PeterPan Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Has anyone here had a wildly asynchronous dc, maybe with some SN... Can you tell me what that looked like for K5ish? We're finally on a list for evals with a Hoagies' list psych. He's just sort of all over the place. Today he wanted me to explain ziggurats to him, and I'm not even sure where in the world he found out about them. He's doing a Lego Technic kit with 700 pieces aimed at 10+ yos. He can't hear the differences between vowels (we're working on it), so I figure I'm going to be reading things to him for a LONG TIME and have decided to get over it and start doing it. Thing is, once you cross that "ok, he's not dumb, he's actually gifted" line, then it starts to get screwy. I think I could do MOH with him for K5 and he'd like it. I used it with dd some in 3rd-ish iirc. He's just really honking different. Everything you do with him, he just takes in. Read through a bird guide and discuss each bird? Sure. Talk physics? Sure. It's just really ridiculous. And yet, when I read some of the posts of dmmetler and whatnot, there's NO WAY my ds' IQ is that high. Or if it is, he doesn't have any way to *pursue* his interests at that level. Well sure, he watched a documentary with dh tonight and came up telling me about how our ancestors were some of the first to cross over from the british side, blah blah. (I have no clue what he was talking about.) I'm just saying it's extremely unlikely he's PG (I'm not) and that even if he does test in the G/HG or whatever range this fall, it still doesn't answer the question of what you do with this kid who is really all over the place. So I guess let's start at the beginning. If your dc was VERY asynchronous because of 2E, how did you handle that? How did you prioritize, and how did you determine whether and how much to work on the things that were weaker areas for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Welcome :) There are quite a few asynchronous Lego fanatics here. I forgot my kids learn about ziggurats from PBS or Legos :lol: If your local library is well stocked, be prepared to have your child happily reading at adults reference. The beautifully illustrated bird guides and other stuff are there. A Lego ziggurat link https://ideas.lego.com/projects/41362 ETA: I let them read deeper on whatever they like. No way I can go in depth with them on all their interest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Welcome :seeya: . There are all types here so please join in. My older boy was tested with auditory processing issues as a 6 year old, and the main problems I saw were in his speech and his spelling. :eek: The spelling also slowed down his writing development. I firmly believe that spending 30 minutes a day learning to play the violin helped him to train his ear and eradicate the problem as there is no sign of it now. He watched a LOT of documentaries for years, as in 1 or even 2 a day, 7x per week. We are talking 1000s of docos, so his knowledge base at this point is incredibly broad. He also read widely. But I never required output. These things were just his fun, output was work; and I tried not to mix them up too much. As for celebrating his strengths and shoring up his weaknesses, we spent about 1 hour a day on his weaknesses - spelling and writing. Slow and steady wins the race and I did not want to burn him out trying to play catch up. My thought is that he will get there before he graduates, and I would rather he think of himself as a scholar than a student struggling with the basics. Happy to answer more questions, Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raptor_dad Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 . Today he wanted me to explain ziggurats to him, and I'm not even sure where in the world he found out about them. He's doing a Lego Technic kit with 700 pieces aimed at 10+ yos. He can't hear the differences between vowels (we're working on it), so I figure I'm going to be reading things to him for a LONG TIME and have decided to get over it and start doing it. Thing is, once you cross that "ok, he's not dumb, he's actually gifted" line, then it starts to get screwy. I think I could do MOH with him for K5 and he'd like it. I used it with dd some in 3rd-ish iirc. He's just really honking different. Everything you do with him, he just takes in. Read through a bird guide and discuss each bird? Sure. Talk physics? Sure. It's just really ridiculous. Deep breath... On the SN board you are one of the voices of reason. You can do this. You know you can.... I think the key with 2E kids is to both accelerate their strengths while working on their weaknesses. I would suggest reading the Eide's books , both "The Mislabeled Child" and "Dyslexic Advantage". My DS is not dyslexic but that book still helped. Either the Eide's book or that other classic dyslexia book that recapitulates Geschwind's work, which I can't place at the moment, made the point that was most critical for me; the entire goal of early education for 2E kids is to avoid labelling them as "broken". Remediate as needed; but allow them to fly in areas where they excel. Read to your kid. Watch videos. The technic simple machines materials are highly regarded. If cost is an issue, the Lego 1030/1031 technic machine manuals are available online. My DS has been willing to pore over NXT/EV3 manuals without actually owning the kits.... Read up on VSL's(visual spatial learners). The science behind it is crap(much like left/right brained), but pragmatically it is *very* useful. You have offered so much wisdom to folks on the SN board. Trust your gut,. 