fourcatmom Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) My 13 yo dd who is in 8th grade and suffered a TBI last December has been off of school for 7 months now. We just got an IEP written for her and we are starting school slowly. At this point she has been released to do 7.5 hours of work a week. Even though she did school from December through May when she was taken completely off, she wasn't making much progress. Although it's a shortened week we still need to touch on all the subjects. History and Science are going to project based with probably movies as the core ingredient. Testing showed significant weakness in most visual categories, sensory motor integration and also executive functioning. She will have a text to speech and speech to text program as well as can utilize audio books. I really need help figuring out math and some LA. Except for Math and maybe reading, everything needs to be at grade level or within 2 years. Math - prior to the injury we were using Saxon 7/6 which was going very slowly. We then switched over to the Key to series and she was working through the fractions books. That was going well with the help of a tutor. She really needs to go back to around long division and do a lot of review before I think she will be ready to jump back into the Key series. I really like the Key to series in that they were not visually overwhelming and the books were broken down into small books. I don't know how long she will need before we can jump back into fractions but she really has lost of lot of confidence too, especially with math. I was leaning towards Miquon first since I thought it might help to be able to use the c-rods with her but I don't want to "baby" her either and there isn't much review in those books from what I understand. I also considered RS, probably around level D or E, thinking more E if I went with the program but then it's expensive and I am not sure the use of manipulatives would serve her long-term. I want to challenge her but not overwhelm her. Special ed suggested if there were 20 problems on a page, just have her do about 5 at a time. LA - I am pretty sure I have a plan for grammar, vocab and spelling but writing and reading I'm just not sure yet. Someone suggested Write source as an option. She needs more frequent small pieces at this point. Reading comp she tested very low, in the 2nd grade. Reading was something she loved to do before the accident. Now it gives her a headache and visual tracking is very difficult so I want something that maybe could help her improve but I'm having a hard time finding things that are age appropriate but still meet her needs. I am not sure I need a separate curriculum for this or if I can just incorporate from other subjects. I had looked at Beautiful Feet, History of the Horse as an LA curriculum but I am not sure it counts as LA. Since it says 3-6th grade, I think I could use it for her. It has literature books with it but I would have to either read them to her or get them as audio books. I really like the idea of the immersion reading that the kindle has too. But, currently we don't own a kindle. It requires writing in small chunks and I could always add more writing as she needs more. Anyone have an experience with Winston Grammar? Thanks in advance! :) Edited November 23, 2015 by fourcatmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 I really have to finalize my list today so I can get things ordered. Does anyone have any recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 What about Math U See for the math? I have never used the program with my dc's but I did do some tutoring with someone using it. The pages were uncluttered and it uses rods that have divisions marked on them. They might be easier to use. Also one level just for division. We used both the American History and Geography through Literature courses from Beatiful Feet. We loved the Georgraphy books. One of our favorite curriculums ever. I hope your daughter enjoys her course. I hope someone is able to offer more ideas. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted November 22, 2015 Author Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) Thank you. I forgot to say we did MUS before Saxon and we stopped about half way through Fractions. I have found she needs more of a spiral math program versus just the one topic although I did like MUS. I am not sure she needs a whole book of division but that is kind of the program she needs. I really wish they offered a book that offered more topics. She also used Learn Math Fast for a time period but wasn't really making a lot of progress there either. Ugh...thank you for mentioning it though. I appreciate it. Also, I don't think BF history of the horse will work as LA. :huh: Edited November 22, 2015 by fourcatmom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 (edited) I'd prioritize getting a Kindle Fire and Audible account. It's been life-changing for my DD. For writing, what about moving slowly through IEW's Student Writing Intensive? Things are broken down into small chunks and she can practice those chunks as much as she needs until she's ready to move on. Math... I agree that MUS might work well. (oops - just saw your follow-up. Nevermind :) )Or (and I haven't used this, so take it with a grain of salt), what about Developmental Mathematics? Edited November 22, 2015 by shinyhappypeople 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shinyhappypeople Posted November 22, 2015 Share Posted November 22, 2015 OK, spiral math for a good review/refresher to get her ready to move back into "Keys to..." How about TT? It gets a bad rap in some circles, but it is so great for boosting math confidence. I could see it working really well as a review course. