Go to their website. They have informative videos you can watch for free, etc.

-The Out of Sync Child

-The Mislabeled Child

-When the Brain Can't Hear --I'm reading this right now. It's blowing my mind.

 

There's tons more. There are books on ADD, Executive Function (or Executive Dysfunction), etc. But please don't just accommodate and keep doing things the same old way. If you haven't gotten the evals yet, go do it. If you haven't tried any therapies to work on the issues the evals turned up, then do that. If you're using regular curriculum, stop and get something more powerful and more meaty meant or adaptable for 2E kids.

 

Not trying to be nosey, and that's none of my business. I'm just telling you what I wish someone had told me 5 years ago.

Edited September 11, 2011 by OhElizabeth

[wapiti]

I'm saying you have to make sure you're working on the RIGHT skills, the ones that will actually help them take the next step (not what the curriculum says, formulas don't work with these kids), and you have to separate the problematic physical from the conceptual to allow them to do what they can.

...

I'm saying 2E kids don't necessarily benefit from going through the long slog of regular curriculum. You need something they can do more intensely for less time, rather than something meant to take the long time of a normal child. That's not like a perfect rule, but it's how it is for us. Taking longer doesn't make it stick better. They need something that makes them THINK.

...

If you haven't gotten the evals yet, go do it. If you haven't tried any therapies to work on the issues the evals turned up, then do that. If you're using regular curriculum, stop and get something more powerful and more meaty meant or adaptable for 2E kids.

 

As usual, OhElizabeth is full of wisdom. I just wanted to highlight these snippets, partly to remind myself.

[PeterPan]

Wapiti, there was something underlying that post that didn't come out. With my dd there has always been a huge difference between what was inside and what could come out (easily), between what she WANTED to do and what she had the SKILL (or proficiency) to do. You don't have that with a regular LD kid, at least I don't imagine you do. So for instance my dd wouldn't read till she was proficient enough to read BOOKS. She didn't WANT to read easy readers, whether they fit her proficiency at that point or not. She doesn't WANT to do lots of mindless, gross repetition, because it bores her internally, whether it is a need of her LD to have that amount of repetition or not. So I'm always trying to find ways to make sure she gets the amount of repetition to build proficiency that her LD requires but give her the THOUGHT that her 2E side craves. I look for ways to practice the basics that are kicked up with lots of humor (Halverson workbooks, for instance) or application via technology (projects on the computer combining lots of skills, letting her learn something new while sneakily getting in another target skill). Or I'll pair something brain-tingling (AoPS) with something more pragmatic (Lials). You've got to scratch both sides at once.

 

It's easier to rein in that skills time each day when you know you're being very targeted, very efficient.

[wapiti]

That's another excellent point. This happens in our house too - sometimes the result is a whole lot of nothing. Adding in the perfectionism angle really doesn't help.

 

I like the scratching both sides at once idea. We're trying AoPS, and on the one hand I'm afraid it'll be too hard and without sufficient repetition for her, but on the other hand, I strongly feel that she needs the brain stretching, and that she'll be better off for it ultimately, even if it's "painful" slogging for a while. I was kind of thinking about doing a slightly more traditional prealgebra after Aops (maybe Dolciani rather than Lial) (or possibly even in conjunction with parts of it, though scope and sequence differences would make mixing them tricky), just for the practice and cementing - not in a long-winded way, but maybe even over a summer, flipping through a book, doing review sections or something.

 

And I love the thought about efficiency. LOL, on that writing thread, I was thinking about going through the Paragraph Books with dd, and as of this morning, I scratched most of that - I've got a single lesson from one of those books on formatting that I'd like to do, and a chapter or so from Voyages in English. I'm going to mix them into WWS. But I'm not going to drag her through whole additional programs. I DO want to compact things, and I didn't realize that was my issue until you mentioned it.

[Storm Bay]

Any ideas for math? I think ds is getting slowed down by putting the pencil to paper and I wish there was some way I could be more confident about teaching applied math. Making Math Meaningful is working pretty well for us but I really need more. Singapore was too visually stimulating for ds and I couldn't get the placement right but perhaps I need to try again.

 

We got around the problem of too much visual stimuation with Singapore by doing the workbook only in the lower grades. The higher levels aren't as colourful, at least not the one we used which I think has now been replaced (my baby is 11).

 

As for how to do Singpaore with a gifted child, I'd search for posts on SM by Myrtle, a former poster, and also her old blog http://myrtlehocklemeier.blogspot.com/ (Drat Those Greeks!) She has some brilliant explanations of how she did this that I haven't seen anyone else post about.

