Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, well, you do have a complex situation!

First of all, that low memory score from the IQ test will be pretty typical in LD kids and probably ADHD as well. Is he on medication now? Untreated ADHD will definitely affect short term memory.

You definitely do not need a fMRI to determine dyslexia. You also do not need to be overly concerned about mixed dominance. Please tell me what reading tests he has had, particularly ones like the CTOPP and GORT. Also, what program does your reading tutor do with him? We would need some more specific information to be able to help you at all.

How is his receptive language? Has anyone suggested auditory processing disorder.?

I would say that the neuro-opthalmologist wasn’t probably quaified to dismiss the neuro-psych’s report, so I wouldn’t worry about that.

Do you have the possibility of homeschooling? I’ll tell you right now, he will continue to be frustrated at school and is very unlikely to have his needs met.

Janis

I don’t have time now to giove this the answer it deserves but will drop a few notes. Please feel free to ask me again, as well as posting more.

Talk to pattim on this board about speech issues. That sounds like a large part of what is going on with the frustration.

Programs like PACE, Brainskills, Audiblox, and Interactive Metronome *may* (no guarantees but it’s worth a shot!) help with the memory issues. That sounds like another large part.

Feel free to email me at [email protected] if you would like my how-to-tutor-reading notes, now up to the size of a book in progress, if you think improving his reading skills would help (it does in may cases, takes a load off the memory and helps verbal development.)

Well, you’ve found a wonderful site and will get loads of useful advice and lots of good information here. Just read and read!!!! There are processing programs like PACE or Brain Skills (the home version of PACE), and a much more inexpensive one that I have called Audioblox (I need to pull this out and use it again with my son). There’s another one called Braintrain. I don’t know anything about it (or anyone who has used it), but it looks interesting. I don’t know what you’ve done therapeutically, but if you can work with your son it would save money and you may be able to replicate a level of intensity that may help make some good gains. (my personal belief is that intensity is the best way to “rewire” the brain).

For auditory processing and language there’s Fast Forword (I’m using it with my son this summer). There’s also a wonderful book of language exercises called “Language Wise” by Carmen McGuinness. And if you get “Language Wise,” you might as well pick up “Reading Reflex” and do this program with your son as well (to help with reading. Even if he doesn’t have a reading problem, it will help make learning to read easier).

Unfortunately with kids who have multiple issues you almost have to attack areas individually. Another thing to consider is body work. For many kids with multiple issues there’s some general sensory and motor glitches. Problems with balance, vestibular, etc… For this type of thing there are programs like Neuronet, Balametrics and there’s a book I like that combines bodywork with visual processing called “Devloping Your Child for Success” by Dr. Kenneth Lane. Alot of these exercises are not only good for your child, but fun too. You can make a game out of them.

Unfortunately, there’s usually no magic answer. We all just kind of do the best we can, use various programs, try and help our kids as best we can and just appreciate them for their unique qualities. Besides all these therapeutic activities, make sure you also leave time for fun and doing things your son enjoys and feels successful with. Make sure he gets plenty of opportunity to participate in things he’s good at as well. Like creative activities! :-)

First let me say thank you for all of your posts. Iam already looking into the programs you have suggested. I was so touched that we are finally getting some pathways to look into.

Janis
Some of the testing the neuro-psych performed were Reynolds intellectual assessment scale, the WISC, WRAT, Reit-Klove sensory perceptual exam, Reitan-Indiana aphasia screening, Lateral dominance exam, Finger tapping test??,Name writing, animal naming test, Stroop color-word test,Progressive Figure test, of course Connors Parent rating and Connors Global Index, Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale. All of the planned testing was not performed due to my son had hit his limit and so did the Doc (I think)! Yes, Carter is currently on meds. Right now Adderol and Nortriptylin (tri-cyclic anti-depressant for OCD). Because Carter just started “real” reading this year (2nd grade) we do not have a reading tutor yet! That is my plan for this summer. Right now Carter goes to Catholic school and our particular school has been outstanding. He is given one on one tutoring with a Title 1 teacher everyday! Also, the children in his class adore him and he loves them right back. They have adapted to his issues and don’t give it a second thought when a problem arises. All of the children are actually taught to assist each other with any issue whether it be social, emotional or learning. Carter would be absolutely crushed if we took him out of his school. I could homeschool because I am a stay at home mom but the emotional damage would be too much. I do work with him consistantly in entertaining ways to try and make learning fun. My husband and I were teaching him simple multiplication. He was holding Carter’s hands and I said “if I have one chance to tickle 2 armpits. How many armpits would I tickle.” When he answered I tickled him and said so 1x2=?? and he yelled 2! We try to do things like this after intense learning.

