My family is Homeschooled and I would like to tell you about my little brother. My little brother had a hard time learning how to read, he didn’treally start to get the hang of it intill he was about eight. Now he is almost twelve, and in the 5th Grade and he loves to read, but now its the other subjects that get him down. To start off with Math is one of his biggest problems, on a normal day he will take about two hours on it but he’s improving day-by-day. Although he likes reading now, he doesn’t like writing because it takes so long for him to write things out, which dosen’t help when it comes to History, L.A, and Science. But even though he has trouble in those two areas he is a very creative and bright boy and I’m proud of all that he has accomplished, but my Mom dosen’t think so, while I think that every tiny step of improvement is alot , my Mom dosen’t see it at all and contiualy yells at him. So if you guys have any ideas about helping me with those areas I would appreciate some advice on what to do
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Re: My brother
You or your mother might want to join the dyslexiasupport2 list at http://groups.yahoo.com . What you describe is very typical of certain types of dyslexics, and also typical of someone with slow processing skills. In general, dyslexia refers to difficulty learning to read. However, many dyslexics are also dysgraphic — which refers to difficulty with writing. Quite a few dyslexics also have difficulty with certain aspects of math, especially memorizing math facts.
A program that often helps is Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com ). This is a cognitive skills training program that is done one-on-one. Although your mother would probably need to supervise, she could tell you what to do and you could be the person to work with your brother. If you get this program, be sure to get the video so you can see the exercises demonstrated. It tends to strengthen all kinds of skills that help with academic learning — things like attention, working memory, pattern recognition, logic and reasoning, sequencing, processing speed, etc. Cost is about $150.
Nancy
It’s nice of you to be so supportive of your brother, but you should understand that your Mom probably puts pressure on him because she wants him to be independent as an adult. This means that he needs to be able to write and do math fluently and well by then.
It is not clear to me whether your bro has difficulty in writing because he (1) has trouble formulating his thoughts (is he okay if he dictates his ideas to someone else?); (2) has trouble with small-motor coordination (what is his pencil grip like? Does he fatigue easily when writing?); or (3) is perfectionistic but a terrible speller/grammarian and quits rather than be less than perfect. It would be easier for us to offer suggestions if we had a clearer idea of the problem. With respect to math, the usual problem with kids who also had trouble learning to read tends to be sequencing difficulty. These are the kids who take forever to learn their right from their left, and who continually reverse letters when learning to read. If this is the issue, than taking him all the way back to the number line, and learning to visualize it backwards and forwards in space, and then to count by 2s, 5s, and 10s will set the stage for mastery of math facts better than simply hitting the flash cards (although drill really cannot be avoided.) What is his level in math, and what does he experience trouble with?
P.S. As a kid you should definitely not use your real, full name in communicating with people whom you do not know on strange boards, even relatively “safe” ones like this.