My 11 yr old daughter has mild CP. Although this mainly only effects her walking (she used a walker), she also has a slight bit of LD. For instance she is already in LD math in public school, and it takes her longer than the other students in her class to ‘get’ things. Because of this she has Cs and below on her report card, when I kNOW she IS smarter than that. It just makes me so mad that they don’t give her extra time to understand things and learn things so it would reflect the grades that she actually SHOULD get. KWIM? Anyway, because of all this I am considering Homeschooling her. Are there any of you out there in my situation that has had GREAT results? I just don’t want her NOT learning because I did this…I guess I’m just unsure of my own capabilites to do it. I would appreciate any responses! THANKS!
Re: Considering HSing DD w/ CP
I feel like I’ve been sticking my nose in too much, but I’m surprised you haven’t gotten more responses. Read “The Well-Trained Mind”. There isn’t a parent including those who are teachers who hasn’t doubted their abilities to teach their child. I will also say that I had an older cousin who had CP and when I was growing up I and other kids thought she was on same mental level as another cousin who was Down Syndrome-because it took her so long to respond. She was more severe Cp than your daughter sounds but it wasn’t until I was grown did I realize that she was not only intelligent but an interesting companion. This is just to add to what you say about wishing that they’d give your daughter more time to show what she’s really capable of. If you don’t give her the chance will you ever find out?
You might try some computer programs to that would allow her to learn and respond at her own speed. Best of luck.
My child doesn't have CP, but ...
she does have learning problems (auditory, visual, and motor processing). I just had her tested last week for her end of the year evaluation by a public school special ed. mom. My dd sailed beautifully through the test (not with highest scores, but average — I was happy!). One thing that this special ed. teacher told me was pretty much what Sue posted earlier. She said that my dd would not have gotten the teaching and therapy through the public school system like I had provided her. You already seem very perceptive in knowing your dd’s academic capabilities. Just continue on with her pace.
Blessings,
Jan P.
Having been a teacher in the public schools, I’ve watched too many kids like yours and wished their parents would homeschool them. Usually I’d have these kiddos in resource — if learning is always *just* out of reach you just get further and further behind.
I don’t know you so I won’t say “of course you’ll do better than the schools!” - there’s always the chance you’re that 1 in 100 who wouldn’t. Frankly, the fact that you’re nervous tells me that you’re going to be looking for things that work, and changing as you go when they don’t — more than most teachers ever do for one student. The scariest part is you won’t do a perfect job (but it will almost certainly be better than what she’s getting) so you’ll always WONDER… but I can’t imagine her not learning, especially since you seem to be aware of how and when she “gets” things.
Sounds like she doens’t even need lots of “special” kinds of teaching — just teaching that isn’t going to move on by her. That’s exactly what a parent can do better than a teacher with a classroom full of kids.
I’m not a homeschooling mom so I can’t tell you success stories but I could tell you a few too many stories of kids with mild LDS who came into junior high *wanting* to learn and please teachers and be good kids. Well, they realized, slowly but surely as they kept trying and not succeeding, that trying hard wasn’t enough. That life was pretty unfair. A few too many of these good kids with supportive parents (for whom life *had* been pretty fair up ‘til then) got awfully bitter and angry… and rebelled by taking up with kids wiht a lot more practice at not pleasing teachers or getting good grades. Sometimes they’d end up “fitting right in” and being ringleaders because they were smarter than most of those kids, sometimes they’d end up being exploited by those kids because they didn’t have any kind of social skills (this would be the kiddo they convinced should put a keg in the car in the parking lot for the school dance, which he thought would score him big social points… of COURSE he got caught.) And no, it isn’t something that just happens to boys.
Now, I don’t know your situation — so it may not apply. But basically you can hold *high* expectations up for your daughter and give her the time and space to get there without constant comparisons to people who are moving faster. And there’s tons of support out here :-) — drop over to www.resourceroom.net and click on “homeschooling” for some resources & articles on homeschooling LD kids.