We began our discussion last issue with Dr. Joe Sutton of Educational Diagnostics and touched on how we can discern whether we have a struggling learner and what to do to begin to look for professional assistance in planning our homeschooling program. This issue we will look at specific aspects of programs for struggling learners.

Welcome back, Dr. Sutton!

TOS: There are many educational programs available which market directly to parents. How can a parent evaluate their effectiveness or appropriateness for their struggling learner?

Dr. Sutton: Research has concluded that the key to helping struggling learners and those with bona fide disabilities succeed educationally is NOT found in any one method, approach, or "program" per se, although there are all sorts of programs out there that make a variety of false, grandiose cure-all claims. Such programs include herbal/vitamin regimens, computer systems, brain-retraining activities (e.g., child takes his hand and traces a large figure-8 on the blackboard as he recites his multiplication facts), even wacky chiropractic approaches (e.g., children must blow up 100 balloons each day to increase their diaphragm muscles!). Any and all such programs have virtually no research to back up their efficacy at improving academic achievement and learning in children with disabilities. So, beware of any vendor or consultant who pushes their particular product or program as THE solution to your child's learning struggles. Such people are nothing more than self-serving con artists.

Homeschool parents need to realize that there is no single, stand-alone, self-contained, completely thorough, commercially produced curriculum program on the market designed for all students with disabilities. The secret to improvement for struggling and disabled learners is an individually designed, tailor-made program that will meet the child's unique needs. "Remediation" is an antiquated concept that is beginning to find its way back into the vernaculars of better diagnosticians these days, which is good. Research has confirmed that directly teaching deficit skills-identified through diagnostic one-on-one testing and assessment-coupled with individualized, intensive, engaging, research-proven teaching methods and approaches that must be learned and delivered personally by the teacher, is the secret to effective and appropriate educational programming for struggling learners and those with disabilities. That's what the remedial concept is all about. Beware of any professional who tells you that remedial instruction is easy and simple. It will take hard work, but homeschool parents are perfectly capable of learning how to deliver tailor-made instruction for their children.

TOS: Armed with a confirmed diagnosis, many homeschooling parents cry, "Help!" Is it possible to adapt or modify existing, standard curricula to meet the unique needs of struggling learners?

Dr. Sutton: Yes. Giving struggling and disabled learners the opportunity to learn concurrently from regular, standard curricular materials (e.g., textbooks, workbooks) cognitively palatable for struggling learners will require that parents provide instructional accommodations, modification, and adaptations to workbooks and textbooks, which were never designed with struggling learners in mind. I give examples of numerous accommodations in my Strategies book. By way of example, it is not unusual for standard math textbooks/workbooks to present monotonous, seemingly endless rows and columns of math problems, with as many as 30-40 problems on a page. For LD students who have visual processing/discrimination difficulties, parents may need to present the student with smaller "chunks" of problems. This can be done fairly easily by making a copy of the page of problems (home copiers are very inexpensive), then clipping it into strips/rows of problems that may only be 4-6 in number. Or, the parent may construct a window card that blocks out all problems on a page, except for the one problem to which the student should be attending. In sum, adapting a standard curriculum that is on the student's functioning level, combined with a tailor-made remedial program of instruction, will produce the most ideal and effective school program for struggling learners.

Reiterating, the ideal homeschool program for students with disabilities is not possible through any single self-contained, commercially produced "special education" curriculum or program per se. Rather, their educational program must be tailor-made to include a balance of (1) remedial instruction and (2) standard curriculum with adaptations and accommodations. The way parents deliver the remedial instruction component is a personal choice. Whether they do it themselves or farm it out, for example, by employing a private learning specialist several hours per week, depends on the individual dynamics of each individual family. Some parents are not confident enough to implement remedial instruction. Some choose not to handle the remedial component for other reasons.

TOS: What kinds of products or adaptations have you advised parents to try?

Dr. Sutton: Some examples of adaptations were illustrated above. I discuss many others in my book, Strategies for Struggling Learners. There are some commercially-produced products that are specifically designed for, and researched on, students who have learning disabilities in particular academic areas. For example, the Sound Out! Program (published by the Center for Applied Research in IA) is a theoretically sound approach to remediating reading decoding skills. TouchMath program (published by Innovative Learning Concepts in CO) provides a multisensory approach to learning basic, elementary-level math skills, while Hands-on Equations (published by Borenson and Associates in PA) also provides a multisensory approach to teaching higher-order math. Parents must use wisdom in purchasing products for struggling learners, though. Be bold and ask questions. In particular, ask for supporting research. If the vendor cannot product it, then walk away.

TOS: It was so encouraging to read your book, Strategies for Struggling Learners. In the book you talk about basic Scriptural teaching principles for parents. Can you talk about these a bit for our readers? These principles really help us focus on what is important for our children.

Dr. Sutton: Principles are the basic beliefs and values that parent-teachers embrace and that drive instruction for our children. They serve as guidelines to follow and reminders that God is in control, when it comes to our children and how they are developing, growing, and maturing toward what He would have them to be one day in the future.

