Need to make quick decision on Lindamood Bell

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Hi all,
I’ve posted here many times, and now need your expert advise!

Like many of you I am struggling to find the right tutor/therapist and set of services for my son age 8. (He’s a struggling reader, and maybe NLD) I just on a whim looked on the Lindamood bell website and discovered there is a center in my city, and they have a block of time when he could do intensive work at the end of August.

Here is my situation: my son is in private (regular) school. We get no services in his regular day and that has a negative impact on his ability to do other “normal” activities after school. My husband and I have decided that if the reading/writing doesn’t kick in this year, to try to place him in a special school for 4th grade. We feel time spent in an intensive learning environment will get his skills up sooner, and allow him to have a life! The way school admissions work around here is that its very competitive and you have to apply 1 year in advance, way before we’ll really know what he’ll need ! We could just proceed with our plan to tutor him after school 2x per week and see how it goes. Part of the attraction of Lindamood is that I’m assuming it could accelerate the remdiation process and allow us to make better decisions in the year to come.

Forgetting about the cost, is there any reason why I shouldn’t do Lindamood Bell this summer?

THANKS!!

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 07/12/2002 - 2:43 PM

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Karen, If money’s not an issue, then I’d definitely look into LMB center. Have they tested your son yet?

I live near a regional Lindamood Bell center and I’m associated with a private school. I’ve known about 8 or 10 kids who’ve gone the regional center for remediation. They’ve ALL made really big strides. After seeing those results, my feeling is that the intensive program is really the way to go. The only reason most people DON’T do it is because of the expense. If you’re lucky enough to not have to worry about that, then by all means, do send him. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

One thing to bear in mind: These kids still come back needing some support although every child I know who’s gone HAS improved their reading skills dramatically. Sometimes they need just a little “maintenance work” with a tutor. It’s usually to make sure the child will continue to use the skills learned at the regional center. It’s nothing like what they needed before they did the LMB program.

I’ve also known kids who’ve gone back to LMB years later, but for a very short “refresher” (my term-not LMB) period. They didn’t require the same intensity as originally.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 07/12/2002 - 8:56 PM

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Karen, If $$$ is not a problem, I would definitely try the LMB. Unfortunately, we couldn’t afford such intense remediation and I’m glad to say my daughter is making great strides as is. I’ve heard that many times these kids come out “readers” but like the other poster said, you may still have to get some maintenance work later on. I would JUMP on the opportunity if I were you.

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 07/12/2002 - 9:34 PM

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Thanks! I don’t mean to be insensitive to the fact that many parents here are operating under a tight budget. We happen to be fortunate - plus we are paying for all of his services privately anyway. So for us, its pay now, or pay later.

Thanks for the info. and vote of confidence on LMB. I’m going to talk to my husband about it tonight.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 07/13/2002 - 12:50 AM

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We’re also facing the fact that’s it’s not just LMB, but also OT and writing tutoring and now possibly speech and language therapy that we’re paying for monthly. The OT stops in time for the S&L to start. Of well, I have to spend my money on something…. :)

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 07/13/2002 - 1:53 PM

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Yes, and if your child is like mine, he has multiple deficit. None of his are huge, but taken together…. and you end up in trouble. We’ve done OT, speech, and social skills before 2nd grade. We only had the whole neuropsych eval due to academic problems with reading and attention - were it not for that we’d have just stayed the course of providing a bit of support here and there for our quirky kid.

One of the things we are thinking about for fall of 2003, is enrolling him in a school for learning disable kids so more of these areas could be addressed at school. We also are thinking about having a psychologist tutor him this year, someone trained in Orton Gillingham, but who could also work on eye contact and pragmatics as they do the academic work.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 07/13/2002 - 3:08 PM

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How did you finally come to the decision of a special school? I keep trying to justify it but I always hesitate. There is only one in our area (1 hour away) and according to their website, its tough to get in, you have to be pretty bad off to get accepted (my perception anyway).

I also worry about him being in class with kids with behavior or emotional problems. He needs help on academics and I don’t want to subject him to kids with more severe issues. I think that situation would be worse than what he’s up against now.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 07/13/2002 - 11:43 PM

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We haven’t decided, but we are looking into it. Like you, I only want my son at a school with kids like him - bright, learning disabled, but with no behavioral problems. We happen to live where there are many schools, but not they don’t all meet my criteria. (Obviously some of for kids with more severe issues, low IQ’s, or that have emotional problems.)
Also, my son is in regular private school anyway, so the the cost of his present school plus all the tutoring is about the same as what a special school would cost. Our thinking is that an immersion program might actually make him feel more normal.

Submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 07/13/2002 - 11:59 PM

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It’s tough when none of the choices are good ones. Sometimes it boils down to listing your priorities and picking the school that will do the least damage :-(

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 07/14/2002 - 10:59 PM

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I know of at least one child who went to a special school for ld for 2 years where he learned the skills he needed to compensate for his ld. He also received some remediation for deficits. His mom speaks highly of the experience.
He is a star pupil in a regular, very competitive private high school with only a few minor accomodations.

I agree with the least damage comment. For LD kids school seems to be about surviving emotionally intact. I know that is a very sad and unfortunate statement of the reallity we face.

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