NVLD ~ geometry program for 13-year-old?

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

We’re home schooling our 13-year-old daughter, who’s been diagnosed with nonverbal learning disability, and we need some program that will get some geometry into her head so she’ll be ready for it on the SATs some day…. She has severe dysgraphia and does much of her work on the computer for that reason, and I’m concerned about the drawing and the perceptual limitations affecting her ability to integrate the material (middle- to high-school level, rather than elementary identification of shapes and the like).

Does anyone know of a hands-on program that might at least help her get some of the concepts? Something that she could go into on this level (some of the programs I’ve looked at say something along the lines of, if the student hasn’t been using the program all along…he or she may have difficulty starting the program at this point)?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Sandy

Submitted by Janis on Mon, 01/03/2005 - 7:42 PM

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I haven’t seen the upper level materials, but I like Math-U-See for kids with learning problems. The lessons are demonstrated on DVD/video, which would be a BIG plus for those trying to homeschool high school math! I am trying out some of the lower levels now. I’d recommend that you call the MUS rep for your area and ask about it.

http://www.mathusee.com/index.html

Janis

Submitted by Sue on Thu, 01/06/2005 - 10:28 PM

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Another thing to look at is Geometer’s Sketchpad. When I learned about it back in 1998, it was just software used for teaching Geometry but I hope by now there’s a course tied into it.
It basically eliminated the whole drawing thing :-) It made straight lines for you, *told* you what the angles were that you made, and you moused around to change things. You could actually make a zillioin triangles and *see* the angles adding up to 180 degrees.
We learned about it as an adjunct, and for somebody with writing and spatial perception problems it could be a godsend. I know I owuld have been grateful for something that wouldn’t have always gotten me “Messy!” on my paper :-)

Submitted by sandellie4 on Tue, 01/11/2005 - 3:05 AM

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Thanks for the responses! I checked the reviews on Geometer’s Sketchpad today, and it looks wonderful. It will remove the drawing problem so we can focus on the actual concepts. If it doesn’t work for my daughter, well, it looks like *I* could have a little fun with it! ;-)

Sandy

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