Learning Disabilities, Visual and Auditory Processing, & ADHD Problems

My daughter has learning disabilities (visual and auditory processing problems, ADHD, reading and math learning disabilities, sensory integration problems, etc.).  She will be going into the 9th grade this fall.  She has been in public school up through 7th grade and was in special ed programs there.  I pulled her out to homeschool her last year (her 8th grade year), and I really feel like she has been promoted to new grade levels just to promote her every year.  I am at a loss as to what to do with her for 9th grade.  We of course want the best for her but she is lacking in SO many areas.  How will this program help?  Do I use it in conjunction with another homeschool program?  I can’t imagine this is all I would use for 9th grade schooling.  What would you recommend?  If you can help point me in the right direction, I would truly appreciate it.  Thank you, and have a blessed night!

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Patter,
The core program I would suggest you use is the Making Spelling Sense, Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills, and Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills. With those you will be working on not only her reading, spelling, and writing skills, but also the underlying causes of the problems (the visual and auditory processing problems.) You will need to add content material: a reader and social studies/history book, math book, and English book.

Each day you start off with addressing the underlying cause of the learning disabilities – the visual and auditory processing skills. Using the Making Spelling Sense and Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills does this. Then you would have her read a selection from a reader. There are many high interest low vocabulary readers available. (Making Spelling Sense addresses the auditory processing problems. Five Minutes to Better Reading Skills addresses the visual processing problems.)

After reading from the reader, you pull out the Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills and your daughter takes notes from what she has read. Then I would do an English page.

Then I would play The Comprehension Zone and/or The Sentence Zone. They work on reading comprehension and English grammar.

For math I would use the Math Zone for calculation practice and the BT Easy Math Reference Guide as the core information regarding math (how to add, subtract, multiply, & divide, calculating with fractions, decimals, and percents, and how to do word problems). You will need to get additional math workbook/s for actual problems for her for fractions, decimals, percents, and algebra. There are some great ones out there that would be great for her to use.

After math I would have her do history and science, using the forms from Ten Minutes to Better Study Skills to help her get more out of the books.

Remember, the books and games I’ve mentioned are multi-level and can be used year after year, even with a 9th grader. Each activity takes just a few minutes so they are perfect to use with ADHD students. I created all of them from my work with learning disabilities – those with visual and auditory processing problems.

Hope this is helpful.

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET