Question on Learning Issues

That sounds like my daughter when she was younger. She goes to the public schools here. She did not like reading and could not seem to remember things that we not important to her or things she did not find interesting. When she was in the third grade it got really bad and she was diagnosed as ADD (attention deficit) but not hyperactive. We tried some meds but they did not work very well and ended up taking her to Huntington Learning Centers which helped tremendously.
She is 16 now and doing much better. We just found out last year though that she does not have ADD, but severe depression. The symptoms for ADD and depression in younger kids is very similar and is often misdiagnosed.

B.,
If you have not discussed this with your pediatrician I certainly would think that is the first place to go for advice. Has your child been tested for a learning disability? I am a retired teacher, although I taught middle school and high school but the dr. is where to start, I think.
Good Luck

B.,

Don't panic. He sounds like a normal boy to me.

Sometimes we push our kids too hard when they aren't ready because that is what society tells us to do. You'll be fine by keeping him exposed to the things he needs to learn for school, but not forcing him to remember them.

My husband didn't learn to read until he was 8 years old and he is a brilliant man with the memory of an elephant with everything he reads. He wasn't ready to read until he was 8 and luckily he attended a school system that didn't make him feel stupid for it.

Please remember that our children are all different and don't worry about comparing. They will both be fine :-) Just love them where they are.

I hope this helps,
K.

I totally agree boys are different than girls.we homeshool too.My girls were reading at 4 and 5.I thought my son was colorblind for a long time.He isn't .He just didn't care.when he did care ,he learned his colors.I thought I would pull put every strand of hair on my head.But, I didn't.I learned that he learns different than my girls.He is a tactile ,Kinesthetic learner(hands on).I have to be very creative w/ him.He is great at Math.His weakness is reading.He also gets bored easy.He is also 8.There is a possibility he has a learning disability.It can also be he is just a boy.My son now has a tutor.Sometimes it helps.Through all our struggles I'm still glad we homeschool and that God blessed me w/ a boy.BTW,Homeschool support groups are great.
hang in there.
M. S.

i know it says you homeschool but you can go to the local school district and ask for help they can test your child and see if he has a learning disability or not

I homeschool my 4 kids also. I would say try putting things in perspective of the things that he likes. My daughter loves art anyway but found it extremely fun to learn about the people that each of the 4 Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles were named after. She does have some memory lapses and I just try to make it a write it down thing. She was having a problem recently with saying that the country of Benin in Africa was Beijing. I had to show her the difference and I think she might have actually gotten it. Make the learning as fun as possible. Even history is fun if you look at how you would not have this if not for this kind of thing.

I'm having some simular issues with my 5 YO boy. My pedi. realized he needed an eye exam. And sure enough he needs glasses. So now it is like starting all over with everything. I have a 1 YO boy as well and I believe some of it is the attention difference. They see the other child getting different attention. I don't mean more just different because of age. And like all of us, he wants to be young again with less stress and worries. Good luck and give us an update when you get him figured out.

I have a 15y/o son with the same problem and we have been dealing with this for most of his life. We have had testing done and other than some diagnosis, nothing has helped. I too have a 9 and 7y/o who are progressing on their level. The only advice I can give is to take it one day at a time, and remember he needs the extra help. The sooner you can put your mind around this the easier it will be for you and for him. It took us until 2 years ago to do this. It would have been easier to have known sooner. Do get him tested to see if there is something going on and maybe they can help him. I am still looking for someone to help my son(thinking about his future), but to no avail. I will keep an eye on the responses to see if there is any advice that I can take into account. Good luck with your son and remember to cherish him no matter how he is and to be willing to work with him to make him the best that he can be.

Hi, B.!

I can totally relate with your situation as a homeschooling mom and mother of a daughter with similar problems (actually the whole reason we started homeschooling)& younger son who doesn't. I do agree with other opinions here that you may want to look into the ADD/ADHD diagnosis. From the time she was around 5 y.o. we started noticing the same things you talked about. She would forget what she was doing just walking across the room! Learning anything in school was a struggle - what she grasped one day was completely gone the next. When she entered 1st grade, her teacher agreed that something needed to be done, so we went through the ADD/ADHD testing. We had her on medication and it helped, but she still struggled with school. That's when we started homeschooling - I've used her interests (art, science, animals) to boost her skills in other areas. We don't do "memorization" exactly - more hands on stuff. She's only recently (at 12 y.o.) begun to read fluently and still has real problems with spelling, but is an avid learner now, seeking out information. Could be, too, that your son is a more tactile learner.(?)

