If you have an older dyslexic/dysgraphic child.....

[Tokyomarie]

If you have a dyslexic/dysgraphic child- esp. one of middle school age- could you look at my post on the K-8 curriculum board and make some comments & suggestions on LA curriculum?

 

I'm esp. trying to figure out where to go with the writing process and wondering if some of the newer curricula for the beginning stages of teaching writing in a classical fashion might be a good fit, even though they are written for younger children. My son seems poised for a breakthrough and it's possible that he may be able to move more quickly through lower levels.

 

Thanks!

[Claire]

My dd is 17yo. Her reading was remediated around age 10, but written language skills remained a problem. At age 14 she was formally diagnosed with dysgraphia (borderline, but on the wrong side of the line!). I can describe what did and did not work for us.

 

For spelling, I tried a lot of different programs before finding one that actually worked. It was Sequential Spelling from Avko. Dd was 11yo at the time, and we started with book 1 of the regular 7-book series. We did it in a very streamlined way so that each lesson took under 5 minutes. Because lessons were so short, we were able to double-up on lessons. If you think you want to use this program, I will post tips about how to use it as we did. Carryover into daily writing tasks was automatic, and the improvement was noticeable starting around lesson #60 in the first book. We ended up doing the first two books of this program, and then switched to a program designed specifically for middle-schoolers and high-schoolers.

 

My dd could not grasp grammar at all until we did Shurley level 3. The oral repetition in that program seemed to create a grammatical foundation that finally "stuck". (My dd never had any problems with oral grammar. She just could not remember the parts of speech or how they functioned in a sentence.) After that, I tried several grammar programs. The best was Hake Grammar, although I recommend taking two years per level with that program (and skipping a level in-between).

 

My dd did not have the organizing problem you describe. What I have heard is really good for that type of problem is Kidspiration and Inspiration software. These are graphic organizers. The student can draw a diagram on the computer of different ideas and pieces of information, and the software will assemble it into an outline. This can be *very* helpful. I would recommend starting with Kidspiration because the learning curve for Inspiration can be quite steep.

 

IEW is great for teaching 3-word sentence outlining, but I had difficulty teaching the rest of this course. My dd ended up taking a co-op course with a teacher experienced in IEW, and this was a good learning experience for her. She remained the worst writer in the class, though. The teacher's aides were unable to correct her papers, but the teacher was phenomenal at remaining encouraging and picking out the most important things to work on.

 

If your son has not started to keyboard yet, I would *highly* recommend that you start him on a keyboarding program right away. Many dysgraphics have difficulty acquiring keyboarding skills, and this was the case with my dd. None of the usual computer programs worked, and she found the Avko course too tedious. The program that finally worked for her was Keyboarding Skills by Diana Hanbury King. This is the program I recommend because it seems to work well for dyslexics and dysgraphics. It is not a computer program, and IMO it's very important to sit with your student and watch, at least at the beginning, to make sure he uses the right fingers when practicing. Later on, after correct finger use is engrained, you can switch to a computer program for drill and practice.

 

You may want to incorporate handwriting practice into your curriculum, but if your son's handwriting is legible I would honestly not spend time on this. Dysgraphics can have not only fine motor problems, but also neurological problems that interfere with handwriting. In my dd's case, her problems seem to be neurological in nature and therefore are very unresponsive to interventions. If you want to work on underlying fine motor skills, I would recommend Callirobics. Dysgraphics with fine motor problems often benefit from that program.

 

My dd is a junior in public high school now and is able to hold her own. We arranged with the school for an RIEP (Regular Individualized Educational Plan, not legally binding on the school). This alerts teachers to her diagnosis and urges them to provide her with lecture outlines or notes (because it's impossible for my dd to process auditory information while she is writing). I noticed that both her handwriting and her writing skills have improved a lot in the almost 3 years she has been in public school. This is because her teachers routinely have given her a lot of writing assignments in their courses, plus the pressure of keeping up with her peers was an incentive to work hard on writing faster and more efficiently. She is probably now in the "low normal" area of the writing curve for her peers.

 

HTH!

[Tokyomarie]

Claire, thanks so much for your comments!

 

We started using the Sequential Spelling book in September, but I didn't get off the ground on using it the way it was suggested. I've used the word lists in my own way, but I would be interested in hearing what you've done with it.

 

I also like the Megawords program a lot- my 2nd daughter used all 8 books of Megawords after failing to improve her spelling with anything else out there at the time. I'm wondering if it would be overkill or too confusing to try to do both programs. Megawords is a workbook approach that can be done mostly, but not completely, independently.

