I have a 9 year old son that I homeschool since he was diagonosed with a mild LD. Of course, they couldn’t tell me what it was except that he had trouble in reading. Math he didn’t qualify for special ed. His reading has improved over the years. Spelling is still a problem. However, he has days when he can’t remember how to do simple addition or subtraction. But then the next day, he can do just fine. I am at my wits end. He is the type of child that if he gets set off ~ the day is ruined. He can’t focus. He does have focusing problems but is not describd as Add or ADHD. No hyperactivity is apparant. He just gets distracted very easily. He is lazy also. Not physicaly but doesn’t strive for excellence. Another words he settles for a half fast job. He truly wants to do well but just feels it’s not worth the effort. Also, his handwriting is horrible. No interest in cursive.
Anyone experience these similarities??
Re: Help! Anyone face this problem with their 4th grader???
I really recommend you reading “The secret life of the dyslexic child” by Robert Frank. It will give you a real insight as to how your child operates. Its a real eye opener.
Re: Help! Anyone face this problem with their 4th grader???
My suggestion is more on the practical side. I would recommend doing a cognitive skills training program at home. For a 4th grader, the best one would be BrainSkills (http://www.brainskills.com ). This program requires about 40 hours of one-on-one working with the child on the exercises. The exercises are incremental and work on a wide variety of cognitive skills that impact learning and academics — attention skills (ability to sustain focus, ability to sustain focus in the presence of distractions, ability to multi-task), visual and auditory sequencing skills, working memory, pattern recognition, logic and reasoning, phonemic awareness (segmenting, blending, phoneme manipulation), etc. The program incorporates a metronome that helps build processing speed and also helps make the skills automatic, freeing up the brain for higher level tasks (such as reading).
It looks like the forum search here is working. You might want to try a search on BrainSkills, Audiblox or PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement) to get an idea of the impact of these programs on students who struggle.
Nancy
My dd struggles with days where she does really well and others she has difficulties remembering. This is linked with her mood issues, not necessarily her LDs. When she was younger she had a lot of difficulty pulling facts out of memory, difficulty concentrating but not really hyperactive, hand writing was horrible, difficulty with spelling and reading, not interested in working hard, low motivation.
From what you’ve written about your son, I would suggest a full psychological workup to see what may be going on. Kids do not necessarily present with the same symptoms as adults. Things such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder can show up as lack of motivation, distractability, difficutly focusing and can effect academic abilities.