Summer Update III: College

College.  First, Chen wants to defer.  She wants a semester to mentally prepare for going to college.  She wants to pre-learn Calculus so that she can understand the course and not drown while she takes the course.

I was resistant, and wanted her to take one course.  Drama.  Dance.  Once or twice a week.

She rightfully argued that it's about 2 hours to commute, plus time in the class.  That's twice a week that she loses 3.5 hours a day, which really loses her the whole day because she doesn't cram things into a day.

If it's stressful enough where she needs a day to recuperate, i.e. a day of doing nothing after an eventful day, then she loses 4 days.  So she really won't have time to learn Calculus.

Ironic, isn't it, that she wants to go to college so she can go to the Hillel and meet people (i.e. socialization) but it will interfere with her education?
She also said that she wants to take difficult classes so she can meet smart people.

I agree with her points.  However, I am concerned that for the first time, she won't be getting out of the house regularly and seeing people.  All of her friends from the local High School I work at will be in Israel for the year.  Her local friends will be in college and not available to hang out during the week or even much on weekends.  I don't think she realizes how socially isolated she'll be.

I brought that up and she agreed to give it some thought.

We have a few things left:

• Get that letter of Completion from the district.  Nobody is answering my calls or emails.  That may be because it is July and everyone is on vacation.  That may be because that's how it is.  Chen needs that for Queens College, so hopefully that will be compelling.  I'll have to keep calling.  That's on my mind.
• See if Chen can get accommodations in Queens College.  That will probably make a huge difference in both her attitude and also her actual ability to take classes there.  
• Either defer or register for one course.  Chen has been studying to take the test for online Bio 101 and she realized that maybe Bio with lab may also be a good choice for a first course.  I also think Chem with lab would be a good choice for her.
• She has to take a math exam for QC to see if she qualifies to take Calculus.  Exams make her nervous.  So she has to discuss what is involved with that and if she can get extra time for that.

Decision

I decided to do it.  Chen is understandably trepidacious (it is a word) about doing anything for 1.5 hours a day.  Kal V'chomer something that is reportedly "grueling."  But she agreed to try it, mainly because of the seductive possibility that she'll be able to read without rereading 4-7 times, and the possibility that she won't be mentally exhausted from reading, and that maybe she might actually be able to go to college full time.

They agreed that I don't have to commit to the full six months, since they themselves are not sure she is a candidate.  The program manager sounded pretty excited and seems to think she is a good candidate, and is extremely interested to see if the program will help.

So here we go. 

I was thinking how homeschooling (and unschooling especially) tells parents to pay close attention to kids' cues and to adjust the learning to the child.  All these years that Chen has been refusing to read have not been stubbornness, was not a personality thing.  It's neurological. 

Chen wants to start in a couple of days.  Today, when the program manager called to speak to us, Chen was at Dance.  I arranged for her to call back later.  When Chen came home and I told her, Chen was upset because she wanted to take her medication immediately and have two solid hours to work on trigonometry. 

Can you believe that?  My unschooled child, who dropped math in 2009 or so and later told me not to get involved in high school math--she's handling it herself.  Everyone always thinks: If I unschool, they'll just play video games all day.  Even kids themselves think: If I unschool, I would watch youtube and play video games all day.

And yet that is not the case.  Chen, age 17, is raring to go and is so jealously guarding her math time that she was reluctant to interrupt it with a five minute conversation.  (Instead of waiting for the call, she called the program manager right then, and was pleased with the conversation.)

I never cease to be astonished at the magic that is unschooling.

To Do or Not to Do, That is the Question

In May, Chen (grade 12) got a psychoeducational evaluation.  She was diagnosed with severe ADHD.  She has some type of difficulty processing, but she can read letters and words easily.  It is only when they combine to sentences and paragraphs that she has trouble processing what she is reading.

She began medication, which helps tremendously on focus (she went from being able to focus for 15 minutes to being able to focus for 1.5 hours).  However, much to her disappointment, it did not help with her processing difficulties.  She still has to read things many times in order to understand.

I went back and forth with the evaluator, and she explained that this type of processing is a subcategory of ADHD.  It's not a separate processing disorder.  She said they are thinking of making it its own DSM disorder, but thus far have not done so.

In the meantime, last year, I had read about a woman who had designed a whole bunch of brain exercises involving a 16 hour clock and had trained her brain with neuroplasticity to be able to do things where before she had a learning disability.  I recalled this and wondered if Chen's brain could be retrained.  I looked in vain for that article or talk, but was unable to find it.

By coincidence, somebody posted a list of nonfiction books, and one of them was Brain That Changes Itself.  In it was the story of this woman!  It also discussed different neuroplasticity programs.  One is in Canada and another in Australia.  Then in another chapter, it discussed a program called Fast ForWord.  It is very expensive--over $2000.  It is considered a grueling program.  It claims to do brain exercises that will improve processing.  It is a 6 month program for 50-90 minutes a day.

After looking more closely, the main issues they help with are Auditory Processing Disorder, Dyslexia, Autism, and ADHD.  Chen only has ADHD.  But it may be that her particular issues are not what this program addresses.  Chen's Working Memory is average on her neuropsych eval.  This program strengthens Working Memory and auditory processing.  So will this program help?  If her Working Memory was abnormally low, then this program would certainly be suited.  But in this case...Her processing disorder is not a standard processing disorder.

She did the assessment and I spoke to them, and they said that if she hadn't been tested and found that her Working Memory is decent, they would have said that this program will certainly help.  However, knowing from testing that her processing issues are not exactly what this program does, they can't say it will be helpful.  So it is kind of a risk.

On the other hand, the thought that she might be able to read without re-reading and re-reading and growing mentally exhausted is just a wondrous thought.  Is it worth the gamble?

Here are some testimonials.

I am inclined to invest the money in the hope that she could train her brain to process reading more easily.  At the same time, I wonder if I am just one of those desperate people who will pay for hope and ultimately be paying for something that doesn't work.

If anyone has any experience or feedback for me, please reach out to help me make this decision!