 

I will look at Kidspiration. I own an older copy of Inspiration that I bought to use for my daughter but never got off the ground with it because I was overwhelmed trying to figure it out on my own. Ds is doing fairly well on keyboarding, but we work on it in fits and starts. I also bought Dragon Naturally Speaking and haven't got off the ground with that yet, but I got busy with the holidays, vacation, and now wedding planning for my oldest dd. I need to devote some time to figuring it out.

 

Right now I don't think a co-op writing class is a good option. He has done Home2Teach, and learned a lot from it, but I had to give it a break this year because I just didn't have the oomph to spend the couple of hours a day listening to weeping and gnashing of teeth to get his assignments and revisions done on schedule. I just needed a break. I'm wondering about hiring an experienced tutor to use IEW with him.

 

I will look at Callirobics. i know that we need to find something that will get at the underlying issues.

 

We don't have a formal diagnosis at this time. My 19yo daughter had a full evaluation when she was nine, and from that time I read everything I could find about language-based LDs. We were overseas at the time and didn't have much access to professionals for remediation work. I developed my own program with input from professionals and parents on discussion lists. I am a PT, so I already had enough background on normal and abnormal child development that I could read the professional materials and learn from them. Though ds's challenges are different from dd's, the dyslexia/dysgraphia diagnosis is not in doubt. Depending on what we do for high school, I may choose to get a formal diagnosis next year, or not, depending on how his development proceeds.

[Doran]

 

If your son has not started to keyboard yet, I would *highly* recommend that you start him on a keyboarding program right away. Many dysgraphics have difficulty acquiring keyboarding skills, and this was the case with my dd. None of the usual computer programs worked, and she found the Avko course too tedious. The program that finally worked for her was Keyboarding Skills by Diana Hanbury King. This is the program I recommend because it seems to work well for dyslexics and dysgraphics. It is not a computer program, and IMO it's very important to sit with your student and watch, at least at the beginning, to make sure he uses the right fingers when practicing. Later on, after correct finger use is engrained, you can switch to a computer program for drill and practice.

HTH!

 

Funny. I was just coming here to post about recommendations for a keyboarding program and happened to read this thread first. My non-sn child learned quickly and easily with Mavis Beacon, but the sn child just can't seem to find a connection with that program. I appreciate this recommendation, although I have concerns about not having enough time in our days to tackle another "teacher led" course. I know that sounds nuts -- we are homeschooling after all, and I am supposed to be TEACHING everything. I just find that the older my daughter gets, the harder it is for her to deal with having to have me "teach" everything. As usual, I think this stems from her watching her older sister get everything done with little intervention. It makes the one who needs so much guidance resentful, kwim? Anyway, I'll look into the program you've recommended, but should I assume that you don't have any computer programs to recommend? Why do you think computer programs don't work well? I would think this area would be a place where a computer program could really shine. Maybe not.

 

Doran

[Claire]

Anyway, I'll look into the program you've recommended, but should I assume that you don't have any computer programs to recommend? Why do you think computer programs don't work well? I would think this area would be a place where a computer program could really shine.

 

I think the computer programs work well for drill and practice once the correct fingering for the keyboard is ingrained. The problem is that for children like my dd, the urge to be a fast typer overwhelms the need to use correct fingering. My dd would have used just 3 or 4 fingers to get through the lessons if I hadn't been there to insist otherwise.

 

She had previously taken a computer-driven typing course in elementary school and not learned to use the correct fingers. I had *purchased* this typing program for the teacher to use with the whole class because it was supposed to be so good! Because the teacher could not stand over my dd every day to insist she use the correct fingers, she did not use the correct fingers. She ended up being the worst typist in the class.

 

Anyway, to get back to the Keyboarding Skills program. It takes only about 10 minutes each day to watch the student use the program at the beginning. 20 minutes if you are a real stickler. You could even do something else while hanging out near the keyboard as long as you check every once in awhile to correct any mis-fingerings promptly. Eventually my dd got tired of having me correct her and used the correct fingers day after day. Once I was pretty sure she had the fingerings memorized, I checked on her less and less frequently (maybe just dropping in during a lesson to watch her type). So, it's not as if you have to sit next to the student until she is an accomplished typist! :)

 

The important thing is to stress accuracy first. My dd would be so concerning about being a fast typist, she would not pay enough attention to accuracy at the beginning. Once accuracy is established, the student can work fairly independently at developing speed (with just the occasional check to make sure accuracy isn't being sacrificed). At least, that was our experience here!