Are We Learning?

As Joe grew older, though, another dark shadow began to creep across the radar: the suspicion of learning problems. I tried not to think about it, but the signs were there: the fact that I read to him all day long, yet he read little himself; the mental blocks with arithmetic facts; the sense that he wasn't really comprehending the books I read out loud; the fact that I was constantly altering assignments; his tendency to reverse letters; and the fact that he could do virtually nothing without one-on-one assistance.



Following the advice of an HSLDA consultant and Joe's piano teacher, a veteran homeschooler, I started Joe on a regimin of dietary supplements and visual integration exercises. When that didn't work, I bought a remedial program, Audiblox, which promised miraculous healing for children with learning disabilities if we did block sequencing and directional exercises half an hour each day. The program ate into academic time and caused fights, so we discontinued it after one semester. I applied for an HSLDA Foundation grant to have him tested by a home schooling-friendly therapist in Wheaton, and was approved.

The results were not good. Joe's scores showed vast extremes: three years above grade level in math concepts, and three years below in fluency; 90th percentile in block design, third percentile in memory; inconsistent scores in reading comprehension, all well below grade level. Panic and guilt set in. It didn't help that shortly before the testing fiasco, we had been kicked out of an unstructured co-op/playgroup in Plainfield. Joe forgot his medication and became violent, and I was intimidated by the group and failed to control him. A member of our support group's leadership team had told me that I needed to be very, very careful who my children associated with, even among solid Christian families, and now the finger was pointing squarely in my face. I didn't think I deserved friends after getting kicked out, and even avoided Sunday school for a month to "punish" myself. Once again, I was determined to fix everything.