Please.... Need Help Choosing LD Programs!! Thanks

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Hi All,

I am a single mother and I am desperately looking for ways to help my 10 year old son (4th grade). He has been able to read since I can remember. He has been in gifted education since 1st grade but it wasn’t until the 3rd grade that we began to notice that he had issues with reading. More specifically, following directions with multiple steps, drifting attention when listening, understanding the main idea or concept of a lesson or story, off topic comments or answers, when retelling something he read the information is out of order, he needs a lot of prompting, his short term memory is poor and his comprehension is nearly non-existent.

On the positive side, he is well behaved, he can read well aloud, he has an extensive vocabulary, he is an excellent speller, he is high average to superior in Math calculation and reasoning, and if necessary he will repeatedly do his work without complaining.

Earlier this school year, we had him tested by the school and he was diagnosed with a language impairment. The results of the test found a weaknesses in his working memory, his ability to remember and retrieve, semantics usage, his expressive and receptive language, and that his comprehension is adversely affected by an increase in length and complexity.

He is currently receiving 60mpw of speech/language services but I don’t see an improvement. I am so frustrated with the school. I found out online that his school district may have a lot of these programs but no one has said anything. He just started with a tutor for 1hr/2tx per week but I now believe the money would be better spent in one of these programs. So far, his grades are very poor this year and I refuse to let them put him in a regular class because if he isn’t getting what he needs educationally I am of the opinion that it doesn’t matter if he is in basic, regular or gifted classes. He would fail.

I am thinking of trying Earobics (so far he likes the free games on the site), BrainBuilder, IdeaChain, Fast ForWord and/or the V/V program at home. I would administer the programs to him. Over the last 2-3 days I have experimented with graphic organizers and he seems to be responding well.

I am thinking I need something to help him with listening, following directions, memory, attention, word recall, comprehension and cognitive reasoning.

Can someone please suggest an appropriate program or programs to help him at a reasonable cost (< $1,500) because I am unemployed right now and I would like to begin asap.

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate it.

Submitted by Michelle on Wed, 06/10/2009 - 2:47 AM

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Hi!! You seem to know quite a bit about these mental exercises… I believe my son has deficits with symbol imagery/memory. His symptoms are quite different than your child’s symptoms. His comprehension is fine but his reading/spelling/grammar could use some help. Of course the most important is reading and I have now seen several places that giving him a phonics program will not work unless his brain is ready to receive this info… Is this really true?? How come schools do not know or intervene in this manner to teach the kids? Also, there are lots of tutoring places that do not even mention this.. What are your thoughts and recommendations??

Submitted by scifinut on Mon, 03/30/2009 - 2:25 PM

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We used Earobics for my daughter’s auditory issues. It was very helpful. We got it through my daughter’s school and were able to have it on a computer at home so that she could work on it more intensively, not just the days she worked with the SLP.

Submitted by lmnop on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:17 AM

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[quote=geodob]Hi Imnop,
In regard to his word recall and retrieval difficulties. Perhaps you could ask if him if he can imagine the sound of words in his mind?
He may not have learned how to do this?[/quote]

Geodob,

Thank you for your reply. Sunday night I asked him if he could hear the words in his head as he read and he said yes. I have been talking to him about imaging and he seems to understand but I don’t believe he can do it. He read a passage but the only thing he could remember were dates and names, which doesn’t add anything new because he is great with remembering numbers, statistics and facts about people especially athletes. Now that I know and understand this weakness with mental pictures I will target it.

Submitted by lmnop on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 10:42 AM

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[quote=scifinut]We used Earobics for my daughter’s auditory issues. It was very helpful. We got it through my daughter’s school and were able to have it on a computer at home so that she could work on it more intensively, not just the days she worked with the SLP. [/quote]

Thank you Scifinut for your reply. I decided to try Earobics 1 after reading all the internet reviews but I think your comment was helped to push me because there are so many out there. I got it on Amazon for $45 in used but very good condition. Even though I know he may be higher than level 1 I felt it would be best to start from 1 to get the most benefit. He loved the games on their site so hopefully it will help.

I have decided to do some kind of ear strengthening and brain building exercises first. So I also went out and purchased Brain Age and he loves it. I will have him work on that and Earobics for a little while to begin with. After I see how he responds to those 2 things I will move on to the next set of things he still struggles with. Then, I will attempt reading comprehension a few months down the road after he has some kind of foundation.

We looked at Brain Safari last night and he thought it was cool so that may be a later option after Earobics. I also found Bungalow’s Software for Aphasia and CAPD at http://www.bungalowsoftware.com. They offer a lot of free downloads and the software seems promising.

Thanks to this video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaVLy_5WhTM I finally have the medical terminology for the expressive and receptive weaknesses (Aphasia/Apraxia) and how they work. I would say that his Aphasia is moderate-high and his Apraxia is low-moderate because of his pauses in word retrieval but his regular voice tone and speech are normal.

Thank you.
[Modified by: lmnop on March 31, 2009 05:46 AM]

Submitted by geodob on Wed, 04/01/2009 - 12:02 PM

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Hi Imnop,
You wrote that you ‘asked him if he could hear the words in his head as he read and he said yes.’
Though, perhaps you could ask him if he can hear the words in his head, when he [i]reads silently[/i]?
Without saying them out aloud.

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