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Bookswithtea
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Somehow I missed this post. I will be praying as you and your family digest the information and determine what to do with it. All things still work for good for those who love God and are called according to his purposes. None of this is a surprise to Him.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and  due 9/10
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LLMom
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Praying for you all. Remember in another post I mentioned how Seton Special services has helped my ds? They go over your child's evaluation and develop a curriculum for him using books/materials for those problems. THey have a wonderful phonics video for dyslexic children. Plus they are availble to answer questions about helping our children at any time.
A great book to read is Homeschooling your special needs child by Sharon Hensley.
It is a shock to find these things out and you go through the typical grief stages. Ask any questions here. SO many of us have experiences we can share.
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Lisa
For veteran & former homeschool moms
homeschooling ideas
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cathhomeschool
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Texas Bluebonnets
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Elizabeth,
We have no experience in this area, but know that we continue to pray for Christian and that the Holy Spirit will guide you all in the decisions and direction you should take.
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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guitarnan
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Elizabeth,
You're definitely in my prayers; I have no concrete advice to offer, but I certainly know parents who've homeschooled children with learning disabilitities. One friend up here was told her daughter would never finish high school...she's now 22 and in college. It takes her a little longer to finish each "year" because of her reading issues, but she's definitely getting it done.
How wonderful that Christian has such caring, loving parents and siblings! He'll never, ever get lost in some school system's paperwork shuffle. I know you and Mike will be guided to the right resources.
Lots of hugs headed your way...still from WV...
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Elizabeth
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I am so overwhelmed! And not in a bad way  . In the last 48 hours, I've spoken with several of you; I've gotten emails from more of you; I even got a whole conference on processing disabilities in an express mail package this morning (thanks, Patty!).
I don't have time to tell the whole story right now, but the tester was very negative towards homeschooling (in a sort of passive-aggressive way). One thing she said as I was leaving, in order to emphasize that I must contact the schools as soon as possible, was that he really needs a "team approach." Little did she know what a phenomenal, knowledgable team we have here. I can't begin to tell you how much help I've received, both practically and spiritually.
Y'all are awesome!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JennGM
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Elizabeth wrote:
I don't have time to tell the whole story right now, but the tester was very negative towards homeschooling (in a sort of passive-aggressive way). One thing she said as I was leaving, in order to emphasize that I must contact the schools as soon as possible, was that he really needs a "team approach." Little did she know what a phenomenal, knowledgable team we have here. I can't begin to tell you how much help I've received, both practically and spiritually.
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I don't have experience in the disability department, but all day yesterday I was wondering if this testing and approach was mainstream and school based...now I see it is. Are you finding that some of the suggestions you were already doing naturally in the home?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: June 29 2006 at 11:38am | IP Logged
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Two secs here Jenn, but I will tell you that she suggested he be provided an opportunity to teach something or read something to a younger child... WHERE am I going to find such opportunities? WHY didn't I think of that soooner? 
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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PDyer
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Elizabeth wrote:
| I even got a whole conference on processing disabilities in an express mail package this morning (thanks, Patty!). |
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You're welcome. I hope you find them helpful, and not too overwhelming. 
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Patty
Mom of ds (7/96) and dd (9/01) and two angels (8/95 and 6/08)
Life at Home
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Donna Marie
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Two secs here Jenn, but I will tell you that she suggested he be provided an opportunity to teach something or read something to a younger child... WHERE am I going to find such opportunities? WHY didn't I think of that soooner? |
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Elizabeth,
I know that this approach has worked well for my dd(12)..for many things...
for example...
because she has a visual digit span issue, reading books to her younger siblings forces her to slow down and read at her own pace to the little ones for fun ...in a relaxed non-stress way that helps her to read more letters than she was before...(she would often read the first syllable and fill in with what she knew instead of reading the actual word...a moleskin dress to her was a molasses dress!) I could also listen in for the more difficult areas and address them at a later time.