2e kids are not that different from SN kids or neurotypical kids. Meet them where their at; Balance your teaching to both address their strengths and weaknesses; Be prepared to change course as needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Arcadia, thank you for the link! :) Ruth in NZ, I think you finally made something click in my mind that hadn't gelled yet. You're right that access to documentaries is the bridge between what he wants and what he can make happen via reading. He's not going to be reading for a long time. I've given up hope of that. Right now we're doing basic things like trying to distinguish vowels. It's going to be a long while before he's reading for content. That's really interesting about the violin. I'll have to see if anything catches his fancy. Raptor, thanks for the encouraging words. Yup, up on the VSL thing. It's been a while since I read DA, and I read it with dd in mind. You're right that I need to get it back out and read it thinking of ds. On the idea that he's not different though, I don't know. He lives in his own world, and he only works with you if it's of his good pleasure. I guess you could say he's going to turn out to be 3E. ;) Your point on having them not come through the process viewing themselves as broken is EXCEPTIONAL. I've been wanting to reread Bright, Not Broken for this very reason. Guess I should look up more lego technic kits. They're clearly becoming a thing for him... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Guess I should look up more lego technic kits. They're clearly becoming a thing for him... try the oldies - lego 1030 http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X1030+lego&_nkw=1030+lego&_sacat=0&_from=R40 and lego 1032 (this one is cost-prohibitive at the moment but check back every now and then) http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=1030+lego&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X1032+lego&_nkw=1032+lego&_sacat=0 I forgot, did you ever read Upside Down Brilliance? Another VSL favorite that I had to read separately with each of my VSLs in mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Raptor, took me a minute to figure out why I wanted those particular guides. Neat!! Thanks to wapiti's link, I'm realizing we in fact basically have all the pieces already, just not the instructions! So we can do those and be good to go. Wapiti, thanks for those links!!! You know I'm not sure I have read UDB. I think I may have scanned it once in a store. Ds. is screwy, because on the one hand he's clearly drawn to things he can visualize and where he can problem-solve with his visualization ability. On the other hand, he's getting a lot of inverses and things right now. I'm not sure if that's age-typical and just from pushing the limits of developmental norms, or whether it's a function of dyslexia and visual processing oddities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 So I guess let's start at the beginning. If your dc was VERY asynchronous because of 2E, how did you handle that? How did you prioritize, and how did you determine whether and how much to work on the things that were weaker areas for them? OhE, it's lovely to see you here. :001_wub: I've benefited a lot from your posts on various boards. DH and I have never pursued a diagnosis for DS. After having read up and heard anecdotes from others though I think he does have a few things going on but we've decided to just address them one at a time (because thankfully, we haven't seen them all crop up together or maybe they do but are milder in flavor). I echo everything Ruth has said about docus. We have used visual media liberally over here. I need it too because that's how I learn best. I can listen to audio lectures for hours and not absorb anything (unless it is highly engaging like LoTR) but one quick visual and bam! I have it down forever. DS seems more all rounded than I am in this sense but the visuals were always helpful to relax me so maybe that's why they helped him the way they did too. I also keep aside tons of time for free pursuits. And I role model the reading habit so anything that he wants to know he can read or discuss at pretty high levels. DS's is very asynchronous in the physical area. E.g. the act of physical writing...one thing I've not figured out yet is how is it that with a very high processing speed, he takes hours to finish one math question. I decided to do the worrying in seasons. Whenever I focus on writing for english, I don't think about his math speed and vice versa. I also allow months to go without any writing happening. My approach is a little different in this way and might shock others lol. I do this because I've seen over and over again that when I don't stress on one thing, he picks it up (albeit slowly) on his own and also seems to do better at it than if I have provided instruction. He does well with buddy writing though...writing spontaneously with me or someone else because the pressure to perform is not there but there is still a small amount of competitive spirit that tempts him. But not too competitive that he is put off. We also spend time on origami (very calming), sculpting with clay/ buckyballs and are now taking up knitting/ crocheting to help with his finger strength. And he lacks that strength despite having played piano for the last 7 years! I allow activities