[paganmum]

I'm kind of curious if anyone else in the HSing department is working with a child who has special needs. About six months ago my middle child was diagnosed with sensory intigration dysfunction. Up until a couple of weeks ago we were working with a occupational therapist through the local developmental services center, sad part is that they can only work with children up to when they turn 5yo due to funding issues. We've been told my the schools that they will provide us with some help (as per law) but that basically they will be turning everything that my Dd has become adjusted to very well on it's head. Even sadder is the fact that this is the only way to get and occupational therapy help for her since there aren't any other occupational therapists that work with children in the area.

I am currently working out a basic (read rough) lay out and basic game plan (mostly requested by my DH) in a unschooling/waldorfish style as it just seems to fit the personalities of my children better then anything else. It just fits the sensory diet that the OT gave us on her last day (she's going to stay in contact with us to offer any advice she can) and it consists of a full day arangement.

I'm curious how anyone else works with a simular situation?

TIA

-Unity.

 

[mykdsmomy]

Welcome!!!

I have two special need children. My ds6 is legally blind and ds2 has SID. We just take things one day at a time.

This year for ds6 we're going to try and have a little more structure than last year (he mostly did whatever he wanted but wound up learning to read on his own).

It sounds like you have the right idea in mind as far as setting up a plan that best fits your child's needs. There are lots of great links and ideas here on this board and lots of super experienced mamas.....I hope you stick around

Also, you may want to cross post in the special needs parenting forum too

 

[frogguruami]

My son has mild SID and HFA. He does great at home. We can take things a few minutes at a time, when he is ready for it. If things get too crazy we can stop and have quiet time or music time or trampoline time or blanket time (that sounds bad but he has a weighted blanket that he hides under sometimes when things get too much for him. He calls it blanket time). I would love to see a PS class do that.

Our neurologist loves the fact that we homeschool. He says that in many cases SID kids have above average intellegence but end up doing poorly in school because it is a horrible environment for them. Or they end up in LD classes and are never challenged.

IMO homeschooling is the best option for a SID child.

The trick, as with any child, is to learn how they best learn and go from there. For my son we use Math U See because the book is not very stimulating visually and it is hands on using little building blocks. For reading we use Headsprout online. Each lesson is about 15 to 20 minutes. Just enough for him. It gives immeidiate feed back and is very entertaining. He also LOVES the internet. Everything else is done through doing. I have learned what times of the day are best at the local museums and sci center. And I have learned to call ahead and make sure there are no field trips scheduled that day.

 

[paganmum]

Thank you! I have been looking around the special needs board. I hadn't thought of cross posting. I think that we will be doing a *loosely* structured routine. Right now my biggest obstical is that Ds (6yo) and Dd (5yo) might as well be twins. They are so close developmentally and it *really benefits them when I teach them at the same level since Dd loves challenges (and thrives on being gently pushed to work above her level and Ds will dig in and backtrack if pushed and needs to be more guided and with his reading delays (that the local librarian who is trained to teach reading and work with reading delays has told be isn't really anything to worry about yet) tends to work more on a slightly lower level then he would in a mainstream school.
So I'm trying to find that balance inbetween kindergarden (they both pretty much seem to feel that they are above that) and first grade (which they aren't quite ready for developmentally). So, thus the reason I latched onto unschooling/waldorf the more and more I read about it. Since reading isn't pushed until after the age of seven, and it's more arts based where my two are strongest. Plus I can let the littlest (2.5) tag a long and color while I work with older two.

-Unity.