Trying to plan second year of hsing for my dd

[momsuz123]

Well, in our first year of hsing, I had NO idea that my 7 y/o dd had any issues. Now, she is in in vision therapy (making some progress), OT and SLP (possible mild APD, dyslexia, and who knows).

 

I was banging my head against the wall last school year trying to figure her out. I feel like I have a new plan - but want your input.

 

Math - keep plugging along with Miquon - Math in Focus (Singapore) just seemed too fast for her - she wasn't really getting it, just going through the motions.

 

Writing - I basically stopped this when I realized how bad her vision was, I plan on slowly and gradually getting back into this. I was using HWOT, but am switching to Zaner Bloser (I don't like the cursive in HWOT that my older dd was doing).

 

Reading - this has been slow, but is progressing. We do a lot of read alouds.

 

Spelling - I was doing AAS 1, but took a break. I was going to pick it up again.

 

Grammar - FLL, she seemed to like this, but she listens in on MCT when I read that aloud to my older dd.

 

LiPS - I started this, but was going CRAZY. So was she. I literally boxedit up and put it all away. I want to take it out in a few months and see how we do.

 

Basically, I am going to be much more relaxed now. Her vesitibular system is really still so far behind. Her OT said that she has so many retained reflexes that should have been integrated by now. The OT felt that until her vestibular system gets to the point it needs to be at, everything else needs to just wait.

Any thoughts? I feel like her "school day" will be so much shorter now since I am putting more emphasis on her therapies.

Thanks for reading this far.

[FairProspects]

Can you implement some kind of quiet time with audiobooks? I know when we are backing off of formal work due to therapies or hitting a wall, I often tell ds to go to his room and use the extra time to listen to an audiobook as part of his "school". This approach seems to work so far, his vocabulary is as good or better than a non-dyslexic from hearing and thinking about the language. I'm not sure if that would work as well for someone with APD though.

 

Basically, when we can't go the traditional route, I get stories into him through audiobooks and do some hands-on math and that's all. Occasionally I'll use an educational computer program like Read, Write, Type or Word Qwerty because he doesn't think that is doing school.

[momsuz123]

Can you implement some kind of quiet time with audiobooks? I know when we are backing off of formal work due to therapies or hitting a wall, I often tell ds to go to his room and use the extra time to listen to an audiobook as part of his "school". This approach seems to work so far, his vocabulary is as good or better than a non-dyslexic from hearing and thinking about the language. I'm not sure if that would work as well for someone with APD though.

 

Basically, when we can't go the traditional route, I get stories into him through audiobooks and do some hands-on math and that's all. Occasionally I'll use an educational computer program like Read, Write, Type or Word Qwerty because he doesn't think that is doing school.

 

Yes, audio books. She does fall asleep to them most every night (either that or classical music). Having her stay awake and listen to them is a great idea. She also plays piano, and really loves it. I think I may make that more a priority too as I have heard how beneficial it is (using both sides of the brain and all - plus she enjoys it).

I forgot to mention Science - she loves doing experiments. We do science on weekends and do lots of hands on things.

I am excited that this year my little guy will be gone to preschool 3 mornings a week - I really want to make use of this time, but I know with this dd, doing more is not necessarily better.

[MomatHWTK]

I try to keep handwriting as a separate subject for my student who struggles with it. I ask for very brief copywork or other writing. For other subjects where writing would be required, I do the scribing for the student sometimes on a white board.

 

Other than that, I agree working on reading is the place to start. I do like to do various video (online and DVD) lessons with my kids. A nice documentary is still educational but takes the pressure off. Pretend play can lead to storytelling, learning about how businesses work, etc.

[Heathermomster]

Does she like hands-on things?

 

Have you looked over at the Evan Moor store front? I was there last night and discovered these science books that look like a lot of fun. I picked one up for DD over at Amazon because it was much cheaper there.

 

This morning, I saw where Homeschool Co-op has Evan Moor's website, teacher's file box, is about to be offered for a group buy. I love that place.