like crosswords to make up for lack of vocab/ current events discussions when I am too busy. When DS's seatwork stamina could not keep up with his need for intellectual stimulation, I allowed him to stretch out year-long online courses to 18 months or even two years. I've found that things stick better this way and we also have time to sneak in bunny trails that make the study a lot more meaningful than rushing through. Granted that this is not always feasible cost-wise or that even recommended by some providers. For this reason, I chose independent-pace courses (math, physics and foreign language). The strategy seems to have worked well to build DS's stamina because now he is able to take on semester-long intensive courses without problems. DS is much better at multi-step instructions now (still absent minded though) but I used to give him instructions in sketches/ drawings, with detailed thought bubbles or notes next to each drawing for added effect up to the time he was 8-9yo. E.g. step-by-step procedure to brush teeth = sketch of smiley face with toothbrush, small amount of toothpaste (his fine motor was so bad that he couldn't control how much toothpaste was squeezed out and always left a huge mess, his bathroom is carpeted too, ack!), brushing teeth action, washing up action, replacing brush and toothpaste neatly etc. Same thing for showers, how to make his breakfast etc. I would tape these instructions where he could see them clearly. I find that he learned the steps much faster this way vs. constant verbal instructions from me. We're getting there! :) I hope something was helpful. Welcome again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Ds was asynchronous when he was younger, but it was more just crazy early passion. He went full boar into languages right away and later followed with his environmental work. So it was not a 2E issue, just major intensity and borderline OCD. However, the one thing that has backfired to bite me pretty hard was pushing. I got all nervous so I pushed writing. I mean, he loves languages why not write?! Dad is an English teacher, how perfect! Goodness, it was stupid. He clammed right up, got crazy nervous, and as a result panicked. It has taken three years of no writing (other than pure interest led, really high gratification speeches or grant proposals) for him to decide writing is okay. He no longer panics. A year or so ago, I got all nervous about how AoPS was not clicking. I made way big a todo over it, pushed, seriously blew up in my face. Ds has spent most of the time since thinking he must be terrible at math. No, he was all stressed because I got stressed. Do I not learn?! So if there is one piece of advice I could provide, I would say let your son lead! Obviously do not let him massively hinder himself, but realize the time between 5ish and eleven-ish is quite extensive. It is definitely more a time to get geeked out about everything and explore what he might like to pursue. Even if that path seems lopsided to us, it works for him. You never know what might be hiding in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 My older son, who is HGish and has dyslexia, looked the opposite of gifted when he was 5yo. There would be flashes of brilliance, but mostly he just seemed not too bright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Quark, you know I'm going to love you forever, right? :) You need to tell the practitioners it's ok to worry in seasons, lol. I tried to do that for this summer and signed him up for scads of swimming and gymnastics to work on core and upper body, hand, shoulder, etc. strength and toning. Nuts, we're even working on breath support. It's awesome! And the SLP STILL wants us to skip sessions and drive 2 1/2 hours each way. Totally stresses me out. It's really hard to know you're not screwing them up when you choose not to stress. Everybody has a strong argument. :crying: I totally agree with you on it. I just wish people could peacefully apply it to therapy stuff too and stop stressing me about it. Your explanations and tips were all fantastic, thank you. I hadn't even thought of doing origami with him, wow. He's so VSL, he'd probably enjoy it. What do you mean by clay/bucky balls? We built a bucky ball out of marshmallows and toothpicks once. This is something different? I have some books on sculpting figures we could do together. Dd worked a TON with sculpey at this age, and you're right I haven't tried ds on it at all. Guess that's next on our list of things to do! :) EoO, I'm seeing multiple people mention this on the boards about regretting getting the dynamic pushed/negative. It's really hard when we know things are going to take a while, but I appreciate it and am definitely listening. :) EKS, that's very interesting! Did his IQ scores change over the years? The psych mentioned to us that scores could get masked by LDs as time goes on and that testing early would give us a clearer picture. I've just been curious about that and wondered how common it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quark Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Quark, you know I'm going to love you forever, right? :) :grouphug: ! :laugh: What do you mean by clay/bucky balls? We built a bucky ball out of marshmallows and toothpicks once. This is something different? He uses sculpting clay or thinking putty for fun, and whenever he can't focus or needs to be doing something else while also watching a video and sometimes while reading at his