Never Give Up!

We are in our eleventh year of home education.
There have been highs and lows.

We began this journey as what we thought would
be a "catch-up" year for our eldest son, Jonathan,
for third grade. It was our intention to give him
intensive intervention and then put him back in
the very "wonderful" public school he was in.

Well, those plans certainly were changed.
There were many factors in that decision.

However, this post is a success story.
One that was all of these years in the making.

You see, Jonathan is dyslexic, and has
processing delays. Those are the titles
he wears. He has an extremely high I.Q.
and is a very smart young man with certain
undeniable challenges that make learning
harder for him than some.

Over the years we have done vision therapy,
tutoring, many unique programs. I have
visited special schools to see if they could
teach him better, we have cried together and
very often laughed together. We have prayed,
studied and I have read aloud for hours and
hours.

It has been quite a journey.
I would do it all again....
no questions asked!!!!

This year we discovered the Dragon
Speech Recognition Software.

You see, for all of the difficulties
Jonathan has with reading he absolutely
loves books! He loves many kinds of books.

Somewhere along the line we received some
excellent advice...Don't let Jonathan's
physical ability to read stop his progress
in the books he is exposed to. So...we
didn't. Through my reading to him and the
depth of availability of Books on Tape or CD
Jonathan has continued to progress with his
interests without hesitation. He loves to
visit new libraries as he has exhausted our
library of new, to him, material.

At the end of last year, Jonathan mentioned
that he would like to write a book but the
process of using pen and paper or typing is
just stifling. He has to think so very hard
about the processes involved in writing and
typing that he loses his thoughts and gives up.

So...we investigated speech recognition software.

Bingo!

Jonathan has written chapters in his new novel.
There is a sequel forming in his head...
and a second series that he wants to begin in
between this book and it's sequel.

Do you know what else?

The Dragon Software sometimes messes up and Jonathan
has begun to override it and type first and speak
second. He is consumed. He will type as long as
he knows the words and now just uses the software
for those big words that he wants to use but is
clueless to spell.

Maybe one day you will know his name as a published
author, maybe not. But what I know is that he is
finding satisfaction in the one area that we never
would have guessed he would.

So...people, please be encouraged. Everything you
do in an effort to assist your children pays off.
It may take years...eleven maybe...but it is not
wasted!

Hugs!

Becky K.