Anyone else have a child who is behind a couple grade levels?

[Michelle T]

Do you ever kind of freak out about it?

 

My DS is 12, with fairly severe LD's and ADHD. He does read on age level, but is on a 3rd grade level in math, probably about the same in writing, and has poor comprehension and retention for all subjects. He requires guidance in everything, even simple stuff that a much younger child would be able to do independently.

 

No point to this post really, except to wonder if I'm alone, or any of you have a child who is significantly "behind" in all subjects.

Michelle T

[Renee in NC]

I have 2 that are significantly behind.

 

I have talked about my 7yo - in ps he would be in 2nd grade (and is in Wolf Scouts), but academically he is at a Pre-K to K level.

 

My 10yo should be a 5th grader (and is a Webelos II), but his academic level ranges from 2nd-4th grade.

 

Makes me feel like an absolute failure most of the time.

[mamaof2andtwins]

One of my twin daughters is about a half year behind in reading, a year and a half behind in math and 2 years behind in English and spelling. Spelling could be nearly 3 years.

 

You are not alone.

[cathmom]

My 7th grade dd was writing on a first grade level earlier this year. She is doing slightly better now. She was reading on a fifth grade level. She had dyslexia and dysgraphia.

 

Both my dds are behind in math as well.

[Oakblossoms]

My Aspie (11) is in Math and well honestly probably in English as well. But, that's why we homeschool, so he can be at his level and not somebody else's predetermined levels. I believe God made him with all his quirkiness. So, God has a plan for him and I know I can trust Him through this.

 

Don't feel bad. Spend that energy boosting them and giving them some positive encouragement. Figure out what they are good at and focus some good energy on that!

[Tree House Academy]

My 9 year old spells on about the same level as my 5 year old. His English and writing skills are nowhere near a 4th grade level, but I attribute this to 4 years of public school prior to this year. Oh, and did I mention that the ps was testing him for giftedness when he left because he was TOP of his class??? How sad is THAT?

[blessed3x]

We are in the process of adopting a 10 year old who has beel living with us for the past 4 months. He is currently in public school but we have permission to homeschool him with my 6 year old after Christmas Break (the adoption should be complete in the Spring).

He is in the 4th grade in the school system with 4 hours of resource classes. His reading/handwriting are at a 2nd grade level, while spelling is at a K-1 level. Math is 2-3 grade, but that is only from learning ways to do it; he does not understand math or the relationship between adding/subtracting/multiplying.

I have been working with him at home and look forward to homeschooling him full time. I tell him he learns differently, and we need to find what works for him. (smile)

[SW in IL]

My son is several grade levels behind where he 'should' be, though I hate that terminology. DS is 14 and is struggling with 4th-5th grade work. I don't think he has any specific learning disabilities, though sometimes I think it would be better for us all if we could say "yes, he's behind, but that's expected since he has _____."

 

With us, it's been life that gets in the way. Several moves, financial crises, health issues, several deaths, marital issues including abuse, living with my mom (as her caretakers) who has a totally different view of how things should be, and just plain stubborness.

 

It seems that every year, we make token efforts at getting more school work done, and every year something else comes crashing down. It's to the point where much of the time I truly regret having made the decision to homeschool DS. If I could go back, well... I would have done things differently.

 

I've looked into putting DS into public school but they say that, if my estimates of his academic ability are accurate, he'll be started in 5th grade... I can only imagine the damage that will be done if they put my 14yo in with a classroom full of 10yos.

 

Sue

who once again is working on getting DS caught up enough to send him to public high school

[happygrrl]

Do you ever kind of freak out about it?

 

My DS is 12, with fairly severe LD's and ADHD. He does read on age level, but is on a 3rd grade level in math, probably about the same in writing, and has poor comprehension and retention for all subjects. He requires guidance in everything, even simple stuff that a much younger child would be able to do independently.

 

No point to this post really, except to wonder if I'm alone, or any of you have a child who is significantly "behind" in all subjects.

Michelle T

 

That is where my ds is, exactly. Because I spend so much time with him, the younger is now behind too. I agree with the poster above: this is one of the main reasons I home school, so that we can be on *our* schedule. I am praying we catch up, but I am not going to be so guilt-ridden that I become even more paralyzed. Big hugs to you all! :grouphug:

[ElizabethB]

My DS is 12, with fairly severe LD's and ADHD. He does read on age level, but is on a 3rd grade level in math, probably about the same in writing, and has poor comprehension and retention for all subjects. He requires guidance in everything, even simple stuff that a much younger child would be able to do independently.

 

 

 

I've found that many children who have comprehension problems are actually suffering from not enough phonics--they know enough to get by, but not to a fully automated level, and usually, they do not know some of the more obscure phonics rules and sounds and syllable division rules. When they over-learn the phonics basics, their comprehension usually improves (although there is a period of slow-down initially as they get used to sounding everything out correctly.)

 

I have a 5th grade student now who supposedly had comprehension problems, she was actually missing some phonics skills. She was reading at grade level, she can now read above grade level and can sound out 3 to 5 syllable Greek and Latin words. I'll re-test her next week to find out how much she's reading above grade level, but I've listened to her read and am sure it will be at least one grade level improvement, and maybe even 2 or 3.

 

She worked through my phonics lessons, portions of Webster's Speller, and a few pages of M.K. Henry's Words over the last two months.

[Paintedlady]

My dd, who's dyslexic, has been behind a full year in all subjects last year, and while she's caught up in English/grammar, she's still a full year behind in math.

