Curriculum/philosophy work for special needs child

[warriormom]

Any program or curriculum really work for your special needs child? Any educational style/philosophy work for special needs child: montessori, waldorf, classical etc.? Please share the challenges and why it works. This might make a good thread.

 

Math:

 

Reading/English:

 

Science:

 

History:

 

Foreign language:

 

Physical education:

 

Music:

 

Art:

 

Therapy:

 

Other:

[Mommee & Baba]

We follow pretty closely to The Well Trained Mind. I just change how I approach my child and how I teach the material to her. She's no different in her abilities than my other children when it comes to learning. She can learn and thrive deeply just as my other 2 children. Her learning style is just different. There is no need to give her a "special" curriculum, IMO.

 

Math: Math Mammoth as a guide for what to cover, but I teach Math in the style of Miquon. I tried Teaching Textbooks and she cried and had complete meltdowns. It turned her AWAY from math in only a matter of days! My mathy child didn't like Teaching Textbooks either! My kids all enjoy MEP though too!

 

Reading/English: Funnix for her reading as she enjoys it. Language arts is First Language Lessons 4 and she thrives well! Writing is Writing with Ease 3 and she does well. I just take it slow for each day's lesson and she grasps it and we move forward. I tried Hooked on Phonics and it did get my older child up to the level she needed to be! Once we got to the master reader the books were too intimidating, so we switched to Funnix.

 

Science: Elemental Science. This year we're doing Grammar Stage Earth Science & Astronomy. We combine this subject with my 2nd grade dd and my 4th grader. They truely enjoy this Science. Somedays we can go deeper into study and other days it's perfect to do just what it has planned. We tried Apologia and it was WAY too read-y. My girls love Science and that curriculum made them dread listening to ALL the lesson had to say! BLEH!

 

History: Story of the World. We love this approach! It's so gentle! My kids love the story-telling part of history. It doesn't focus on dates but on the stories! I love the acitivites that are for each chapter. My kids color the pages, do the map work and enjoy doing an activity or two for the chapter. We tried Mystery of History for a year and it was nice, but it wasn't suited for younger minds. It says it's good for Kindergarten and up, but I have to say I disagree. It's meant for 4th grade and up in my opinion. It's a nice curriculum though!

 

Foreign language: We aren't studying one this year. Next year I will focus on Spanish.

 

Physical education: AWANA and regular play!

 

Art: Mike's Inspiration Station DVD's. My dd is extremely artsy so this is fun for her but she usually does ALOT of art related things through-out the week during her free time as well!

[warriormom]

I know every child is different. My concern about curriculum is that my child has some vestibular/proprioception dysfunction, speech delay (1 year) and fine motor skill delay (9 months). I think I just do not want to push her, but I do not want to waste time. Not sure if that makes sense. I have heard with children with issues with vestibular/proprioception issues should not learn to read too early until this issue is taken care of. Not sure if I am right.

[warriormom]

:confused1: bump

[FairProspects]

I don't really think it is possible to answer your question since the variety of special needs here is so wide. What works for my dyslexic may be a disaster for someone else's child with a different SN completely. If you think there may be some issues with learning to read, the usual recommendation is for an Orton-Gillingham program but as for the rest of the subjects the adaptations or curriculum really vary based on personal preference even within the same diagnosis.

[Ottakee]

What type of special needs are you talking about? LIke someone else said, what might work with a child with Aspergers with high IQ might be a disaster for a child with a mental impairment. Feel free to share more about the child's special needs and we can try to help you out.

[warriormom]

I know every child is different. My concern about curriculum is that my child has some vestibular/proprioception dysfunction, speech delay (1 year) and fine motor skill delay (9 months). I think I just do not want to push her, but I do not want to waste time. Not sure if that makes sense. I have heard with children with issues with vestibular/proprioception issues should not learn to read too early until this issue is taken care of. Not sure if I am right.

 

My child has developmental delays in expressive speech, articulation, fine motor, some SPD ( mostly vestibular and proprioception). She has weakness in her right side. We are in the process of finding out the underlying condition (mitochondrial, chromosomal etc). Right now she has a diagnosis of mild cerebellar ataxia (uncoordinated muscle movement), mild hypotonia ( low tone) , articulation and expressive language delay along with proprioception and vestibular dysfunction.

 

Really I would love to hear about your child's challenges and what worked for you ( or what did not work).

[PeterPan]

I know every child is different. My concern about curriculum is that my child has some vestibular/proprioception dysfunction, speech delay (1 year) and fine motor skill delay (9 months). I think I just do not want to push her, but I do not want to waste time. Not sure if that makes sense. I have heard with children with issues with vestibular/proprioception issues should not learn to read too early until this issue is taken care of. Not sure if I am right.

 

I think you're asking the wrong questions, which is why you're not getting the answers you need. The question is how do you take that mix of issues and go from labels to practical? Personally, I wouldn't even start with the label. Lots of kids can read FINE, even with vestibular and proprioception problems. My dd did. It can affect *eye* and vision development, yes, and that can affect school work. But it doesn't *have* to hold them back.

