A note from a friend about her internationally adopted son reminded me that even when we think all things are going well emotionally, socially and behaviorally, our children adopted from less-than-desirable conditions can still have negative impacts from their early childhood.

Her son is finding it increasingly hard to keep up with his schoolwork as he heads toward middle school. And he’s becoming increasingly resistant to anything she tries to convince him to try harder. The school is reacting in a laid back fashion, and the boy is now about a year behind... more

Does your child have dyslexia? How do you know? Dyslexia is defined as:

a neurologically-based, often inherited, disorder which interferes with the acquisition and processing of language. Varying in degrees of severity, it is manifested by difficulties in receptive and expressive language, including phonological processing, in reading, writing, spelling, handwriting, and sometimes in arithmetic. Dyslexia is not the result of lack of motivation, sensory impairment, inadequate instructional or environmental opportunities, or other limiting conditions,... more

Ok, after a day full of word problems, all I want to know is…when is it? When is LuLu's Age of Reasoning? UGH! Word problems are the bane of my daughter’s existence. Just like writing a whole composition, word problems require her to use logic and organizational skills she doesn’t have. Even though she’s extremely good at math calculation and understanding how to work the actual math problems, she just can not pick the details out of the word problem to save her soul.

Yes, I understand that this is truly a reading comprehension problem, and that LuLu... more

In my last blog I noted that writing may be the most important of all early subjects for children in today’s world. I’m sure others would argue differently. But as someone who sits at my computer for several hours daily, I realize that the vast majority of my time is spent communicating with anyone other than LuLu is done in text. Either I’m reading it, or I’m writing it. Now I know that the internet and the computer world are going more and more graphic and visual every... more

It’s one of the “three Rs”…reading, writing & ‘rithmetic. In my opinion, it’s the most challenging of the three. And also, in today’s society, it may be the most important.

LuLu, like most children with challenges that affect their learning, struggles with writing. While there are distinct learning disabilities that affect a child’s ability to read (like dyslexia) and do math (like dyscalculia ), writing requires so many different skills used at once, that many children have problems with writing. These problems... more

Ever the enigma, LuLu’s behaviors have been very positive since her explosion on Wednesday. Yesterday we accomplished more during our school time than we usually do. While she is still struggling mightily with long division, she whipped right through the language arts lesson (commas), jumped head first into learning 12 more states and capitols, and started a new biography on Ben Franklin.

Usually it’s the book reading that brings us to a screeching halt, so I had decided, based on the way we’ve been successful in the past, to co-read with her (taking turns reading aloud).... more

This article from Educationnews.org summarizes a survey done, showing that children who are both gifted and have learning disabilities, are perhaps the most “left behind” of all. These children, sometimes referred to as “2e” or twice-exceptional kids, are those of giftedly high intelligence but also have learning differences/disabilities.

The survey, conducted by 2eNewletter.com, asked parents, educators... more

When you have a combo platter child (child with multiple disabilities, some of which may not be clearly identified), sorting out how their disabilities are impacting their learning can be a daunting task. As the school year cranks back up (and we didn’t do school everyday during the summer as I had originally anticipated), I can see large leaps and lags in LuLu’s academic progress.

Last week (and finishing up today) we did some placement testing on-line in an effort to figure out what levels she is learning at, specifically in reading and math. I’ve always... more

One of the main differences I’ve found in teaching LuLu basic things like self-care, housecleaning or simple independent living skills is how purposeful I need to be about explaining each step. Just like with socialization, children without disabilities usually pick up much of this knowledge through observation. With our children, we can’t assume that they will pick up this knowledge without direct instruction.

LuLu is highly intelligent and can do many things for herself. So the challenge is to determine just what she can do and where the knowledge... more

If your sibling is learning disabled, it doesn’t necessarily mean that your children will be learning disabled. That may depend on the cause of your sibling’s learning disability. Was the LD caused by a random chromosomal abnormality, hereditary, or a physical outside source?

If your sibling’s LD was caused by a random chromosomal abnormality then you don’t have to worry about passing it on to your offspring. You cannot pass it on, however your LD sibling has a fifty-fifty chance of passing the mutation on to your nieces or... more