Victoria and Laura
I am definitely going to look into the PACE and Brainskills and audioblox programs. Carter’s issues I feel are definitely a processing problem. Iam also looking into professional tutoring due to I am MOMMY and sometimes I think he doesn’t give me his full attention and effort. He thinks if he “fights” with me long enough I will just give in and say we’ll do it later and later will never come. He is SOOOO wrong!!! But it is still a struggle to get him started. If he were in a strange situation with someone that wasn’t me I think he may listen better. As far as activities he is in Tae Kwon Do 3 days a week. We also have a pool which he is not even allowed to think about until his work is done. We usually work intensly for up to 2 hours with minibreaks every 15 minutes.

Thank you so much for all of your advice
God Bless you all
Cartersmommie

Everything you say for yourself makes perfect sense, and keep up the good work.

But one thing you relayed from the school hit a nerve. I am sure it comes from the school because you sound very responsible. You said that he has just finished Grade 2 and this is the beginning of “real” reading so he hasn’t had a tutor yet. AAAARRRRRGH! This attitude is sixty years out of date and even back then my grandma knew better; since then we have over fifty years of scientific studies, proving what grandma knew from experience. Early intervention in reading is as vital as it is in speech and physical development. You have missed out on three years when he had the time to develop fundamental reading skills so he wouldn’t have had to play catch-up for years later. The sooner you start, the less catch-up he will have to play. If you wait until Grade 3 when the other kids are reading “real” books, children’s novels and factual information and so on, he is faced with an insurmountable task to start reading what the other kids are doing, and this is bad for attitude and self-image as well as for missing out on academics.
Naturally there is a happy medium. Yes, he needs tutoring help to get on grade level, and the sooner the better. No, the help should *not* be high-pressure and overwhelming; it needs to be *help* and not one more place for failure. No, the help should not take up his whole summer; an hour a day or an hour three times a week still leaves a hundred hours for play and swim classes and whatever. No, don’t overschedule; if he is getting one or two kinds of therapy at a time, that’s enough. But please do think about making some intervention right away.

Just one more thing, all reading tutors and programs are not equal. The right reading methods are absolutely essential for a child with a reading disorder/LD.

Please read a couple of articles on this site and consider reading the book, Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz.

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/reading_approaches.html

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html

I understand your concern about the emotional aspects of withdrawing a child from school. If you can find the right tutor who will work with him a couple of times per week year-round, you may find that he can stay in school and manage. But a child who stays far behind his peers will eventually suffer serious problems with self-esteem if he stays in school, and this is what I was referring to in my earlier message. Hopefully you can start him with a good tutor as soon as possible so he will have the possibility of closing the gap.

Janis

It can definitely be hard to impossible to be MOMMY and also be teacher. He’ll have lots of teachers — you’re the one mom :-)

Here’s some free advice worth no more than its price — really, that “emotional damage” may be more perception than reality if the school isn’t a good fit. (Of course, it’s probably somewhere in between.)
Pulling out would happen once… but when you’re in school and it’s a bad fit, then ***every day**** you’re getting emotional damage. If you’re sitting there, being reminded every time you look around at everybody else who is “getting it” (and of course you assume they are all getting it, even if they aren’t) that you just ain’t right… that can do a whole lot more emotional damage than being told that school wasn’t the right place for *you* (not that you weren’t right for the school).

