French

Maybe reduced assignments, extended time on tests, testing in a quiet place, only multiple-choice tests. I would suggest only oral tests; however, I had only oral tests in college French and though it was outrageously difficult. Not only remembering words but how to pronounce, too, made it was a stretch (and I’m not dyslexic).

I’m sure others will jump in with more ideas.

Middle school is a good place to give a language a try. It doesn’t impact as much as high school. If you have Office XP or Word 2002 you can set the language to French and it will spell check what is typed in and add accents.
Also, consider joining Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic. Once you join you can get most textbooks on tape. Your son can then listen to the French on the tape as he follows along with the book. You keep the set of tapes the whole year and then return them for free.

Also, I reccommend taking a look at the book :How the Special Needs Brain Learns” by David A. Sousa. I has a chapter on “Teaching Foreign Languages to Students with Language Disabilities.” It is the only book I have come across that deals with this topic. Here is one quote from the book: “Language deficits that arise when learning a first languare are very likely to arise when learning a second language.”

My son took Spanish in 8th grade. He did not do well. Attention to detail was a big problem. He is starting all over this year. We sent him to a two week immersion camp in MN run by Concordia Language. They also offer month long camps where you can earn a years worth of credit for a language. It is important to talk to the High School and make sure they accept the credit before enrolling. The emphasis at the camp is on the oral instead of the written.

Helen

I had heard of the Concordia language camps from families accepting posting to South/Central America. They used the camps as an intro to Sapnish before moving. But I had no idea they were good for high school credit. Thanks.

Connie, I noticed that you “lobbied hard for American Sign Language”. Was that with your son or the school? Are schools receptive to the sign language alternative?

Interestingly, I recently skimmed through an article indicating that children with language/reading difficulties can also have difficulties with sign language because both skills use the same area of the brain. I don’t know the particulars, but it was kind of interesting and your post here made me think of it (so sign language may not be an easier choise).

The lobbying was with my son. The school offers ASL as one of the language choices.

I feel like sign language has got to be easier than a foreign language. - But I could be wrong - also you can use one sign for a full phrase or word. If you had to spell each letter of each word out (like it used to be) it would be impossible b/c she can’t spell!

our school is mandatory french for K-8. 75 min a day. I have my son exempt from being marked or any written work. This was recommened from his evaluation. i have to fight every year for this but if I suceed until grade 8 he does not have to take a second language in high school.

There is no resource help for second language where we are.

Try to get all the work oral it is not as confusing for the child as written work.

French is not an easy subject to learn. Our goverment workers have to take a test to see if they are able to take french courses the tests are in giddish to see if they can hear the different sounds made. my brother failed this test and was unable to take french courses he is very mild LD.

There are four articles in the Foreign Language Section in LD In Depth. One of the articles which I list below covers why LD kids have problems.

Learning Disabilities and Foreign Language Learning:A Painful Collision
Robin L. Schwarz, M.Sp.Ed.

Helen