table. He can't seem to do only one thing at one time! E.g. he can read and listen to an audiobook of a different story/ lecture at the same time and know perfectly what's going on in both. His dad needs multiple stimuli at one time like that too and manipulating something while reading/ watching/ listening seems to help him focus better. By bucky balls, I mean the neodymium magnets. The ones we have have been banned due to safety concerns. We bought them in 2010 or 2011 when they were first launched. DS likes thinking up and making solids/ shapes with them (tried to attach a photo, hope it comes through). Much easier for him to manipulate than legos or K'nex or Zome for example. And for that reason too we bought him more of MagNext toys than building bricks/ rods that were more difficult to pull apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 25, 2014 Author Share Posted June 25, 2014 Quark, if you want a laugh, that's how I was in college. I used to listen to music in english while memorizing my russian. :lol: I hadn't thought about whether ds was like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I think everyone's already said what I would have said, but I do want to point out something you know already-and that's that if you know one GT/2e kid, you know one GT/2e kid. Each one's path is different, but it doesn't make one more or less deserving of special education than another. That's one of the frustrations I have with GT programs-for the most part, they all look for their own thin splinter of GT, and sometimes aren't really good at recognizing that "Gifted" is much wider. I'd also suggest, if your son hasn't already found it, exploring rebrickable, Especially with Technics sets, there usually aren't a lot of the highly specialized pieces that limit being able to rebuild, and you may find that he has the tools he needs to do some pretty involved builds. The Lego Ideas (formerly Cuuseo) is another great site to browse and explore to get ideas on where t go next-and in both cases, it helps keep the lego budget a little more reasonable (says the woman who has a lego room in her house....). Also, if you can, try to go to an AFOL event/conference. Brickfair is the one we've been to, and they usually have public hours where kids are welcome. Like a lot of things I've done, I've found when DD starts talking to the builders about building, they forget that she technically is below the age range, and she starts getting invitations to come to the private stuff. Seeing what other people come up with in free building sparks a lot of creativity, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 It's interesting to see you post here, because you've given me lots of advice and good counsel in the Learning Challenges board for my 2E daughter (now almost 12, rising 6th grader.) VERY asynchronous? I think I can understand that. Just got standardized tests back a few days ago.. mine is a girl who has scored as low as 23rd percentile in certain math exams, while at the same time getting 96th-99th in language, listening, and science. What you do to prioritize I imagine must vary so much from kid to kid. For my dd, the biggest synchronicity was she had a gifted-level understanding of storytelling and narratives, but her spelling and ability to physically write words on paper in the correct order was so cripplingly bad that she could hardly write a sentence. So what did I do? I handled the spelling and dyslexia issues separately, but made sure to make time to let her verbally "write" with me typing up her papers and stories.I'm pleased to say that now, she's reached a level of competence and is now self-reliant in continuing to shore up her weaknesses. (That is, she can now get her own wonderful ideas down on paper without my help with anything but the editing process.) We're still working on math remediation. Again, I've let her move ahead with problem solving and concepts, even though we've had to handle her ability to calculate with kid gloves. Opinions vary too. My husband, who shared some of her issues and ended up quite successful, quite strongly felt we should just say "screw it" and let her use a spell checker and a calculator. I somewhat disagreed. While I know she's never going to be an amazing speller or quick with arithmetic, I felt for her own sense of security and confidence it was important to do the necessary work to shore up those weaknesses. I agreed, however, that it was important never to let our addressing of the weaknesses get in the way of her exploring her strengths, even though it often feels counter-intuitive or impossible to address both at once. I will at some point give it up to the spell checker and calculator - and that time is coming in the next year or two. I feel we're *almost there* and the commitment to helping her work on weaknesses has really paid off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
