Hello from a beginning mom!

silly · Post by **silly** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:27 pm

I found HOD through a recommendation from another board. I have a son who is 5 and has very delayed speech. I have always thought about homeschooling him, but my husband has always been concerned about that. Well, he is supposed to be starting kindergarten next year and I am seriously concerned about putting him in public school with his delay. I thrived in ps, but my brother did not, and he had a ld. So, I have talked with my husband and we're going to do kindergarten for him at home, and then re-assess the situation.

I also have a 4 yr old and my youngest will be two this coming Saturday, so I decided to get Little Hands to Heaven and will be doing it with my two older boys, and letting my youngest take part as he wishes. I am very excited about this! I am wondering if there are any other parents here who are homeschooling with any delays or special needs? I'd love to hear how that is going with you, what works, etc.

crlacey · Post by **crlacey** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:38 pm

I'm not homeschooling any children with delays, but I wanted to pop in and say hi.

I am using Little Hands this year. I'm sure you and your kids are going to love it! Welcome to homeschooling and HOD!

joyfulheart · Post by **joyfulheart** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:49 pm

my son had alot of speech problems at that age too.

Don't know about where you live, but here the district does (free) speech intervention, even if they're too young for elementary/kinder. It made a HUGE difference for him.

Good luck!

Kathleen · Post by **Kathleen** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:22 pm

I haven't homeschooled with any delays, either. But I can't imagine a better environment for a child with some delays. You, the parent, love him and have his best interests at heart and he won't get lost in the shuffle. The learning environment can really make a difference for kids.

I love LHTH!

I'm sure you will, too.

I'm thankful daily for the wisdom God gives as we live for Him. I'm so thankful that I don't have to know the future.

I'm sure that He will give you and your hsband the needed wisdom as you follow Him in raising your kids!

Kathleen

Tansy · Post by **Tansy** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:47 pm

Its very hard to do Speech Therapy on your own. The therapist sites on line almost always require you to register with credentials b4 they let you in.

My dd went though years of speech therapy. We choose not to use public school system (after age 3) because the record would be in her permanent file and follow her to college. We used Easter Seals which bills on a sliding scale.

I'm really glad I got her tested. The testing caught some things I was completely missing and proved she could do stuff she had me conned on! It will cost about 400-500$ to get a test privately and free if you let the state into your home.

Some things to promote good speech in your child.
Don't ask yes or no questions.

Don't give them what they want until they use words or word depending on the delay. This go for siblings as well often the talking sibs. Will tell you what Buford wants and or go get it. Don't allow this. You can use sign language as a bridge if he refuses to speak help him to sign the word. more, hungry, water, cookie ect.. once he is used to using the signs then push for more expressive language.

Give them choices.. I know "What! he's so young" but giving your kid a choice "Spinach or Corn Buford?" helps them be in control of something. This actually helps them talk Who knew! Sometimes a lack of speech is a way to control a situation. They are often very observant children, and know perfectly well what is going on.

If you do get the therapy Do the therapy stuff every day!!!!!!!!!!
Most kids in therapy only get the therapy once a week, and most parents don't do their homework, Your therapist will smile upon you and treat you like gold when she sees the progress your making. Your kid will improve faster as well.

use the following statements.
Help Mommy and Daddy, speak slowly and clearly so we can understand you. There is no need to rush your words.

Can you say that in a sentence please?
AKA Buford says "I want that." That is fine at first, but then model the correct sentence. Mommy says "You want the brown horse? ok can you say I want the brown horse.." *as you hand the horse to him.*

books like "where is brown bear" and "who ate it" can be use as well. You reading the question and he answering or you modeling the answer and him repeating it.

Candice · Post by **Candice** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:53 pm

Sasha,

Wanted to say hello and a warm welcome!

Candice

silly · Post by **silly** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:54 pm

Thank you, everyone, for the warm welcome! I am very excited about starting with them, and especially excited for my oldest. It breaks my heart to know what my brother went through with his ld, and the thought that my child may have to go through a similar experience is just unnerving. I am pretty sure that my husband understands these fears, and is excited to see how this coming year turns out

joyfulheart, thank you for mentioning that. We have been trying for the past two years to get him through an evaluation with the school district, but our local school has had a couple of school nurse changes, and each time, we basically have to start over. There are some problems with him completing the eval. because the tests they do require for him to talk and play games, which are difficult for him. We decided to have a good talk with our doctor, who recommended a private therapy and so we checked them out. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to afford it, but God provides and our insurance covers therapy through them 100%!!! I was so thankful, and he's been evaluated and we're just waiting for them to call us with an open slot, which should be any day now. I think that the combination speech therapy through them (and they also provide other therapies, because I feel that there might be something else, besides just speech) and the one-on-one education, that he will really grow.

