Placement help: Bigger or Preparing for special needs

[arrowhomeacademy]

I am considering HOD for next year. My son will be 9-1/2 and in 4th grade. He is a strong reader (above grade level) but has poor fine motor skills/writing. He is considered gifted but has high functioning autism, adhd (inattention), and dysgraphia and actually performs below grade level in some areas due to distractibility. I feel like Bigger would be too easy for him but the writing might be way too much in Preparing. Advice welcome.

[Gwenny]

I have a child with dyslexia and dysgraphia. I made the mistake of continuing to hold back in the guides because I wanted him to be able to do it according to what was "assigned". He is doing CTC now, he will be 13 in June. He could be in a much higher guide, ready to do MTMM next year if I wouldn't have done that. He can comprehend that level of content and the books, etc. We continue to work on him reading and writing--however, he doesn't do much writing and probably won't ever. I scribe for him or he speaks what he wants to write in an iPad and he edits from there. Making him write things would've been cruel, not to mention it would've looked like he didn't understand anything since he keeps it short and simple because he can't spell and the process of writing is agonizingly slow and difficult. I have a daughter 2 years older than him that just doesn't "get" a lot of things. She doesn't have good thinking reasoning skills. However, she can read anything, is a great speller and can write quickly. So, "school-wise" it looks like she is the "better student". He should be in a higher guide than she is content wise--he is very intelligent.

Anyway--all of that to say, don't keep his content at a lower level that won't challenge him thinking. If the content is below his capability it will most likely increase the distractibility because he will be bored.

[Carrie]

Hello! Welcome to Heart of Dakota!

In thinking through what you've shared about your son thus far, considering his reading and writing levels and factoring in his dysgraphia, I am thinking that it sounds like he would fit well in Bigger Hearts.

If you get a chance to check the placement chart that would help us advise you better. Here is a link to the placement chart: http://www.heartofdakota.com/placing-your-child.php

Pay the most attention to the skills on the first page of the chart as you go through it, as they are the most important. Once you get a chance to go through the chart, we would love to have you stop back and share your thoughts of where you think your son fits.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Mommamo]

My son is 11 and is using Bigger. It's actually perfect for him--not too easy at all. He is a very smart little guy, but struggles with dysgraphia, dyslexia, poor working memory, low processing speed. Bigger allows us to have some great conversations without the writing being too heavy. It's been enough, though, to help him ramp up his writing skills. I do sometimes read the extensions to him, but I haven't been too consistent. I think he will definitely be ready when we start Preparing, but Preparing would have been too much right now. I hope that makes sense!