Phono-Graphix and writing

You did not miss this, it is not in the book. You have put your finger on what may be the most difficult of all the language arts clusters, for LD and regular education students alike. Regina Richards, a therapist/author, has listed 15-20 skills that must be happening, many in tandem, for anyone to write. Then, depending upon the processing deficits, what they are and how severe, written language CAN be very challenging to teach and to learn.

We are doing Handwriting without Tears and I noticed that some of the lessons want the child to write what they have done afterwords.

We are still at the very beginning of the book. The Fat Cat lesson says the child should write the words after. Which is fine, I am just so afraid of confusing my son.

He also gets so worked up ahead of time. He tries to guess the answers before he is done and then he tries to anticipate what is going to happen. He also automatically thinks he is going to fail. I try to be calm and tell him we will take a break and try again later but that only makes it worse. He freaks out and wants to continue!

We do a lesson everyday and when he is getting all worked up I think of the public school meeting I had. My son attends private school and the kindergarten teacher told me how frustrated he gets. I never really got to see completely what she meant. My insides feel like they are being ripped out!! He wants so badly to understand and do well that he gets himself into a ball the second we start!! I end up stopping and having to give him a pep talk about how smart he is, how much we love him, and that we know he is doing the best he can and basically just trying to relax him!!

Before my public school meeting I had my test reveiwed by a special ed advocate who pointed out that he became teary and upset during the testing. The public school saw how frustrated he got and still keeps telling me not to worry about it!! He is fine!! Now I know why he doesn’t ever belong there!

Just a little rant of the subject!! Sorry!!

Thanks
K.

Your son keeps guessing the answer before he is done. I wonder if on another level he knows exactly how smart he truely is and is struggling with why things are hard for him.

My son had a similar issue at one point. I talk to him alot about Einstein and how the things I read about Einstein remind me of my him. I tell him how when he was in school in the beginning they didn’t think he was smart and how he had trouble with simple things, like tying his shoes but that he had many brilliant ideas. I explain how his ideas changed the world. I tell my son he just has to get through the tasks at school to get to the point that he can express his many brilliant ideas.
My son does alot of creative play running around making up the story as he goes. I tease him that I am going to write down those stories one day and publish them.
My son has finally got it. He understands that he is smart. He understands that school work and being smart are two very different things.

Let him know this is just a task he has to complete. Let him know that it has nothing to do with being smart.

Thank, that is a great suggestions. He had such trouble when he was being evaluated by the public school SLP because she was not very patient and would get very frustrated with my son for asking so many questions and anticipating the right answer!!

When we are working on the letter sounds and he says the wrong sound, right away he knows that it is wrong.

I will try and tell him about other people who have the same kinds of difficutlies as him.

Do you know where you can find a list of famous people, sports figures, etc, that have learning disabilities?

He is really into sports all of a sudden, tennis and baseball, in particular, I wonder if that would help??

Thanks
K..

famous people with learning disabilities into google. There are a ton of lists.

A few I saw.

Greg Louganis
Magic Johnson
Bruce Jenner

Funny it seems when I read those lists it always is all the people I have always most admired. William Butler Yeats, Walt Disney, Patton, Winston Churchill, Robert Kennedy etc