Father of 4 Looking for Some Friendly Guidance

[GreenMountain]

Hi everyone,

I have visited the forum a few times in the past but this is my first post. I am a father to four children ages: 8, 7, 3, and 2. I have always been encouraging of their academic development. It was not, unfortunately, until my youngest son was diagnosed with autism that I became aware of the incredible power and utility of the early, toddler forms of education.

A diagnosis of autism has been an incredibly painful, terrifying, and difficult period in my life. I have tried to find ways to reach my son and encourage his full development. I purchased Little Reader, Little Math, and Little Musician. He is fascinated by numbers, shapes, and words. He had already developed the ability to read some words on his own before I started this intervention--self taught--but has apraxia of speech. Anyway, long story short, Little Reader had only limited utility in actually making him responsive or interactive to the curriculum presented. I am glad to report that this has changed dramatically in the last week. His language skills are still very much developing, but he's able to point to his teeth when it is presented, as well as hair, eyes, etc.

I have two questions that I'd really appreciate guidance on. What additional resources or methods should I try to familiarize myself with and begin incorporating into my son's education? I have become very interested in the 'right-brain' educational material. Beyond Tweedlewink, are there educational packets that can be purchased or downloaded that I can begin doing with him? Any suggestion would be enormously helpful and be put to good use on someone that would really benefit from your help.

My second question relates to my remaining three children. Obviously with his diagnosis, my youngest son has begun to take up the bulk of my energies simply because he has much greater needs. I'd like to also do some of these activities with his siblings, but know that their effectiveness is reduced once kids begin to reach age 3.

What kind of resources or materials should I use for my older children? I want to help them also develop to their potential. My major problem is my constraint with time. That's what a packaged program that is similar to these reading and math programs, but geared to higher cognitive skill groups would be so immensely valuable.

Thank you all for your help and suggestions.

Best,

Ed

[mishutecka]

Hi Ed,

maybe I can help you a little with your first question. Here are some EL materials which could be helpful for your son:

RB DVDs:
Wink to learn DVDs and apps    http://www.winktolearn.com
Babybit DVDs   http://www.babybit.com
Dictionaries from IAHP   http://www.gentlerevolution.com
 http://www.umnitsa.ru/en/
Tweedlewink DVDs
Sparkabilities DVDs and apps
http://www.readingbear.org/          FREE

+ free flashcards:
http://www.childandme.com/
http://www.theclassicalmommy.com/bitscollection.html

Left brain materials:
Your baby can read, Your baby can discover, Your child can read, Your child can discover DVDs
Monkisee DVDs  http://www.monkisee.com/
Little Pim DVDs
Little Champion reader
http://www.readeez.com
http://www.starfall.com    FREE

I hope this help!

Michaela

[mishutecka]

I forgot this site:

http://www.rightbraineducationlibrary.com/page/hello

[GreenMountain]

Dear Michaela,

Thank you so much for the really useful links. I am going to go through them one at a time and pick the ones I feel I can most successfully use at the moment.

I have a question on rightbraineducationlibrary.com. I joined just now and was able to see a few samples. I think it looks interesting, but how diverse is its total library of activities? I am particularly interested in doing mandala training with the older kids, so it would be very useful. I just want to make sure it is worth the money past a single month.

Thanks again for all your help.

[Mandabplus3]

Be sure to include your older children in viewing little musician. My older children and even myself benefited greatly from it. Your older children might also enjoy doing a different language pack from little reader.

[caren239]

Hi,

Apart from above useful resources whenever you get time include some outdoor activities for kids too. Visual objects will help them learn faster.

[mishutecka]

Sorry for my late response.

Regards RBE library I think they specialize more in flashcards. In mandala section there are 3,4,5,6 colours mandalas, each about 100p.

More mandalas:
http://www.free-mandala.com/en/start.html
http://www.whats-your-sign.com/free-mandala-coloring-pages.html
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/mandala_coloring_pages.htm
http://www.coloringcastle.com/mandala_coloring_pages.html
http://free-printable-mandala-coloring-pages.com/free-mandalas-to-color.shtml
http://www.edupics.com/coloring-pictures-mandalas-c125.html
http://www.coloring-kids.com/mandala-coloring-book-pages.html
http://www.milliande.com/Free-Mandala-Coloring-Pages.html
http://www.frugallifeproject.com/2010/07/free-mandala-coloring-pages.html
http://www.freecoloring.info/mandala.php
http://www.shichidaparents.com/rc/mandala.html
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/D8JBRlUpizg&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/D8JBRlUpizg&rel=1</a>

More about mandala on Shen-Li´s blog:
http://figur8.net/baby/2010/08/02/right-brain-activities-for-home-practice-part-4-mandala/

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