Learning differently part 2.

His teacher said that as far as she was concerned that our sons learning difficulty was not able to be placed under a specific learning condition such as dyslexia as he had no problems with the words moving about on the page and his behavior was also good (suggesting not a behavior and concentration problem like ADHD)and not showing any signs of autism.

She was like we were particularly concerned about his ability to read and was as frustrated as us that the normally methods that teacher's use were not working for him such as work recognition and phonics. But, she was unsure what other methods she could use and said that she would speak to a local special needs school in the area to see how they help their children to read. She also suggested that she felt that now would be an appropriate time to have our son tested to see if he fitted on any of the spectrum's for learning disabilities. So after making an appointment with our GP we were referred to a specialist.The specialist believed that our son showed symptoms consistent to that of  a child with dyspraxia (clumsy child syndrome, problems with fine and gross motor skill co-ordination and ability to retain a sequence of instructions).

A week or so later our sons teacher came up to me after school and asked me into the classroom.She said that she had spoken to someone that she knew and they had suggested an online reading course called Easyread ( I'm hoping at a later point to write a blog on this online course). She said that after reading up about it that it looked like something that would benefit our son and another child in the class. The course cost more money than we could of funded but after the teacher spoke to the headteacher he had been willing to use some of his budget to trial the course for our son and the other child.

Within weeks of the course our son was starting to move up reading levels and now although not quiet at the norm for his age is making good and steady progress. He also reached a milestone this summer with his dyspraxia as he is now able to proudly ride a bike on his own. If any other parents our out there who has similar learning struggles as our son it would be really interested to hear from you.

Learning differently part 1

This time last year I was sitting down for a parent's evening meeting with our son's teacher and was expecting a similar chat about how well behaved and how well mannered he was  but how there was still concern over the lack of progress he was making despite the fact that he was receiving additional help through a teaching assistant  and received other help through services and activities such as fun fit and visits from the speech and language therapists.

It had been obvious when he first started school at 4 that there were concerns over his learning mainly through the clarity of his speech and his fine and gross motor movements ( up until this point he has difficulty with pencil control and letter formation as well as difficulty with co-ordination) compared to others in his class. Although as a mother who could understand him I could see that although he found it difficult for others who didn't know him well to be understood his understanding of the world around him was good. That first year that he started school at the age of 4 his teacher took it upon herself to ask someone to do an IQ test on our son and later informed me that his score was very low and it that it wouldn't improve. We later on that week moved him to a different school.

We visited the other local schools and spoke to the headteachers about our sons difficulties and placed him into a school where the headmaster agreed that at such a young age it wasn't appropriate in labelling a child until he had a chance to develop. 

At the ages of 6 and 7 it came apparent that he also had difficulties retaining information such as days of the weeks in the correct order and following more than 3 instructions at a time also proved to be problematic for him as well as being able to learn through phonics. He had stayed on the same reading stage since starting school despite numerous hours spent with him trying to bring him forward.

So last year when he was 8 with a new teacher I had resigned myself to hearing the same thing but instead she wanted to come up with an action plan to get to the bottom of his problems.

Young children and the church.

Probably the best way to describe our family on a Sunday is similar to that of the Simpsons. With Marge insisting to the children during the children moans and groans that it is important that they need to go to church.From reading and speaking to other Mothers about taking their young children to church many encounter the same thing. That is not to say that the children do not believe in God but find it hard to get excited  by the prospect of going to church as they would by other things that they do in the week.

We first started going to a Catholic church 2 years ago when our eldest was 6 and our youngest was 2. The church we initially attended was a very small, simple beautiful church which with one service on a Sunday  and was always  full to the rafters. That usually meant that we were sandwiched between people in a pew or if we arrived later we would be peering through the lobby trying to hear the mass. With our youngest in the 'terrible 2 stage' mass was usually a challenge and lead to her spending most of the mass in the car or walking around the outside of the church.

Last year we moved to another town and now attend another church which is a lot bigger and has 2 services on a Sunday which usually means that we are able to have a pew to ourselves or can sit on a chair at the back where there is box of toys that are youngest can play with.

With our eldest I've found a simple explanation of why we go to church on a Sunday is enough for him to sit quietly through the mass. With his sister we usually encourage her to bring a small cuddly toy with her to choose 'who is able to sing loudly at church'. I also encourage her to sing when  the hymns are being sung and at the end of the service to go up to the statue of Mary and lighting a candle (usually for the intention of a friend or a family member).

The start of our homeschooling journey.

From the start of September this year we have decided to start homeschooling our daughter. She only turned 4 in June so we are actually starting a year early. The main reason is to see how she gets on with me being her 'teacher' and also if it is feasible once I have had the baby to be able to give her enough attention to be able to home school before it is compulsory at the age of 5.

At the moment we tend to start lessons at about 9.15 once we have dropped her brother to school and we usually sit down and do about an hour's worth of  formal work. Initially when I researched homeschooling I was a little unsure if an hour would be sufficient but I've been pleasantly surprised by how much work we can manage to get done in that hour. I usually then have suggested that we have a treat this may be playing snap, sticking or getting the play dough and the dough cutters out.

It's important to me as well that through homeschooling our daughter get's to explore the Christian faith. I was a little unsure of how to work it into her schooling but decided on giving her a biblical topic for the term. So from September she has been learning about Noah's ark. Firstly, we read the story and then we have branched out looking at boats, rainbows and African animals.