serendipitous journey Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 ohElizabeth, I just wanted to say hi!! and tell you how much I've enjoyed and benefited from posts you've written. I've got nothin' on the helpful front, aside from :grouphug: . I lurk on SN b/c A. has a strong special needs aspect but it isn't academic per se ... (probably emotional) ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 I felt for her own sense of security and confidence it was important to do the necessary work to shore up those weaknesses. I agreed, however, that it was important never to let our addressing of the weaknesses get in the way of her exploring her strengths, even though it often feels counter-intuitive or impossible to address both at once. I will at some point give it up to the spell checker and calculator - and that time is coming in the next year or two. I feel we're *almost there* and the commitment to helping her work on weaknesses has really paid off. This is a very interesting perspective! And yes, until I hear otherwise, I'm saying VERY asynchronous. Like we already have some testing putting him in the gifted range, but up till a month or two ago he couldn't tell me how many fingers he had. ;) Not only can I not get him reading, but at this point we're doing really basic things like discriminating /a/ vs. /i/. But he enjoys documentaries, lego kits, field guides, audiobooks, etc. His last audiobook was Huck Finn read by Elijah Wood. When he does the lego kits, he's a hoot. He can do them by himself, but he gets the rotational stuff off. I just check each step for him to make sure it's oriented the right way. He's doing Lego 42006 (720 pieces, rec for ages 10-12). Like EKS says, I haven't been able to figure out WHAT he is. For a long time we just assumed he was sort of delayed ... Now he just goes around saying he's bored and sucking up whatever we do with him. I was trying NOT to do much and give him time to come through whatever it was, since legally by cutoff he was only K4 this year, but that didn't work. So now we're getting evals and going to get some help. ohElizabeth, I just wanted to say hi!! and tell you how much I've enjoyed and benefited from posts you've written. I've got nothin' on the helpful front, aside from :grouphug: . I lurk on SN b/c A. has a strong special needs aspect but it isn't academic per se ... (probably emotional) ... Awww, ya'll have been way too sweet! :001_wub: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neeko Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 My 7.5yo is probably-gifted, probably-dyslexic, with a good sprinkling of ADHD, if I had to guess. I was so burnt out from having the first kid evaluated that we haven't managed it with the second kid quite yet. Here are my best/only tips for K/1st grade: Brainpop, both Jr and Regular. It is his no-reading-required encyclopedia. He can research and follow rabbit trails without asking for my help, which he loves. Audiobooks. Tons and tons. He has an old iphone with all the Magic Treehouse books, in addition to a bunch of others, set up on a speaker dock in his room, and can navigate that himself. Rightstart Math. (He took one look at a Singapore book and melted.) I prioritize a little bit of reading instruction (Dancing Bears, here) and the occasional math lesson (RightStart), and then I let him fill his brain with whatever his theme of the day might be. Sometimes I suggest that he could draw a picture of whatever he's studying, and add words as it becomes appropriate, but I don't do more than a gentle nudge in that department. Sometimes he'll build a great Lego model of whatever his theme is that day. There are many, many days when what he is studying is Lego Star Wars, but also many when it is Ancient Rome, cells, or the Civil Rights Movement. I figure it will balance out eventually. (I know my sig says OM. We use it in a very low key, background sort of way.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenjenn Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Not only can I not get him reading, but at this point we're doing really basic things like discriminating /a/ vs. /i/. But he enjoys documentaries, lego kits, field guides, audiobooks, etc. His last audiobook was Huck Finn read by Elijah Wood. So it sounds like he must have excellent listening skills. We did a lot of audiobooks and reading aloud with my 2E daughter. She had amazing listening skills. Out loud reading was *so* necessary because she just couldn't read the kind of things she was interested in reading. By the way, when you do audiobooks, consider getting the text and encouraging him to follow along with it. Same with reading aloud and letting him follow the text. No stressing about it or anything, just having the text there and following along as best he can while listening. We've learned that the audio-with-reading connection can do WONDERS for building reading fluency, especially for 2E kids with great listening skills but poor reading skills. It worked wonders for my daughter anyways. To be sure, she is way more of a whole language/context reader than phonetic reader. I did all the phonics lessons with her as well (and she still gets them with her spelling program), but she her reading fluency came from whole-language reading - and that's not uncommon for people with certain learning disabilities. The listening-with-text connection when done regularly helps that happen faster, and the faster that happens, the sooner they can read content of interest to them. The sooner they can read content that is of interest to them, the better off they are. DD is a voracious reader now. Now if she stumbles on a word or name she's unfamiliar with and then tries to talk about it, the pronunciation that emerges from her is completely messed up, but I can live with that. She's reading with a Lexile measure of 1190 in 5th grade. The quirks that come with whole language reading are a small price to pay for that, and kind of diminish anyways with experience and increased vocabulary. Speaking of struggling readers with excellent listening skills, file away Phonetic Zoo as a spelling program for him. It might be a little frustrating for him now, as it's best for kids who already are solid with all the consonant and vowel sounds. It's a little weird at times, but the audio component of the spelling programs, along with spelling rules, has made that program the only program that has actually been effective in improving my daughter's spelling (as in *actually* improving it long term, and not just enabling her to get a good score on a text that week and then forget.