Query to home schoolers

[ciroccoj]

... non-home schoolers, feel free to chime in as well.

OK, so, Justin's memory is beyond terrible; it's scary. He's very bright and learns quickly, but knowledge doesn't stick. If it's food-related, or something procedural, he's fine, but names, dates, vocabulary, spelling, etc? Nada. Sometimes it feels like trying to glue a post-it note to a dolphin.

So we've tried all sorts of things - teaching him in different ways, adjusting curriculum so it's more relevant to him, compensating for memory loss... to not a lot of success.

We had him psych tested, to see if there was some learning disability. Testing came back Non-Verbal Learning Disability, same as Daniel, but less pronounced, and showed that he has an abysmal memory.

The psych recommended "increased repetition" to deal with that.

You know, there's only so many years you can spend repeating the days of the week in French and seeing that the kid forgets them after a week without practicing them, before you think, "There's got to be something better than this."

So I sent an e-mail to the folks who worked with Daniel, who had given us very useful advice on how to deal with his educational difficulties. Gave them some info about us, and asked about memory issues.

Got back a reply almost immediately. "We'd need more information," it said. "Such as your child's age, grade level, educational history, [insert long list here]."

Sent all they asked for. Told them he was home schooled, but would be in grade 4 in public school.

And waited.

Waited rather a long time. Nudged them a couple of times. Finally received the following reply:

===================
Hi Mrs. B.

Sorry not to have replied sooner, I am just back from extensive travelling over the past couple of months.

Given that your son is home-schooled, it is harder for you to access appropriate services. He should really be taught by someone who has special education certification. What area do you live? And I'm not sure how old he is? Was there any diagnosis made by the psychologist who did the assessment? If he has any kind of learning disability, then simple repetition will not be effective. Have you considered enrolling him with an organization like Kumon or a tutoring organization? Is there any particular reason why you are home-schooling him? Do you have any plans to place him back in the regular system and if so at what point?

There is little doubt that it is highly frustrating trying to be a good parent and an effective teacher of academics to a child who is struggling, since there may be all kinds of other issues at work (e.g., passive resistance, unclear boundaries between school time and "kid" time, some need to keep you highly engaged with him, etc. - can't say exactly what because I don't know the situation). Academically, he really does seem to me to need some special education support. It is not as simple as making a couple of suggestions that might help you, I'm afraid.

M. M.
===================

Any thoughts?


ETA: Damn, I worded this completely wrong. I didn't intend to ask for thoughts on how to get Justin to memorize things better - though suggestions are very welcome! I meant to ask for people's thoughts/reactions to the e-mail I got from the psychologist.

Comments

[lizzie-omalley.livejournal.com]

Speaking as an american educator, I don't have much that is positive to say about special education system in the school systems. The people want to do good work but it is warehouse education and there isn't as much individualized attention as could be desired. The focus is on mainstreaming kids into a standardized class. As much as I would like to do well by my special ed kids, I don't have the training, skills, or time to do the job properly. It troubles me a lot.

It might be a good thing to see if you can find someone who does special education assessment on a consulting basis and see if you can get some answers. The local education colleges might be a place to start to find out if there are such consultants in the area.

I hope you find some answers.

[naatz.livejournal.com]

Can't help with the big problems, but I'm a big fan of the Anki flashcards program. I think you should get it for him and play around with the interval settings to make 'facts' come more often.

|Meduza|

Memory issues

[(Anonymous)]

What about making a progressive list where you learn two new words (or concepts) every day. Every day, you review the previous list and then add the two new words. My husband was taught in University that you should re-read your class notes each day for 5 minutes. Start with the first day's notes and quickly run through all the notes until you get to the present day's set. By the time you hit the exam, you hardly have to study because at least 50% of the content has been touched daily for a while....We are having the same issue with times tables though...it was great last summer when we would review every day, but unless it is consistently used, it does not stick. Once we hit a few weeks of geometry or measuring, all concepts of tables are quickly wiped off the memory!!

[navhelowife.livejournal.com]

Here's a couple tricks that might work.
Have him study things using more than one sense. For spelling words, vocab, etc...have him write them with his finger in shaving cream, licorice whips, build them out of scrabble tiles, write with sidewalk chalk, stand on one foot to learn them, turn them into a kada (SP?) - the karate routines - Punch (Say word) Kick (say meaning) Punch (Say word) kick ( say meaning) SING them...USe large motor skills (Get a HUGE piece of paper to have him write out words and illustrate them with LARGE, sweeping motions)
You don't need to be a special ed teacher, but you might benefit from just some special ed tools that are used.
Does he draw? Try painting the words, or whatever, into a painting.
Tape a card to the bathroom mirror or inside the door with his words and their meanings.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Jim,

Let me disagree with your other commenters, and with what I am guessing is the implicit premise of your question ... If the same specialists who were very helpful with Daniel and were comfortable with Daniel being homeschooled and worked with you to help you educate him there are now saying that Justin needs a special ed specialist in the regular school system, well, then, I'm inclined to say that you should just take that advice. They Are The Experts, and you already know they aren't institutional, anti-homeschooling dogmatists, yes?

-Michael