The ldonline site has all kinds of information. They have a section on learning issues/disabilities basics that they call 'abc's of'... Their 'ldindepth' section has links to all kinds of more specific information including assessments and how to interpret scores. The first thing to know is that _if_ there is a possibility or probability of a problem, the way for your child to get fast access to needed resources is to get them the assessments and/or diagnoses to which they are entitled so that they get those (they have rights to education, but that won't help them if they also require supports to get that). Early is better than later for this kind of thing because it's easier to start off stronger than to play catch-up later. Second, read up on all the relevant information. Your son has a right to an education, and to assessments and supports which may be needed by him in order to experience more successful learning. Third, one thing you can do initially pretty much is check out different learning styles and see which ways seem to work best for your son. That can help in the interim to find an effective method of studying for tests or quizes, or just to retain information he wants to retain. Experiment, and have fun with this. Everyone sort of eventually finds a method they can use well, especially people who've done well in school. Rote memorizing works for some, re-reading, saying out loud and repeating, writing and re-writing, flashcards, making up rhymes and things, studying while also dancing or moving or listening to music, and all other kinds of things. A tactile spelling trick can be to have a sand box to spell in. Using hearing, and helping with dyslexia can and should involve phonics. Visually of course the text appears. Try out different things as they come to you, and you work with your son. It's probably rough to work hard and to _try_ and to want to succeed and only get a couple words correct on a spelling test. You can ask the teacher what the class average was, and high scores and things like that; but it still is probably hard for your son to feel like he tried as hard as he could and could only get a couple words correct. (Look at the tests to see if you can assess his errors. Were they 'little' or minor spelling errors but the reader could tell he was close? Were there errors that seemed to defy all logic applied? How is the writing? (Is it consistent in style and letter formation, even if there are errors; or, do the letters seem to have different sizes and shapes and perspectives relative to each other?) These kinds of things can give you clues about what, if anything may be a contributing problem area for him. You can also ask the teacher outright, why, exactly do they feel your son may have a learning disability. And, given that they already shared that particular feeling, is there any particular disability they feel he may have (and if so, why). Take notes, so you can have a record. If taking notes is not going to work for you, you can also ask if the teacher would mind being recorded or if they could provide you written information so that you can have a record of this information. This page address is from the ldonline site and has their assessment-related links. (The link 'understanding tests and measurements for parents and advocates' is the one which goes into detail about how the different tests work and what the score numbers mean.) http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/assessment/assessment.html This page address has a lot of information about learning styles and differences. They have interactive ways to find out which strengths a person has and tips on how to work with those strengths. http://www.ldpride.net/learningstyles.MI.htm get his hearing checked... people can have conventional hearing problems, they can also have auditory processing problems which affect how their brain processes what is technically heard by the hearing system (he can have 'normal' hearing, but still have problems as though he could not hear); also, with dyslexia people can have problems that look like hearing problems (they don't 'hear' or register phonemes, 'phonics' as a method of learning can sometimes help draw their attention to the smaller bits of words and sounds that make up words.... most people just have a brain-space that takes up that info as if on autopilot) P.S. It can be helpful when you look into getting assessments to make up a big notebook of his medical history (from your pregnancy experiences, his birth, and beyond... plus family history including any known or suspected learning disabilities); and of his schooling history, strengths and weaknesses and representative work. You are your son's personal 'expert' and 'advocate' so it can help to have a nice notebook and to look at appointments as 'meetings' or business conferences. P.P.S. The hello friend site is also very good. They have links on the left with good visual icons, and text. It's a very user-friendly site with good information. http://www.hellofriend.org/

Many people on here definitely write that word as "definately". Cemetery becomes "cemetary". But the one that troubles me is that many use "loose" for when they can't find something, rather than for a belt that's too long and lacks enough holes (or "loose" change). I say that when I "lose" something, I can't find it. I got on some people's case here a while ago about "weird", talking of "i" before "e", except after "c", except in such cases as "neighbour" or "weigh" ... and had to eat humble pie, for that latter list, weirdly, includes "weird", as well! (As for "neighbour" ... Canadians spell funny [i.e. peculiarly], as well). I think that there are a couple of others that are sort of my pet peeves, a;so ... but can't think of them at the moment, so I guess I'm not all bent out of shape over it! I have a hard time keyboarding the letters in correct sequence, too often getting two (sometimes more) in reverse sequence. It seems to me that we should give our children the example of doing things correctly and being precise, when possible. They should set their vision on excellence, for they are in global competition, these days, which is getting more intense. Those who figure that good enough will do ...will get left in the dust, I think. I don't have grandkids, and I am not exactly unhappy about that, for I think that life will be a great deal more difficult for people in our part of the world, within a generation. Our rich guys (mostly "guys") are getting really rich, and the numbers of the poor are expanding as the middle class gets hollowed out. Look at South America a generation ago ... and still, to a point. The means of production, of producing wealth, held in the hands of a few ... with millions of peons. End of rant. I hope that you're all enjoying this lovely spring weekend ... landlord says that we needed the heavy rains that we got last night and today. ole joyful

Don't be to quick to judge a person for bad grammar, especially if the person is older like a lot of us. Finding words sometimes is very difficult as you age. My husband has AZ and he lost nouns so eventually he couldn't speak to others at all. Also people with dyslexia and other problems can't speak well. You have no idea how long it takes me to compose an email or a post in these forums, partly because of proof reading so I will not offend anyone and I don't have any of the above problems. I am just old as dirt. I have learned in forums that you can speak just a few words and you will be judged forever as one you don't want to be friendly with. On a lighter note, I found when raising small children you lose some of your grammar skills. For instance one child used the word "gots" as in I gots lots of candy. Pretty soon all the parents were saying "gots". LOL

I'm just blowing off steam here but after working in the public for 30 plus years...what does bother me is critisizing someone's dialect or the way they speak...we are a melting pot here in the US and i've learned never to critique the way someone speaks...I grew up in Southern Indiana, then moved to a large city when I was 12...I was called a hick because of the slow laidback dialect I had from living in the country on a farm for the first 12 years of my life...then I left and became a flight attendant...I lived in Atlanta for a month, back to Chicago for a month, then Houston for two years, back to Indiana for four years and have been in Georgia for the past 27...We merged with a very northern company based out of Minneapolis 3 years ago and there has been some heated issues with the merger...several of the Minneapolis based gals were in the lunch line with us one day and started making fun of the southern accents...I pretty much told them..."I grew up two hours south of Chicago, but I learned to speak SUTHIN when I moved here 26 years ago"...you know....when in Rome...it shut them right up...I've also called some of my family members on it...one of them actually accused me of faking my accent...OMG...I have better things to do then fake an accent... Sorry...didn't mean to ruffles anyones feathers...I've gotten really good at pinpointing where someone is from just listening to the words they use...it makes them feel special...so go on and PAK that CAH...youse guys from Chicago...like well I do love living in LAX...your voice and dialect just tells me where y'all hail from!!