HSmomto4girls
07-09-2009, 11:58 AM
Hi,
I would like to get some input on how to deal with the following:
My oldest has PDD-NOS & dyslexia (visual-spatial thinker) and besides that she is completely insecure in her capabilities in learning.
From age 6 tot 10 (so for 4 years) she was in primary school, when she was 5 she could read and write 2, 3 and some 4 letter words without trouble. She was ahead of her class mates and her kindergarten teacher told me off for that :-( which I felt bad about.
Then she went to primary school (in a country with compulsory school attendance - at least to my knowledge) and then the problems started. She was taught spelling iso phonics, which would have worked much better for her as a visual-spatial thinker and many many other things were taught to her in a way that did not work with the way her brain works - she was in a Waldorf school.
So after nearly 4 years she came out of school completely illiterate and without any motivation to learn as she thought she could not do it anyway and was stupid.
In the meantime she has changed a bit on that and can read simple English languaged books, but unfortunately where we live she needs to learn other languages as well, as we live in a country where English is not as important asGerman and French, it comes third in the curriculum. Therefore she needs to learn German and French, which she is completely unwilling to learn as she is convinced she cannot learn them.
I can understand that she is unwilling, but I would like her to learn anyway, even if it is only spoken.
By the person who tested her for dyslexia I have been advised to use mainly verbal resources - DVD, computer and TV as this would be better for her - but I am of the opinion that this is not going to get her a future in the long run.
We actually also do Latin, which she does enjoy, but mainly as this is not complicated and mainly speaking and I haven't pushed it very hard, its just happening with the other 2. History (Story of the world) she also enjoys and therefore participates.
Other things she often does not participate in and the battle of getting her to do so costs so much time that I tend to just leave it for the sake of the education of the other 2, or else it could cost me all day, which I cannot afford, there are more to take care of.
The next thing is that she does not participate in maths. So basically she does not participate in the topics that are necessary and for which she will be tested in the long run. And that only because her self-esteem in those topics has been killed by bad teaching and on top of that bullying which was not stopped by the teachers, to the contrary, the teachers participated as she should adjust to her peers, there was no acceptance of her being different.
We did try to get her out of the school, but this was - to the rules of the country - not possible, as other schools do not take "the mess of other schools to sort that out", they have their own problems to deal with. As soon as I had contact to another school they called the first school for the file and then we were declined again. Very frustrating, but that was according to the rules of the country we lived in back then. In the end I called her in ill more than anything else, as nobody could do anything about that. At some point her first school had gotten her a referral to a SEN school, but that was something that goes completely against my wishes as she is a very bright girl. When tested verbally she was 2 years ahead of her age. The school did not accept that.
So, do any of you have any tips on how to deal with the problems I have, my child is very intelligent, but still very young in how she deals with things.
We are going to do the GAPS diet as this has made it easier for her to memorize things, she has trouble with that, is has to be logical for her to be able to remember.
Any tips or resources?
Many thanks
I would like to get some input on how to deal with the following:
My oldest has PDD-NOS & dyslexia (visual-spatial thinker) and besides that she is completely insecure in her capabilities in learning.
From age 6 tot 10 (so for 4 years) she was in primary school, when she was 5 she could read and write 2, 3 and some 4 letter words without trouble. She was ahead of her class mates and her kindergarten teacher told me off for that :-( which I felt bad about.
Then she went to primary school (in a country with compulsory school attendance - at least to my knowledge) and then the problems started. She was taught spelling iso phonics, which would have worked much better for her as a visual-spatial thinker and many many other things were taught to her in a way that did not work with the way her brain works - she was in a Waldorf school.
So after nearly 4 years she came out of school completely illiterate and without any motivation to learn as she thought she could not do it anyway and was stupid.
In the meantime she has changed a bit on that and can read simple English languaged books, but unfortunately where we live she needs to learn other languages as well, as we live in a country where English is not as important asGerman and French, it comes third in the curriculum. Therefore she needs to learn German and French, which she is completely unwilling to learn as she is convinced she cannot learn them.
I can understand that she is unwilling, but I would like her to learn anyway, even if it is only spoken.
By the person who tested her for dyslexia I have been advised to use mainly verbal resources - DVD, computer and TV as this would be better for her - but I am of the opinion that this is not going to get her a future in the long run.
We actually also do Latin, which she does enjoy, but mainly as this is not complicated and mainly speaking and I haven't pushed it very hard, its just happening with the other 2. History (Story of the world) she also enjoys and therefore participates.
Other things she often does not participate in and the battle of getting her to do so costs so much time that I tend to just leave it for the sake of the education of the other 2, or else it could cost me all day, which I cannot afford, there are more to take care of.
The next thing is that she does not participate in maths. So basically she does not participate in the topics that are necessary and for which she will be tested in the long run. And that only because her self-esteem in those topics has been killed by bad teaching and on top of that bullying which was not stopped by the teachers, to the contrary, the teachers participated as she should adjust to her peers, there was no acceptance of her being different.
We did try to get her out of the school, but this was - to the rules of the country - not possible, as other schools do not take "the mess of other schools to sort that out", they have their own problems to deal with. As soon as I had contact to another school they called the first school for the file and then we were declined again. Very frustrating, but that was according to the rules of the country we lived in back then. In the end I called her in ill more than anything else, as nobody could do anything about that. At some point her first school had gotten her a referral to a SEN school, but that was something that goes completely against my wishes as she is a very bright girl. When tested verbally she was 2 years ahead of her age. The school did not accept that.
So, do any of you have any tips on how to deal with the problems I have, my child is very intelligent, but still very young in how she deals with things.
We are going to do the GAPS diet as this has made it easier for her to memorize things, she has trouble with that, is has to be logical for her to be able to remember.
Any tips or resources?
Many thanks