Cartersmommie,

It sounds like you’re doing a good job, but you do need to get the reading going. My biggest regret is not doing this earlier (like when my son was 4!). Reading Reflex is a great way to start and even though you don’t want to be your son’s teacher 1-2 hours of RR a day really isn’t too much. If you really don’t feel comfortable you could buy the book and hire someone else to do it.

Another thing, if money is not an issue, you might consider Lindamood Bell. They have centers in many areas and may have one near you. It’s expensive, but I feel it was one of the best investments I made. Their program works on both reading and related processing difficulties that accompany reading disabilites. It’s intense, but for many kids does make an impact.

I spoke with the vice principal of my son’s school today. Even though it is summer break anytime I have any info to give the school they are on it immediately, which is great. We talked about the reading tutor as well as some of the programs suggested on this board. She was very excited to hear that I have found such an informative sight for advice. She is also looking into purchasing some of the materials for school for my son and some other children that have difficulties as well. I also spoke with the educational specialist for our school district and she bumped me up on the testing schedule for the diffferent programs available through the district. Carter was not to be tested until Sept. but the principal of our home school in the district was so impressed with my husband’s and my commitment to our son’s education she requested that the specialist “see what she could do”. So he is being tested tomorrow. This is different from the neuro-psych testing in that it will include some of the reading tests Janice mentioned previously. So we are very excited and hopeful! We’ve been referred to a few tutors in the area and I hope one has an opening. I would love to do this myself but I am so worried that #1 I am not a professional educator, and #2 I tend to be a big softy sometimes, which is not beneficial to our son. I really do try to be firm for his own good, but when he looks at me with those big brown eyes and long eyelashes I tend to cave on certain issues. He knows how to get to me, but don’t they all. If I have to I CAN and WILL do it without a second thought. I know I just have to be firm. My husband was really excited about the AUDIBLOX program. We are going to try it. My theory is it only costs $250 and we easily spend that in just a few visits to the Dr or therapist. So if it is not for us we’ve only lost a little money. We are still going to continue with other avenues as well.
Thank you guys for all of your help
Please keep the advice coming. I finally feel I am not the only one out there.
Cartersmommie

The Sound Reading CD from http://www.soundreading.com is very helpful to beginning readers, in my experience, so I would definitely recommend that. Once the child understands how the program works, he can do it independently. Average time to complete the CD is 14 hours, but that varies. Most children enjoy working with this CD. About 15 minutes per day would be sufficient. This computer CD is an excellent supplement to any reading program. Website where you can purchase the CD is http://www.soundreading.com

Another program I would recommend is the “Little Books” readers from http://www.usu.edu/teach/LittleBooks.htm . These are very graduated readers, and a child needs to read a book with 2 errors or less in order to “graduate” to the next book in the set. Children I have worked with have really enjoyed these readers. Some schools are using them successfully as their primary reading approach, although I prefer using them in conjunction with an explicitly taught reading program (such as Phono-Graphix, the program explained in the book “Reading Reflex” by McGuiness). 15 to 20 minutes of this type of reading per day can be very helpful. It is usually a good idea to start with Set 1 of this series.

You may want to find out if there is a Phono-Graphix tutor in your area. Some advertise at http://www.readamerica.net, but the only way to find out about all PG tutors in your area is to call or email the company.

Nancy

I’ve used the Sound Reading CD and I think it would probably be a good starting point, or to use in addition to the other programs.

Reading Reflex is surprisingly easy to do, even for a non-educator and softie! It’s designed for parents to use. You can always take a look at the book and see what you think. Most Barnes and Nobles book stores have them and even many libararies.

Also, if you can’t find a tutor you could probably hire a high school kid or young college student to do the program with your son on a daily basis (under your direction, and you’d just have to make sure they got the sounds right). You could probably also hire them to do Audiblox too. I’ve done both Reading Reflex and Audiblox with my own child. These really are the easier ones to do yourself if you decide to do so.