Therapeutic Curriculum Choices

 

This little item is packed with a lot communication practice!  Last year when my son, on the autism spectrum, spent time with his therapist, we had homework to do, every day.  By Christmas, I decided to stuff my son’s stocking with some therapy flashcards.  We gave his therapist “Buddy Talk” cards, and we gave our son “Family Talk”.  One of the goals was to exercise receptive language and reciprocal language, in a word: two-way communication, so necessary and useful in every day life, and so hard for many children on the spectrum.  Part of the deal was making eye contact while asking, listening, answering ….and waiting for the next person to do the same.  Learning what most take for granted. Using flashcards like this, if not daily, several times a week right within the school day, helps with many communication skills’ issues.

Our homeschool is now well underway.  Part of our school this year includes so many therapeutic measures, and I must admit, I can thank Mother of Divine Grace for this.  There is no other more therapeutic curriculum among Catholic home school options.  Why?  Because Modg is just that unique….it has things built into it,_ therapeutic disciplines_ that when followed and applied to every day education in the home, cover a multitude of disorders and deficiencies; and at every grade level.  For example, the Bible story readings-retellings, having the child listening to the story out loud (and also reading it themselves, because those are two different skills right there),then  retelling it in their own words, while mother writes/types it down, then the child doing the “copywork” on it, writing the very words they spoke to retell it….and lastly, illustrating the story; working creativity and fine motor skills – all therapeutic.  All over the course of a 5 day week. Each step of it is therapy in itself.

It’s interesting that some therapy includes all of the above steps, and insurance either will or will not pay for such therapies….so you could be paying $150 for a therapist to do a similar pattern with your child (or even sequencing a craft …)

Also, in the curriculum, there is memorization, there is the love-hate curricula Writing Road to Reading; hate it if you must  but it is extremely beneficial for children with auditory processing disorders, dyslexia and other reading difficulties.  The same program that therapists use with children to bring them out of the disorders difficulties are in WRTR already (the famed: Orton-Gillingham multisensory education method).  Some experts will tell you that if you use Teach Your Child in 100 Easy Lessons, and they are still not catching onto reading …..change gears…..and use The Writing Road to Reading instead.  It’s likely they have some processing disorder and WRTR will help them navigate the language and decoding much better.  So again, therapeutic.

*If you just can’t like WRTR, (which I would say, give it another try), you can get the best of what WRTR offers in a newer written program called:  All About Reading. It is more scripted and easier to follow for the average home school parent.  Then, the next follow-up would be:   All About Spelling. 

And speaking of multi-sensory….I notice how Modg touches all the senses.  From the reading, retelling, writing, memorization, exposure to art, music, science, history…..the “method” propelling the curriculum choices is just as important, if not more so, than the curriculum itself.  That’s the formation part.  Formation over information.  When the child is given the right formation, the information comes all the easier.

If you are considering homeschooling your special needs child, I would recommend looking into a program like that which Mother of Divine Grace has to offer.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.