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenmama2 Posted June 26, 2014 Share Posted June 26, 2014 Welcome. I have an asynchronous 8 year old & a mysterious 5 year old. I too lurk on the SN board & have gleaned a lot of useful things from your posts for my elder child. Thanks. Heartily recommend "The Mislabeled Child" as well. I'm about 70% through it & have learnt so many useful things for both DC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 My 7.5yo is probably-gifted, probably-dyslexic, with a good sprinkling of ADHD, if I had to guess. I was so burnt out from having the first kid evaluated that we haven't managed it with the second kid quite yet. Here are my best/only tips for K/1st grade: Brainpop, both Jr and Regular. It is his no-reading-required encyclopedia. He can research and follow rabbit trails without asking for my help, which he loves. Audiobooks. Tons and tons. He has an old iphone with all the Magic Treehouse books, in addition to a bunch of others, set up on a speaker dock in his room, and can navigate that himself. Rightstart Math. (He took one look at a Singapore book and melted.) I prioritize a little bit of reading instruction (Dancing Bears, here) and the occasional math lesson (RightStart), and then I let him fill his brain with whatever his theme of the day might be. Sometimes I suggest that he could draw a picture of whatever he's studying, and add words as it becomes appropriate, but I don't do more than a gentle nudge in that department. Sometimes he'll build a great Lego model of whatever his theme is that day. There are many, many days when what he is studying is Lego Star Wars, but also many when it is Ancient Rome, cells, or the Civil Rights Movement. I figure it will balance out eventually. (I know my sig says OM. We use it in a very low key, background sort of way.) Lots of good ideas there! You're right, we haven't given him his own technology yet and ought to. It would unleash him. I used RS with dd, so it was a natural to go back to for ds. He may have a math disorder as well, because he just had this really blank look with it even in the first lesson. I had to switch him over to RonitBird, which seems to click. He now enjoys seeing patterns in numbers, etc., so that's good enough for me. The way you're approaching content is sort of what I had in my mind, so that's fabulous to hear how well it's working for you! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 So it sounds like he must have excellent listening skills. We did a lot of audiobooks and reading aloud with my 2E daughter. She had amazing listening skills. Out loud reading was *so* necessary because she just couldn't read the kind of things she was interested in reading. By the way, when you do audiobooks, consider getting the text and encouraging him to follow along with it. Same with reading aloud and letting him follow the text. No stressing about it or anything, just having the text there and following along as best he can while listening. We've learned that the audio-with-reading connection can do WONDERS for building reading fluency, especially for 2E kids with great listening skills but poor reading skills. It worked wonders for my daughter anyways. To be sure, she is way more of a whole language/context reader than phonetic reader. I did all the phonics lessons with her as well (and she still gets them with her spelling program), but she her reading fluency came from whole-language reading - and that's not uncommon for people with certain learning disabilities. The listening-with-text connection when done regularly helps that happen faster, and the faster that happens, the sooner they can read content of interest to them. The sooner they can read content that is of interest to them, the better off they are. DD is a voracious reader now. Now if she stumbles on a word or name she's unfamiliar with and then tries to talk about it, the pronunciation that emerges from her is completely messed up, but I can live with that. She's reading with a Lexile measure of 1190 in 5th grade. The quirks that come with whole language reading are a small price to pay for that, and kind of diminish anyways with experience and increased vocabulary. Speaking of struggling readers with excellent listening skills, file away Phonetic Zoo as a spelling program for him. It might be a little frustrating for him now, as it's best for kids who already are solid with all the consonant and vowel sounds. It's a little weird at times, but the audio component of the spelling programs, along with spelling rules, has made that program the only program that has actually been effective in improving my daughter's spelling (as in *actually* improving it long term, and not just enabling her to get a good score on a text that week and then forget.) Hmm, I hadn't thought of starting immersion reading. Interesting. Thanks for sharing. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted June 26, 2014 Author Share Posted June 26, 2014 Welcome. I have an asynchronous 8 year old & a mysterious 5 year old. I too lurk on the SN board & have gleaned a lot of useful things from your posts for my elder child. Thanks. Heartily recommend "The Mislabeled Child" as well. I'm about 70% through it & have learnt so many useful things for both DC. Love it, the mysterious 5 yo! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Has anyone here had a wildly asynchronous dc, maybe with some SN... Can you tell me what that looked like for K5ish? We're finally on a list for evals with a Hoagies' list psych. He's just sort of all over the place. Today he wanted me to explain ziggurats to him, and I'm not even sure where in the world he found out about them. He's doing a Lego Technic kit with 700 pieces aimed at 10+ yos. He can't hear the differences between vowels (we're working on it), so I figure I'm going to be reading things to him for a LONG TIME and have decided to get over it and start doing it. Thing is, once you cross that "ok, he's not dumb, he's actually gifted" line, then it starts to get screwy. I think I could do MOH with him for K5 and he'd like it. I used it with dd some in 3rd-ish iirc. He's just really honking different. Everything you do with him, he just takes in. Read through a bird guide and discuss each bird? Sure. Talk physics? Sure. It's just really ridiculous. And yet, when I read some of the posts of dmmetler and whatnot, there's NO WAY my ds' IQ is that high. Or if it is, he doesn't have any way to *pursue* his interests at that level. Well sure, he watched a documentary with dh tonight and came up telling me about how our ancestors were some of the first to cross over from the british side, blah blah. (I have no clue what he was talking about.) I'm just saying it's extremely unlikely he's PG (I'm not) and that even if he does test in the G/HG or whatever range this fall, it still doesn't answer the question of what you do with this kid who is really all over the place. So I guess let's start at the beginning. If your dc was VERY asynchronous because of 2E, how did you handle that? How did you prioritize, and how did you determine whether and how much to work on the things that were weaker areas for them? Ds7 is PG and supposedly has no 2e issues. He seems to have a few sensory issues but his WM and PS ar >99.9%ole and he has a very flat profile so there is nothing definable. He doesn't do anything amazing either. He is good at maths and does some for fun but he is not more than a year ahead, he reads but mostly just fun stuff plus some non-fiction and he is actually below standard in writing (I am not sure he cares much). But he does think differently and make connections other 7 year olds don't. The thing with the kids who do amazing things is they have found a passion. Ds7 may soon develop a passion for Minecraft (if he gets it) but unlless he translates it into programming that is not going to stand out to adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mliss Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 If you decide to explore origami then I highly recommend the book and DVDs from origamido.com IMO a DVD is a must because the origami books contain some kind of folding code/symbols (arrows, dotted lines swirls, etc.) that is difficult to comprehend at first. My DS now has it all figured out, but it was challenging when he started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted July 6, 2014 Author Share Posted July 6, 2014 Ds7 is PG and supposedly has no 2e issues. He seems to have a few sensory issues but his WM and PS ar >99.9%ole and he has a very flat profile so there is nothing definable. He doesn't do anything amazing either. He is good at maths and does some for fun but he is not more than a year ahead, he reads but mostly just fun stuff plus some non-fiction and he is actually below standard in writing (I am not sure he cares much). But he does think differently and make connections other 7 year olds don't. The thing with the kids who do amazing things is they have found a passion. Ds7 may soon develop a passion for Minecraft (if he gets it) but unlless he translates it into programming that is not going to stand out to adults. That's fascinating! Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I often feel very out of place on this particular gifted forum because of my daughter's 2E needs. I know there are many 2E children here, but sincerely - my daughter's IQ and random interests are really the only reason I know she's gifted - she has no, zero, zilch motivation once she finds out that something requires real work on her end. So what do we do? We plug along. I have no real words of wisdom for you - it's frustrating. I don't think she's yet found her passion, as another poster mentioned. My DS5 I suspect is also 2E; phonics with him is three steps forward, 2 steps back; writing is incredibly difficult for him; he enjoys math, but is only working a year ahead or so because, while he makes amazing random connections about advanced mathematical concepts, he has no interest in some the mundane, but necessary, math that he *needs* before moving forward to another program or another level in the same program (telling time, counting coins, etc) - a 5 year old with zero interest in something, who feels like he is being held back, is NOT a fun person to deal with. So no real advice, but lots of hugs :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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