Something else you may want to consider - food allergies. Thinking along the "red dye" theory, we did an Elimination Diet with my daughter. We found out that wheat greatly effects her ability to focus! (And I was feeding her 100% wheat bread thinking I was a good mom! LOL) There are wonderful books on this process - it's a bit of a pain, but it has done wonders for her!

Hope all this helps - sorry it's so long. Feel free to get in touch with me if you'd like to share more! Hang in there! God Bless!

B.
there are several possibilities

1. he is lazy
2. the difficulty reading could be a learning disabiltity call reading disorder.
3. He may have a comprehesion problem
OR WHAT IT SOUNDS LIKE
4. ADHD - Inattentive Type
this is not Hyperactive type like everyone talks about but rather the child that often gets over looked and struuggles through school as it is thought they are lazy or just not as intelligent as their peers. this child appears to day dream or stare out the window, only halfway paying attention as they may be caught up in their own thoughts an therefore are not completely paying attention. I high encourage pyschological testing to determine what is the cause. I recommend seeing a Ph. D Psychologist for diagnosis and testing. They can also provide behavior modification techniques without medications and if medications are needed I recommend seeing a Child Psychiatrist at that point. This may be intially costly but will be helpful for the long run. Also check with your state agencies for free or discounted services if your health insurance doesn't cover testing, etc and if you can not afford the cost of private pay. Hope this helps.

My niece and nephew where just like that. They are four years apart and she reads as good as he does. First off girls are very different from boys when it comes to learning. You are going to have to find ways to teach him that are interesting. Chances are he's intelligent, but he's not interested in learning crappy ole stuff like that. Have you gotten him books about bionicles or anything he's interested in? Boys seem to learn best through play and more creative paths. We requested a male teacher for my nephew and he flourished. Men teach differently than women. If you're not already in one, find a local homeschooling group. You'll be surprised how many dad's are doing it. Maybe you could arrange something with them, tutoring or lesson trading. Good luck

Hello B.,

I know where you are coming from. I was at my last straw then the school told me about Therapy Source for Kids. They help with Speech,Occupational,and Physical Therapy. My son has only been going there about 6 months and now he is on his reading level. I held him back this year so he could catch up and everything worked great. I think you should have your son tested it sounds like he needs the Occupational Therapy, they will work on his reading writing and memorizing and retaining the information. I hope this helped to give you more to work with. Good luck and God Bless!

I had a close friend in school who had the same problems. He had severe ADHD. He was on several different medications for it, and when he took them, he was fine; he remembered all the little details about everything and excelled in school. It took his parents a very long time to get him checked though, because he didn't show any of the other symptoms of the disorder like acting out, or short attention span.
While I certainly hope that the problem isn't ADHD, it couldn't hurt to get checked. The sooner it's discovered, the easier it is to manage. Good luck.

Definately get him tested for learning disabilities, and possibly ask his pediatrician for a referral to a neuropsychologist. They are different than a psychologist, and are able to look beyond behavior and responses to questions and actually test how the brain is working.

Depending on what comes out of that, or even in addition to it, I would recommend checking out neurofeedback (eeg info and eeg spectrum are some good resources, although I don't remember their websites, sorry) I'm not sure where you live, but another resource is Dr. Dale Foster in the Memphis area. He's been doing neurofeedback for many years and his website has great information, too. We're getting ready to travel to his clinic (2 1/2 hours) to start treatment with one of our sons.

Good luck.

years ago (1980's) when my son was in the hmmm 2nd or 3rd grade, he also had problems with reading. His young teacher, straight out of college, suggested he read books called Make Your Own Adventure. These books peaked his interest. You read one page, and at the bottom were 2 choices (other pages to turn to rather than going page by page). This continued until you got to the last page. One book made many different adventure stories this way. Eventually he progressed from those books to regular books. As a high school student he was reading the Illiad and other books. I hope this helps.

Other things we did was make minature flash cards that he could carry in his pants pockets with spelling words on them.