 

For my DS, his fine motor skills (esp. pencil grip/writing) are way lower than the level of content he is able to process intellectually. My solution has been- and I think I read about this in one of Nan in Mass's 'basic skill' threads- to expect the quality of what he writes to be super high, and the quantity is at his level (generally one very short sentence). I use classic, excellent literature for any writing we do (and he uses WWE, among other things- Graded Studies in Great Authors, etc). I don't expect him to be able to hand-write more than 5-7 word sentence, but I *do* expect those letters to look great, and any intellectual work he has to do, I demand his utmost output :) .

 

It's not uncommon for gifted kids to have an input level that exceeds their output level; I have a couple of kids like this. I have found that it related in part to their learning profiles (The Dominance Factor is the only book on this I've ever found actually helpful in determining this, and I only bought it this year as it's quite new) as well as a few other things (my ds had visual processing issues that weren't obvious as well as low muscle tone that led to delayed fine motor development.

 

I also found HWT very helpful, and used it with my youngest all the way through.

[PeterPan]

Wapiti, with Dolciani you could do just the C level problems over a summer and have fun. For getting things to stick, my dd does better with context. Lials has lots and lots of word problems, and pretty interesting or useful ones at that, so I think it will work. So far she doesn't mind it. My main thing is that it gets DONE. Math done is better than math not done. ;)

 

And yes, on the writing, I've finally concluded that the goal is to go to the end of the book, see what the final product should look like when all the steps have been learned, then tackle that task, breaking down and learning the parts as needed. Doing it the other way only drives them crazy.

[momma aimee]

What does this look like in your homeschool? This is my biggest challenge and I'm particularly interested in those with dc a couple years older than mine.

 

When dc are still struggling with reading or writing fluency, how do you give them the processing challenge of content that they need? I feel like our skills work takes so much time because it is so challenging physically, that it is easy to just gloss over the higher level content that actually is the only thing keeping ds engaged. (I'm hoping I'm coming across here.)

 

How have you adapted to meet this challenge? Accommodations? Timed skill work and then move on to content subjects? Ideas that have worked well for you and your dc?

 

me totally -- DS1 is 5.75 and totally 2e. so much you'd never guess he is gifted. i know his mind con absore more, and he likes the 'more' but he is so emotional, so wiggly, so immature ....

[leeannpal]

Calvin read well but his writing was delayed. I worked on his handwriting with HWT, but most of his content subjects I scribed for him. He very gradually took over the writing - perhaps by age eleven. I also made sure that he could type well from a young age, as he found that easier. For maths, he sometimes used stickers or stamps rather than writing by hand.

 

Laura

 

This is my daughter exacly. She is reading and comprehending way above grade level, and she can narrate very well, even remembering minute details. What she doesn't like to do is write. So, even now, while she is in school, I have her tell me what she wants to say, and write it for her. She also loves to type on the computer.

[momma aimee]

I'm seeing this late, but I'll jump in. :)

 

I think one of the problems for people with younger kids now is the new curriculum tempts them. Back in the old days (4-5 years ago, haha), we didn't *have* WWE, AAS, and all this stuff to suck our time. We were able to dissociate the skills from the physical and not even blink an eye, because we were creating it all ourselves anyway. Now someone picks up WWE and thinks "SWB wrote it. If I put my kid through it, all will be well!" Well no. When the physical is the problem, you have to dissociate the concepts of the skills from the physical of the skills. So it's a skill to summarize. But that doesn't mean he has to WRITE them the way she says. And frankly, given our thread on the k8 board, I'm starting to wonder how much people have turned off their brains to the difference between narrating and summarizing. Not all kids are ready to do those things early.

 

I'm saying you have to make sure you're working on the RIGHT skills, the ones that will actually help them take the next step (not what the curriculum says, formulas don't work with these kids), and you have to separate the problematic physical from the conceptual to allow them to do what they can. Writing is first and foremost THOUGHT, so think with them, talk with them. Math, for my dd, has always been much more comfortable on a whiteboard than on paper. At that age, absolutely, I would do it all with manipulatives, a whiteboard, the chalkboard, etc. RS was very good at showing us ways to do this.

 

If your kids are still struggling with reading and writing fluency but not feeling challenged, even on those skills, then it might be you don't yet have materials that are compact enough and efficient enough to be meaty. For instance FLL isn't meaty. It's only meaty if you condense the entirety of FLL1 into a week or two (memorizing the defs) and do a week's worth of FLL2 at a time. Do less sessions and compact more. Then you have more challenge in less time.

