Suggestions for 6th - 8th dysgraphia for newbie homeschooler? (secular)

[Jill]

Dear Hive-Mind,

A dear friend of mine is considering homeschooling her children in the coming year(s) but lacks confidence and doesn't know where to start. Simply looking at a variety of curriculum available would help her decide if this is a path for her. Additionally the children have some learning or processing issues that make it necessary to use different teaching and learning strategies and that concerns her too of course. They will be in California so while they will check the law there, any CA specific info is also welcome.

About them: above average ability, average to above average achievement, and deficits of visual-motor integration, visual memory, and processing speed contributing to dysgraphia, spelling problems, and general performance inefficiencies. Both kids’ strength lies in verbal arena, Working memory is weak.

One is a good learner who needs to use a keyboard for most written work. This way she can fix spelling errors and revise her work quickly. She is slow at doing math and in general needs one example to get her going, but understands the reasoning. Likes to know WHY. Rote memorizing very hard. Is organized.

The other is similar but a bit lower in memory scores. Has a very hard time with spelling, doesn’t copy words correctly from one place to the next. Rambles when writing. argumentative. Doesn’t have a good memory. Rote memorizing even harder. NOT organized. But works hard.

They both learn wonderfully if the work is put to song!
Depending on the subjects, they'll need materials in the 6th to 8th grade range. A correspondence writing course suggestion or two is something we're looking for in particular and some computer-game type programs like Descartes Cove for math and maybe other subjects.

Please throw suggestions and links to me and I will forward them to her - I'm sure we can help her figure this out. Thank you so much - Jill

p.s. I'm going to cross-post this in Curriculum too because of the strong dysgraphia, so I apologize for the duplication.

[NCW]

Hope you've gotten more replies on the general board. In any case, checking into BraveWriter is worth it - they have some online writing classes where the student interacts with a teacher. Uses a Charlotte Mason approach that is very compatible with WTM.

Have found secular middle school science online through Homeschool Buyers Co-op - Plato Learning - that I like for my son because it takes some of the reading out of the picture. I don't know how high quality it is, but I feel comfortable that it's at least filling in the gaps. I'm not big on online schooing, so the science is all we do that way.

Hope that helps a little.

NCW

[KarenAnne]

I hesitated to reply here, but as you are getting few responses, here's my take: there is not a single program that fits for kids with dysgraphia, much less for two with different patterns of difficulty.

My daughter, now fourteen, is also highly verbal, has fine motor and visual problems, is fairly organized but had terrible trouble learning to spell and write despite being a tremendously advanced reader. There are a few goals:

1. to develop simple fluency. Kids with dysgraphia and dyslexia often take a really long time to get out of the stage of having to remember how to "draw" a letter each time they write it. They need to become automatic, and this takes practice. At the same time, they struggle with copywork, and it's far too difficult for them to try to write a formal paper if they have to concentrate on logical development, grammar and punctuation, and letter formation all at the same time.

Rope in a child's particular interests as much as possible, and dramatically expand how you think about "writing" to get to this goal. Peggy Kaye's book Games For Writing is aimed at much younger kids, but some of the ideas are still usable at this stage because they are presented in the form of games or activities and thus take some of the stress off performance. Other useful books of ideas include Families Writing by Peter Stillman and If You're Trying to Teach Kids to Write, You've Got to Have This Book by Marjorie Frank. The main point is to try lots and lots of different forms, including comics or manga if your kids like that, just to get them fluent.

I seem to remember coming across a handwriting fluency program that used music -- I will go look it up and come back and add and edit.

2. Don't worry about timetables someone else has made up about what your kids should be writing at what age. Kids with dysgraphia are on another schedule entirely; many come into their own and become comfortable with writing around age 12 or even older. They each have their own neurological schedule, a point at which connections are made that make writing easier, and you can't hurry that moment along. You can only provide activities that set the stage so that when that moment arrives, they are still happy to write.

3. Let kids show what they have learned in a variety of other formats besides writing, or through projects that minimize writing.