 

Anyways, what I would be asking in your shoes?

 

1) How does the child learn?

2) How does the child learn?

3) How does the child learn?

4) What do they need to learn?

5) What do they want to learn?

 

And somewhere in there you have your answers. Sometimes 1-3 and 5 end up really really important and theories on 4 have to wait. #4 can actually be the answer to your therapy question, so let's go there.

 

6) Given the labels I've gotten so far, what types of things should I be pursuing? What can I do as a mom at home to pre-empt long-term issues, find them earlier, or make sure the seeds of problems don't become bigger or get aggravated?

 

That can be therapy. It can be lifestyle changes. It can be some things you aren't even talking about right now and that I don't see in your sig like Earobics.

 

On 1-3, how she learns, I'm talking on a really basic level. Is she a kinesthetic learner, visual learner, etc? What channels does she seem to use to process information? DON'T just assume. My dd is a doer but not technically a dominantly kinesthetic learner. Technically, if you talk to the brainies, she's supposed to be right-brained and a VSL. Well her VSL side only came out when we did VT. You could see *hints* of it before, and she certainly fits the profile. However her visual processing was weak because of vision problems, so she actually processed with her weaker modality (auditory) to avoid using visual. You'll still see it now. Yesterday we were playing searching game on the Wii, and she would *say each thing aloud* before she'd go to search for it. She was using her *auditory processing* to pull the weight where her visual processing was weak. She's dominantly VSL if you read the brainie books, and in fact she actually does VSL things. She's just got some problems there.

 

So that means when you go to teach her, you start seeing what channels she's using to process, where you have an opening. In her case, I try to have her using *all* her channels at once. So for instance TT math (which I'm not recommending to you, just showing as an example) has her seeing and hearing and doing, all at the same time. This is where she gets golden. My ds with speech issues I teach totally differently. He's dominantly kinesthetic with a dash of visual and very little auditory learning (per a profile his ST did). So when I teach him, I get him MOVING and seeing and hearing, but it's the DOING that has to be happening. He'll jump on the trampoline while reciting sounds or move like a dolphin while talking about the letter D.

 

I know that sounds corny, but that's where I'd start. When you get their learning modality and start to figure out how they're processing and what channels you have to work with, then the materials matter less and how you *use* them matters more.

 

As far as #4, well I'd look at the list at phonemicawareness.org and go through the list. If the skills aren't there, I'd do stuff and get them there. Kids with speech issues can have trouble with *basics* like hearing sounds, syllables, rhyming, etc. My ds doesn't yet hear rhyming consistently. Sometimes I get a glimmer, then it's gone. We're going through Earobics. There's just a lot of foundational stuff like that. I don't think it's necessary to assume they can't read now or that it's harmful to read now. You simply get in there and see if there are any glitches you can do anything about. I can't *make* my ds hear rhyming right now, but it's ok to try, pleasantly and gently to tolerance.

 

BTW, our SLP suggested I not do anything as far as reading and school work that he could not say comfortably for himself. She said the psychology was just really bad on that. Now there are limits to that. If you have a totally non-verbal dc, you go ahead and teach them to read, mercy. But when it's just a matter of chosing phonograms and staggering so we aren't emphasizing the fact that they can't say certain things right now, that's ok to work around.

 

Foreign language? Honestly, I'm not sure a foreign language is ever going to be realistic with my ds. Maybe someone else will come on and say it works out, but that would be the shock of my life. I'm all for language instruction btw. I studied multiple languages in college. I just have enough hindsite and comfort, from teaching my dd for 9 years now, that I can say pretty confidently I won't bat an eye if I see no glimmer with ds. The world will go on. Other things are much more important.

 

History? Well that's that channel thing. With my ds I expect us to be doing read alouds and audio tapes while he plays. I have the build your own forts book, konos, that sort of thing. He's a kinesthetic learner and he seems to enjoy audios. I'll merge them.

 

Science? Again, doing, because he's kinesthetic.

 

Reading? Well definitely a blend of OG and whole word till I know it has taken. There's nothing else more important. And lots of audiobooks until his reading takes off. I have him listening to Charlotte's Web now. He's starting to use words from it, so I know the language is boring into his brain. I've wondered whether some of the more tedious reading approaches will be necessary, but I don't know. You can't know till you get in there and have the child reading and see the issues. Then you go to Linguisystems or Super-duper, find the thing that matches the issue you're seeing, and do it.

 

BTW, he plays while he listens to the audiobooks. He doesn't just sit, mercy.

 

I don't think you're crazy on the whole push vs. waste time thing! I think the key is to be gentle and responsive. Try something, see how it goes, and back off. Create a dialog where she can give you feedback. If you miss cues or she has a tendency to be compliant, then you use flags or set a timer (shorter than you think she'll tolerate, so you end on a good note!), etc. I think it's GOOD to try something and see where there's walls are. Like you say, if you just assume, you're certainly not going to get the change. Therapy and instruction are interwoven at this level, so when you try something gently, you might actually get some brain development and find it's able to click. Or it's not ready and you back off, no biggee. Just proceed gently and you'll be fine.