In addition, her assistance in teaching beginner maths helps her practice her own sequencing issues. (and as a natural benefit, it frees me a little to spend more time with her.) She helps me prepare Montessori materials to be used with the younger set, and I teach her how to present them ...she is sequencing her own brain while thinking of someone else...once again, diminishing the frustration issue. And the beauty of the Montessori materials is the progression toward abstraction...3D to abstract...and my dd being very visual benefits greatly from this approach.
Right Start has been a blessing too, because it is so visual. Hard on "mommy time" but worth it. I had to start over at the beginning for her so that she could build one skill upon another. We are still working hard on it. Copywork and narration were great things for her too! She has the best narrations and I asked her why...her answer was that because the book was so good, she could "see" the whole thing. I let her draw along with our read alouds, history and science...she retains a lot!
Audiblox is proving to be a great thing for her. Just talking to Barb Little alone, helped me to see my dd better and approach things differently. She knows about many of these special blessings...the pro and the con... her first question to me was:
"What is her GIFT?"
Gift? I never really thought about that....she has a visual gift as well as a challenge. Barb had lots of suggestions as to how I can steer the ship to accomodate my dd as well as receiving the support as a HOMESCHOOLER that I would NOT receive from the local community. It was hard for me to start using this...but now, I am seeing a growing confidence in her. Doing Audiblox is a commitment of an hour a day and it has to be kept up, but like anything, once you get the hang of things it goes well...and when you FINALLY see growth...THAT makes it all worth while! My dd is still spelling very badly, but I was told that it will be hard for her to spell better until we up her digit span to 7 digits or more.
I don't know if this helps you or not, but I know that prior to this time I was very hard on myself as I could not get this child to learn as "I" thought she needed to. I had the "best" ideas and the "best" curricula and no matter how hard I tried, it was not working as well as I thought it should have for her. Now, we use her strengths to combat her weaknesses. She loves to draw, work with the little ones, and read...we use it all and more!
I do not know what challenges your dear son is facing, but there are MANY people out there that are homeschooling with "special blessings"! I KNOW in my dd's case, it is the very best environment for her to blossom...God is just handling things a bit differently with her and I have had to pray a lot to find the unexpected blessings with this cross.
HTH!
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Taffy
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Elizabeth,
I know very well what you are going through and the push you feel from professionals to have your son receive services in a school setting. And you have my sympathies---it's very energy draining and that's the last thing you need.
FWIW, we pulled our autistic son OUT of the school system because he wasn't progressing. The more people who get involved, the more beaurocratic red tape one has to go through to accomplish anything. As a former special ed teacher, I'm sure you're very familiar with this. The school's concern is that the AVERAGE student does well and this includes the special ed department.
You are a wonderful teacher and I'm sure that you'll be able to pull together the resources that Christian needs. You'd asked for websites - these are a few. Please keep in mind that my special needs guy is autistic so that's what most of these sites are geared for but most of them are all-encompassing.
Homeschooling Kids With Disabilities
Homeschooling your deaf or hard of hearing child
NATTHAN
Homeschooling Kids with Learning Disabilities
There's tons more. Good luck! And feel free to PM me anytime!
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Susan
Mom to 5 on earth and 1 in heaven
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Elizabeth
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Donna, I was kidding. I already have him teaching things to the little kids and reading aloud to them. His difficulties lie in visual processing--there are severe visual memory and visual-motor glitches, in addition to mathematics disorder and ADD.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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JennGM
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Elizabeth wrote:
| Two secs here Jenn, but I will tell you that she suggested he be provided an opportunity to teach something or read something to a younger child... WHERE am I going to find such opportunities? WHY didn't I think of that soooner? |
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Makes you wonder...
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
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ALmom
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We've had various visual memory and visual processing problems here. This can sometimes be related to an underlying and undetected eye muscle problem which MDs do not generally acknowledge as existing unless it manifests as lazy eye or strabismus. A developmental optometrist may be able to help. Our children with this problem had 20/20 vision but could not see correctly. It was hard to find their odd suppression patterns. With one, correcting the vision corrected the other problems, though this doesn't always happen. You may want to check.
http://www.pavevision.org/
IF you want to PM me, feel free and I will share whatever I know.
