Special Needs

Struggling Learners Gifted Learners / Special Needs   This year, we are better defining what this track of talks represents.  These talks are designed for parents with kids that just don't follow that normal pattern of learning that we imagined in our minds. Some have obvious limitations, even physical ones.  Some have just a ‘glitch' to their learning. Some don't pay attention or tend to task very well.  And we have gifted kids, twice gifted kids, adopted kids and the struggles they face.  And still more...  This year, we have brought Dianne Craft, special needs consultant from HSLDA, and a former homeschool mom (her kids are now all grown), as the featured speaker in the Struggling Learners / Gifted Learners / Special Needs area.  She has a lot to share on how to break through those learning blocks, how to help learning by improving nutrition, and more. For her biography, click here. In addition, we have an expert on the neurology of learning problems presenting some of the latest neurological information on learning struggles and ADD, an applied behavior analysis specialist (and homeschool graduate) sharing her insight, two occupational therapists sharing lots of great information on sensory integration and learning with music, and some homeschool moms of struggling learners and special needs kids encouraging you that you can homeschool these wonderful children.  Plus, we have added a couple of sessions to help parents with the issues that can occur with adopted kids.  And, finally, we have lots of information for parents with children whose learning is advanced beyond their years - how to challenge them in new and different ways!! Struggling Learner/Gifted Learner/Special Needs Complete Schedule: Click here to see the complete line up of Special Needs/ Struggling Learners/ Gifted Learners seminars to choose from.  We offer three rooms of speakers for each time slot (the first set of speakers is scheduled at 10:00 am each morning).  Help!!  There is too much!!!  I want to go to every talk!! We have done our best to set up the Struggling Learner / Gifted  Learner / Special Needs talks so that talks that you may be interested in are not held at the same time, but to do that completely is  impossible. For that reason, we suggest that you remember that you can order CD's of the talks that you were not able to attend. In that way, we can offer more subjects overall and thus better enhance your homeschooling efforts, even if only through listening to recorded CD  presentations for some subjects.  Check out the Rhino technologies table at the Expo to order CD's of seminars. The Three Sub-Categories: Struggling Learner, Gifted Learner, Special Needs Below is an explanation of each of the three categories listed at the top of this page. For the most part, no child will fit into just one category, so please do not think that a topic is not for your child just because it is not listed in a specific category.  Many of the seminars offered in the Struggling Learner / Gifted Learner / Special Needs area span all three categories.  Struggling Learners The category of struggling learners is broad based, but typically covers the following types of learning issues: Your child just isn't catching on to reading or math like his age mates and just needs a nudge to get past his learning block. Your child just isn't catching on to reading or math like his age mates and just needs a nudge to get past his learning block. Your child learns fine when she can stay focused, which is not all too often! She is highly intelligent, but easily distracted. You know there is something wrong with your child's learning, but you cannot pinpoint the problem. Your child is highly reactive to his environment, freaks out to loud sounds, squirms when a clothing tag touches him, fusses when clothes don't feel right, and just seems out of sorts most of the time. Your child has a diagnosis of ADD / ADHD and doesn't know the meaning of "pay attention" or "slow down." Your child is really talented in one area (i.e. music or art), but really struggles in other areas. Or you have a child that may not fit anything above, but he or she isn't learning the way you think they should be learning and you are not sure why.  Click here to view recommended talks for Struggling Learners. top of page Gifted Learner The gifted learners often need to be challenged, to be given schooling beyond just moving them faster through the basics.  Gifted learners also frequently may have Learning Glitches or ADD/ADHD and parents may benefit from some of the talks in that arena as well.  How to tell if you might be interested in some gifted learner talks Your child picked up reading at age three, and is doing third and fourth grade math at age six. You can't figure out how exactly to channel her education. Your child isn't challenged with anything you give him to work on and you don't know where to turn to provide him with great learning opportunities and challenges. Your child sees things multi-dimensionally, takes apart appliances and other mechanical devices and puts them back together easily (and they still work!), can put together puzzles that most adults wouldn't even attempt to put together, and can even solves brain teasers, wondering why no one else can solve them quickly (or at all) Your child seems to have a really high IQ, but has difficulty staying to task at times and is often easily distracted (attention deficit and gifted often go hand-in-hand). Your child is really talented in one specific area (i.e. music or art), but sometimes struggles in other areas Click here to view recommended talks for Gifted Learners. top of page Special Needs The Special Needs category covers much of what was not already covered above, to include areas such as cerebral palsy, Down's Syndrome, and Autism Spectrum disorders.  ADD / ADHD and sensory integration problems, also mentioned in the struggling learner category, can be included in this area as well.  Finally, we have included our adopted children talks here.  Again, children who fall in this category may also fall into other categories as well.  There is much overlap in these categories. How to tell if the seminars geared for this category might be something you would be interested in. Your child has a diagnosis of Aspergers Disorder or something else  within Autism Spectrum disorder. Right now, you either don't know  where to start or you are pulling your hair out. Your child has a significant development disability, such as Down's  Syndrome, cerebral palsy, and you are not even sure if you are able to  homeschool a child with this type of problem. Your child is highly reactive to his environment, freaks out to loud sounds, squirms when a clothing tag touches him, fusses when clothes don't feel right, and just seems out of sorts most of the time. Your child has a diagnosis of ADD / ADHD and doesn't know the meaning of "pay attention" or "slow down." You have adopted a child overseas and have the added difficulties of language barriers and additional sensory problems from orphanage life. You have adopted a child locally and have no idea what difficulties that child might have encountered (even prenatally) prior to your adoption.  Click here to view a list of recommended talks for Special Needs. REMEMBER:  There are lots of seminars that might interest you at the Expo.  You will not be able to attend them all, so please consider purchasing CD's for the talks that you had to miss. For biographies of the seminar speakers, click here. For biographies of the Special Needs speakers, click here.  For talk descriptions, click here. top of page