I have a 7 year old with dyslexia, dysgraphia, visual processing disorder, and the enunciative speech of a 4 year old, all diagnosed by a speech-language pathologist who runs a learning center locally. I put him through interactive metronome therapy in November and that seemed to make a bit of difference but, of course, cost quite a bit of money. I tried to use my flex-ben to pay for some of it, but it got kicked back because I didn’t have a MD’s note of medical necessity for it. My pediatrician referred me to a child psychologist to have the diagnoses made official (apparently a SLP isn’t high enough on the pecking order), but they want $1500, all out of pocket expense and not covered by flex-ben, evidently. I don’t have that money.
This child, and his older brother, are homeschooled and are extremely resistent to going to public school because they don’t want to be seperated. So I don’t have the public school system’s resources for speech therapy and whatever else they can do for him. I would like to find things for him that he can do at home (computer programs, etc) to assist with at least some of these issues, but I haven’t a clue which are good and which are just a waste of money.
Does anyone have suggestions for me?
Thanks-
Donna
Re: homeschooling and ld's
I agree with pp’s. Even though your kids are homeschooled, you are a taxpayer in the township and local district. This means that you have access to after school programs and activities and evaluations and therapy. Contact the Child Study Team for an evaluation. If your flexible speding account is needing a physician note, call a Neurodevelopmental Pediatrician or a Pediatric Neurologist for an appointment. They can help you get the services you need. Let us know what happens.
Re: homeschooling and ld's - long post
Sorry for responding to this so late. May I suggest you check out the following that I just posted on a different topic on this site. (i will copy it here so you don’t have to flip back and forth. As a homeshcooler myself, I appreciate the financial crunch a single income often presents.
[b]Post copied from other discussion:[/b]
Hi. I am a homeschool mom who had a child who could read but couldn’t spell. Turns out she presented this was because she had a gifted memory so had been memorizing words. The problem was she couldn’t sound out a single simple word she had yet to memorize and couldn’t spell the simplest of words even with many repetitions and her memory.
We found out she had an auditory analysis problem. In short she couldn’t “hear” the individual sounds that made up the words. She heard words as solid sounds, making spelling and sounding out next to impossible.
If you think of dyslexia as a computer and its programming, the analogy would run something like this: The hard drive in a dyslexic (translation auditory analysis skills in a large portion) is equivalent to Windows 95 while the programming (spelling and decoding skills – AKA sound and code phonics skills) are designed for Windows Vista. No matter how often you “install” the program (phonics), the limitations of the hard drive will prevent the program from running effectively. To get the program to run you must first upgrade the hard drive. In cognitive skills that would mean repairing and upgrading the auditory analysis skills first and then re-introducing from scratch the phonics sounds and their codes.
We enrolled our daughter in a program called PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement) and had great success. This program uses the science of neural plasticity. A fancy way of saying that new neural pathways are created by doing specific activities that force set neurons to work. Making the neurons work in a way that is intense, with increased complexity, for a certain length of time (duration) and frequency will make the neurons connect through the synapses to other neurons with which there were heretofore not connected. It is a simple case of “the neurons that fire together, wire together”. I was so impressed with the program, and even more so with the results, that I became a trainer myself. My hope was to make the home study program they had well known and available to as many as possible. Unfortunately they phased out the homestudy program not long after I became trained.
Shortly thereafter, they started the development of an online home training program. The initial version did not address auditory at all. I was recently contacted by the software developer as he knew of my interest in helping get a program like this into as many homes as possible to help as many kids as possible. He let me know that they added an auditory component and has asked me to help market the product, especially to the homeschool crowd.
I have had the pleasure of being able to really evaluate this program in its current state. I am very impressed and see huge potential here. My daughter, who is now 9, loves it and informs me that she would willingly work the program for the recommended protocol times (1 hour per day, 5-6 days per week for approximately 12 weeks). Even though she went through PACE there are skills addressed that we never attained two years ago when she finished the trainer driven program so she will be able to put her words into action!
The auditory approach is not to teach reading at this stage, but rather to upgrade the auditory analysis hard drive component of the brain. It does this by introducing up to 17 sounds and 18 codes for those sounds. Breaking them into their smallest “sound bites” and then building up from there, as well as then breaking larger groupings of sounds down to their smallest element. This is the essence of spelling and reading – segmenting and blending.
Once the brain is upgraded, then a straight forward reintroduction of the phonics sounds can be done in rather short order. I say that, because the program also works on other underlying learning skills that make learning easier and more enjoyable. This includes, processing speed, visual processing, working memory, and logic and reasoning skills (executive functioning skills). These skills will go a long way in making the learning and remembering of vocabulary words and multiplication far easier. You may want to backtrack a little on the math and reintroduce some items again to see if they “stick” better after the training. We did this and it was very beneficial as my daughter was using rote memory to do the work. She hadn’t really understood the strategies or concepts. After training she had many “ah ha!” moments and she surpassed her original skill level in short order and has not struggled since..
There are 10 activities in the program, each with increasing challenges and complexity. The degree of difficulty only goes up as the student masters the earlier levels. The students work on auditory every day and rotate through the other activities. The programming sets up times for each activity to ensure a good balance and adequate variety to keep the student’s attention.
There is a pre-program skills assessment available; which can also be used as a post-program evaluation for improvement. With this option, your will also be able to track your student’s work and progress. I will be offering supplemental training on a consultation basis at a family’s request. This consultation option will enhance and even already great program, by targeting additional areas of the brain while performing the very same activities.
The cost of the program is as follows:
A single user access for a 12 month subscription - $495
Additional users subscriptions purchased concurrently receive a 20% discount
Each evaluation test (you may want 2 so you can do a before and after) run $29.95
I understand there is a bulk purchase discount for this as well, but will check on that.
I am in the process of updating my web site, adding in links, graphics and so forth to make this program available. I anticipate having everything up and running by February 10th at the latest.
If you would like further information about this program, please feel free to call or email me. If you call and it goes to voice mail, please let me know you are calling about the online cognitive skills program and that you heard about it on this forum. I will return your call within short order. As I am a night owl, please include a “call no later than” time so I can respect your boundaries.
I wish you and your child all the best, whether you choose this program or go with something else.
Sincerely,
Tara Jenner
The Brain Trainers
[url]www.thebtraintrainers.net[/url]
239-218-4307
Even homeschoolers can get their kids tested through the public school system. Please check into Child Find.