summer curriculum for computer

Lexia Learning has a neat program called Strategies for Older Students (SOS) that tackles the “sounding out” skills with games & activities. (www.rlac.com has good info on it and is a retailer that I’ve had good experience with).

http://www.aaamath.com has practice problems of every size and shape tho’ it might be too much like worksheets. THere are some articles and links in the math section of my site at www.resourceroom.net

What are your goals for him for hte next few years and later? How far behind is he, and why? Is it skills-based or does he do better in content areas?

Try the Middle School Advantage 2002. I paid $40.00 for the whole program and it easy to download. They also have games to play in some of the subjects, along with multiple choice questions. I use it to home school my son for part of his cirrculum, and he is LD. I just pick and choose what is interesting and fun.

Try the Middle School Advantage 2002. I paid $40.00 for the whole program and it easy to download. They also have games to play in some of the subjects, along with multiple choice questions. I use it to home school my son for part of his cirrculum, and he is LD. I just pick and choose what is interesting and fun.tj wrote:
>
> I am looking for any suggestions on good software programs
> for my son. He is going into the 6th grade and loves working
> on the computer - hates anything that has to do with
> worksheets or handwriting since he has handwriting
> difficulties. He is in Special Ed 70% of his school day, but
> is still really weak in math (especially hard keeping up with
> pre-algebra and word problems), vocabulary, comprehension,
> story writing, and although his reading has improved some -
> he still struggles at sounding many words out. I would like
> him to work on software that would target his weak areas and
> give me a progress report so I can see what areas he is
> grasping and which areas he still has deficits. I am
> concerned that he will continue to slip behind and since he
> loves working on the computer, I thought the summer would be
> a good time for him to work on some programs. It seems like
> there are a lot of game-type software out, but I am not sure
> if that would keep him focused on the areas he needs
> improvement on. Any suggestions on software that is fun, but
> would also remediate? Thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions. I am glad you brought up goals, we have our IEP meeting within the first week of school and I have not been happy with the way the IEP goals have been written in the past. Any suggestions on goals would be greatly appreciated. He is ADD (inattentive), dysgraphia and the OT found him to have poor motor planning. He is weak in short term memory, coding and sequencing. Long story short….he is one to two years behind in reading (but still has trouble sounding out even simple words sometimes), and in math I am waiting for the report to see how far he is behind, but I do know they had him working in a fourth grade book & he was struggling (he is going into sixth grade). My fear is that each year he will slip farther behind because of how long it takes him to grasp things. He has struggled to keep up so much the last few years that he literally “shuts down” when they are too far ahead. Because of that he was put in Special Ed 70% of the time and the goals have mostly been focused on his “production” of work. He went from “D“ ‘s and “F’s” to “B“ ‘s and “C“ ‘s BUT I am not sure if those grades reflect all of the fifth grade curriculum or if he was graded on where he was at the time. I will need to get that clarified at the meeting. Somehow I would like the goals to concentrate on remediation as well as production.
Thanks again for any suggestions.

Thanks….I feel lucky he likes the computer so much and I will try Middle School Advantage.

You can be pretty sure those grades do NOT reflect fifth grade curriculum. There are exceptions but in most schools the expectations are significantly lower in special ed classes. The big question is whether this is appropriate for your son. It’s not a race — “further behind” matters if it’s further behind what he is able to do, and then it matters a lot.