Update on 12 year old son's progress

Posted by Connie on March 19, 2004, 5:12 am

Hi! I have been using Audiblox with my twin sons since last June, 2003. The boys were born prematurely (10 weeks early) and were on apnea monitors for almost a year. I was not too concerned about their seemingly slow progress as I knew that children develop at different rates. Plus I was going through some personal struggles as both of my parents died of cancer within a year of each other. Coming out of the haze of that experience, I realized that the boys were further behind than I had realized. I started to panic! I had been searching for years (I have an older son with learning disabilities too) for a program that would help children with learning disabilities. I discovered Audiblox on a homeschooling website and began reading about it. I did some more research on learning disabilities and decided that Audiblox was based upon solid learning principles. Because I had two children to work with and have other children that I am also homeschooling, I decided to go with a customized program. I am so glad that I did! Our consultant, Benetta, has kept me on track and encouraged me every step of the way when progress seemed to be slow in coming. Thanks, Benetta! Both boys have improved tremendously in their reading. Jon just told me tonight that he was rereading a book he had read last year and was now realizing how much he had missed. (Both boys struggled with dyslexia and Jon would literally jump over words or complete sentences as he read.) Now he is excited to find that his reading makes much more sense. Last year, I read ALL of their school work out loud to them as I knew their reading would not allow them to comprehend the material. They were too busy struggling just to decode the words. Now the boys read their own school books. I know they are comprehending because they discuss what they have read with me. Recently, Jon was given a questionnaire to fill out. I watched apprehensively, afraid that he would not be able to read it and would be embarrassed. Lo and behold, he happily read it and sat debating which answer he liked the best. It was great! Daniel had very poor spelling such that he would not even attempt to write either by hand or on the computer. He has now written (on the computer) six chapters of his very own story which is based upon the Star Wars series. He has the first two chapters posted on an Internet website for writers. (I will try to link to it at a later time for those who are interested. :-) Dan also does creative writing by hand. Jon, my son who was receiving Occupational Therapy last year, can now do cursive handwriting. After we started Audiblox, he was discharged from Occupational Therapy. His therapist did not think she could do anything more for him than he would get from the Audiblox program. (He had been in therapy for about a year.) We are now finishing week 36 of Audiblox. It has been hard work. Some days the boys do not want to do it. Some days, I don't! ;-) However, I committed to doing it for a year (at least) so that I could be sure that the boys will get the maximum benefit from it. I am so pleased with the results that we have gotten with the boys. I plan to use it with my six year old who shows signs of a learning disability. I am not going to wait with him! Using Audiblox, I hope he will never have to feel the discouragement about learning that his older brothers did.