My daughter is 10 (will be 11 in September) who has problems with reading and math. I’ve homeschooled her the past 2 years, because I felt she was slipping through the cracks in Public School. She currently reads at a beginning 2nd grade level. And she has trouble remembering math facts-she has to really concentrate to remember the basic addition facts. As far as tutoring/therapy, she did PACE last year and is currently doing vision therapy. We did reading reflex at home, but just to the point where it was a struggle for her-like she just wasn’t getting it. PACE seemed to help a little, but I didn’t see the results I thought we would get. She’s been doing Vision Therapy for 3 months, and truthfully, I haven’t seen any results from it. In a few weeks she will be re-evaluated to see if she is making progress. I was told she would need to do the VT for 6 months.
Now I am wondering if I should contact our public school district and have her tested and see what help they can offer. I do want to continue homeschooling, but am willing to take her into the school for extra help. She has public school anxiety from her 1st 2 years of school.
I would like to “hear” any opinions/ advice anyone may have.
Thanks.
Re: New-would like advice
At her age, unfortunately, *most* schools offer lousy “help.” Sometimes they even recognize it; ask them exactly what they do to teach fifth graders to read. They’ll probably give rather a vague answer, and rather a vague methods generally don’t work.
(I’m not saying don’t go to them for the evaluation and to *ask* them what they could do to help her… just don’t expect them to really have something appropriate.)
WHat are her strengths?
Reading Reflex is not structured or systematic enough for many LD students, and doesn’t build in the practice, practice, practice that they need. (People who suggest this get flamed so badly that they tend never to mention it again, so most people only hear the “it saved my child!” testimonials and assume — as the zealots would like them to — that it must be something they did wrong, or something about their child.) There are some other materials available (such as Barton or some of the materials at www.rlac.com ) that would probably be more helpful. It could also be that right now the role of mom and the role of teacher just don’t work well together so if you could do a tutor for some things that might make it easier.
Re: New-would like advice
Once you have organized the testing and everything, feel free to ask for my how-to-tutor outlines by email. Free, no strings attached.
[email protected]
Re: New-would like advice
Thank you for your replies. I forgot to mention that I have the “Master the Code” reading and spelling program, that is from the same company/creators as the PACE program. We started it after PACE, but haven’t used at all this past school year. Are you familiar with this program? I thought it was based on the Orton-Gillingham method. And I was planning on starting it again. From what I’ve read on this board, it sounds like we really need to keep drilling with a good reading program.
Re: New-would like advice
MTC builds in much more practice than reading reflex. The people I know who have stuck with it have had sucess. My understanding is it draws on both reading reflex and LMB. It really isn’t classic OG.
We did reading reflex for a number of years, including two intensives. We then did Seeing Stars last summer.
OG was a big disaster for us. My son couldn’t handle the rules.
There are more than one way to get there….My son reads at grade level now, although he still doesn’t like to read.
Beth
Re: New-would like advice
I just looked at Master The Code samples on the website. Yes, if does look like a good thorough program for the basics, and if you take your time and teach it thoroughly it should be effective.
It seems to go to the equivalent of the beginning/middle of Book 3 in the series I use. There are some more details to finish up afterwards, but it does look like a good start.
Make a formal request for testing, ask for a complete battery, IQ and speech and language. They have 15 days to respond with an assessment plan. Then when you give your consent they have another 50 days to perform the assessment and give their report. After they give their findings then they offer FAPE (Free and Appropriate Public Education). Your daughter would have to attend public school to get the services of RSP, SDC support. The only service that provide outside of public school is an Individual Service Plan of approximately 10 speech sessions per annum or consultation with you regarding her speech and language issues.
Did she ever have a prior evaluation that would shed more light on her learning differences? Have you ever looked into executive functioning, auditory processing, or attentional issues that haven’t been addressed? You may want to invest in getting training in Lindamood-Bell methodology to give you more skills for homeschooling as it sounds like she may have hit a plateau in her current program.
I have been where you are, when I hit a plateau with my daughter I hooked up with a learning center where she attended a small lab class. I had to be her mom and let other clinicians work with her, while I worked with the lab class kids. She was also diagnosed with CAPD and ADD and when we started medication it make a huge difference in her ability to progress and remember what she was learning. She is now mainstreamed back in high school and doing well.
Good luck!