I think many of the LD that are "discovered" by the school system stem from the fact that the PS push too much too fast on developing brains. Also, there is only one method of instruction in PS. If a child doesn't learn the way a subject is being taught then they aren't going to learn very well. It isn't that a child has a learning disability: they just simply don't learn the same way as everyone else. By HS you are able to tailor your teaching style to your child. Therefore the occurance of "learning disabilities" is greatly reduced.

My son was labeled as LD before even entering PS. The school would have put him directly into special ed classes because of his Dx. I am certain that he would not acheive or learn what he does now in a PS environment. He would, most certainly, be classified a learning disabled student. However, he is quite the opposite. He simply learns differently and in his own time.

I'm not saying that LD don't exist in a HS environment. I just don't think you will find them as prevalent. I think any parent that is taking an active roll in their child's education will know when something is not working. They will recognize that their child is struggling more than should be expected.

 

I think the wonderful thing about homeschooling is who cares.

I mean you just learn how your child learns and thats the way you present info.

I have a terrible time with B's and D's though it was never an issues till I got into a private school.

I had taught myself how to remember the difference at home and all was well.

 

My son is unschooled but in daily life I started to notice his speech wasn't becoming clearer like most kids his age, he would read numbers off backwards, he would confuse many letters, and when he did start to write his writing was the mirror image of what it should be. Like he would write his name perfectly backwards with all the letters being written backwards. This was an obvious problem... but it has been resolved for the most part by brain intergration therapy. He just had a bit of miswiring in the brain so he was "seeing" the words in his head correctly but when the message went down to his hand to write it became reversed. A simple 10 therapist sessions and he rarely reverses now...sometime I think he does out of habit.

Now his LD was very obvious once he started to write, even in an unschooled environment. He didn't write until he was 6-7 years old and at first we felt reversing was just simple kid stuff but as he got older it only became worse. We researched the LD programs available to homeschoolers through our school district and other therapy methods. We sought help with brain intergration due to his background...night terrors as an infant-5yrs old, he didn't crawl as an infant, and he had a major illness as an infant. This combination caused many of the early connections in his brain to mis-wire so to speak. The exercises he does thru brain intergration therapy have helped him greatly. His speech has improved, his writing is the right way round, and his focus has greatly improved.

Other unschoolers I know have kids who might be labled as LD if they were in school but really they just learn differently. Many of them learn by doing not by being taught, my son is still very much this way as he has to have his hands on what he is learning...even if it's just patting my leg while I talk with him.

) The up side to homeschooling any child is you have the ablility to talior the learning style to the child, in doing so even the most LD can have a wonderful learning experience.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kindermama I have a couple of questions for those of you who have experience with Learning Disabilities If you are home"schooling", how can/did you detect a LD and what steps did you take to help your child? If you are unschooling, same question. Is it less obvious that your child has a LD if you are unschooling? Any opinion or experience in this? thanks

Some parents have been around a lot of kids, have other children for comparison, or simply notice details better and may notice a difference from average/norms fairly easily... Others less so. (Schools often gloss over the less-disruptive disabilities IME)

Some learning disabilities are easier to notice than others. Some homeshcool parents successfully adapt to some learning disabilities simply by customizing to the individual without ever thinking of it or focusing on it as a disability.

How parents adapt to the child if they are aware of a disability can often mean simply slowly down and learning more carefully on difficult areas while focusing on more successful subject areas as much as possible, using approaches that work better for the individual like visual communication as opposed to verbal for instance, and also learning everything they can about the disability to understand that aspect of their child as well as possible. Being the long-term caretaker of the learning process with the child can help build an advantage in understanding what works well and what doesn't and what successes especially deserve celebration!

A disability can be less obvious because one is unschooling, or more because of it since the parent can potentially be a very focused and careful observer.

