Quiver0f10 Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 I am trying to decide if I want to do Latin with my 12 yo. He is dyselxic so I would need to read it to him, but he also has memory issues so he needs a lot of review to learn concepts. Would you recommend Latin or stick with the basics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RamonaQ Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Nope. Although we are trying sign language this year. His teacher tells me that she has had other dylsexic students and they are really quite good at sign. I will report back how it goes (so far he has caught onto the alphabet faster than I did, and I theoretically learned it about 30ish years ago). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paisley Hedgehog Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 (edited) nm Edited November 22, 2012 by Shari :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 Thank you all. I think we will skip latin. I think it would just be too hard for him. he did do ASL at coop last year so that is a posssibility for him. I know he really enjoyed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I am trying to decide if I want to do Latin with my 12 yo. He is dyselxic so I would need to read it to him, but he also has memory issues so he needs a lot of review to learn concepts. Would you recommend Latin or stick with the basics? Latin words are a significant part of our English vocabulary. Knowing some Latin can help make sense of English. I just recently bought a Latin program that was developed for young Catholics. It hasn't arrived yet, and we probably won't start it until closer to Christmas. I bought it with my 12 yo in mind, (who may be mildly dyslexic.) We're Catholic. My parish uses Latin occassionally in songs and prayers. This past Holy Week, my son was able to sing a Latin song by reading the words that were divided by syllables in the music book. Those Latin songs and prayers probably makes about as much sense to my son as Old English prayers that use words like "Thy" and "hallowed". (Don't ask me how long it took my 10 yo to memorize the Our Father!) He was able to de-code open and closed syllables fine in Latin--probably because they looked a lot like the non-sense words he was used to reading in our Orton-Gillingham based reading program, Barton. Orton-Gillingham programs teach foreign roots, prefixes and suffixes. Barton devotes an entire level to prefixes and suffixes---and then last two levels are about foreign influences and Latin and Greek. Through Barton and some vocabulary workbooks, I've introduced my children to Latin roots, suffixes and prefixes found in English words. It helps significantly with reading, writing and comprehending English. The Landmark School teaching materials distinguish between "animate" vs "inanimate" nouns and the verbs used with them early in their approach. Just this past week, we discussed the Latin word "Anima" (soul) as it relates to animate and inanimate nouns--and their root, anima, we had just covered and discussed it in our Catechism earlier that morning. If there's a way to make Latin relevant to your dyslexic son's everyday life, I suggest that you do it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 My dyslexic son has been doing Latin from when he was in 6th grade and it has worked fairly well. We didn't start Latin until he was pretty solid in the basics though, and I don't think I'd want to do Latin with a child who couldn't read it himself. If you do want to try Latin, I highly recommend the book Getting Started with Latin. It is extremely gentle, introducing only one new word or concept each day. And best of all, it's cheap! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 My dd10 is well into Henle Latin I. FWIW, she is very much a VSL, and is a bit 2E-ish. She has language processing issues and a history of vision issues, though she does not have dyslexia (even though she sometimes seems to "act" dyslexic, and especially seemed like it when she was first learning to read - could not blend cvc words, etc.), nor does she have working memory issues. She's doing quite well with it. One aspect of our book that is important to me is the great amount of translation involved, in both directions. She does not do much in the way of rote memorization at all - she learns by using the words, endings, etc. (my one nod to memorization is having her fill out a noun ending chart, all five declensions which she has covered, at the start of each lesson - takes two minutes.) It is a significant subject for us, time-wise, but it has not been difficult for me to break up the lessons in smaller chunks. She seems to retain more with small daily chunks rather than longer, less-frequent lessons. I like to think of Latin as a bridge between the puzzle-solving side of the brain and the language side. I also like that the endings make parts of speech explicit (which are implicit in English), and not just parts of speech, but person, and the actual function of the words in the sentence. It is a bit of a back door to English grammar. I'm sure we pronounce everything wrong. I don't care. (shhh, don't tell anyone.) When dd seems bogged down with writing, I occasionally have her translate Latin-to-English orally, which is much faster. English-to-Latin really must be written, at least at this early stage. We did a lot on the white board in the beginning. These days, I re-type the exercises from the book in a bigger font, and add lines underneath for her to write the answer - like a workbook. It is intellectually demanding, but I think the puzzle or code-breaking aspect is fun for dd. We started out with GSWL, which I very highly recommend for anyone starting out - perfect tiny bites, with lots of translation. We did that book orally - a fun 15 to 30 minutes/day on the couch. It only takes a few months and is well worth the time before embarking on a more rigorous Latin program. I'd also recommend finding a program more heavily focusing on translation, which taps into the puzzle-solving strengths of the right-brained student, rather than a program that relies heavily on rote memorization and chants, which might involve left-brain weaknesses. Supposedly, VSLs would do better with immersion programs, but IMO that leaves far too much important grammar to be learned by inference - I think a very explicit grammar program is the superior choice, at least for my dd, who struggles with reading comprehension generally, as well as inferences specifically. I just recently bought a Latin program that was developed for young Catholics. It hasn't arrived yet, and we probably won't start it until closer to Christmas. I bought it with my 12 yo in mind, (who may be mildly dyslexic.) What's it called? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I don't think I'd want to do Latin with a child who couldn't read it himself. If you do want to try Latin, I highly recommend the book Getting Started with Latin. It is extremely gentle, introducing only one new word or concept each day. And best of all, it's cheap! :iagree::iagree::iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitascool Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 I am trying to decide if I want to do Latin with my 12 yo. He is dyselxic so I would need to read it to him, but he also has memory issues so he needs a lot of review to learn concepts. Would you recommend Latin or stick with the basics? I are finishing up Prima Latina with my 9 yo. and 11 yo. boys. The 9 yo. is PDD-NOS with some not-yet-dxed vision issue, but Latin is one of his favorite subjects. He really likes the practical portion... getting to have a conversation in Latin. We're using the whole program including the DVD which I think has made a big difference. I have dyslexia and think that learning Latin would have really helped me feel more confident about learning English as a child. That said, I wouldn't do Latin with a child who was reading lower then a 4th grade level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Well my dd is dyslexic, 2E, and we got through PL and LC1 without problems. (If you don't count not being able to memorize the vocab as a problem.) We did 1/2 of LC2, but I got pregnant and pulled out of the class. We then went into Cambridge (which she could fly through after all that) and Latin Prep (which I liked a lot). Latin Prep was where she finally hit her wall, because it became obvious that the *memorization* she had been able to do to get by in LC *wasn't* going to translate into being able to do an inflected language. I minored in Russian and have dabbled in enough other languages to know what's supposed to happen, and basically she couldn't do it. Like Shari said, the amount of mental energy it took to DO the processing was totally sapping her. It's literally like you could see the cogs grinding to a halt and steam and smoke coming out her ears. So yeah, it's a laudable goal, but we've moved on. Personally, I don't think the world revolves around latin or that it matters one flip. I've pretty much always thought roots were a rabbit trail too and didn't like them. She doesn't memorize vocab worth two cents, not any form (science, roots, latin, you name it). I can memorize those words in two seconds, just by looking at them, and she won't have them down even if we use them three years in a row, do all the supplementals, etc. etc. And there's a point with inflected languages where you really have to be able to wrangle all those pieces and move them around in your mind pretty comfortably. It probably has something to do with the hemispheres thing. It wasn't happening, and I gave up. I may be impatient, but oh well. Even IF I got it to stick, it would be gone later when she stopped using it. My dd is starting sign language in a co-op class next week and looking forward to it. She took to it in a way that surprised me when we started using it with ds. You just never know. Maybe the kinesthetic makes it work better for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 What's it called? www.chcweb.com/catalog/Exclusives/LatinReaders/catalog.htmlLittle Latin Readers Primer A from Catholic Heritage Curricula. Primer A was recommended on their website as "ideal for 2-4th grade", but I plan try it with my 7th grader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lauramacf Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 Piping in to enthusiastically endorse latin for struggling learners! But I suppose my caveat is that it depends on the approach and what you and your learner are hoping to get from it. We are considering my son's experience with Latin to be a success because he gets multiple rewards from it, even if he isn't a perfect Latin scholar (YET!) My 13-year-old son is not dyslexic, but he is challenged with learning tasks across the board. Many have scoffed at us sending him to a small homeschool Latin class, but the truth is that he finds it to be fun and gets more from it than just learning Latin! Like another poster mentioned, he started off using "Getting Started with Latin" and this seemed to pique interest and seal the idea that Latin is fun. I think this is a great product, the author makes it so very easy to get your feet wet (free downloadable audio to accompany each lesson!) We then took advantage of an opportunity to take Latin in a small class with a professional teacher and he's been doing that for a year (they are using the Cambridge series, which has a story line about a family in Pompei and is even more fun). I doubt my son would test well and he frequently really messes up on his homework because written work and reading directions are always challenging for him, BUT he gets great feedback from his teacher in class for his intuitive language skills, frequently getting kudos for being able to explain to the other students something that is confusing them, and he has retained more information about English grammar from the experience. Most importantly he LOVES it, thinks it is fun, and it plays into many of his other interests (mythology, science, and with Cambridge Unit 1, Mount Vesuvius); he's always had a great vocabulary despite his struggles, and I think that is one reason why Latin resonates with him. I figure having this exposure to Latin will aid him with SATs, plus studying Latin gives him an academic "credibility boost;" that sounds a bit shallow, but when you are the kid who is known for your lack of academic abilities, studying Latin gives you the opportunity to stand tall and feel proud. I highly recommend Cambridge Latin books if you are looking for a fun text. They are very affordable on Amazon (you can get the less affordable TMs at Rainbow Resource), there are also audio CDs and the publisher sells a E-Learning CD Rom that has activities and video to accompany the lessons for the first two units (both for $150), or you can get an online activity subscriptions for less than $20 a year (no video lessons, but fun activities and a few audio blurbs). The online dictionary for the Units is available for free and is superb for helping you to learn pronunciation (audio). The story lines are fun and there is history involved, too. Sorry this is so long, I just couldn't resist chiming in and giving Latin a plug! This year I'm going through the Cambridge Unit 1 with my daughter so I can learn some more Latin, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 11, 2011 Share Posted September 11, 2011 (edited) I think, watching my dd, that the problems with languages have something to do with the bilaterality aspect of dyslexia. The op's ds is dyslexic. I'm just saying, watching and talking with my dd, it really seemed like should could memorize all the content in one part of her brain, but then the PATH the brain was trying to take to connect and apply the information was SO circuitous, it was just taking forever. Edited September 11, 2011 by OhElizabeth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Thank you all again. I like the looks of Getting Started with Latin, but I am still undecided whether we will add latin. . He struggles with memorizing things that I don't know if it would be too much for him. I really need to think about it some more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Quiver, I'd think about your *goals* for it. See my dd got quite a ways. It's not like he won't be able to do it at all. It's just a question of whether he'll be able to get to where normal people get to (reading latin, reading stuff in the original) or not. You might think about what your real goals are for it. If they're only vocabulary and language awareness, it might be a roots study would get you to the same place with less grief. I mean a bunch of grammar endings memorized really AREN'T useful if you can't piece them into the whole, kwim? That's where my dd stumbled. That pulling it together required both sides of the brain and just slogged her down. But sure, she could memorize the chants. And it's not like we didn't have fun with it. It's just we weren't going to get to the REAL goal of latin study. Ever. So figure out your goals, and I think you'll have your answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merry gardens Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Quiver, I'd think about your *goals* for it. See my dd got quite a ways. It's not like he won't be able to do it at all. It's just a question of whether he'll be able to get to where normal people get to (reading latin, reading stuff in the original) or not. You might think about what your real goals are for it. If they're only vocabulary and language awareness, it might be a roots study would get you to the same place with less grief. I mean a bunch of grammar endings memorized really AREN'T useful if you can't piece them into the whole, kwim? That's where my dd stumbled. That pulling it together required both sides of the brain and just slogged her down. But sure, she could memorize the chants. And it's not like we didn't have fun with it. It's just we weren't going to get to the REAL goal of latin study. Ever. So figure out your goals, and I think you'll have your answer. :lol: OhElizabeth--most "normal" people don't study Latin! Your dd has had far more Latin than most students today ever will get. I never studied Latin to the extent that you tried it with your daughter. My private college-prep Catholic high school didn't even offer Latin when I was a student there. A very bright yet "normal" relative took Latin for four years at another very well regarded, Catholic college-prep high school--and by year four, he ran into similar problems with his Latin vocabulary too. I agree--think about the goals. My own goals are I want my children to have exposure to Latin, and your daughter has far exceeded those goals. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 12, 2011 Author Share Posted September 12, 2011 Quiver, I'd think about your *goals* for it. See my dd got quite a ways. It's not like he won't be able to do it at all. It's just a question of whether he'll be able to get to where normal people get to (reading latin, reading stuff in the original) or not. You might think about what your real goals are for it. If they're only vocabulary and language awareness, it might be a roots study would get you to the same place with less grief. I mean a bunch of grammar endings memorized really AREN'T useful if you can't piece them into the whole, kwim? That's where my dd stumbled. That pulling it together required both sides of the brain and just slogged her down. But sure, she could memorize the chants. And it's not like we didn't have fun with it. It's just we weren't going to get to the REAL goal of latin study. Ever. So figure out your goals, and I think you'll have your answer. Thanks, Elizabeth. You have given me a lot to think about. I know I don't expect him to read and speak latin fluently, so maybe roots would be a better fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Merry, thanks for the nice words. As you say, we did work pretty hard at it. Maybe not as hard as some people, but we put in quite a bit of time. And actually my reason for starting her at the time was for the *social* aspect of the classes she was taking. So like you say, there are more reasons to take latin. :) And she enjoyed the singing in latin. If I were starting today, knowing she's dyslexic, I might do it via translation (Cambridge or LNM like people have mentioned) and do the memory work on the side. I'd get right into reading, very slowly, and see if that helps. If your goal is fun exposure, there was a big book of latin (a download) popular a couple years ago that would be perfect. It seemed very gentle and had lots of application to modern english. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Misty Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 I will touch on Latin & Greek word roots with all of my children at some point. My oldest is the only one who has been in an okay place (academically) to actually learn Latin as a language. She is considered 2E, but is not dyslexic and only struggles with math, penmanship, and executive functioning. She does fine with language and reading (and actually excels in this area). My son is not special needs so he will definitely be learning Latin! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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