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My ds has some dev. delays and is in therapy. He no longer qualifies for Speech, but is still in OT for an hour and PT for 2 hours a week. He's never had an official diagnosis but it's been speculated that he could be Apraxic or have Auditory Processing Disorder.

He's doing LHTH with his 4 year old sister and then the right side of LHFHG.

What's shocked me is that with all of his obstacles, he is definitely getting Singapore Math! He does better with Math than my oldest dd, who thrives on Math.

But he's struggling considerably with phonics (we've tried Hooked on Phonics and Click N Read), Handwriting, and even the R&S book. Yesterday (we're on Unit 13) we tried to do the page where he matches the items which start with the same sound. Even though we went over everything 3 times, when I asked him to try to do it alone, he just didn't get it and missed all of them.

He's also completely lost with the Burgess Books--they're way over his comprehension.

As far as the Singapore Math, it appeals to his logical thinking, and he gets it in his head, but he struggles getting the answer from his head and onto the paper.

We're nearly halfway through the semester and I'm very discouraged.

Here are my thoughts so far:

1) I'm wondering if I should hold off on the Right Side things, except for Math?

2)I'm thinking of just keeping ds and dd4 in LHTH and keep them in the same manual from now on, meaning we would drop LHFHG altogether?

3)I'm also wondering if we should check into other handwriting programs (his therapists use Handwriting without tears) and even other phonics programs?

In our state, the children start testing at grade 3. He's currently in private therapy and they won't make modifications for him unless he's been evaluated and receiving services through the school system. So while part of me wants to keep up up to par for testing, if he's not getting it, I guess it's not going to do him much good anyway.

Any thoughts?

I have a child with cerebral palsy who is behind in reading for her age and struggles with math as well. I would say actually in a similar way. She seems to understand the concept but has a harder time expressing it. I think that kind of goes together actually when they struggle with language in subjects it hits all others. Math is a type of language really when you think about it that is not too surprising. I am not sure what age your child is nor do I completely understand your state requirements. I am blessed to like in a state where we test but we do not turn in results, however I defy them to compare my dd's scores with what she did in ps. She has much improved hsing.

Trying to hear all that is going on one thing stand out. Just looking at what you are saying you have auditory issues and it sounds like that carries over to narrating as well. Have you tried to slow down the program and also the reading of story time and really break it down. What I mean is have you taught your child to narrate smaller chunks and then increased the amount of reading you do before narrating. This is how I taught my daughter to narrate. And she had issues focusing until I taught her really how to listen this way. Not sure if that will help you but just thought I would throw it out there.

I think you are right if your child is not getting it then going through the material is not really helping. I would say slow down the areas they are struggling and use that time to work on the areas that are a challenge. If the story time is going over their head try narrating with some simpler reading material, something they have not heard before. Get that skill down then start slower with the story time. I know it feels like we are not giving our kids what they need when we slow down like this. But keep in mind the teacher at school would not have time to do this so everything would be going over their head too there besides the special ed and they are not teaching history and science just to give some perspective. I would just give yourself permission to slow down and learn the skills then from there access whether you need to just go a bit slower for a while. Then you'll be able to increase what you do as you go. You will be going slower but your child will be actually getting it so that actually will have you ahead of what you would be getting without slowing down.

I am not using Singapore with my dd that has special needs so I am not much help there. Praying for your adjustment. I know for me these are the times that try me when I just so want for my child to get it and have not yet found the key to get her there. Hang in there.

Thanks for sharing your heart here, and I think your ds is so blessed to have you as a mother. You clearly have his very best interests in mind and are willing to put time and effort into finding the best fit for him. I was going to start typing some thoughts here, but then decided before giving any advice, it would be better if I knew how far into LHFHG's right side your son is? I'm wondering if it's a possibility he just needs more time to grow into these skills? I do think it took my ds awhile to be able to grow into some of the LHFHG's right side skills - i.e it took him awhile to really listen well to the Thorton Burgess' books, but then he eventually loved them. Same with phonics - how long have you done the programs? Sometimes they just take time to sink in, but other times, maybe it's better to wait a year and try it again then with a fresh start. I'm just hesitant to jump in with a bunch of advice when I'm wondering about how far he's into it and how sure you are that time won't fix it as we've found it takes us a good month to really get into the routine of some of the harder or newer skills in each of the HOD guides. What do you think - is it possible he just needs more time? Or do you think that he would just really benefit from scaling back to doing just LHTH, maybe with the Singapore math and Handwriting Without Tears? I do think working on the letters and their sounds in LHTH is excellent prep for phonics. I also wondered if you have the Leap Frog DVD's - Letter Factory is wonderful! It really helped my dc with their sounds, and the Word Factory DVD's are good as well. I wonder if you could have him watch these and add in a few educational computer CD's like Jump Start or Reader Rabbit? These would be ways to work on his phonics without having a formal phonics program. I'll check back for your response here, but I'm thinking this through with you!

In Christ,
Julie

Hey, Julie! Thanks for the input. I think I have it sorted out now. We're gonna shelve the Burgess books for now and just focus on LHTH and learning our ABC's. I'm going to continue using Singapore and doing the R&S/Handwriting Books.

Oh, I'm so glad you got it figured out! I was leaning toward the decision you just made, but didn't want to jump to that conclusion too hastily. I think doing LHTH with the math and HW will give ds time to grow a bit, and then when you come back to LHFHG next year, he'll probably be more ready for it. Enjoy LHTH - it is such fun to do!

In Christ,
Julie