Looking for advice for HS a child with learning disabilities/special needs
I am looking for some advice: I have an 8 y/o who is currently in the 2nd grade. He has had an IEP since early on. He has trouble with concepts, math, writing. He is fairly miserable at school, always has been. I am seriously thinking about HS him. I am wondering of there are any moms who HS kids who have similar issues?
Has HS worked for you and your child/children?
What curriculum would you recommend for a child who struggles in school?
Am I insane for even thinking this is something I can handle?
I appreciate any and all advice! Thank you :)
LOL I think we've all asked ourselves if we are insane at some point!
Some of the things I always tell newbies to ask themselves are as follows:
Can you do WORSE than the school? (How hard is second grade work, really?)
Can you try a DIFFERENT way than the school? (Some kids learn better in different ways)
What's the WORST that can happen? (He is already struggling, the only way to go is up!)
Will your son be HAPPIER?
No one on this planet knows your son as well as you do and no one wants him to succeed more! 8)
From the few things you posted, he sounds like my DS that we pulled out at the end of first grade. Mem82s questions are EXACTLY what I asked my self and found that - NO, I could NOT do any worse!
For language arts I recommend All About Spelling and Easy Grammar or Write Source.
All About spelling starts with phonetics and also teacher the rules of the english language. It was designed specifically for kids with processing issues, autism, etc.There are only 10 words per lesson. Some people do one lesson a week or every few days. My kids were older when we started but I felt the need to "go back to basics" so for now we do one lesson a day. We are into the middle of book 3 and it's becoming more difficult so we will be doing one lesson for 2-3 days as needed.
Write source is good, but very colorful and DS would get easily distracted by the pictures. He would see a pic of them playing ball and his mind would be off to the park! We use the Write Source for his creative writing and for writing letters, paragraphs, etc. (though honestly we rarely do it) LOL We also do a lot of writing where he dictates and I type. If he says a run on sentence or it doesn't make sense, I type it as he says it and then we proofread it together and add or take away as needed.
Easy grammar is simple, straight forward and not distracting but it's JUST grammar, no writing. We did a lot of grammar things verbally. We would talk about nouns and verbs then I would say a sentence and he would tell me what they were instead of doing it on paper.
Math - We LOVE Math U See -Math U see is mastery which means they ONLY do one topic until they have it down. That was very important for my DS because once he "Got it" He was SOO proud. He didn't do well with the spiral in school that jumped around. Did I say we love Math U see? LOL Also, the lesson intro and instructions are on a DVD so we can watch them together and work through them to make sure he gets it or I can use the Teacher's manual and teach it on my own.
I would take your DS all the way back to Alpha (addition) and work through it again, 1 lesson every 1-2 days until it starts to get harder for him. It's designed to do one lesson per week with 6 pages and 1 test per lesson. We do 2 pages a day Mon- Wed, DD goes to a learning center on Wednesday, and the test on Friday. If she were home Thursday I would do one page Wed and one Thursday so she had a little each day.
History I found workbooks at grade level ( From Steck Vaughn and Rainbow Resource) that have ONE page to read, and then one page of review questions. It's short enough for Ds to actually focus and understand it. The textbook, even for 2nd grade had them reading 3-4 pages, even though it was 1-2 paragraphs and large print it intimidated him horribly.
Science - I also use the short, one reading page, one question page workbooks and Science in a Nutshell boxes but these are geared 3rd grade - 6th grade. Each kit is designed for 1-3 students. DS is now 5th grade and DD is 3rd grade so we work on them together.
The DS that struggles has now been homeschooled 5 years, I purposely held him back one time so that we could take the time on the basics and I must say them I am IMMENSELY proud of him. He FINALLY is turning in all A-B work! He's taking pride in his education and working hard. It did take a LONG time for us to get here. The first transition year was a struggle since we tried to do Public school independent study (BAD Mommy! LOL) and each year has gotten better as I find what works for DS.
Jinx - Homeschooling Scout & Karate butt-kicking Mom to Star Scout Ian 1/98, Scout Sean 9/00, Brownie Heidi 4/03. Police wife to Joe and Alpha to my fur baby German Shepherd Spazz.
I do not homeschool my kids but I have a degree in Special Ed and Elementary Education and work as a consultant with several families that have kids with special needs through the university I teach at. You said your child is in second grade, how far is he behind in school especially in reading? There are lots of resources to support homeschooling kids with special needs and I have seen it be very successful. I also would like to know why he is not being successful at school, is he IEP being followed and what are the main problems? Hope I can help you somewhat.
yes these are all good and Steck Vaughn has some great resources and materials
Quoting Jinx-Troublex3:From the few things you posted, he sounds like my DS that we pulled out at the end of first grade. Mem82s questions are EXACTLY what I asked my self and found that - NO, I could NOT do any worse!
For language arts I recommend All About Spelling and Easy Grammar or Write Source.
All About spelling starts with phonetics and also teacher the rules of the english language. It was designed specifically for kids with processing issues, autism, etc.There are only 10 words per lesson. Some people do one lesson a week or every few days. My kids were older when we started but I felt the need to "go back to basics" so for now we do one lesson a day. We are into the middle of book 3 and it's becoming more difficult so we will be doing one lesson for 2-3 days as needed.