4. Find a spelling program that works for these particular kids. People on the boards have had successes with a wide range of programs, but it usually takes a bit of experimenting to find what works. We used Spelling Power, which made a dramatic difference for my daughter; but that doesn't mean it will work for your friend's kids. Read about grammar through fun books: Lynn Truss's Eats, Shoots, and Leaves -- either the adult illustrated version or the kids' picture books (which my daughter still loves); do MadLibs, which don't require much writing; use some of Peggy Kaye's games for grammar and sentence structure. A lot of dysgraphic kids have become highly frustrated with spelling, grammar, and writing and dread it as a subject, but they may become engaged if it is presented in alternative ways.

5. Again, every dysgraphic child is different, but many need highly structured writing programs with heavy teacher involvement. This may be one thing your friend could do through an educational tutor (not just a college student wanting work, but a licensed, professional tutor who specializes in kids with developmental difficulties); spend the money on that rather than on curriculum or computer coursework.

Addendum: The music-based handwriting program is at www.callirobics.com

[Shari]

I really don't know about the programs you mentioned but this program is specifically designed for language based learning difficulties like dyslexia.

Verticy Learning
http://www.verticylearning.org/

Verticy is customizable for specific students, is secular (Calvert), and tells you pretty much what to do for every subject, every day. The writing/grammar program uses graphic organizing software (Kidspiration or Inspiration) and all of the writing assignments can be typed. There is an additional service called ATS (Advisory Teaching Service) where you can have a "real live" teacher look over the student's work and comment, encourage, goal set, etc. Another optional feature of the program is called Kurtzweil (sp?) where the computer actually reads the students' textbooks to them.

One thing, though, is that Verticy does not address dysgraphia specifically. The student would need a separate handwriting program and possibly even OT therapy, depending on the severity of the problem.

hth

[NCW]

I have used the middle level of Callirobics. It does not teach letter formation. The music is instrumental, and the movements work to build rhythmicity and automatic motor movements of handwriting to make that part of the process easier. It is worthwhile, but not a complete handwriting program.

We also like the Games for Writing book (Peggy Kaye), and I successfully used some of the ideas in a high school co-op writing class of mixed abilities.

Visual perceptual exercises with a DO, though, helped our daughter the most with dysgraphia.

[Jill]

Thank you very much! I was getting nothing on the General Board - probably too many specifics= secular, dysgraphic, etc... In fact, I should be looking at some of these for my own student who struggles with handwriting. thank you thank you thank you thank you.. 8^)

What does "Visual perceptual exercises with a DO" mean? specifically "DO"? optometrist?

It would probably help if my friend would come in and converse on her own and I suspect if she chooses to homeschool, she may well do just that. She is also looking at hiring a tutor who her kids worked with in private school already and liked. again, many thanks, we are all helping relieve a heavy burden for her since she had no idea where to start...

[KarenAnne]

I think the poster was referring to a developmental optometrist, and the visual therapy exercises they can prescribe. A sports vision therapist can also do this kind of thing; my daughter had problems coordinating both eyes, using her peripheral vision, and she had little depth perception. We spent eight months doing weekly therapy and daily exercises with a sports vision therapist.

A regular optometrist will only check for visual acuity (20-20 vision), while these other professionals will check on how well the child uses both eyes together, changes focus, perceives depth and distance, coordinates hands and eyes, etc. Many -- but not all -- kids with dysgraphia, reading problems, motor difficulties, etc have underlying vision problems that can be helped a lot by therapy. It's worth while checking out; but it's expensive and not all insurers cover it (ours didn't).

After this therapy my daughter is now able to canter a horse with up to twenty other people in the arena (she couldn't see where they were before or figure out what their path would be), jump horses; and she went from reading chapter books way below her level to reading adult books with small print, up to 400 pages in a day or two. Her spelling and writing have also dramatically improved, but I have no idea how much of this is due to the therapy, because we also started her at riding during this time and the balancing and other physical work required with her hands (buckling tack, grooming, etc.) also contributed.

Edit: Re-reading your original post, I suddenly wondered if your friend has used or would like Lyrical Life Science -- science package that comes with CDs of songs using familiar tunes but with science content words. I have not used them but have read that many people think they are great fun. They come with reading and workbooks.

[tonygirl]

We have been using HWT the multisensory teaching has been a great help we are now going into cursive because I have been reading about kids that have very poor print should be moved into cursive. It is still a very slow process print or cursive. We have been typing alot more just for time the reason.