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When we began homeschooling our oldest son, who has Tourette Syndrome,
we were amazed at how well he took to it. He was an auditory learner,
and all the curriculums we tried seemed designed with him in mind.
What was all the fuss, we wondered, about homeschooling kids with
special
needs? This was a piece of cake. And then came our second
son.
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He
was given many labels throughout his preschool years: Language
Delayed, Auditory Processing Disorder, Receptive Language
Disorder, Possible ADD, Possible Asperger's Syndrome, Sensory
Integration Disorder. But none of the labels told us how to
homeschool him, so we had to figure that out on our own. One
thing we discovered right away was that the curriculum that
had worked so well for our older son was completely wrong
for our younger son. He was a visual learner, and a somewhat
kinesthetic learner. He had incredible strengths in memory
and spatial concepts.
We
found that very few pre-designed homeschool curricula were
designed with the "out-of-the-box" learner in mind.
Those children in the growing categories of "right-brained,"
"ADD or ADHD," "dyslexic," "learning
disabled," or even "gifted with special needs,"
were left behind when it came to effective curriculum.
Fortunately,
some forward-thinking individuals and companies in the technology
field understood the learning differences of these children
and created assistive software and programs that actually
work with these students. Because of these tools, homeschooling
families have viable options for helping their special learners
at home.
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For dyslexic
students and other struggling writers, word prediction software
such as Don Johnston's Co-Writer, are incredibly helpful.
Used with any word processor, it can help predict with incredibly
accuracy what a student wants to say, and helps them find exactly
the word they are looking for, even if they only know how to spell
it phonetically (by sound). And phonetic spell checkers come in
portable versions as well, for writing away from the computer. The
Children's Talking Dictionary and Spell Checker from
Franklin includes a phonetic spell-checker, speaking dictionary,
and handwriting guides in both print and cursive for guiding correct
penmanship.
Those of
you who are homeschooling visual learners already know that these
kids remember what they see. And educational videos are probably
already filling up your media cabinets. But unfortunately, you can't
possibly purchase a video for every subject your child is studying
- - or can you? Discovery Education's United Streaming, is
a video-on-demand service covering what seems an endless number
of academic subjects. No matter what we are studying, United Streaming
seems to have a video for it. Another visual based site I can't
recommend highly enough is Brainpop. Its animated videos
span five subject areas and appeal to a wide age range.
Gifted,
Spatial, and Right-Brained learners can all benefit from mind mapping.
Mind maps, also called graphic organizers, are a visual way of organizing
information and making sense of it. The difficult, sequential process
of creating paragraphs, reports, and essays is made accessible to
the child who sees things in pictures. And with wonderful software
programs like Inspiration! (for middle to upper grades) and
Kidspiration! (for elementary age), no writing assignment
is out of reach. Students who normally have no outlet for their
higher level thinking are right at home building connections with
words and pictures and creating advanced reports and projects with
the click of a mouse.
For parents
who struggling to find an overall curriculum for their special learners,
I hope you will check out Time4Learning.
With interactive multimedia lessons, text-to-speech capabilities,
and on-board writing tools, this is one of the most engaging and
accessible computer-based curriculums I've ever come across. It
is also one of the most affordable. Time4Learning covers the main
four subject areas (math, language arts, science, and social studies),
and is incredibly comprehensive in its scope, and in its record-keeping.
This curriculum
may be the next best thing to having a special-ed teacher move in
with you!
Assistive
technology can be costly, so it is important to really understand
your child's learning style and their strengths and weaknesses before
you invest money in something you aren't sure will enhance their
learning. Don't be afraid to take advantage of free trial periods
on software and technology products. You need to be sure that your
child and the product will be a good match. And when you see your
child suddenly "getting" that concept that has eluded
him, or writing that difficult paragraph that seemed an impossibility
before, you will know that your initial purchase has been a worthwhile
investment for their educational success.
By Kerry
Jones, Time4Learning - Interactive
Homeschool Curricula
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