My son has Asperger's which is more than a learning disability, but includes many of the same major adaptations for his weaker areas (all communication). When he went to one year of school they didn't even want to bother observing or evaluating him because he was reading and doing math ahead of his grade level.... How long it would have taken them to get anything truly helpful going is hard to say. I knew way more than they did about all aspects of his problems, and it surprised me to discover this. They were even bragging about other children with Asperger's who had done well in that school though they weren't even familiar with its basics.

 

We knew that it was a strong possiblity that our oldest dd would have some LD. She was premature and struggles for 2 months in the NICU. At a year old, when she wasn't sitting up we took her to a neurologist and she was diagnosed with cerebral Palsy. The dr. specifically told me to look out for learning difficulties as she became school aged.

My son on the other hand has some speech delays that were very obvious from an early age. He wouldn't talk much and when he did he couldn't get the words to come out even close to clear. It was his ears all along, it was like he was hearing everything underwather. He is now 7 and just learning to read, I am sure that the reading has come a little later than my other children because of the speech problem.

 

for the first time mom! You just *know*!

Schools label children as LD because they do not conform to the group. My youngest was born with birth defects. He is non-verbal (he does approximate with vowels sounds). He only has 4 fingers and 2 thumbs. One thumb is non-opposable and one is finger-like and all are very short. In school he would not be able to use scissors. That would give him a label. At home I just have him use mini-loop scissors and he cuts paper! Home/unschoolers adapt with such ease that it would be absurd to label their child LD.

I'm not too eloquent on this so bear with me. I'm just trying to say at home it is easier and faster and simpler to devise a solution because there are fewer children and resources are not hampered by politics. I mean mom can go out and buy something to address the solution in many cases.

My youngest is the only one with birth defects. At 30 mos we realized he was more than just a late talker and we got him into therapy.

Parents know their children intimately so even with child led schooling you would notice when your child needed help. No matter the method of schooling it is not less obvious. I would think in an institutional setting children would go unnoticed. How many children graduate unable to read? How is that possible? How many different professionals failed to notice?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kindermama I have a couple of questions for those of you who have experience with Learning Disabilities If you are home"schooling", how can/did you detect a LD and what steps did you take to help your child? If you are unschooling, same question. Is it less obvious that your child has a LD if you are unschooling? Any opinion or experience in this? thanks

 

Personally, I grew up with LDs. I was in a school where they didn't want to take the time to test me and find out what was going on. For me it turned out that I'm dyslexic, like my mom. I'm kind of expecting that one of my kids will be dyslexic. It's actually looking like my oldest might be the one to follow me there. In the case of life long LDs I think that it is good to get an offical Dx because then it gives them something that other people have a better chance of understanding other then I just do things that way. I college it will make life easier as well, given the right school, since there are many places that will try to help accomidate those with LDs. For homeschoolers/unschoolers I think it is easier to help kids learn how to deal with and balance their LD. Gotta love that 'think outside of the box' method.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by deeporgarten My son has Asperger's which is more than a learning disability, but includes many of the same major adaptations for his weaker areas (all communication). When he went to one year of school they didn't even want to bother observing or evaluating him because he was reading and doing math ahead of his grade level.... How long it would have taken them to get anything truly helpful going is hard to say. I knew way more than they did about all aspects of his problems, and it surprised me to discover this. They were even bragging about other children with Asperger's who had done well in that school though they weren't even familiar with its basics.

My experience is the same. My son has AS, too, and we've been FAR better at noticing the area's he struggles in than his school was. He went to a public kindergarten where he was called lazy and stubborn because he had trouble writing. I've been able to identify dysgraphia and have been slowly helping him to overcome his writing difficulties.

 

wow! thank you for all of your perspectives. It helped immensely. I contacted our local public school to see if there is any way as a taxpayer that I can have her evaluated by their intervention team. I'm pretty sure there is a processing issues. I'd at least like to have the tools to help her here at home.

My dd almost died from an illness at 2 which kept her in the H for 3 weeks.
She had to learn to sit again, walk again and talk again. Sometimes I forget how much this might have impacted her brain development.