Dusty

Whew!  Dusting off this blog!  Bringing home two more mobile children was hard!  We've dealt with a lot of behavior and medical issues this last 18 months, but things are settling in nicely.  I'm hoping to use the blog this year to document how i modify our homeschool curriculum for our kiddo's who have cognitive disabilities.

Our boys are 11, 10, 9, but cognitively much younger.  They are getting to an age where it isn't really appropriate to continue doing young preschool level work, even though that is where they fall academically.  It is always a struggle to find curriculum that is age appropriate, but also falls into a cognitive level that they can fully participate.  I haven't found great ones yet for the disparity between my boys ages and their cognitive levels, and it is a goal of mine this year to adapt more of our curriculum for them to participate in.

One simple thing we do for handwriting, is to show the child where they need to make each letter.  It sounds like a simple thing, but the blank lines are overwhelming and they have no idea how many letters i expect them to make.  Asking them to count a specific number and then write that many letters is actually working on two goals at once, and can also be frustrating for them.  Simply putting a dot where i expect them to write the letters is a quick and low tech way to ensure they can complete the worksheet with minimal help from mom.  I always demonstrate how to make the letter and watch the first couple they write to make sure they are forming them correctly.