I really feel that even if at the end of this year, my husband still decides he needs to go to ps, he will be much better off than if he had to start out in such a large classroom and had to stay on their schedule and not have access to one-on-one training. Still, I am hopeful that at the end of this year, my husband will see that this is the answer for our family.

When I went to the website and read about the curriculum, it was everything I was looking for. I think that my boys are really going to enjoy this coming year and I look forward to posting a lot of fulfilling updates!

Post by **Carrie** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:23 pm

Sasha,

I just wanted to welcome you! We're glad you're here!

We have many, many moms that use Heart of Dakota with children with delays. Our combination of hands-on, auditory, and visual works well for all types of learners. The moms on the board are so wonderful about sharing. I just wanted to pop-in and welcome you too!

Blessings,
Carrie

water2wine · Post by **water2wine** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 5:49 pm

I have a dd with cerebral palsy who was speech delayed and is still very much reading delayed and to some degree language delayed. We did our speech and occupational therapy privately along with physical therapy which we still do. The best boost we got was in the private one on one therapy but that is also going to be very dependent on the schools that are available. Some states you can still get the special needs therapy from school and homeschool. I recommend you find some parents in your area and find out what is the best services available.

BUT hands down hsing has been the best for my dd. I would not have forgone the outside professional therapy we got for her but if I could go back in time I would have completely skipped ps for her. And my next wish would be that I had her in HOD all the way. It is so flexible and the LA help in it really is helping my dd. For us it has been ideal for her and my other kids. But I have to say having HOD allows me to give her the time she really needs. We have really had a boost in just the short time I have been working with her using some of HOD's methods and the emerging readers.

I can see clearly that if we had started with HOD we would be even better off. But we are happy to be here now.

What it allows is what you really need with special needs and that is to teach beyond their delays. What I mean is she can't read the history or science but she can learn to narrate it if I read it to her. She is not on grade level for reading but I can use HOD's reading on a lower level and have a complete LA program that is perfect for her. Geography is just another language for her that she can't do but she can do the bit by bit geography in HOD and tie it to the history because she can narrate that too. So it covers your weak areas while giving your the time to strengthen the areas you need to. In ps my daughter was lost. She was lost in her class because she could not read and she was lost in special ed because her LD was just one of many. Can I just say that as a mom of one special needs child I see no way to teach 8 different learning issues at once that all may be different in nature. I don't care how much training at it, you just can't do what one on one does. HOD gives you the flexibility and freedom you need to be able to afford it.

my3sons · Post by **my3sons** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 6:14 pm

Welcome to the board! My oldest ds was born 2 months premature and had speech delays. We had in-home speech therapy for 2 years, which was through a free government funded program our doctor recommended, and then we had speech after that for 1 year at the public school. The same wonderful speech therapist did all of the teaching, but the at-home therapy went SO MUCH better. He made his greatest gains there, and then it sort of stagnated at the school. He had to be combined with many other children, and I often had to pick him up from the special education room since that was also part of the speech therapist's duties. I think having a professional speech therapist is very important, and having it at the location of your home is wonderful. You can "listen in" on the methods the therapist uses, and that really helps for reinforcement. HTH, and don't worry - your child will be fluently speaking before you know it!
In Christ,
Julie

susie in ms · Post by **susie in ms** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:21 pm

Hi Sasha!
I'm glad you made it here, and I am happy to see that you are getting to know the ladies that have been down the same road as you have!!
BTW, I am hssusie from DS! I use variations of my name from board to board.

Hope you do well with HOD!!

silly · Post by **silly** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 6:33 am

Ladies, I'm overwhelmed with the welcome and all the wonderful encouragement and advice! Thank you so much!

Susie, thank you, thank you, thank you for sending me this way

The program seems to be exactly what we need, and I'm looking forward to getting it and starting it with my boys!

yayadaisy · Post by **yayadaisy** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 2:18 pm

My oldest has a LD we took him out of school this year and have been homeschooling him and it is going pretty well and my thrid oldest son has delays and goes to therpay four times a week and he has made leaps and bounds since, but we are going to homeschool him to he would be going to K this fall , but is not ready so I am planning on doing LHTH with him any my two year old(as much as he will take it)

Sheila