I'm after any Kumon experiences with a sn child!!

[mumgoingcrazy]

DD2 (5yr) has no dx, but is in a sn unit attached to a ms school and has full time 1:1. She's cognitively good, but has extremely poor social skills and social communication. She also has very delayed gross and fine motor skills and sensory issues thrown in for good measure.

I've now just enrolled DD2 on Kumon English, there is a big discrepancy between her reading and writing, but this is coming. However although she reads well for her age, she doesn't always understand what she's reading and it takes a lot of looking and talking about it for it to sink in. I also feel having to sit for 15 minutes each day to do an adult led activity will help her in the future to concentrate (hoping anyway).

DD1 (7yr NT) has done Kumon maths and I've been amazed at how quickly she's come on ie she was average in yr 1 and is now top group in yr 2 and G+T. She however, really likes doing the worksheets every day and seems to get a buzz from doing it.

DD2 so far (2 weeks in) is enjoying doing the worksheets I think mainly because she has seen DD1 do it for so long although I do have to sit with her to do it.

I just wondered if anyone had tried Kumon (english or maths) with a child with sn? Good or bad experiences welcome! TIA

I did Kumon maths with DS1 (dyspraxia, SPD, hypermobility). There aren't that many opportunities for social skills, but DS1 does not have many issues with this. We stopped when DS2 joined (about 5 months after) as they were getting too competitive with each other. They also started doing a free extra maths group at school - so that eased my conscience in stopping. It became obsessional as to how many correct/wrong, what time - to the second. it was the same doing the daily work.
Its the same with any programme. Its the consistency, little and often, small bites of improvement rather than giant leaps. Which, in fairness, if you get a good book/programme, you could do at home (if your children will work for you )

Thanks auntevil.

Unfortunately if I got a good book for home I'd be met with a ton of resistance. I think it's the structure of doing this every morning and then go to the hall on a Saturday to get it all checked that keeps them motivated. I say them but I mean DD1 really as DD2 just copies DD1. They then like to flick through the new work given for the week, and quite often DD1 will take herself off and make a start on it even before the allocated day.

I must admit I don't time them, I just write down roughly how long it took. I know speed is supposed to be a big thing at Kumon but I'm just pleased they finish the worksheets.

They also give DD2 a 1:1 when we go to the Kumon lesson which I was really pleased about, they've been great with her.

You want bad, I've got it . Ds is 9 and has AS. When he was 7 he saw a lovely ad on tv about how much fun Kumon was and insisted he wanted to do it. I was extremely dubious as I know what he's like. Anyway, it started out well, but it soon became torture. The work was too easy, and when I asked to move him on, was told he could do more worksheets each day. He tolerated this at first and moved up very quickly. He was soon doing 400+ sums every day and starting to hate Kumon. He hated the writing (dyspraxic with hyperflex thumb) and the sheer repetition and drilling. He would go through each worksheet and only consent to do one of each type of sum!

We kept going for 6 months and I decided it wasn't worth the aggro. The Kumon leader was disappointed as ds had made the fastest progress up the ranks that she had ever known, and she was about to award him the gold medal!

Having said that, I know at least two NT children who LOVE doing the worksheets, and wished they went to Kumon everyday

Good luck with your ds

Thank you iceflower. My DD1 is one of those strange kids who wished she went to Kumon every day! I guess we'll see how it goes with DD2, it's a week in and she's loving it, although I think a lot of that is because she sees how much DD1 likes it. We'll see how long it lasts!

Thanks all