What clue led you to the discovery of your child's special needs? With our daughter, she had a tremendous difficulty paying attention and learning to read.
How about you?
Christine

Being a "relaxed" schooler, I didn't really notice dd's reading problems. I know some children just don't take off reading as early as others, so I thought she was just going to take her time. But then her penmanship never got beyond the four-year-old level and I became suspicious.

The REAL tip-off, though, was her insistence to sit in one particular chair on movie nights. She was watching out of her good eye with her head turned! The Lord allowed her to have an eye infection in her good eye one week and while it was patched she would run into walls and just be utterly confused at everything going on around her. Hello!!

DS showed OCD tendencies since age 3. I have it on videotape how he'd yank and pull at his clothes trying to make them "feel right." In times of stress, it tends to "bloom" and at other times it very nearly disappears. Watching Monk (on USA network - I am NOT endorsing the program) is like watching DS trying to function some days.

Hi Anji,
Tell us how things are going since you last posted.
Blessings,
Christine

Our son's disability was sadly enough totally preventable. His birth mother drank alcohol while pregnant and so caused brain damage that is irreparable.

Because we knew about this we have always read up on the subject. This has saved him and us a lot of frustration. He is for instance very literal. If I would say: pick up your coat (meaning, clean it up, hang it up) he would pick it up, and stand there with a look on his face "Now what?"
Another example is when I say "Why don't you set the table?" meaning, get on with it, it is your job today. And he says "O, I don't know, I don't really feel like it"!
It has been a challenging journey, and we still learn something new every week.

Hi Alida,
Welcome!
Did you adopt your son at birth?
We have 3 adopted, so I always like to hear people's stories.
Blessings,
Christine

Oh my! I have tried so hard not to "see" the special needs of my niece and nephew. They are my husband's sister's children. She passed away as a result of substance abuse at age 31. They are 9 and 13. They've lived with us for 13 months. AFter living with several different family members for 5 years we felt they should have a stable family. We have a 12 yr old son, 8 yr old daughter and 7 year old son. I kept thinking they would "catch on" socially, emotionally, intellectually, academically. The things you described--I deal with daily. I feel very sad right now.

Hi averette,
Welcome to the board!
You must be a very special woman to be raising your niece and nephew. I can't imagine how difficult that is! But I also imagine that the Lord has infused you with some special grace.
How can we help or encourage you?
Blessings,
Christine

Hi. I don't believe I've ever introduced myself on this forum. My name is Pam. I've been married for 22 years. We have 6 boys and are in our 10th year of homeschooling them.

When my now 11yo was beginning to read, we used a plethora of different materials to try to teach reading. He didn't catch on to any of them. He really struggled, finally learning. When he was 9yo and starting the 4th grade, I handed him a 4th grade reader and asked him to read the first line of the first page. He said the words were too small and they were jumping off the page. He thought he was going to be sick. We took him to a Developmental Optometrist. His vision was perfect. They tested his reading abilities to find that he was in fact, reading very below grade level.

I picked up a 1st grade Rod and Staff reader that broke the syllables down. He read the whole book and asked for more. We read more and more. We went through the REWARDS program successfully. He finally 'got' grammar with Shurley. I don't really know what his label would be. I feel like I ought to take him to be tested, but don't really know where to start. I'm not sure if a label would be a great benefit to him.

Then I have a 3yo who was diagnosed this year with PDD-NOS. Since he is my 6th child, I knew he had issues since he was very little. We are in speech therapy now with this fella. I feel like toliet training will be my next huge hurdle with him.

Hi Pam,
Welcome to the board! I bet you have a lot of stories to tell. So are these boys the oldest and youngest of the crew?
Blessings,
Christine

quote:

Originally posted by christinefield:
Hi Pam,
Welcome to the board! I bet you have a lot of stories to tell. So are these boys the oldest and youngest of the crew?
Blessings,
Christine

Thanks for the welcome, Christine. =)

My oldest is 14yo. Then a 13yo, my 10yo, 7yo, 5yo and the baby is my autistic 3yo. So this year I have a 9th, 7th, 5th, 2nd, and K!! And you are right, I have lots of fun and opportunities to extend grace!

Hi Everyone!
I am Cheryl. We have two adopted children who we have home schooled for the past six years. Both have ADHD and while one is dx with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, our other who actually has had more the "look" isn't dx. It's been VERY difficult educating our son. While it was a painful decision, we had a total eval done (again since toddler-hood) because of continued delays and challenges that even though I was making modifications in teaching styles to accomodate learning, he wasn't catching on. There are short and long term memory deficits, a moderate language learning disability, and overall muscle -coordination issues. THEY BOTH are wonderful and we LOVE THEM very much. But it has been HARD accepting these things...for what it may mean in their futures. One hurdle someone may address for me is with our son who is having a difficult time making friends. His peer group has rejected him for various reasons. This is primarily in our home school group, but our neighborhood and church are also becoming so. ANY advice? I am really in pain about this for him-but HE DOESN'T even see it!! I feel he will be at "risk" for preditor relationships if some sort of intervention isn't done. I would HATE it if his only friend becomes the "pervert" down the street which will put him at risk or the gang member wishing to recruit him-and if he recognizes this rejection-which he sometimes does-but not why they reject just-"I have no friends" thing...
thanks.