I recently introduced myself and my situation on the parenting child w/ld subforum, and after advice I received on that thread and some research, I have decided that at this point it is best for me to homeschool my daughter. I am in limbo right now because I have decided to get her remedial tutoring from someone that deals specifically with ld. I am leaning towards the lab school tutors (after looking into their school I discovered they offered tutoring). I also have seen the Linda-Mood Bell methods mentioned on this site (favorably), and I was wondering if anyone could tell me more about this method. It seems to be specific to reading and my daughter needs remediation in both language arts and Math. I want to be sure I choose the best tutor option out there.
Also, as I said I am sort of in limbo on homeschooling her until I start the tutoring because I was thinking it would be most beneficial to consult with the tutor (who will be giving my child assesments to find hers strengths and weaknesses…) and have them help me to decide the best programs to choose for homeschooling her. Does that seem like a wise decision or not?
I have homeschooled my other children (and even her when she first started school) but it is so different now because it is clear I cannot take the same approach I take with my other children. And there are sooo many reading and educational programs out there it is totally overwhelming.
She’s been out of school for a week now and while I am in limbo I have been letting her use some educational sites to practice time tables and reading (although I can’t find any reading sites beyond early first grde level). I haven’t really done anything formal with her because I am not sure how far behind grade level she really is.
I am expecting to meet with the director of tutors at the Lab school this coming week (as soon as the neuro-psych that evaluated her sends her an outline of her findings), and then start tutoring by the end of the week or the beginning of the next.
Any suggsetions what I should be doing with her during this limbo period? Any comments on the Linda-Moode Bell approach as opposed to the Lab schools? Or suggestions of any kind?
BTW I really have benefitted from reading the posts on this site and am especially grateful to those of you that regularly post and help those of struggling with our ld children and/or students. Particularly DEs, Victoria and Patti, all of whom answered my first post and have clarified so many issues I have looked up on this forum so far.
I am assuming the Lindamood method they are talking about is LiPS. It is a very intensive program, which all kids do not need. In this approach, the sounds are all introduced by showing how they are produced in the mouth—what the tongue, lips, etc. are doing. The sounds are given names and pictures get attached to the sounds. At a somewhat later point the child learns to sequence sounds in words. Usually at that point the child is able to handle a more direct approach to teaching reading. This is really for kids with severe auditory processing problems who cannot hear the sounds or who can’t really figure out how to reproduce them. I really think it is overkill for most kids, but there are some kids for whom, afaik, it is the only thing that will work. I am guessing, as I don’t know for sure that the Lab school, like most private ld schools will use an Orton based reading system. These are all research based and vary a little from each other. Common “flavors” of Orton based programs are Wilson, Spaulding,
Slingerland, etc. etc. The programs will all teach reading in a systematic and explicit phonetics approach. There are multisensory elements, like color coded tiles or cards, etc. If you call them and ask what approach they use, they should be able to tell you. You can ask if they are using an Orton based method. They should know exactly what that is. It does work, btw, very well. Most effective readign remediation does not start where the child is but essentially starts over, as most ld kids have not really learned the beginning readign steps but have combined some elements of guessing and context clues to figure out text.
There is tutoring for math. Actually Lindamood offers one too. I think their program “On Cloud Nine” is more an approach or an insight into teaching math. Most of the math remediation is multisensory as well and would be an attempt to ‘reteach” elements of number sense and go from there. I don’t think ideas in math remediation are as much worked out as those in reading. But I think the general ideas of reteaching concepts and eliminating guessing would be applicable. (Victoria is much more expert in this area.) I don’t know fi the Lab School does math tutoring as well.
There is a very parent friendly program called Math U See (www.mathusee.com). It is a lot of fun for the kids but you would need to do more practice than is necessarily listed in the program. I think it is easier to work with your child on this than on reading— that is if you used this program. Pricing is reasonable. They are very friendly/ helpful to homeschoolers and the program goes from K- thru HS.
The program uses color coded blocks.
—des