Write source is good, but very colorful and DS would get easily distracted by the pictures. He would see a pic of them playing ball and his mind would be off to the park! We use the Write Source for his creative writing and for writing letters, paragraphs, etc. (though honestly we rarely do it) LOL We also do a lot of writing where he dictates and I type. If he says a run on sentence or it doesn't make sense, I type it as he says it and then we proofread it together and add or take away as needed.
Easy grammar is simple, straight forward and not distracting but it's JUST grammar, no writing. We did a lot of grammar things verbally. We would talk about nouns and verbs then I would say a sentence and he would tell me what they were instead of doing it on paper.
Math - We LOVE Math U See -Math U see is mastery which means they ONLY do one topic until they have it down. That was very important for my DS because once he "Got it" He was SOO proud. He didn't do well with the spiral in school that jumped around. Did I say we love Math U see? LOL Also, the lesson intro and instructions are on a DVD so we can watch them together and work through them to make sure he gets it or I can use the Teacher's manual and teach it on my own.
I would take your DS all the way back to Alpha (addition) and work through it again, 1 lesson every 1-2 days until it starts to get harder for him. It's designed to do one lesson per week with 6 pages and 1 test per lesson. We do 2 pages a day Mon- Wed, DD goes to a learning center on Wednesday, and the test on Friday. If she were home Thursday I would do one page Wed and one Thursday so she had a little each day.
History I found workbooks at grade level ( From Steck Vaughn and Rainbow Resource) that have ONE page to read, and then one page of review questions. It's short enough for Ds to actually focus and understand it. The textbook, even for 2nd grade had them reading 3-4 pages, even though it was 1-2 paragraphs and large print it intimidated him horribly.
Science - I also use the short, one reading page, one question page workbooks and Science in a Nutshell boxes but these are geared 3rd grade - 6th grade. Each kit is designed for 1-3 students. DS is now 5th grade and DD is 3rd grade so we work on them together.
The DS that struggles has now been homeschooled 5 years, I purposely held him back one time so that we could take the time on the basics and I must say them I am IMMENSELY proud of him. He FINALLY is turning in all A-B work! He's taking pride in his education and working hard. It did take a LONG time for us to get here. The first transition year was a struggle since we tried to do Public school independent study (BAD Mommy! LOL) and each year has gotten better as I find what works for DS.
PS - by doing the All about Spelling and Math you see from the beginning on..and being able to do 1-2 pages and say, "Hey! I kow that- move on!" Ds was able to go through the things he KNEW very quickly. It really boosted his confidence and his self esteem to see how much he ALREADY did know.
He was belittled by both students AND TEACHERS and he would come home crying,"Why did God make me stupid?" Why am I dumb? Will I ever be good at anything?" Of course that's over exaggerated drama to US, but to him it was his TRUE FEELINGS! He is now SOOO happy, and realises that he isn't stupid, he just can't learn in the environment he was in. His whole attitude has changed for hte better!
I hs my son with more severe autism (he is like a 2yo, but 9). I find it so much easier for me to meet his daily needs, totally make his learning to his interest and level in each area. Plus the COOPs are really letting us work on 100% inclusion with him, with me as his aid! Plus we have a partnership with the school. They do ST, OT and are even giving us an Ipad. It can be a win-win situation.
I think the answer depends on what special needs your child has. I can tell you that for me I look at each child and how they learn and let that lead me to how and what to teach. As each child progresses I evaluate where they are and if I need to adjust how or what they are learning. I would do some searches on your child's needs and homeschooling and you will probably get a good start. Good luck and you can do it!
Quoting momo3fgr8tteens:
I do not homeschool my kids but I have a degree in Special Ed and Elementary Education and work as a consultant with several families that have kids with special needs through the university I teach at. You said your child is in second grade, how far is he behind in school especially in reading? There are lots of resources to support homeschooling kids with special needs and I have seen it be very successful. I also would like to know why he is not being successful at school, is he IEP being followed and what are the main problems? Hope I can help you somewhat.
Thank you for taking the time to reply and offer assistance- that is very kind of you. He is on target for reading although Math and Writing he is quite behind on. His writing is deplorable. His drawings look like a Kinder did them. He is a kinesthetic learner and I think the classroom model does not work so well for him as he has to sit for long periods of time. He often complains with writing his hands hurt a lot. He receives OT, Language and Reading, Writing and Math Resouces though the school.
Socially, he struggles with concepts and social interactions. Not extreme by any means, but he does not get social nuances, when kids are joking, etc. He has a hard time with actions and consequence. Not in, as he is always rude and/or getting into trouble; rather he does not understand how people's actions create reactions...does that make sense?
He does not handle loud noises at all and school is full of that. Also, at lunch, he will not eat because the smells are too much for him and he gags. These two situations have always been an issue since even before school.
He comes home either crying or frustrated 90% of the time. He says he is also bored. He is just all around unhappy at school. I don't expect him to love learning but being an adult is hard enough and being a child should not be so stressful. It kills me how unhappy he is.
Any suggestions or advice would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you :)
How would they know...
What's the difference STATE BY STATE!
- htreveth
on Feb. 10, 2012 at 10:34 AM