children with moderate to mild MR?

[mommy5]

My son just had another evaluation this time an extensive cognitive eval and we were told he has mild to mod MR. We were told what the future would look like and how to prepare. At the moment we are doing academics with him ... he is at a beginning reading level (like early first grade level ... reading early readers by himself and writing full sentences with little to no prompting or help with spelling). He is also at an early first grade math level (learning simple addition and subtraction). Has anyone had experience with this kind of diagnosis and academics ... I'm just struggling with where to go from here (our son is almost 10) and the idea of focusing on just living skills/help skills. Anyone been through this or going through this?

[Ottakee]

I have 2 that are mentally impaired (one IQ of 53 and one IQ of 63) along with one slow learning (IQ about 75).

 

For Reading the best thing we found was the I See Sam program. http://www.iseesam.com It moves slowly and gives LOTS of practice. Got my lowest 2 reading at a 4th grade level iwth understanding. For spelling, Apples and Pears got her to a late 3rd grade spelling (which with spell check is quite a functional level).

 

For math we went with CLE but really focused more on practical things like time and money. Using a calculator is perfectly fine.

 

We did a lot of activies based on interests.

 

Disclaimer here---in 7th grade we put them into the local public schools as the homeschool activities were just way out pacing them as then most activities were K-6 (which worked well) but then the 7-12 were just way above their heads.

 

Our local school program for the cognitively impaired is very good and teaches academics along with practical life skills. My kids love it there and they have a "peer group" of other cognitively impaired friends so they "fit in". Special Olympics is another great option no matter what you do in the future for schooling.

[chiguirre]

Our schooling consists of reading, arithmetic, and handwriting. He also does OT/ST twice a week, plus at our co-op he does enrichment classes. He is also in Cub Scouts and Awana, but he's in the level below his agemates - and even that's a struggle oftentime.

 

 

This is what I do with Geezle, except replace Awana with church choir. We concentrate on the 3Rs and he listens to audiobooks and reads picture books or easy chapter books for content. He can decode at a 5th grade level, but too much text on a page overwhelms him, so I've chosen to use picture books with him. They have rich language and good stories, but there's not too much text on a page. I found a tutor for math which was our worst struggle and he's doing better and I'm much less stressed about it. Apples and Pears has finally helped him advance in his writing. My main goal is that he can read, write and do arithmetic well enough to handle living independently. We plan to send him to school in high school for vocational and life skills training. He's also active in several SO sports, which has been a great activity for us.

 

Since I see your ds is on the spectrum, I will mention that Geezle's IQ score jumped 10 points from his penultimate to his last 3 year evaluation. The scores aren't very reliable for asd kids, so meet your ds where he's at even if that doesn't line up with his IQ score.