Has anyone used the Learning RX (or PACE) Program?

My son did this program when he was 7 without significant gains. That said, I know people who used to post on this forum who got significant gains. Here are my observations: 1. It seems to be more successful with somewhat older children, even though I was reassured my son was old enough. My son at times had trouble even with the easiest levels. 2. You want to make sure there are no untreated sensory issues. This is a cognitive program which builds on a sensory foundation. There are some sensory based exercises but largely it assumes a fairly intact sensory system. 3. I would suggest doing some sound therapy first. We did The Listening Program (TLP) afterwards and suddenly my son could do auditory exercises he had struggled with significantly.

I should have done this program later—when he was older and after he did TLP and Interactive Metronome. Mostly, what we learned was how sensory based his deficits were.

Beth

Thanks so much, Beth. I’ve been hearing that on different boards: get the sensory issues treated first. Did you do PACE or Learning RX? I wonder if the Learning RX has incorporated more exercises to deal with sensory processing issues? I’m not sure exactly what kinds of processing issues my son has. The problem is that more testing is likely to be quite expensive and the Learning RX is already quite expensive ($4500!). I think I will have to look into this further. Sigh. Thanks so much.

There is no magic way to figure this all out. There are some sorts of evaluation that are relatively inexpensive—a OT, speech and language, auditory processing, developmental optometrist. What is expensive is the neuropsychological evaluation. We never did one for my son but just used what the school did and the other evaluations mentioned above.

What do you already know about your son’s learning issues? How old is he? What other therapies have you done?

Beth

Hi Beth,
May I ask, did you do PACE or Learning RX and how long ago? I’m thinking that they added more auditory processing skill training recently from some things I’ve read somewhere—not sure where!! My son is 13 and we haven’t really done any therapies, other than I did a program called REWARDS with him (it is a program to teach word attack and decoding strategies for larger words once they have basic phonics down). I’ve just tried various methods in the adademic areas, since we homeschool. He was in public school until 2nd grade. They tested him them, at the suggestion of his teacher who suspected a writing disability. They did their full battery of tests. It didn’t turn up anything other than very poor hand-eye coordination and poor visula closure. So they said he didn’t qualify for any extra services and they said it was probably a developmental delay and attention issues, not a disability. So I went on that for years, trusting the so-called experts. Now I realize that he really does have so sort of learning difficulty, probably a type of dyslexia that shows up mainly in his spelling and writing. From what I’m reading, however, it sounds like most cases of dyslexia are related to auditory processing glitches, so perhaps I should have him tested by an audiologist and maybe try those programs you suggested. Anyway, may I ask what your son’s learning difficulties were? I’d guess that they were mainly in the auditory processing area from what you wrote. This might help us decide if we figure out exactly what is going on with my son. Thanks so much.

Hi Fun2,
You mentioned that the testing identified poor Visual Closure, where I would ask if this has been resolved?
As this could be causing his writing and spelling difficulties?
As he may not be able to effectively visualise the spelling of words?
You might like to do a google of visual closure, where you’ll find plenty of information. As well as quite a lot of free visual exercises.
Which will also help you identify if it is still a problem?
Geoff,

Regarding dyslexia, my daughter has had a lot of success with the Davis program so far. I was quite skeptical at first, but the neuropsychologist who tested my daughter at age 18 referred her to the Davis Dyslexia program. The complete program is explained in two books, the most complete is The Gift of Learning. The method can be done at home for the cost of the book and some study. My daughter has so far had a lot of success, but she has to do exercises every day, using reading and close dictionary work. She gained enough confidence after 3 months to enroll in college. It is at least worth a look at the book and some investigation for visual learners with dyslexia.

My son did PACE six or seven years ago so it certainly could have changed in that time. When he did it, it had a lot of auditory processing exercises in it. The problem was he couldn’t do them–even after considerable practice. After we did the The Listening Program, he was able to make more progress in days than he had in months earlier. This is why I say you have to remediate underlying sensory deficits first.

PACE does have exercises that are sensory in nature. The above mentioned auditory processing ones are a good example. They also have a lot of visual processing exercises. My son did better with those. He had had some vision therapy already. PACE did not remediate completely his remaining issues. We did Neuronet therapy and then Seeing Stars(a Lindamood program for reading), both which had a big impact on his visual processing. He used to wear glasses for reading—larger print made processing easier. He no longer does.

My son had the misfortune of having a slew of disabilities. He has been diagnosed with word retrieval difficulties and auditory processing deficits. He also was diagnosed with a nonverbal learning disability and ADD. He had motor issues, visual processing deficits, and some social issues. He did not learn to read in first grade and was behind in math as well. He could not write.

He has had years of therapy. We did Fast Forward, vision therapy, The Listening Program, Interactive Metronome, PACE, Neuronet therapy, Seeing Stars Intensive, Read America Intensive. Neuronet has been a pretty consistent program, as my son complains. We are finishing up the Neuronet for Math program now. We have been fortunate enough to live in the same geographic are that the developer does.

He is now in 8th grade in a parochial school and doing well. He occasionally gets support from the resource room. He gets mostly B’s with C’s usually in literature, grammar, and spanish (language based difficulties and difficulties with abstract thinking), and A’s in art, P.E., religion, and social studies.

I think being 13 would make your son much more able to take advantage of PACE. They do a pretest so you can see where your son is. That should give you some useful information.

Beth

Thanks so much, Geoff, Deborah, and Beth. I do appreciate all your ideas and help. Geoff had an excellent idea to google “visual closure”. It never occured to me that you could do anything about that! I will definately look into the “Gift of Dyslexia” Though I have heard of it I’ve never read it. I have heard that it works for some types of dyslexics and not others.
Beth— whew! What a dedicated mother you are to do all those programs to help your son!! (Not to mention all the money you must have sacrificed!)
I’m not sure where to start testing my son. Since we homeschool, the district won’t do any testing for us (even though we pay plenty of taxes and don’t get a thing in return!)He was tested at the Learning Rx center(using the Woodcock-Johnson cognitive skills test and the gray oral reading test)and he was below average on all skills tested- Some way below! So I think my son also has lots of different learning difficulties, but perhaps on a mild enough scale that it might not be immediately obvious. For instance,on the Iowa Basic skills test, which is of course a multiple choice test, his scores were in the average range(except for spelling, capitalization, and “math computation” (which is a basically a speed test and the score isn’t even averaged in with the rest of the math scores). However, if you ask him to read orally (he skips words and lines and guesses at big words)or write something, then his difficulties show up. He has always been a bit uncoordinated in sports, though that has improved somewhat. So I’m guessing he might even have something going on in the sensory integration area, too.
What were your favorite programs of those you’ve done? Did you like Fast Forward? Do you think TLP did the most good in the auditory area? I’ve heard good things about Neuronet from folks on a homeschool special needs board I visit frequently. I live in Maryland, though. I just recently heard about another cognitive skills program offered locally that I may post a question about. Thanks.