Anyone tried homeschooling a dyslexic child?

[mom2boys]

I am interested in your experience - successful or unsuccessful. My 7 year old has dyslexia. His brother is currently being tested for dyslexia and is exhibiting signs of ADD. They are 6 & 7 and currently attend a parochial school. I love their school. It provides the structure, discipline & nuturing environment they need. The boys are happy there and have made many friends. However, since we seem to be headed toward a reading specialist for the second child our monthly education expenses will increase 1/3 - we cannot possible swing this. We have applied for tuition assistance but haven't heard anything yet. If we do not get any tuition assistance, we will probably have to pull the children from their wonderful school. The problem is, our local public school was built in the 70's. The trend around here at that time was for "open" classrooms. I cannot imagine putting LD & ADD 6 & 7 year olds in such an environment. They will be with one teacher learning one thing & 10 feet away another teacher will be teaching something entirely different. I never in my wildest imagination considered homeschooling but it may be our only alternative. I am worried that isolating them will only make it harder for my boys to become productive adults who can function in the work place. (This is not a analysis of home schooling in general but a fear for my LD/ADD sons.)m We have some tough decisions to make & only about 2 weeks in which to decide. So please, any input would be appreciated. (You can PM me if you don't want to make a general post.)

 

[mickey'sbud]

IMHO, With true dyslexic children they need to learn to read by a specific reading method. Specific reading methods are usually not taught in school and if they are, they are not usually taught the way they were designed. Your money for education may be better used (IMHO) paying for specific tutoring in a "reading method." One method I think is very very good is Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes. You can find them on the web for the nearest location. They are very expensive, but they know their stuff!!!!!!! You can waste alot of time and money going to non-specific tutors that may help and may not.
Can your child rhyme? This simple thing may result from your child having some auditory processing problems. Auditory processing and language processing difficulties are often precursers to reading problems. Another program you may look into is Fast Forword. They are on the internet too, but they may have changed their name. Try "Scientific Learning." This program can be done at home on your computer. It will not teach your child to read, but puts certain things auditorily in place to possibly allow your child to learn to recognize differences in sounds to decoding words. Also, auditory processing difficulties can look like ADD. Just think if you were sitting in a room where everyone around you spoke another language...after a while, how much attention would you be paying to what was being said? This is sort of what it is like for a person with auditory difficulties.
Therefore learn all you can and ask all you can. It sounds like that is what you are doing! Be careful about labeling your children. There are pros and cons to labels. If they get a label, make sure it is accurate.
As far as home-schooling, you can teach them everything else they need to know. I wouldn't worry about that, but I understand about your concern from the social standpoint. Perhaps the school would allow "part-time" students, where you show you are getting specific reading instruction. Maybe they'd work with you on that.
Good Luck! It's great to see a parent doing something before too much precious learning time goes by!!!!! Hang in there!!!!!!

 

[teri]

I posted to your thread on another board, but I wanted to add something here. We sent our daughter to a private special ed school that specializes in dyslexia and related learning differences. They use the Lindamood-Bell method extensively, she got intensive LiPS for 3 years. Now she is transitioning back to public school, and we already have an IEP in place for her so she will be getting extra resource help. They do not provide Lindamood Bell tutoring at this school, but there is a center near us that does do tutoring in this method, so we can continue it if we want to.

Even if your child is enrolled in parochial school (and it sounds like yours is a good one) they are still entitled to an evaluation for services through your regular school system. Is it possible that you could combine the great classroom environment of your current school with services provided through your public school district, and maybe add in some tutoring?

The FastForWord idea is also worth checking out. FF was used at her school for kids who also had some CAPD issues. Very good program.

 

[nancycels]

i'm not the mom of kids w/ADHD or dyslexia, but have extensive experience dealing w/sp ed systems. the problem w/the kids being out of the public school system is they are the last to get services(kind of out of sight/out of mind)! mainstreaming the kids will be the least of yr problems, ensuring their IEP's get followed is the tough one! Sounds like the previous posters have some long term experience w/reading methods as well as auditory processing which is something i dealt w/with my kids as well(mine are mild MR as well). Good structuring of the classroom in mainstream settings is very important for yr kids(as u already know) my main suggestion is be the squeaky wheel! we've made some very significant changes in the special education programing at our high school. (which was well known for its good sp ed programming) now its better! Some of the teachers didn't think the kids would get anything out of poetry or plays! <g> so they were never part of the program. We changed that. They didn't think the kids should learn computers(my oldest was the first MR kids to take a computer class)(granted she graduated in 1997, but still, think how often u use a computer! even McDonalds uses them! Job wise it was a necessity! Insist on the adaptations yr child needs and be a pain if u have to...<G> its worth it in the long run! Good luck!