Close to giving up today

[jackjacksmummy]

Hi all,

We had another assessment in January where DS (6) was found to be "highly likely" as to being on the spectrum - where we don't know - we are waiting for an appointment for the next stage.

This weekend has involved spinning, chewing, climbing, running, etc etc - you know how it is!

I have tried to sit him down and do his maths homework with him but he can't sit for more than 5 minutes - when he does he doesn't have a clue to what he's supposed to be doing. For example - colour in the cube - he coloured in the cylinder, the next one was 15...16...17.... ....19....20 - fill in the missing number - instead of counting 15, 16, 17,18,19....he counted from 1 until he got the number, then he wrote 81 rather than 18. The next one was 6 + 8 so we got his numicon shapes out but he said 2 , tried again and he said 68, tried again with lego pieces and he finally got it. We gave up after this because he just couldn't do it.

An hour later I tried the 6 + 8 again with him and he couldn't remember so we had to get the lego out again and go through it all. 5 mins later I randomly asked him what 6 + 8 was and he couldn't remember.

I'm totally at a loss with what to do with him right now. I have spent so much money on buying him learning aids but he is still very very behind. His school have been great but seem to be focusing on literacy which is also a big problem.

I am in with the SENco almost every week - sometimes 2/3 times discussing him and they are trying to get him a statement so he can have a 1-2-1 but as you know this is a long process.

He'll be in year 3 in September and is still doing reception work/year 1 work. His spellings this week were he, me, my, the, and.

I just feel like crying when I see how far behind he is :(

It sounds like he might have dyscaluia, the things you mention are typical of children with this condition.

I was reading about that this morning and was also thinking along the same lines. I also suspect dyslexia and dyspraxia as he is so clumsy and loses things 2 mins after having them as well as when he is getting dressed he'll get his clothes on inside out, back to front, wrong feet! He's always falling over and walking into things, his legs look like battered bananas!

Hi op.
Check out the tinsley house support thread.
Also google retained reflex therapy.
Good luck x

Homework is an nightmare in my house to jjm Dd3 reguarly used to refuse point blank to do it.

For Dd3 and many other children with Asd home is home and school is school and never the twain shall meet.

If the work is too hard for him then what chance has he got, bless him. I started to say to Dd3's teachers that I wasnt going to do it for her and what she handed in would be independent.Sometimes that was nothing.

We have made progress over the last couple of years particularly last year when she did all her homework
She is currently testing the system at school as they are supposed to stay in for detention on Tuesdays if its not handed in (she is yr 5) but the lovely student didnt enforce the rule a few weeks ago so now she is back to doing none again

You are probably going to end up having to go in and speak to the staff about this issue.

Good luck

I would just not do the homework. It causes too much stress and strain at home. Home should be his safe haven. I would go to a behavioural optometrist to get a visual tracking test to see if he is reading correctly. I'd also go and see a paed about the dyspraxia. If he has got ASD then the chances are he may well be dyslexic and dyspraxic.

Thank you all for your help! I'm going to speak to the senco again tomorrow - just seems I am always in there and don't want to make a pain of myself!!

Will look up that iPad app when DP is done with it.

Could be Dyslexia with specific deficits that affect maths. My dd1 has this . Has he been assessed be Ed Psych? I would do your own bits of maths learning using whatever concrete aids you can (Lego). Forget what school is asking of him (sounds too hard, and definitely forget the spellings.... Leads to demoralisation only!) until full assessments are in. Most of all.... Go easy on yourself. You are obviously working v hard to support him. Pat yourself on the back every now and then!

He has had 2 ed psych reports - the first was done by the ed psych the school uses and he was found to be very low on the centiles they use. The other was done by the EP the autistic unit sent out and was assessing his social skills.
There was talk of another ed psych assessment by the schools one - I guess to see how much he has come on in the last 9 months.

Did they indicate low centiles across board or any particular strengths that can be utilised? The the % indicate SpLD? Because it sounds as though he may need specialist input. Does he have problems with working memory?

Just to add..... Sounds as though the assessments have been done but not much has come out of them in terms of recommendations to help him learn? Would that be a fair assessment? What did schools Ed Psych suggest short term?

His visual memory is amazing, he remembers lots of things he has seen to the tiniest detail. Without getting my paperwork out I think that was the only one that was above 70th centile. Everything else was between 1 and about 20. There were a few suggestions regarding his social skills but nothing that I can recall to help his learning. They won't test for dyslexia until he is 7 which is July so don't think that'll realistically be done til September at the earliest. There was talk of a referral to an OT but not heard a thing. He has short one to one sessions with his TA and an LSA from the special needs team at school and its helping but he needs more.

Numicon at Home is a maths resource I have been using with DD. It comes with an activity booklet so explains how to "teach". DD likes it a lot - it is more like playing than learning. After four months of using Numicon every day (for 5-10 mins) DD Year 2 is now able to do simple addition and subtraction in her head. It may just be a coincidence but I am sure Numicon has played a large part.

Sorry, just realized you have the numicon shapes

That's the one I bought a few weeks ago :) he loves playing with it but doesn't really sit still for long enough. Although I have noticed he does know the numbers through colour recognition so that's something!!