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 The school is giving her a chrome book, we pick up tomorrow. It is suppose to have text to speech and speech to text software on it and in her IEP is states the use of audio books so I thought there was going to be program on there to use as well. I was hoping it was audible. I should find out tomorrow. I am thinking a kindle would be a good investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 My husband also suffered a TBI (5 years ago), so I'm familiar with the challenges that you may be facing. My husband also loved reading before his injury and that has become difficult. Very soon after his injury, he tried reading new material but was unable to because of memory problems (he would have to re-read the same page over and over), so what worked in the beginning was re-reading old favorites because the information was already in his long-term memory. Depending on how her short-term memory is, you might want to try that. Just so she can feel like she is doing something and enjoying it and building confidence. I highly recommend speech therapy (for memory) and occupational therapy (for organizing, etc.). Now, my dh finds that listening to the audio while reading along works best. I recommend whispersync for immersion reading with a kindle and audible. He also uses some technology for taking notes and speech to text. I'll ask specifics and share if you are interested. Big thing. Don't expect her to multitask. At all. One thing at a time. She will be able to function for longer periods of time if she isn't overwhelmed at all. Also, don't rush her. She will need more time to do things. Give her the time. Scribe for her if you have to. She will probably not be able to be very independent for right now, maybe never. When she is getting tired, stop. Don't wait until she is already tired or completely overwhelmed. Stop early and often. Take a lot of breaks. Let her do something that doesn't require a lot of thinking while she is taking a break. As far as curriculum, I don't have a lot of suggestions. I like RightStart for a lot of reasons. I think it might be good because there are not a lot of worksheets/writing. That could be a good thing for her. She could get the understanding of the math concepts without doing a lot of worksheets. Take a deep breath. Give your dd a hug. It's going to be ok. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalusignan Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Just talked to dh..... he highly recommends speech and occupational therapy for focusing on developing new strategies for learning. That will help her the most in the long term. Pushing reading comprehension without focusing on developing those new strategies will just frustrate her. Occupational therapy will also teach her how to use her software and technology. Don't have any expectations for reading comprehension. It's hard, but just trust her that she's trying her best. It will get better. Focus on the process. Live in the moment. I would put off any sort of testing (academically speaking) for now. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Thank you. That was very helpful. Reading is also hard because she has visual tracking issues. I do like the idea of reading old books though because your right, it's the short term memory that is lost with TBI. She is doing cognitive behavioral therapy (since June) and is starting PT next week. I am working on OT. It is needed with all the visual red flags that came back on her OT assessment. I hadn't thought about speech therapy for helping with memory. During the IEP they asked me if I wanted speech therapy. I will have to go back and ask about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fourcatmom Posted November 23, 2015 Author Share Posted November 23, 2015 Just talked to dh..... he highly recommends speech and occupational therapy for focusing on developing new strategies for learning. That will help her the most in the long term. Pushing reading comprehension without focusing on developing those new strategies will just frustrate her. Occupational therapy will also teach her how to use her software and technology. Don't have any expectations for reading comprehension. It's hard, but just trust her that she's trying her best. It will get better. Focus on the process. Live in the moment. I would put off any sort of testing (academically speaking) for now. She just finished all the school testing. I have posting in the learning challenges board mostly regarding that. She had neuropsych testing, academic testing and OT and PT evaluations. It took over a month to complete it all and it had to be really spaced out but she did complete it all. I posted the results on that board if you were curious at all. Your right about the reading, it will get worked on slowly through out so no need to focus on that. She is overall very nervous about school but overall her testing was pretty good, except for the areas mentioned above. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purplejackmama Posted November 23, 2015 Share Posted November 23, 2015 Hugs. Sending prayers and good thoughts as your begin this next chapter. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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