Understanding, for example, that not all struggles in life result from personal sin nature of the child or "sins of the fathers" is a critically important principle for parents to get ahold of. I've spoken with parents who have mercilessly punished themselves for giving birth to a child with a disability, as if the child's disability was of their doing or fault, when all indications were that it was clearly beyond the personal control of the parent. We now know that learning disabilities (LD) in reading are attributable to a defective gene (chromosome #6), according to research coming out of the National Institute of Child Health and Development, under the direction of Nobel laureate scientist Dr. Reid Lyon.

Waking up every morning and facing another homeschool day, with the false idea that you, the parent, personally caused your child's disability, when there is no evidence to support such a supposition, is wrong, unnecessarily discourages parents, and fuels a defeatist spirit all too often. Parents like this are suffering from a lack of Scripturally sound principles to guide their teaching.

TOS: What kinds of services can you offer to our readers? Do you also offer on-site testing?

Dr. Sutton: I basically lend my expertise to parents in helping them develop and implement tailor-made homeschool programs for their struggling learners. My role is similar to that of a coach. My company, Exceptional Diagnostics, is primarily an educational testing and consulting service for parents who have children with learning, attention, and behavioral difficulties or who have gifted potential. As the sole partner in my company, I personally provide individual testing services to homeschool families, either at my home-office in South Carolina or on-site.

In addition to face-to-face assessments using tests that parents are not permitted, nor qualified to administer, score, or interpret, I also provide testing products that homeschool parents, as teachers, can administer, score, or interpret, I also provide testing products that homeschool parents, as teachers, can administer in the comfort of their home. In-home administered tests include screening tests for learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, giftedness, and other tests such as learning style test, life skills tests, and career interest tests. Although parents, as teachers, are permitted to administer the tests, they must return the tests to me for scoring, interpretation, and for preparation of a written report of results and recommendations. I do provide on-site testing, an extremely beneficial option for parents who live great distances away from my home-office in South Carolina. For example, I am presently organizing an on-site testing trip for eight families in the greater Indianapolis area who all have expressed a need for testing. Parents collectively pay an equal share of my expenses (travel, lodging, and meals) and thereby save tremendous related costs.

TOS: Upon receipt of the results of these tests, how do you advise parents to proceed?

Dr. Sutton: Advice and recommendations on how to proceed vary with the type of testing. By way of example, some parents may secure a diagnostic skills assessment for a child who has a documented learning disability, say, in reading. Upon giving and scoring the diagnostic reading tests, I prepare a report that sufficiently serves as a "blueprint" for the parents to follow in implementing a remedial program for their child in the homeschool. All diagnostic skill assessments, whether in reading, spelling-writing, or mathematics, result in a written report (ranging from 25-35 pages) that spells out two necessary pieces of information that a parent must have in order to implement a remedial program: (1) a listing of the deficit skills that are contributing to the learning gaps, e.g., digraphs, consonant blends, phonetic irregularities, etc.; and (2) a listing of recommended teaching approaches and commercially-produced products that are individualized, intensive, engaging, and research-proven that the parents can use to teach the deficit skills. Again, teaching recommendations will vary, based on the type of testing the parents secure. I believe a very important thing to keep in mind is to proceed slowly. Miracles do not happen overnight, and contrary to what the world would have you to believe, there are no magic pills nor overnight cures in reducing learning struggles in our children.

Also, parents will need to be patient with themselves as they must learn new teaching techniques and approaches and implement them methodically and systematically over time. I have always maintained that homeschool parents do not need a college degree in special education in order to provide remedial instruction in the home, but they will need to teach themselves new and different teaching methods, and be willing to borrow brains from experts, while maintaining full control of the education of their children.

TOS: Please tell our readers how to contact you and learn more about your services.

Dr. Sutton: The most accessible way to learn more about my testing and consulting services is to visit my testing and consulting services is to visit my website at www.edtesting.com. I am also available by phone (864-967-4729) or email Sutton@edtesting.com. Parents may secure a brochure by writing to Joe P. Sutton, PhD, Exceptional Diagnostics, 220 Douglas Drive, Simpsonville, SC 29681.

TOS: We want to thank you for visiting with us this month. It is a blessing to know that knowledgeable, Christian counsel is available to parents who homeschool struggling learners.

Dr. Sutton: Thank you for this opportunity to help and encourage homeschool parents. It is my joy and privilege to minister in this way. For the cause of Christian homeschooling, my prayer is that parents of struggling and disabled learners will keep on keeping on.

Christine M. Filed practiced law for eight years before becoming a full-time mommy. She and her husband live and homeschool their four children in Wheaton, Illinois, where her husband serves as Chief of Police. As the author of the books Help for the Harried Homeschooler, A Field Guide to Home Schooling, Coming Home to Raise Your Children, Should You Adopt? and Life Skills for Kids. Christine is a ready and willing help to the homeschooling community. Christine welcomes readers' comments, personal stories, and questions. For more information on Christine and her resources, please visit her website: www.homefieldadvantage.org.