My son John is 6 years old and has Autism and ADHD. Â He uses an iPad and the iPod Touch. Â One of the programs that he uses is called Footsteps2Brilliance. Â The following is our experience with this program after about 8 weeks since his first assessment.
Summer School started the first week of July and ended August 16th. Â It lasted just shy of 8 weeks. Â I’m assuming that the first assessment was done the first week and I received the final scores on the 15th. Â John wasn’t eligible for services with his IEP for the summer so he received no extra assistance aside from the regular teaching. Â I definitely attribute a large amount of his improvement to F2B!
When he was in Kindergarten he kept having to be placed in lower and lower reading groups (and he finally ended up in the lowest) because his attention was lacking and his inability to retain what was read to answer questions about it immediately after the fact. Â Almost immediately with F2B I noticed that not only was he more engaged with the material itself, but that he was paying more attention because he knew that it would help him with the Book Buddies and Games at the end. Â One time he tried to do a game before the book and then stopped and went back because he needed the information from the book. Â Even the fact that he was able to process that without being told amazed me!
We often refer to him as “Constant Motion Boy” because it has been so difficult to get him to slow down and just be. Â The iPad and iPod Touch are grounding for him. Â I know that an awful lot of people look down on kids being so attached to their electronics but for us it’s been a sanity saver. Â It’s heartbreaking to see your child know that there’s something “off” with themselves. Â John has said several times that he wished his “brain worked right” so he wasn’t “so goofy”. Â When he sits down with F2B and gets told repeatedly that he’s done a good job when he answers a question correctly it helps him to see that his brain worlds just fine– goofiness and all.
Sincerely,
Karen, John’s Mother