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I should also add that like Polarbear we don't do "therapy" during holidays, we do it school days only. We do, however, make sure their extracurricular are carefully chosen and significantly therapeutic. Climbing trees and ropes and monkey bars are all significantly therapeutic for my DD with the hand issues, but they aren't "therapy" to her, so is Piano. Swimming, circus classes and piano have all been major parts of my Dyslexic child's therapy - massively improving left/right integration, crossing the midline, and sequencing skills. And we push back pretty hard if they try to quit an extra that we consider to be still a genuine therapeutic need.

Thank you everyone for the replies.

The summer timing of Lindamood Bell was necessary because the center near us is seasonal. My in-laws are also seasonal residents and are his transportation for his sessions.

DS has several issues (dyspraxia, dysgraphia, dyslexia, SPD, and a connective tissue disorder).

With this "E" combo and the giftedness, there is always something to work on. He finished up a two year stint of OT in May. Last year he had both OT and PT for a while.

DH and I work full-time. I also spend about 1.5 hours in the car commuting everyday. DS is in school from 8:00-5:30 M-F year round except for a few weeks off. I think I am just ready for a break.

This is why my daughter took dance for many years with a very wonderful and patient teacher. And both my kids took theater for a while.

That said, sometimes it works better to get the precise therapy that you child needs. I send my daughter to an educational therapist for 8 years and I am very glad I did.

My teenager will be taking writing classes this summer. He is not thrilled, but he needs the practice and there really isn't time during the school year to add on one more thing. He will also get lots of just hang out at home and go away to camp time as well.

Our son is dyslexic and dysgraphic also and a DYS. He always scores in the 99% on all tests so I get how it is uncomfortable to do remediation. We have done outside speech/vision and some tutoring. I always explain it like this. He really cannot read and although it may not be a problem until college when he sees words he does not know, it is not fair to him that he never learns to read or that we set him up for such failure when we can do something now. His dyslexia tutor totally gets this as does his speech therapist.

His school does personalize his goals and education plan. According to my friends with public school attending kids, my son's kindergarten math and reading work is second grade material at their kids' schools.

He gets small group or individual instruction and a weekly set of assignments based on where he has demonstrated to be working in each subject.

They accelerate as they see the need with little reference to grade levels. They skipped a big chunk if first grade reading material after we started doing TBT at home. It is great and the parents are very much a part of the team in deciding what the goals should be. There are no report cards in the traditional sense and a kids' grade at school is only a reference to their year in school not the work they are doing. My interest in the grade level equivalents are not so they can put him in a different classroom.

I am interested in what work would be appropriate for a child with his cognitive ability as a measure for where he is headed with remediation and whether he could access it now with an accomodation.

aeh, can you cite the research that supports 1-2 days per week efficacy for OG?

KJP, I wouldn't talk about achievment levels with the tutors, but instead to address those phonological skills that he must learn, and by nature of his dyslexia, he's unlikely to learn through standard educational practice. Because of his cognitive abilities, he's going to move through those skills faster than most kids starting at this age, but he still needs to develop these skills. His dyslexia means that he will need to be taught those skills instead of absorbing them through exposure to text as many students do.

Sounds like you have gotten great advice from all, but the one thing I would add is that my biggest regret is not doing Lindamood-Bell in Kindergarten/first grade when it was first recommended b/c he was "ok" and still ahead 1 1/2 grades. We waited until mid-2nd grade when he had stagnated his learning and hadn't moved a reading level in over a year. The beginning of 2nd grade was a complete mess with his frustration, anger etc. b/c he couldn't "get it" and was acutely aware that the beginning of 1st grade he was in the "highest group" and now he was close to the bottom. The intensive program made a world of difference for him (he even admits that it was worth the time) and now he is focused, reading, learning etc. etc. I have nothing but good things to say about the program. As a working mom too, the one thing I would make sure you do is have both you and whoever helps him with homework him after school go to the weekly meetings and the end of the year. Continuation of the program is as important as the intensive remediation and if its a seasonal clinic, you will have to do it at home (its not that hard, you just need to learn the key words to use with him). I hope its as successful for you and your DS. Good Luck!!

It's pre-publication work from a poster presentation at the last national school psych convention. Both authors are from UMN, and the first author is affiliated with this reading research group at UMN:

http://www.cehd.umn.edu/reading/

I certainly wouldn't recommend that 2x/wk be the standard protocol based on one research study, but I think it is enough data to say that 2x/wk over the summer is likely to be sufficient for maintaining a student's progress over those two months.

Thanks, aeh! I will look forward for it to be published. Indeed, knowing that 2x week over the summer can help a lot of people that pick up the slack out of pocket over the summer.

KJP, you seem confident in your path, but if you find yourself doubting it, there is a significant literature that these therapies not just teach the skills, but also change the functioning of the brain as a result, something that is retained once therapy is concluded. My DD's school psych forwarded me a long list of citations backing this up. I'm happy to share if you are interested in reading more. (I'm a original literature person - I find the books written for parents/teachers frustrating reads.)

I think I have worked out a way to get testing, tutoring and school all coordinated.

DS's teachers are going to spend some time at the seasonal Lindamood Bell center with DS and their tutors this summer. After his session, he will do some exit testing and they will develop a plan for continuing at school.

Then in the fall, the year round regional Lindamood Bell center has agreed to come out to DS's school for a follow up with his teachers and to see how DS is doing.

So I think this approach will cut out the "go to school all day and then work with mom at night" thing we've had going on for a very long time. He'll be getting this stuff done at school.