LD in the NYT

LD can be of varying degrees — most school districts take a long time to do an eval and it requires much followup and persistence on the part of the parent or guardian. A diagnosis can be tricky.

Meanwhile, a savvy teacher can often tell if a child is far behind his/her peers. For mild LD kids, a little boost will catch them up. Students with more intense LD may require a special ed school which is an even longer process than the eval but well worth it.

I look forward to next week’s article about educational plans to fulfill potential. With or without an LD, many parents supplement their child’s education with workbooks, outside tutoring or just helping with homework.

In our son’s case, he was 8 and not yet reading. His school had a really good phonics program that was not working for him. We had the good fortune to find a wonderful reading program http://www.dickereading.com/ that required 30 minutes of reading aloud per day at home. We reached our 2 year mark yesterday — Rome wasn’t built in a day!

http://thinklearnsmile.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-dont-know-what-else-i-can-do-to-help.html
http://www.thinklearnsmile.blogspot.com/
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/testing-a-child-for-learning-disabilities/

Response to the article:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/testing-a-child-for-learning-disabilities/?apage=2#comment-482917

Reading every day for 30 minutes

Hi Nina:
Two years ago in early 2008 our son was 8 and couldn't read. When his sp ed school told us we would have to shop for another school for the Fall of 2009, we needed to make sure that he would look educable to the potential schools.For our son, phonics did not work at all which is why his school's methodology was not getting him to read.

My niece had been to the Al Dicker Reading program in Westchester, NY www.dickerreading.com and we went three days a week for 1.5 hours. The key to the program was parental involvement (in addition to the lessons with a tutor) -- we worked with flipping flashcards and his reading aloud to us 30 minutes per day EVERY DAY! Repetition is the mother of skill! He started his/our first choice school in September 2009.

He still reads aloud to us 30 minutes per day -- he has read all the Little House on the Prairie books, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Great Brain and many others.Sometimes, I say to my husband "Imagine if we hadn't put Steven into the Dicker reading method -- where would he be?"

Best to you and your son,Robin Schwartz
www.thinklearnsmile.blogspot.com

This was in response to this discussion:
i dont know what else i can do to help him GreatSchools

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We're on Big Al's Resources Page

http://dickerreading.com/DRM_suggested.asp

2nd picture down - there's Steven and Julie

The Great Brain

The Great Brain is a great book. It was funny and sad. It can make you cry and laugh too.

Kids Need Work To Do At Home

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/homework/give-kids-homework-while-schoo.html?referrer=emaillinkpg
The author, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post, worries about her popularity but students do need practice to learn.