Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional "She doesn't need to be good at EVERYTHING"

ljoy, I wish I could clone your therapist. I was wondering about one of those chain tutoring places, but those tutors most likely don't even have a degree in education and are probably paid barely over minimum wage. We had tried OT about a year ago, and the OT was trying to work a bit with the writing and the slow processing speed, but it was clear she was just randomly trying things and didn't understand the issue. I'm just so tired of trying things that don't help and if we get the wrong person, it could make things worse. She had a teacher last year (a long-term sub who retired as a full-time teacher) and the teacher would constantly bark at her, tell her to get going, make better choices etc. Even after giving so many people articles on slow processing speed (like this one) http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10782.aspx things still don't necessarily change. I always get the impression that people skim through articles like that and then promptly dismiss them or forget about them. It really makes me wonder how many truly good teachers there are out there, if they are unwilling to spend 10 min. reading an article that could really help.

on our therapist:

1) several people told us not to even consider a tutor, specifically look for an Ed. Therapist. They were (mostly) right. We ended up with one of each. The tutor teaches again what she missed out on in class, in mostly the same ways, and helps with homework; DD is now caught up and we are done with tutoring. The Ed. Therapist gives her new strategies and tools tailored to her particular profile, and gives separate assignments. We will continue with her. Therapy is about twice the price of tutoring.

2) We tried out five different ed. therapists. One worked but had a full schedule, several others didn't have enough time to even try out, one was a complete disaster from the moment we met so we didn't go back. The final choice was recommended by our tester and is located at a large but local tutoring center that ALSO offers ed. therapy.

3) The person that worked for us has a BA in Psychology, MA in mild/moderate special ed, and specific training in Lindamood-Bell, Orton-Gillingham, Reading Apprenticeship, and lots of assistive technology. Note - no degree in teaching, exactly. A lot of her approach has been to break down the shame of what DD does poorly and get her to allow herself to do better, which is much more psych than teaching. We knew she was a win when after seeing our testing results she did her own research online and discovered, then forwarded to us, a link to the 2E section at Davidson's. My sense is that she is herself more than a little gifted.

I hope this helps others. We do feel very lucky - but we also found several people who might also have worked, but whose schedules were just full. Our therapist seems wonderful but not unique. Good luck!

When we began our search, I just sent out huge number of email queries asking if such-and-such a place offered educational therapy and asking for bios of the people they had. All the reputable places were forthright with us and gave straight yes/no answers, and the bios clearly stated education and primary ranges of experience (autism? EF? low achievement?). It helped a lot to narrow the field, and it helped a lot to send copies of the same text over and over instead of composing yet another new email or telephoning yet another new office.

DD loved her sessions with both people who would have worked out. She wanted to go back; they made her feel good. Don't return to a person your kid doesn't like.

This advice is excellent. Don't go through the chain places. I tried that for my DD first. We had a excellent educational therapist that worked with my daughter for years. She had a PhD in education and worked with kids who had problems with language and reading issues. Well worth all the money we spend on it.