Archive for the ‘Learning Disabilities’ Category

Late Readers

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

I shared a bit about my family and their reading habits. Let’s look at what you can do with late readers in yours.

First of all, don’t fall for the idea that if your kids were in school, they’d be reading. Plenty of kids fall through the cracks in school too, and many are put in the wretched position of having to be identified as poor readers by virtue of being gathered together into a late reader’s group! Not only that, the primary function of school is to get a group of kids to assimilate skills and information at about the same pace. That means falling behind is a problem to be solved. It means that your child is a problem to be solved. At home, there is no “falling behind.” Your child is not a problem.The only goal is to move at a pace that supports and affirms your child’s progress.
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Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, General, Language Arts, Learning Disabilities, Young Writers | 2 Comments »

Email: Working with language impaired kids

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Julie,

I would like to say thank you for The Writer’s Jungle and your Brave Writer site. It has freed us from “grade level” writing, that my oldest son isn’t able to do.  Jonathan is 12 and has some learning disabilities that effect his spelling as well as some motor skills that are delayed that make the mechanics of writing hard for him. He has Aspergers as well. We have completed some Keen Observations with me acting as scribe, and we have added a Tea Time for everyone .  We are really enjoying what we have started. We were already doing dictation/copywork 3-4 days a week and read aloud daily.  We school year-round so we don’t have to pack our days to full.  We started Freewrites today. It went pretty well; he picked a topic (westerns) and kept the pencil moving for the whole 10 min.  Here is the list he wrote:

Guns
The Pooke a dat Bandit (The Poke-a-dot Bandit)
6 shooter
gun singer (gun slinger)
sarp siter  (sharp hooter
rifell
Dooll (duel)
5 shooter
Fast Drall
1 shooter
Fast soot (fast shot)
roy rodgers
Canuvou Kiler (Carnival Killer)
Pat Bradey
Dell eviss (Dell Evans)
Boollit (Bullet)
triger
gun
rifefooll man (The Rifle Man)
John wain
bat matens (Bat Matheson)
big vallley
gun gun
hat
spers (spurs)
chaps
Boot
wid west (wild west)
stiky bad gie (stinky bad guy)

I praised him for keeping writing and picking a neat topic. I just don’t know were to go from here. What I was thinking was to have him pick something from his list and narrow his focus for our next free-write.  Do I just not worry about the spelling at all? He is having another educational evaluation in July, and we are going to talk about voice recognition software.  He has a great imagination. My goal for him is to be able to use that for his personal satisfaction. He is a child with a lot of struggles and I would love for him to find a way to be successful. Any thoughts or ideas, would be great appreciated.  I know you are out of town, if you have time when you get back I would love to hear your thoughts.

Will you be having the class for children with learning issues again this fall?

Thank you so much for your time.

Trisha

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This email was sent last year. I wanted to share it today because we are offering a One Thing Workshop: Copywork and Dictation this fall (dates now announced: October 6 – 31) that is designed with special needs kids in mind. The instructor, Rita Cevasco, is a trained specialist who is educated in the up-to-date research and strategies for helping kids who have language processing disorders and other learning delays. This workshop is also appropriate for kids who don’t struggle with these issues.

Trisha is a terrific mom. Her approach to her son, her instinctual supportive presence in his life combined with her awareness that learning evaluations may also shed light on his struggles make her a fine example of a home educator who is successfully building the skills and confidence of her special needs child.

If you have any questions about the class or how it helps, please post in the comments below. The Copywork/Dictation Workshop truly transforms how moms understand the power of these practices in language arts and education. Don’t miss it!

Posted in Brave Writer Philosophy, BW products, Dictation and copywork, Learning Disabilities, One Thing, Young Writers | 3 Comments »

Colleges that support LD kids

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

Brave Writer Instructor Rita Cevasco (who teaches kids with learning disabilities – LD) sent me the following information related to finding colleges that make accommodations for kids who struggle with traditional learning. My son, Noah, benefited a lot from an LD program at the University of Cincinnati. They tested him, assigned him a note-taker (paid the note-takers $100 per quarter to take notes for Noah – these would be then typed up and delivered to him weekly), and gave him the opportunity to take all his tests without time limits by taking them in the learning center.

I can’t stress enough how helpful it is to have accommodations for your student if your child is a non-traditional learner who has ADD, ADHD or any language processing disorders. Some schools are deliberately seeking students who need that extra support. The University of Cincinnati turned out to be one of them.

To find schools in your area with similar goals, you can use the following link.

Check out this website: http://www.college-scholarships.com/learning_disabilities.htm. I just found this one by Google Search. It provides links to lots of schools. Some schools have “supportive” programs and others have “comprehensive” programs. The “comprehensive” programs typically offer more assistance than supportive programs. They characteristically have specially trained full-time staff members assigned to serve the LD student and may offer unique services to this population.

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Posted in College, Learning Disabilities, Tips for Teen Writers | 2 Comments »