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It became apparent to me
that my son Sean had a learning disability while in the 2nd grade. He just
couldn’t keep up, and was falling far behind in reading, spelling, math,
and he had problems paying attention. I later discovered the source of his
learning disability, and I also found that a learning disability is really
a learning problem and a child doesn’t have to grow up to be illiterate.
Even though Sean was
getting help in special ed. a couple hours a day it just didn’t seem like
that was going to be a solution. The rest of the regular class was still
passing him up. I had also felt that my son was very intelligent. His
learning problems didn’t make sense to me because of his intelligence. He
was an early talker, and at age 3 you could carry on a conversation with
him that he would understand. My next idea was to home school, and Sean
was very eager for me to do it. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I took him
out of public school in the middle of 2nd grade.
Once we were home
schooling there was some relief because at least now there was no pressure
to keep up with the class. Sean too felt better about himself because he
wasn’t being teased in class. One day we found an opportunity for a free
eye exam for children who had learning difficulties from a local
optometrist. Once we got the results of the test we found that although
Sean had 20/20 vision he had a different kind of eye problem that can
easily be overlooked. The problem had to do with how well his eyes worked
together, and the more we learned it became apparent that Sean’s eyes just
didn’t work well together. Especially the right eye, which I soon
discovered he would briefly and quickly try to cover in order to read.
Sean thought that seeing the way he did was normal because he never knew
anything else. So we had Sean do vision therapy at their clinic, which is
basically eye exercises. After 3 1/2 months of vision therapy, it seemed
his eyes were fixed. I now believe that any child having difficulty in
school should have more in-depth vision screening. Here is a web site that
has more details about vision therapy:
http://www.visiontherapy.org
Yet our problems were not
over yet. He made a little progress in reading, but that was really all. I
wondered why he couldn’t progress now that his eyes were fixed. I didn’t
believe we did the wrong thing with vision therapy. He wasn’t covering his
right eye anymore, or favoring it, and he now could also copy from the
white board (which he couldn’t do before). It seemed that although he had
good vision he just didn’t know how to use it. Sean was frustrated too. He
would say, “I’m just stupid!” I told him, “Never say that, if you were
really stupid I would just give up, but have I given up?” “No!” he said.
One day I came across a
program called Audiblox that said the reason why children were
unable to learn to read or spell was not caused by a permanent disability,
but simply because they didn’t have the underlying skills that were needed
in order to read, spell, etc. As I researched their site it mentioned that
the Audiblox program builds the necessary skills to read, spell and
do math. I began to think Sean’s vision problems and inattentiveness in
school caused him to never develop these skills. Their site talked a lot
about visual memory and sequencing, which I knew were weaknesses for Sean.
One day I posted a question to their site telling some background about
Sean, asking if he would ever develop these skills on his own.
The Audiblox people answered that it could be compared to
someone who did not learn to speak properly due to incomplete hearing. If
that person’s hearing were later rectified, would he be able to speak
normally without some intervention? This question made me realize Sean
needed more help, and since the Audiblox kit was inexpensive
(especially compared to vision therapy), I ordered the Audiblox kit
and started on the program right away.
After six weeks the
improvements were very obvious. The most noticeable improvement came with
Math, because we were struggling trying to do his math at grade level (3rd
grade), but then around six weeks into Audiblox he could do his
math at grade level (with the exception of telling time on a face clock
and counting money). He also still at this point had trouble doing adding
and subtracting on the same page.
His reading speed had also
improved and he wasn’t getting stuck on nearly as many words. His free
writing had always been totally unreadable, but now at least I could read
his writing, even though it had many spelling errors. The neatness of his
writing had improved. His attention span and length of time it took to do
assignments improved too.
As we did Audiblox
improvements continued. A major one I remember is that Sean had a problem
with mixing up similar words (for ex. head, hand, had, there, three). At
around six months of doing Audiblox Sean’s mixing up of these words
reduced greatly. Also at this point I noticed that when new Math concepts
came along it was much easier for him to understand them. What used to
take a week or two in explaining (if ever getting through at all), now
only took one day.
Audiblox
also helped me realize a major weakness Sean had in his long-term memory.
He had a great long-term memory when it came to remembering people,
places, events, etc. But when it came to remembering things in order, such
as words for spelling, he basically had very little long-term memory. So I
was given an exercise to work on him for that.
Now we are into the 9th
month of doing Audiblox. Here are some more achievements:
Math:
He can finally tell time
on face clock! Now it seems very easy for him. Another skill that used to
be such confusion for him was counting money, but now he can. It seemed
like he learned how to count by 5’s and 10’s by himself. He was very happy
that he could finally count money. He can now also do adding and
subtracting on the same page. Not only can he now do this with 2 or 3
digit numbers, but also with borrowing or carrying. He is doing all his
Math at grade level now, and has half of his times tables memorized.
Reading:
Sean’s reading really
leaped between the 7th and 8th month of Audiblox. I’ve
noticed that for a while he was struggling with words that were more than
two syllables, but something has clicked because he is picking up on these
bigger words too. I have been able to get out books that I have always
wanted to read together with him, but used to look at them and knew they
were above his reading level and had to put them away. But now I have been
able to get out those books and he can read them.
Just one example: A long
time ago I bought him a DK book on science that he really liked, mostly
because of the nice pictures, but couldn't read. (This was before doing
any Audiblox). But he liked to look at the pictures. The reading is
probably high school level, but now we have been able to read it together.
He can even figure out some of the really big words. Sean has been really
surprised what he can read now.
He is also finally
learning to spell. I had been trying to teach him to spell for a long
time, but he would never remember how to spell the words. After a week or
even less he would forget, but the Audiblox method of learning to
spell is working for him.
Other skills:
Sean’s favorite subject is
science, so last year I bought him an electronic project kit. The only
thing is that in order to make the projects work you have to do wiring.
Sean found it so hard to do the wiring he mainly had me do most of it.
Recently he was looking for something to do, so I got out this kit. To my
surprise he could easily do the wiring himself.
Also another hobby of
Sean’s is collecting Lego Bionicles. I used to have to help him with
these, and I have to admit they aren’t easy to assemble. I pretty much
built them as he watched. But over the time we have been doing Audiblox
he can now build them all by himself.
In general:
Sean’s self-esteem is much
improved. He now realizes he can do things, such as reading and spelling.
He never thought he could before. For the first time I am thinking that he
is going to be just fine.
As I have seen in the news
the search to find out what is wrong with our schools goes on and on. I
just read recently there are 200 failing schools in Michigan, with
thousands of kids not learning to read. A simple program such as
Audiblox has changed the future for my son, and could for so many
other children. The program can be done at home by parents, and also in
school. I would like others to know that they don’t have to watch children
struggle and that they can do something about it.
Feel free to contact me,
should you require more information.
Cindy Borgne
cborgne@comcast.net |
