From and Intro Letter: The Homeschoolers Guide for Learning Problems

by Jill J. Dixon, B.S.Ed., M.Ed.         To read Jill's article on Learning Styles, follow me!

DPS  

P.O. Box 5098

Savannah, GA 31414   www.diagnosticprescriptive.com

    Although homeschoolers with attentional difficulties and learning problems are a limited population, it is much larger than is generally supposed. In fact, one reason homeschooling is growing is because children with ADHD and learning problems are not having their needs met in traditional schools. In the mid-size city we live in, we get regular inquiries from parents who need help with special needs students.

Very often parents have a need to know about, as well as to act upon, the often confusing and besetting subject of special needs children in education. Children with special learning needs generally fall into two main categories: (1) those with specific learning disabilities – or those with learning problems and (2) those with attentional difficulties – or those with ADHD (or ADD). These are actually two distinct learning difficulties, although they are often confused. However, a student with a specific learning disability can also have attentional difficulties and vice versa, but this is not always the case.

A student with a specific learning disability demonstrates a processing weakness in at least one of the following areas:

1.      oral or language expression

2.      listening comprehension

3.      reading decoding

4.      reading comprehension

5.      math computation

6.      math reasoning

7.      written expression

Specialized testing for these students reveals an average or above average I.Q. with a 15 to 20 point discrepancy between achievement scores in one or more of the above seven areas and their I.Q. scores.

The Homeschooler’s Guide For Learning Problems is the only application that we know of that has been written specifically for homeschoolers. There are books out there, but they always deal with the student in a regular classroom setting. Our guide contains a complete checklist for determining the specific learning problem of the student, as well as giving causes and solutions to the specific problems. It was devised as a result of nineteen years of diagnosing and remediating learning difficulties.

We have received repeated phone calls from parents who have paid professionals hundreds of dollars to have their children evaluated only to leave deeply disappointed. They are told their student has a learning problem, but are never told what is causing the problem or what they specifically need to do about it. This guide was designed to do just that for the homeschooling parent.

DPS

P.O. Box 5098

Savannah, GA 31414

www.diagnosticprescriptive.com

 (Editor's note:  This resources are available through the NATHHAN Lending Library.)