Homeschooling the Dyslexic or Learning
Disabled Child: Question and Answer

QUESTION:

We have just started homeschooling our 12-year-old dyslexic and learning-disabled son. He is far behind. I want to use Audiblox but I am afraid to cut back on schoolwork fearing that he will get further behind than he is already.

ANSWER:

It might help to think of this analogy: Imagine a car that is in need of repair and is limping along the highway at 35 miles per hour. You can either continue on the journey and eventually reach your destination or you can stop the car and get it fixed and then speed to your destination at 65 miles per hour. It is easier on everyone to just get the car fixed!

Below are a few comments from homeschooling parents who used or still use Audiblox, and who had to cut back on schoolwork in varying degrees. Their children did not get further behind, just the opposite:

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“We started Audiblox last April with our daughter who has severe language delays. We worked until about mid-June and then took our homeschool break for the summer. My husband and I were amazed at the results we noticed in just that short of a time period, and I am looking forward to starting school again next week as I know we will continue to see a progression for her.

“The thing my husband and I found most encouraging was that when we started the program, I stopped all other academics for those months and just did Audiblox. One day, I hear my daughter in her room, and realize she is reading a book to herself. Even though we weren’t working on that area, she suddenly took off! She now picks up books all the time and reads them, and reads all the signs she sees on the roads, etc. We saw enough improvement in that short time to know that we have found a big key to her success, and I know it will continue as we pick back up again for the school year.” — Becky R., USA.

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“We started Audiblox August 26, 2002. After six weeks the improvements were very obvious. For one he is actually doing 3rd grade math, which for him is amazing. His reading speed has improved, plus he doesn’t get stuck on near as many words. He was also incapable of writing any of his thoughts down, and now he is starting to be able to do this with some help, while before his writing was totally unreadable unless I told him letter for letter how to spell the words. The neatness of his writing has improved too. His attention span and attitude have also improved. He is getting so much more done than before. Since we have only done this for six weeks and are all ready having good progress I am now wondering what will Sean be like in a year?” — Cindy Borgne, Armada, Michigan.

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“My background is OT, yet none of the things I was doing with my daughter really was having much of an impact. She was still many years behind in most subjects. But when I saw Audiblox online last year I thought, ‘This is what has been missing in my approach.’ I was not working in an integrated, systematized fashion on foundational skills. I was principally working on higher level skills and when I did work on foundational skills I wasn’t doing it in a systematic way so as to build one skill on another. As soon as I saw Audiblox I knew that Audiblox had what was lacking in my approach. I realized I had been working from the top down and Audiblox worked from the bottom up, so to speak.

“The first day my daughter said she felt like her brain was being put in order…. At about two weeks we noticed that our daughter was able to organize her chores better. Three months into the program she was able to verbalize her thoughts better and she had come up several years in her Math already!” — Barb, USA.

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“At one time his reading was slow and halting. He would skip words and sentences and had difficulty understanding what he had just read. Reading used to be so much work for him that he didn’t enjoy it and only read when he had to. Now he reads with ease and confidence. As a matter of fact, he enjoys reading so much that it isn’t unusual to see him reading for pleasure now. The first time I heard him say he was ‘going to bed a little early so he could read before going to sleep’ was music to my ears!!

“His handwriting used to be very difficult to read. Now, when he writes, the letters are smaller, more uniform in size and are legible enough for anyone to read. He even commented recently that ‘it is so much easier to write now and my hands don’t jerk like they used to.’

“His math scores have made a dramatic improvement. He is in a combined Geometry / Algebra course and lately his scores have been in the 90’s or above on his daily work and tests. And for the first time ever he is ahead of his younger brother in their math lessons.” — Sheri Browning, Kuwait.

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“I started hating to give him medication for him to be able to think. Then I found Audiblox. This has been a lifesaver. We started one year ago. John has been off Adderall for one year. He reads very fluently and I’m supposing on grade level although I have not had him tested. He can read all the word cards correctly as fast as I can throw them down and he can read all the word lists foreward, backward, up and down at great speed with no errors…. In Algebra he learns a new concept daily on his own and does his assignment on his own in a very timely manner. He rarely makes a mistake. His writing and spelling has also improved greatly. He wants to go to High School next year and I am confident that he will do well. People ask me if I will put him back on medication when he goes back to public school and I can happily say ‘No, he does not need it.’ John now speaks very fluently. He smiles daily. He laughs often. He is a new child. Audiblox has given him a life.” — Kenna, USA.

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“She used to always complain of letters moving. It doesn’t happen anymore. She sometimes still uses her finger to keep her place but my husband and I just recently noticed that she rarely uses her finger now. So fluency is building. She also used to work so slow that we’d run out of time before finishing school. She’s so much faster now. One lesson in math used to take her up to 2 hours and now she does 1 and a half lessons in 45 minutes with almost 100% accuracy. I can’t wait to see how far she’ll go on the program…. If I could pick one thing that has been the biggest blessing from this program I probably say that it’s the concentration level that Kori is at now. She can stay focused on school for about four hours with very little break time. Her reading has also improved although we still need to work at it she is up by at least 2 grade levels.” — Michelle Potter, California.

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“I am a home school mom with an 8 year old son that has dyslexia. Since he is my youngest, I felt confident in teaching him to read. After using three different popular reading curriculums over a four year period, Jacob still could not read. His self-esteem had deteriorated, his attention span had lessoned and he was overwhelmed with any schoolwork. His lack of concentration made it impossible to teach him. His inability to read made it difficult for him to participate in any age appropriate activities i.e. Sunday School Awanas, Scouts, even Summer Camp and his neighborhood friends began to see the difference in him and started to pick on him.

“I searched and searched the Internet for help and ran across a message board that spoke of Audiblox and the success they found with the program. I immediately logged onto the site and purchased the program. I was surprised at the low cost of the program and became doubtful of it working for my son. I read the book The Right to Read and diligently followed the program laid out in the book, still doubting the simplicity of the program. That was four weeks ago and I can’t believe the changes in Jacob. His self-esteem has improved along with his memory recall, concentration and left/right recognition. He is able to read 30 of the word cards fluently and we add to them almost daily. His math skills have improved, now that he ‘understands the numbers’. He is excited about Awanas Club this year and feels that he is finally going to read.” — Susan Lounder, USA.

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“Although we didn’t complete the program for a year (we did it for 7 months and then had a move and other family circumstances), I’ve seen great improvement! I can tell that he is more organized in his thoughts, spells better, is more willing to learn, can easily tell left from right, can stop to focus and think things through, handwriting has improved, etc. This has flowed into other behavior as well, such as a desire to have his surroundings organized and a cleared workspace.” — Angela, USA

Audiblox can be applied one-on-one and in a group setting.
For more information on Audiblox visit Audiblox2000.com