 

If they aren't reading well (I'm just taking you literally here, haven't followed your whole saga), then maybe it's time to move on from OPGTR. Again, we're not talking the most efficient method for 2E students. You can take SWR and bump the child up 4 grade levels in a year, simply because it allows you to cover a lot more a lot more efficiently.

 

I'm saying 2E kids don't necessarily benefit from going through the long slog of regular curriculum. You need something they can do more intensely for less time, rather than something meant to take the long time of a normal child. That's not like a perfect rule, but it's how it is for us. Taking longer doesn't make it stick better. They need something that makes them THINK.

 

There's a really good book in that vein btw: "Why Don't Students Like School?" Might be interesting for you. It discusses how learning happens best when the students have to THINK. I always try to start dd's lesson, be it in spelling or math or what have you, with a tough problem, something to make her THINK. Then I teach and work it through with her to explain. And doing that, you're basically going to the hardest problem in the set and working backwards. Or you're compacting several lessons into one till you get enough meat that you have a hard problem to work on.

 

The other thing, and this is just sticking my nose in here, is to get evaluations. Have you actually gotten evaluations to know what you're dealing with? Or you're assuming? Whoever does the evaluations should give you advice. I do think some of that can get public schooly and self-defeating (starting calculator use too early, etc.), but still you'd see what reasonable accommodations are. My feeling, and this is just me, is to BUST YOUR BUTT in the early years to pursue therapy options, all the alternative curricula (Wilson, Barton, you name it), etc. to see how far you can get them. Then, as you start to hit the reality walls in a few years and see there are certain things you CAN'T teach through or improve dramatically, no matter how hard you try, then you start making radical accommodations. But I don't hear you mention therapy or curriculum changes at all, and I'm suggesting, very kindly, that I wish I had done MORE in those early years. I wish someone had pulled me aside and suggested I get the evals and worked on things. See the more I dig, the more I find. The more I read, the more I realize the quirks I dealt with for years had NAMES and sometimes SOLUTIONS or at least things we could do to HELP. And when you just do the "I'll keep teaching and accommodate" thing, you're walking by that window. Don't miss the window. Open it and look through. It might BLOW YOUR MIND what you find that could help them.

 

Some reading to pursue that line of thought?

-Barton--Go to their website. They have informative videos you can watch for free, etc.

-The Out of Sync Child

-The Mislabeled Child

-When the Brain Can't Hear --I'm reading this right now. It's blowing my mind.

 

There's tons more. There are books on ADD, Executive Function (or Executive Dysfunction), etc. But please don't just accommodate and keep doing things the same old way. If you haven't gotten the evals yet, go do it. If you haven't tried any therapies to work on the issues the evals turned up, then do that. If you're using regular curriculum, stop and get something more powerful and more meaty meant or adaptable for 2E kids.

 

Not trying to be nosey, and that's none of my business. I'm just telling you what I wish someone had told me 5 years ago.

 

THANKS SO MUCH -- as a mom with a very 2e boy starting our kindy year, thanks.

 

I have had him tested, the only reason we know he is gifted is the PhD and the test results, day to day life he seems 'good at math" and "quick to pick up if he is paying attention" but not overly special (his SN are more noteable -- the immatureity, the GAD and so on).

 

I knov for a fact he is HIGH VERBAL and that he is less high in non-verbal. I also know that his non-ver score was 'most likly' artifically low due to the the pencial and paper tests and his very apperant delays in fine motor and output.

 

he continues to see the Phd and I have had one meeting with her without him to talk about addressing his needs -- mostly his SN -- and I want to have another to discuss his academic needs now that he is in Kindy (he had the testing done a year ago),

 

I really struggle with the balance -- i really feel he needs to imporve his fine motor but i see it fustrate him.

 

Also i have no clue what his mind can do he is so wigglely and immature and just not ready.

[EKS]

I read aloud a lot even to my 15yo. I let him move very quickly in math. We watch a lot of Teaching Company lectures.

 

I did a lot orally with him and I wrote for him on worksheets and for math problems until he was in 6th grade.

 

I have always allowed him to take tests untimed and for some things have allowed memory helps--for example, in geometry I didn't make him memorize all of the theorems.

 

I made sure to get the documentation in place early for accommodations on standardized tests. You don't want to get an initial diagnosis right before requesting accommodations on the SAT.