It's official. Daniel has a formal diagnosis: severe dyslexia and severe dysgraphia, speech articulation issues that merit one-on-one speech therapy, and a suggestion that we have Daniel tested for ADD and/or Asperger's. Then, let's add to that the sensory integration issues we already knew about.
I'm not a huge fan of labeling people according to disabilities. I don't think everyone who is different needs to be "cured" or medicated. In Daniel's case, though, we felt like we needed a direction. We had tried several different reading programs, and he would start strong but then reach a point where he couldn't move forward or would become seriously frustrated. Or, in some cases, he would take a step backward. With this diagnosis comes recommendations of things we can do that are proven to help kids with dyslexia learn to read and spell and, most importantly in my mind, rediscover the love of learning.
One example of a little thing that already is helping in a big way: Having a number line taped to the table while he is doing math. Daniel is really good at math, but he spends a lot of energy thinking about how to write the numbers, and that takes away from the pleasure of a subject he could enjoy. With the number line, he can see the shape of the number he wants to write and not have to visualize it, which is very difficult for him to do.
I don't know if we will test for ADD or Asperger's. There doesn't seem to be need to rush into it right now, but we may in the future if we feel a diagnosis would be helpful to Daniel or to our family in some way. I feel like I can do reading and research on my own for a while.
In the meantime, I am rethinking the way we home school. The curriculum we had been using is fairly heavy on workbooks, labeling maps and timelines, copy work, recitation and the like. So... out with a good chunk of it, at least for now. We also will be schooling year-round, taking short breaks when we need to instead of taking a long break over the summer.
Here's the new plan. Some of this we were already doing, but some is new. We will start on Tuesday if all goes well. The only books I'm missing at this point are the handwriting workbooks, and I'll have to wait till the next payday to order those.
LANGUAGE ARTS
* Barton Reading System
* Evan Moor "A Word A Day" vocabulary
* Story books and chapter books of interest (read aloud by Lisa)
* Audio books of interest
* Speech therapy starting mid-May
HANDWRITING
* Handwriting Without Tears program
* Sandpaper letters
TYPING
* Type to Learn Jr. computer program
MATH
* Singapore Math (3A for Daniel and 1B for Jade)
* Cuisenaire rods/activity book and other manipulatives as needed
SCIENCE
* "Nature" DVDs and the like
* "Living World Encyclopedia" and other books for reading/discussion on topics of interest
* Experiments from Usborne science books
* Encourage nature journals/photography and hands-on nature activities
HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY
* "Story of the World" for reading/discussion
* Consider how SOTW would work with timeline we already have set up
* Periodically review states, oceans, continents, directions on wall map
ART AND MUSIC
* Continue private art lessons once a week
* "Children's Book of Art" and other books for art history/appreciation
* Craft projects of interest
* "Story of the Orchestra"
BIBLE
* "101 Favorite Bible Stories" (Lisa reads and kids illustrate/retell/dramatize/
felt board/whatever, etc.)
OTHER
* The Book of Days for seasonal activities
* Park days and field trips with homeschool friends
If you've gotten this far, you may notice that there are no spelling tests, no math drills, no memorization of rote facts. I can't say I'm sorry to see any of that go!
Comments (1)
The advice I got was do things big and take lots of breaks.
Numbers can be learned by cooking, making things and measuring stuff around the house and playing store too!!