Back to School

Due to a number of factors too exhausting to list my son re-entered public school this week.

We have hopes for this program. Unlike the school he was in previously, this school uses a block schedule. A block schedule is one in which the child has his core classes 2 -3 times per week on alternating days. The classes are 80 minutes instead of 40 minutes.

We think this will work better for our son. He has ADD and learning disabilities and the fewer transitions he has during the day the better. He is very easily distracted by both external and internal disturbances. There is an awful lot going on in his brain that he will not or cannot express.

This school has a strong administrative team and good discipline. The guidance counselor is on the ball. The school itself seems calm when you enter it.

They use a program called Fast ForWord, which is rather controversial. On the web you will find that it is either useless or a miracle, depending on the information source. I am anxious to see what my son thinks of it and observe for myself whether it seems to help him.

I will continue to blog on parenting and education. I may not be homeschooling for the foreseeable future but I will continue to be very involved in my childrens’ education.  My daugher has one more year of private school ahead of her and then both will enter the neighborhood public high school.  It will be and interesting couple of year ahead!

Triennial Evaluation

My son just had his triennial evaluation for his IEP. It was interesting to say the least. I always wonder how much stock to put in one test given on one day. That’s what we have to deal with however. Que sera, que sera.

He was previously designated as having a language disability. To the surprise of his examiner he scored pretty well on reading comprehension. It was no surprise to me because we have worked so hard on that skill.

They want to change his designation to math and writing disability and at this point I have to agree with them. He is behind in math and and has a particularly difficult time when you get him away from straight calculation. His writing, while interesting in itself, is frequently dismal in spelling, grammar and organization. He is a very good storyteller when he is speaking. I hope I can be helpful enough to him in his writing process and I am looking for materials which will help me. His first love is aviation and he probably cannot become a pilot for medical reasons so to my surprise he has decided to become a travel writer! Since this decision he has written more, with more enthusiasm, than I’ve ever seen.

His IQ scores were up and down and were labeled “severely discrepant”. That means that it is impossible to judge his potential by how he tests.  The future is uncertain.

I do know the traditional college path is unlikely. We question whether he will be able to handle a full course load at a major university, simply because of the stress that causes and the level of organization it demands.   He does not want to leave home and I don’t think he should (unlike my daughter who will be fine wherever she goes). He may spend his first year or two at home, either attending community college or a private college part time and working at something he loves. That’s fine with us.

He also wants to be a volunteer paramedic.  We have a large and well-funded volunteer fire department nearby so the example has been set. He’s the kid who loves to watch “Trauma Center” on TV. He asks as many questions of the doctor as the doctor asks of him. He is very compassionate and nurturing and is never, ever grossed out. Hmmm. Sounds like a good candidate to me!

I agreed to have additional, more comprehensive IQ testing done last week in order to make sure he retains his testing accomodations. In the coming weeks he’ll also have in-depth neuro/psych testing done by private physicians and I’ll be very interested to see the results. My family has always known he is smarter than the tests show. We see sparks of brilliance radiating out from underneath the learning issues. We intend to get a more detailed diagnosis in order to help him shine.

It’s a long and winding road. Never give up.

Twilight is Beautiful

I took two girls to see the movie Twilight last night. The estrogen level in the theatre was very, very high.

I didn’t expect much but I loved it. It’s the perfect gothic romance for teenage girls. There is no sex, no cursing, no nudity, no crude behavior and most violence occurs off screen. The vampires even have a happy, supportive family that plays baseball together!

My kids liked the Harry Potter movies but never read the books. To my disappointment they just weren’t into it. Twilight  is the book that finally got my daughter to sit up reading late into the night, read, read at the table, prefer reading to computer games and beg for the next book in the series.

If you want to get your daughter reading consider picking up a copy of Twilight. Try reading it to her at first to get her going and she’ll be hooked!

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic

I promised a post about this wonderful organization, RFBD. RFBD provides books on tape or CD. They are very different from the CDs at the bookstore. I tried books on CD and did not find success with them. Many are read by English actors, I presume because Americans like to listen to a nice English accent. Many of the books are read in a very dramatic style. This is great for capturing my attention when I’m driving on the highway, but it’s a very bad thing for my son. My child has an auditory discrimination problems and needs nice, clear, American English to listen to.

With RFBD you either get a special player, or download special software, which transforms the reading experience. The books are not read by actors, but by volunteers. Most are nice and clear and free of difficult accents. They are not read in a overly dramatic style. You can use the player, or software, to slow down the reading speed too!

Many textbooks are available and the “readers” include all captions and sidebars and describe the illustrations. It’s easy to replay material and since chapters are clearly labeled it’s easy to find things for review.

If there is book which is not offered you can request it. It may be available shortly, it may take a long time, but at least you can make the request.

In order to join you must have a visual or reading disability certified by a professional. In my case my son’s school psychologist signed his application a few years ago. It does not need to be someone from a school , it can be an independent physician or educational psychologist. Individual annual memberships are $35.00 and there is a one time $65.00 registration fee. All postage is free both ways since it is classified as “matter for the blind”. EasyReader software is $45.00 and is much more affordable than the specialized playback machines. We love it and I have 90% of my son’s curriculum on CD.

When we first started using RFBD, with grade-school novels, I could see the light bulb come on in my son’s head. You could see the relief on his face, a child who was convinced he could not read suddenly found that he could.