[warriormom]

Btw, she was diagnosed mid-October. I am new to all of this. Originally, I thought she had a defiance issue and sensory processing disorder.

 

Right now I am teaching her more montessori style since it is multi-sensory. I have been praying and thinking about earrobics and The Listening Program as well as vision therapy/computerized.

 

Thank you for the input. I am experimenting with my daughter. Asking her to do something or perform does not work for her. Asking for her to help me with a puzzle or for me to "get the answer wrong answer" and she corrects me works right now.

 

She touches everything but picks up songs very easily. I think the touching is having to do with being sensory seeking. She may be auditory or she may just love to sing. Not sure how being an auditory learner and having speech issues correlate (expressive and articulation). Really at this point. I do not know. I am just trying to use as many of the senses as I can when I teach. Not sure if it is working....

 

I would not mention foreign language, but my husband is bilingual. He is originally from Puerto Rico and my in-laws speak Spanish and English but they are teaching the kids some Spanish.

 

I am in a fog right now not really knowing how to serve my daughter. I have some fear of the unknown (exacerbated by a PT who said to me "I am curious about the underlying condition").

[PeterPan]

There's a shock to all of it when you first find things out. It's ok that you're going through that.

 

As far as the learning styles, you could google learning style profiles. What it does is let you see how these channels can show up. Onelmichele had a place she used for an inventory that gave good results. Try taking a basic task that you know she's ready to learn (a letter name, how to butter toast without ripping the bread, whatever), and teach her different ways: first explaining it and seeing if she can do it just based on the auditory, then showing her how and seeing if she can do it after you demonstrate (visual), then actually putting your hand on hers and helping her do it (kinesthetic). See how you're going through the auditory, visual, and kinesthetic channels to see where you get a connect?

 

Start with the free options first. http://phonologicalawareness.org This place has a free list. So go there, go through the list, just see what you learn. If you're doing OPGTR but she doesn't have the basic phonological awareness as listed on this link, then she's not ready and needs to back up. What you back up TO really depends on the severity of the issue and what's going on. Earobics is pretty specific. It's working on the ability to hear sounds, syllables, rhymes, etc. It starts in isolation and builds up to include background noise, auditory working memory, etc. Money is not limitless, but I think it's something you can't go wrong on. If you do that phonological awareness list and she has issues with how she's hearing sound, you'll probably find the Earobics useful. The place I bought it from also had a pretty generous return period. You could load it, use it, and return it if it wasn't a good fit. So that's the way I'd buy.

 

Do you have a single line swing? We got a Sky Chair, which is something the OT had used in therapy, and it makes a big difference with ds, calming him down and giving him good sensory. You can make your own weighted collar and wear that while swinging. We also have a mini trampoline/rebounder in our school area.

 

Flax oil helps my ds' speech. Other people use fish oil.

 

It's really good that you're finding your way of working with her. You're wise to embrace that. Doodler on the board here has told stories about how her dd would literally create her own therapy with her intense drive to do certain things a certain way. We get this conflict because we get voices telling us we're spoiling them, it won't work out, they have to live in the such and such world, blah blah. In general though, I think when you're seeing those walls and defensiveness and STRONG DRIVES, I think you just go with it.

 

BTW, did the PT explain her comment? Was she saying she wondered what it could be? Yes, there are things you can pursue like genetic testing, mitochondrial disorders, etc. You don't *have* to, but the option is there. Or was she implying that your next step is a neuropsych eval? Is that what you did or just the OT/PT and ST so far?

 

You know for some reason I thought this was your 6 yo we were talking about. This dc is *4*? Wowsers, with my 4 yo with apraxia and lots of go bugs, he gets lots and lots of time to play (outside, rugged), interactive play where I try to bring in language to work on his speech, some school time to tolerance (20 minutes max, and that's not every day), and audiobooks. He asks for school, so he gets school. I consider the games we play together, his time tromping around outside, and the audiobooks much more important. Earobics is easy just to throw in when we want some down time, because it only takes 15-20 minutes. He sits on my lap and we play. I end up doing a lot of the mousing.

 

As far as vision, yes he's getting his eyes checked again by the developmental optometrist. He was checked a year ago, and they're just keeping track of it right now. They didn't recommend therapy a year ago, even though they could tell there were some issues. It's not like they say yes to everyone. But yes, it's an area I'm glad we're *watching* on him, because clearly funky stuff is in his genes.

 

I don't mean to be placating if you actually turn out to have something much worse going on, but there's a whole bunch of stuff that yes needs to be diagnosed and yes is real but is also survivable. It's going to be fine. Sometimes you realize one of the parents had this in their genes and that they've dealt with it too. I hope you get some peace about it soon. When my ds was diagnosed, I felt so stressed for so long. It just left me gasping, thinking I shouldn't even leave him alone lest I wasn't talking to him enough and helping his speech enough. Now we're to the other side of that, two years later. So the peace will come.