It's been a couple weeks since my initial 'discovery'. Since then I have spoken to a few close friends and I have been in contact with our school about getting help with diagnosing (officially) and assisting with Dyslexia. Unfortunately, I have been feeling quite let down by our school. I have received the name if the person who oversees the learning disabilities students in the Lower Mainland. But she has yet to contact us.
I decided to look into a public home school system that ALL my church home school friends attend. I have shied away from this school because they are public and so is the curriculum and because I have heard that the workload can be extremely burdensome. But being a public school means that they have access to the educational resources that Diane may need. I have really enjoyed the last three and a half years with Diane at home. We have enjoyed our relaxed style of learning. But now as she goes into the higher grades we will need more accountability.
Pros to changing schools:
A 'once a week' classroom setting with real teachers
A yearly drama production
School friends
Learning assistance
More accountability
Cons:
Heavier workload
Non-Christian school
More accountability
I need to remember that nothing is permanent and that change can be good. Having Diane in school once a week means that I will have time to catch up on other things. Lunch with friends, bible study, quilting, and the thousand other things I always think of doing 'later'. I think I may commit to making sure that I do not turn the TV on during those days so I can actually be productive. Maybe I will join Weight Watchers again...
Diane is excited about the prospect of going to school. I think I am too. Please pray for wisdom and direction in this area.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Building an Igloo
Every child dreams of making the coolest (no pun intended) igloo on the block. Diane is no different. She wanted to turn a snow pile into an igloo in our front yard. We went outside and attempted to pack the heap as hard as we could, this proved to be a much harder than we anticipated. So we came up with a solution. Why not build a volcano to play in? Here are a couple pictures of our success.
Inside the Mind
When Diane is feeling too much emotion she often draws it out. Sometimes she shares with me, sometimes she doesn't. She has an artists book that is her 'diary'. When most of us think of diaries we think of pages filled with words, Dianes diary is pages filled with pictures. These pictures always tell a story, sometimes she tells the story to me as she is drawing it. Sometimes she shows it to me after it's complete. Today she used her little whiteboard to draw out her feelings.
Here we see all the 'people inside her brain'. Everybody is yelling different ideas of what she should be doing. Eventually it all becomes too much for her to handle and she yells out in frustration, then falls to the ground.
I'm pretty sure that this is an accurate depiction of what goes on in there. She is always so 'busy' and has been since she was a baby. There are so many thoughts and ideas racing around that sometimes she just doesn't know which way is up.
One thing I've learned so far, is that Dyslexics often see their ideas as reality. So when Leonardo Di Vinci drew out the picture of a helicopter (long before it's invention), he 'saw' it in real time and space and from every angle. So the child that daydreams or is spaced out, is really seeing something so amazing in their mind, that nothing in our present reality can capture their attention.
Here we see all the 'people inside her brain'. Everybody is yelling different ideas of what she should be doing. Eventually it all becomes too much for her to handle and she yells out in frustration, then falls to the ground.
I'm pretty sure that this is an accurate depiction of what goes on in there. She is always so 'busy' and has been since she was a baby. There are so many thoughts and ideas racing around that sometimes she just doesn't know which way is up.
One thing I've learned so far, is that Dyslexics often see their ideas as reality. So when Leonardo Di Vinci drew out the picture of a helicopter (long before it's invention), he 'saw' it in real time and space and from every angle. So the child that daydreams or is spaced out, is really seeing something so amazing in their mind, that nothing in our present reality can capture their attention.
Monday, January 16, 2012
The Need to Read
From early on I suspected that something was different with the way my daughter looks at life. Her perception of how things are is always a little more interesting than the mundane way that the majority of us function. She has always been able to 'see' beyond the normal. Not in a supernatural way, although there have been moments where she clearly sees the unseen. But in more of an abstract view of the world. Like a Picasso crossed with a VanGough.
Her attention to detail can be profound in some areas and completely absent in others.
A couple years ago I realized that her mind is constantly busy and her need to be kinesthetically stimulated could almost never be met. When in the home school environment, I found that having her close her eyes and tell me what is going on in her mind would sometimes help with focusing. She would describe what she sees and then we would verbally tell each distraction to go back into its proper 'room' in her mind. I tried giving her something to fiddle with while doing lessons in hopes that her mind would stay on task while her body was in motion. We tried using an exercise ball as her chair hoping for the same results.
All this aside, I have always marveled at her story telling and singing. Her heart is clearly tuned into the Holy Spirit in ways that even I cannot understand. She has an imagination that is not held back by the restrictions of our current universe. But through all this, I could not get her to learn to read or understand even the simplest of math equations.
When the stress level is low, she can read and do math, but as soon as there is a distraction or any stress, she loses it. She has memorized many of the English words we use, and I figured we had the problem licked when I discovered that she is a sight reader. Except that when these same words are in a book, she cannot unlock that part of her brain.