Edited July 9, 2012 by Heathermomster

[PeterPan]

You're in a really good position right now to do FIAR. It would be enough without being too much, and it would be POSITIVE, letting her do things she CAN do, rather than having your whole school time be stuff she CAN'T do. You're still going to get some writing and language exposure that way, but it's all in context, sort of sneaky. Like there's this one book where you read and then make a whole huge floor map of your town. Well label things on there, and boom she's writing. But it's in context and only to the amount she's comfortable doing. With FIAR you're going to be connecting with her via art, music, science, other things that might be perfectly fine for her right now. They might not seem as important, but I think they're important in the sense of changing the tenor from what you can't do to something that she can do. FIAR has badges for all the books, and you can stick them on a map of the world as you read each week. So they're reading, learning geography, doing all these OTHER things.

 

Does the OT give you an estimate on how long it will take for the retained primitive reflexes to integrate?

 

You might, at some point in the coming year, try FLL1/2. It can be done totally orally and kinesthetically with a little bit of creativity. Don't forget nature walks and non-fiction read alouds also. There's just so much richness there that is under-valued when we get busy with our "gotta write, gotta narrate, gotta, gotta" list. It's ok to make time for that. It creates this foundation she can access later when some of the neurological stuff starts clicking.

 

Anything you do with reading and AAS, try to use manipulatives. When I taught my dd to read with SWR, I used letter tiles. Now they have apps. The apps for the ipad are amazing, but of course paper and walmart manips work just as well. We're getting ready to hit the stores to see what school stuff is out. You might find cool stuff. Think in terms of what she CAN do, not what she can't. If she can play board games, that's a way to sneak in math and language. When my dd did VT (which actually we're back to again, ugh), afterward I started doing puzzles with her. I had to start really low. The $$ Tree store will usually have inexpensive puzzles, or your public library may have them. Start low with like 6 or 8 pieces and work up. It's fun for them and good too. When she could do a certain count, then I would get two of that count and we would race. When that was easy, we went to the next level. She went from not doing puzzles at all (we began with 24 count iirc) to doing 300 piece ones together or 200 piece racing. Amazing, eh? And board games are SO good. So much language and social skills and basic content there. Target has wonderful, wonderful games. Your SLP can give you ideas on how to play board games to work on her speech goals.

 

I'm not saying any of that to overwhelm you or make you think you need to do more things. What I'm saying is that there's a lot of stuff we think of as "play" that's actually exceptionally valuable developmentally. And when you want to give them time but want to keep nurturing them with a rich environment, that's how you get there. I also hit the thrift store a lot looking for stuff. I've gotten some really nice Melissa & Doug things that way.

 

As far as curriculum, I really like levels A & B of RightStart. They're easy to adjust the pace down, largely manipulative-driven (especially in level A), and just exceptionally good. You'll get lots of clicks for how you can carry the skills over to other games and activities. Play store and boom you're working on math. Kids that age often love to play store. So it's ok to weave those skills into play. Maybe there's some fancy name for it like enriched play? Don't be afraid to play and give her time to grow. :)

[momsuz123]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I really appreciate it.

 

Yes - FIAR! I did volume 1 last year and loved it. I can't believe I forgot to mention it for this year - but yes, I will do volume 2, and get "deeper" in it where her interests lie.

 

Yes, what she CAN do - that is such a good point to emphasize. As a newer hsing mom - and a new mom to realizing I have a dd with some "special" needs - it is so easy to fall into the "my child CAN'T do that" instead of look what she can do.

 

I found this awesome website that has great ideas on pretend play - you can purchase her grocery store, vet store, doctor office, etc. She really loves this type of play and can learn much from it.

[PeterPan]

You can google or search the boards to find it, but I'm pretty sure Onelmichele here on the boards used a pet store math at one point...

[MomatHWTK]

I recently downloaded quite a few pretend play materials from Sparklebox.com. :-) My DD enjoys playing online at Jumpstart and Always Icecream.