I am almost hesitant to post as I do not want to intrude - and know that we are praying for the intercession of St. Lucy to lead you to whatever is right for your son.
Janet
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Elizabeth
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| Posted: June 30 2006 at 5:57am | IP Logged
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Donna,
I am wondering about the whole Montessori math route again. I gave up on Right Start because it was too teacher intensvie to do at so many levels. NOw, I"m revisiting it as a possibility and looking at Shiller as well. Do you have any familiarity with Shiller?
Also, Audioblox are marketed for dyslexics;does your dd have visual processing problems or auditory processing problems?
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Donna
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Elizabeth wrote:
Donna,
Do you have any familiarity with Shiller? |
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Other Donna here.
I purchased Shiller math 3 years ago, and really like it. And, what's even better is that my kids like it. It's very hands on and the lessons are short. We'd do up to 6 or 7 a day because Clara and Aaron wanted to do more than just 1 lesson. This past year I switched Clara over to MCP, and she really didn't like it. She wanted to do what we had been doing with Shiller. She got very bored with just a workbook.
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Donna
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amyable
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ummmm...just editing because I posted the exact same thing as Janet before reading all the new responses 
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Amy
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The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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Elizabeth
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Donna,
Do you do Shiller with Jackson? It looks great but I'm wondering if Christian will be insulted by the "babyness" of it. I was looking at Touch Math and that looks perfect but it is outrageously expensive. I have to keep reminding myself that God has a plan...
__________________
Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Donna
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Elizabeth,
When I purchased Shiller, they only had the first kit available..up to age 8. Now I see they have 9-12. I didn't use it for Jackson only bacause it wasn't available then.
Have you seen the other kits? I see they go up to age 15. You could probably find something there for Christian. I really think it's a great program.
You could also e-mail Larry Shiller. He has been very helpful to me when I had questions. In fact, he is the reason I purchased the program. I spent an hour talking with him at a conference.
You are in my prayers...Christian, too. 
__________________
Donna
DH, Keven
Jason, Stevie, Marie, Jackson, Clara, and Aaron
Jacob, Sam, and Regina with God
Grandbabies Leigha and Elsie
Moments Like These
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Nina Murphy
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Dear Elizabeth,
Just checked in to this thread and haven't read all of the posts.
To be pregnant--- and with #8!--- and to be waiting for a certain diagnosis for one of your other children who you have been long fretting over, combined with the duties to maintain your role as an affectionate, attentive wife and generous mother, is feeling emotionally and spiritually stretched in every conceivable psychic direction, I know. And dealing with the Professionals is one of the most draining aspects of being given this cross. They mean well and from their perspective they are just "doing their jobs"---so it takes a lot of stepping outside of it and not personalizing it. And also, standing firm in the most gentle way possible, getting your husband involved as family representative if needed. I will never be able to convince people that I am able to provide a proper environment of care for my children in this homeschooling lifestyle. I've just decided to focus on the "curriculum of love" for my children, and leave it for God's Eyes and judgements.
You have our prayers and support. (I will ask the little ones to pray, especially.) So many of us Catholic homeschooling moms seem to have been chosen to have special children, doesn't it seem?
God bless,
Nina Murphy and Fam
homeschooling in CA
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Angie Mc
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Nina wrote:
And dealing with the Professionals is one of the most draining aspects of being given this cross. They mean well and from their perspective they are just "doing their jobs"---so it takes a lot of stepping outside of it and not personalizing it. And also, standing firm in the most gentle way possible, getting your husband involved as family representative if needed. I will never be able to convince people that I am able to provide a proper environment of care for my children in this homeschooling lifestyle. I've just decided to focus on the "curriculum of love" for my children, and leave it for God's Eyes and judgements.
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Nina, this is well-phrased and oh so true. My husband, the professional, would agree wholeheartedly with you  .
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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4Real Forums : Special Blessings
Topic: Evaluation prayers please