 

I look at it this way. This is the way she is. I'm not going to measure her by some arbitrary system that says she MUST be doing____________ by this particular age. Or what? It only causes me angst if I allow myself to go down that road.

 

Instead, I just push ahead with her, tutoring her, one on one if I need to, helping her, drilling her, encouraging her, until she gets it. I meet her where she's at and that's ok with me.

[hferguson10]

***This is long, but after hearing some of you say you felt like you were the only ones - and hearing that quite often in every circumstance and situation, I wanted to share our story a bit. Nobody is alone - there is always someone else out there struggling with something at the very least, similar.

 

I think we have just discovered this week what is going on with our daughter. She is 10 1/2, reads mechanically ok, but comprehends almost nothing. Math has been an issue - zero, an enigma - although now, after 6 months, she can do the basic lower math facts. I guess I should mention dd is adopted and came to us about 4 years ago, foster-to-adopt, with her birth-brother. At that time she was repeating kindergarten in ps. We were not allowed to homeschool her until the adoption was finalized in Oct. 2005. But not really progressing in ps, the school administration and I decided to go ahead and put her up to first grade after her second year in kindergarten since she would only be there for about 6 weeks. But she was not getting anything - her teacher and I had multiple conversations.

 

After the adoption, we brought her home and I immediately began working on phonics. Lots of tears. Lots. We got nowhere.

 

We had her tested for Dyslexia because she couldn't even blend two sounds together. The results were, "Well, she's not dyslexic, but we don't know what's going on with her."

 

So then we thought, "it's just the trauma of what her life has been." There were definite "confidence" issues going on and she was being ruled by a fear of failure. So we decided to press on and see if over time she would grow in her ability to learn and thus, "bridge the gap."

 

But here we are, 4 years later, I have felt as though I have been spinning my wheels and getting nowhere - the gap is not bridged, but greater, although there has been progress - she can read now. One day, about a year and a half ago, it just clicked, and she was reading. And she is actually the best speller of all of my kids - her full brother and our 3 birth children. I guess that's what 3 years of phonics can do. But she does not comprehend well at all, particularly with spoken instructions. I would say barely on a 4 year old level.

 

So reality hit and I began searching for answers again and I think I have found it with Auditory Processing Disorder or sometimes called Central Processing Disorder. It basically means that the ear can hear just fine, but the brain has trouble making sense of what the ear is hearing. And while I don't like the word "disorder" - way too overused - and I don't think anyone fits perfectly in any box, it is the most likely explanation for how dd's brain is functioning. And answers are always good.

 

So I just came on to see if anybody else was walking this road (and there is) and if there are some particular curriculum recommendations. The boys are doing Tapestry of Grace and it's fine. But I will have to keep things pretty simplified for her -and right now, grammar is just not making the connection. Two weeks trying to get the concept of common and proper nouns is about all I can take before throwing the book away. It obviously was not making the connection and I couldn't break it down anymore.

 

So recommendations are requested. Please.

[Ottakee]

Does your DD have some prenatal exposure to alcohol? That can cause a lot of learning issues--even with no facial features of FAS.

 

I have found that ACE Paces http://www.schooloftomorrow.com to be very effective for my girls who are struggling. They are also adopted with lots of medical/learning issues. It is very simple to use, straight forward, etc.

[ElizabethB]

 

So I just came on to see if anybody else was walking this road (and there is) and if there are some particular curriculum recommendations. The boys are doing Tapestry of Grace and it's fine. But I will have to keep things pretty simplified for her -and right now, grammar is just not making the connection. Two weeks trying to get the concept of common and proper nouns is about all I can take before throwing the book away. It obviously was not making the connection and I couldn't break it down anymore.

 

So recommendations are requested. Please.

 

You might try grammar trainer. Although it's designed for autism, it could be helpful in your case. I know a mom with an autistic child who has found it helpful. It looks like the have a demo, so you could try it and see.

 

http://autism-language-therapies.com/

Edited November 16, 2008 by ElizabethB

[hferguson10]

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I am most grateful.

 

And yes, we do believe there is some fetal-alcohol stuff going on, although, yes, there are none of the facial tell-tell signs.

 

I'm off to look all of this stuff up.

[Renee in NC]

I have found that ACE Paces http://www.schooloftomorrow.com to be very effective for my girls who are struggling. They are also adopted with lots of medical/learning issues. It is very simple to use, straight forward, etc.

 

I'll second the ACE PACES - my 10yo has started progressing much more easily using those.

[Michelle T]

I'll second the ACE PACES - my 10yo has started progressing much more easily using those.

 

I know they are from a religious publisher, but how religious is the content? Also, do they go through all grade levels?

Michelle T

[Ottakee]

They are Christian in background. There is a Bible verse and character trait in each pace (you could skip these if you wanted).

 

I will say though that many of the sentences used for English grammar, the math story problems, even the discussion in Social Studies and Science is based on Biblical themes, stories, etc.

 

I have heard that there is a secular publisher out there that used these but removed the Christian stuff but I don't know who that is.

 

ACE goes from PreK through 12th grade.

[cillakat]

We had her tested for Dyslexia because she couldn't even blend two sounds together. The results were, "Well, she's not dyslexic, but we don't know what's going on with her."

 

this sounds more like the result of a public school/school system evaluation rather than a full 'psychoeducational' battery that would be done privately. I know there are school systems that can and will do them, but this seems more often to be the exception rather than the norm.

 

What tests were done? achievement? IQ?

 

Tell us more about the tests.....

 

 

 

:)k