Has anyone had success with Brain Gym. I was on their web site but am unsure how I feel about this. My 7yo son just had a complete neurodevt/behavioralpsych eval. Final dx-learning dis. nonspecified. He scored lo avg. in math comp. and avg. in math reasoning. Reading and reasoning above avg. No dx of add or proc. problems. He shows signs of anxiety and stress at school. Lots of careless mistakes. Poor math skills mixed with resistence. Not paying attention. He did not have most of this the previous years(is in 2nd gr). He stares when he doesn’t know thw answer and becomes uncomfortable and restless. No seizure disorder. They feel like a lot of this is self esteem and anxiety related although he definitely needs math support. He does not preform to his abilities in school this year. He has a h/o ST and OT. I have workrd with him over the years and he hit the point where he just wants Mommy to be Mommy not his therapist. He has also become resistent to academic intervention. We have done Reading Reflex, brain builders and tons of ST/OT activities. I am open to avenues that the school does not recommend or know about. I have cured his sinus prob. and greatly improved his asthma through chiropratic(sacral occipital therapy). Would this be something to look at? Thank you in advance. I don’t feel so alone when I come to this site.
Re: Brain Gym
Thanks for the advice Mary. Homeschooling is not possible for us. I will look on that board for other advice. Thanks!
Re: Brain Gym
I read your message and although I do not have an answer for your brain gym question. The end of your message still touched me. I just want you to know you are not alone. My own mother felt as you did once. And I am now finding that I am looking for answers for my 6 year old. I am lucky in a way because I am LD and was diagnosed at 12 so I saw the early signs. My daughter has just been tested. I just want to tell you that you must always fight for the knowledge out there and in doing so you will benefit and so will your child. I am happy to know that this web site exists. There many of us much older parents who have simply lived with this. Keep up your courage you are on the right track.
Re: Brain Gym
Thanks for the encouragement Cynthia. It is so hard to watch your child struggle. I will never give up because my love for him will win.
There were several posts about Brain Gym on one of the other boards recently — I think the Teaching LD board. All of the comments about it were positive. Personally, I would not pay a therapist to do Brain Gym unless your son absolutely won’t work with you. It is fairly easy to do the exercises yourself at home using the white teacher’s manual (available from various websites, including usually Amazon and Barnes & Noble).
Sounds like your son has been continually stressed over a period of time. This often happens in school when a child has a non-standard learning style. My daughter is one of these. She’s a global learner whose achievement is above-average when homeschooled using curriculum materials suited to her learning style and temperament. In school, she is a below-average achiever even though she tries very hard to listen and understand. Elementary classrooms almost always use teaching methodologies which are well-suited to a sequential learning style (the majority style), but my daughter needs a concept or “big picture” before she can retain information about details — something the typical classroom doesn’t provide for her.
We pulled our daughter out of private school and homeschooled all of 3rd grade. She made tremendous gains. She now attends public school for part of the day and we homeschool academics. Last year I did not homeschool the subjects she had in school — her test scores showed she actually regressed slightly in those subject areas! The areas we homeschooled showed dramatic increases. This year I am homeschooling the subjects she takes in school as well!
Self-esteem is one of the first things to go by the wayside when a child is in a hostle learning environment. Many parents who decide to homeschool report an immediate reduction in stress levels — both in the child and in the family. If you haven’t considered homeschooling, you may want to look into it.
Mary