Just last week, during one of these trying moments of reading from a book, I thought I'd try to learn what she sees. I gently asked her what the letters in the words are doing. Without hesitation she said, "they are all jumping around". So then I asked what the lines in the book are doing. Her response was just as casual as before, "the lines are moving in a wave" she followed that with a snake waving motion.
OK, so this sounds a lot like Dyslexia, which is something my husband has struggled with for his whole life. What to do now? Do I continue to ignore this to avoid the horrific 'label' of having a Learning Disorder? Do I plunge into hours of research? Do I panic, cry, laugh?
I prayed, Lord help me to know how best to serve Diane in this. What would You have us do? There is a peace is knowing that it hasn't been my imagination all along. That her 'craziness' isn't crazy. She is fearfully and wonderfully made by The Creator. He just added a little something extra to her.
First off, I contacted our school facilitator and shared my discovery with him. He put me in touch with the Special Ed department at our school. After a lengthy phone conversation, he said it sounds like it is Dyslexia, and that he would put me in touch with the Learning Disabilities department. It looks as if we may be starting school all over again (at least the reading and spelling). We will be using the Susan Barton kits. This is a multi sensory learning program designed for the 'picture thinking' Dyslexic. I will be learning how she sees the world and then, by following the program I will be teaching her how to adapt her brain to see in only 2D so she can read.
I borrowed the book 'The Gift of Dyslexia' to begin the long process of trying to understand Diane. So far it has been a lot of 'Aha!' moments. I see both my husband and daughter in so many of these scenarios. It is an interesting and easy read for anyone who may want to educate themselves about Dyslexia.
FYI the following people are/were Dyslexic:
Alexander Graham Bell
Hans Christian Anderson (also home schooled)
Winston Churchill (also home schooled)
Leonardo da Vinci
Walt Disney
Albert Einstein (also home schooled)
Henry Ford
Her attention to detail can be profound in some areas and completely absent in others.
A couple years ago I realized that her mind is constantly busy and her need to be kinesthetically stimulated could almost never be met. When in the home school environment, I found that having her close her eyes and tell me what is going on in her mind would sometimes help with focusing. She would describe what she sees and then we would verbally tell each distraction to go back into its proper 'room' in her mind. I tried giving her something to fiddle with while doing lessons in hopes that her mind would stay on task while her body was in motion. We tried using an exercise ball as her chair hoping for the same results.
All this aside, I have always marveled at her story telling and singing. Her heart is clearly tuned into the Holy Spirit in ways that even I cannot understand. She has an imagination that is not held back by the restrictions of our current universe. But through all this, I could not get her to learn to read or understand even the simplest of math equations.
When the stress level is low, she can read and do math, but as soon as there is a distraction or any stress, she loses it. She has memorized many of the English words we use, and I figured we had the problem licked when I discovered that she is a sight reader. Except that when these same words are in a book, she cannot unlock that part of her brain.
Just last week, during one of these trying moments of reading from a book, I thought I'd try to learn what she sees. I gently asked her what the letters in the words are doing. Without hesitation she said, "they are all jumping around". So then I asked what the lines in the book are doing. Her response was just as casual as before, "the lines are moving in a wave" she followed that with a snake waving motion.
OK, so this sounds a lot like Dyslexia, which is something my husband has struggled with for his whole life. What to do now? Do I continue to ignore this to avoid the horrific 'label' of having a Learning Disorder? Do I plunge into hours of research? Do I panic, cry, laugh?
I prayed, Lord help me to know how best to serve Diane in this. What would You have us do? There is a peace is knowing that it hasn't been my imagination all along. That her 'craziness' isn't crazy. She is fearfully and wonderfully made by The Creator. He just added a little something extra to her.
First off, I contacted our school facilitator and shared my discovery with him. He put me in touch with the Special Ed department at our school. After a lengthy phone conversation, he said it sounds like it is Dyslexia, and that he would put me in touch with the Learning Disabilities department. It looks as if we may be starting school all over again (at least the reading and spelling). We will be using the Susan Barton kits. This is a multi sensory learning program designed for the 'picture thinking' Dyslexic. I will be learning how she sees the world and then, by following the program I will be teaching her how to adapt her brain to see in only 2D so she can read.
I borrowed the book 'The Gift of Dyslexia' to begin the long process of trying to understand Diane. So far it has been a lot of 'Aha!' moments. I see both my husband and daughter in so many of these scenarios. It is an interesting and easy read for anyone who may want to educate themselves about Dyslexia.
FYI the following people are/were Dyslexic:
Alexander Graham Bell
Hans Christian Anderson (also home schooled)
Winston Churchill (also home schooled)
Leonardo da Vinci
Walt Disney
Albert Einstein (also home schooled)
Henry Ford
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