My husband, who has the same challenges, stepped in and told me to let my son work it out for himself - that if I made it easier at home, he'd never find alternative approaches that worked for him. Believe it or not, it worked. It took about three months, but he got to the point that it took less and less time.
Thanks ABQmom for sharing your husband's insight. I am a person who rushes through everything, so it's hard for me not to want to speed him up, and your dh is right - ds needs to find his own way to work that works for him.
Your suggestion of a break every so often is a good suggestion too - we try to encourage him to do this, but need to make a point of being sure that he does.
Thanks so much,
polarbear
Oh, one other "trick" my husband has taught my son - whatever he is working on, he keeps a scrap paper nearby to jot things we would normally keep in our memory while we're working. For example, he writes each number down on the scrap paper as he inputs it into the calculator. When he starts answering questions at the end of a section in the textbook, he jots key words in the question on the paper while he flips back through the section to find the answer. At first it seems like a new step that would slow him down, but having the paper to look at re-jogs his memory and makes it faster in the long run.
In fact, my husband developed an iPhone app that tracks the numbers/functions rather than just displaying the answer. It's just Beta so my son can use it, but I'm pushing him to release it for others who want to be able to look back and see where and whether they made an error.
I'm the same as you, so it's been really tough to "sit on my hands" and watch.
