Accommodations and Scaffolding

I’m going to share some of the issues I’ve been working through as we implement workboxes at our house with a child who has an autism spectrum disorder. Here's one of the pieces I've been considering:

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As I contemplate what is next in homeschooling for my daughter who has an ASD diagnosis, I am thinking about accommodations (compensations), and scaffolding.

I like the definition of scaffolding that I found here. Vygotsky identified what is called the “zone of proximal development.” According to Vygotsky, every learner’s developmental level has two parts: the “actual development level” and the “potential developmental level.” The zone of proximal development is the “distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978).

Here’s an excerpt from "How Can My Kid Succeed in School? What Parents and Teachers Can Do to Conquer Learning Problems," by Craig Pohlman, Ph.D., page 59: "5. Be aware of two kinds of learning strategies. The first kind is designed to build up a weakness or skill; these building strategies are sometimes called interventions. The second kind is a tactic for bypassing a weakness in some way; these strategies are often referred to as accommodations or modifications. Some strategies can both build and bypass at the same time; others swing between the categories depending on what the goal is. Most students need a combination of strategies -- building strategies so they can make improvements, bypassing strategies so they can experience success without being hindered by their weaknesses."

Think about an individual who is paralyzed from the waist down. That individual will never walk. An accommodation is a wheelchair or scooter. Another example is Little Person who will never grow to average height. If you've ever watched the reality TV show, "Little People Big World," Matt and Amy Roloff had their kitchen counters and appliances lowered. That’s an accommodation.

Sometimes, the same item can be a long-term compensation or a short-term compensation. An example of a permanent or long-term accommodation is a wheelchair for an individual who is paralyzed and is never expected to stand or walk. An example of a short-term compensation is a wheelchair for a person who is recuperating from an accident and needs a short term help while recovering, healing, or during remediation.

Developmental interventions designed to remediate deficits like RDI(r) have parents looking closely at the difference between a long-term compensation, a short-term compensation, and a scaffold within a developmental ladder of learning and growth.

When my daughter was still in public school, I tried to convince the staff to develop some developmental goals that would grow my daughter's ability to sense non-verbal cues and clues that would allow her the ability to transition more easily. Instead, one of the staff members implied that my daughter would probably always need a visual schedule and that once she got into 4th grade, we could hide her visual schedule inside the planners that all the students get, and she wouldn't look so different. I got the impression from them that visual schedules are expected to be permanent accommodations for most students on the autism spectrum.

RDI(r) gave me a clear direction on what developmental steps we need to help my daughter take in order to begin to better manage herSELF and her day, steps that include non-verbal interaction and reciprocity, attention shifting, gaze shifting, attention sharing, emotion sharing, turn taking, joining, co-regulating.

But the school wanted to skip all of those (or work on them haphazardly, without real intention)-- I think they didn't think she was capable of growing in those functional areas and the visual schedule, to them, is an acceptable long-term or even permanent compensation.

Parents of typically developing children put in short term compensations for a LACK of a skill that we KNOW our kid will reach at some point. At the same time, we are scaffolding all the little steps in between where they are and that skill they lack.

In autism, a lot of professionals believe individuals w/ autism are like Little People who will never grow to average height. They believe that autistic kids will never develop perspective taking or joint attention or attention shifting or gaze shifting or self regulation and self control.

So, they introduce a long-term or permanent compensation, or a bunch of long-term compensations, much like a wheelchair, for a child who is not expected to walk.

Workboxes were introduced to my child in a public school autism program BECAUSE none of the children had enough reciprocity, attention shifting, attention sharing, joint attention etc to manage themselves in a "regular" classroom. Workb0xes became a way to work around all of those deficits by removing the need to shift attention, share attention, engage with peers and teachers, etc, and summarize all of that onto a visual schedule and Picture Exchange Communication.

Long term compensations are not all bad or negative in terms of students on the autism spectrum. We need them. My problem is using them without a developmental plan in place where you know why, when, and how you will approach learning so that eventually, you can remove the long-term compensations.

So, as I think about what things my daughter needs to be doing independently, I think about functions of reciprocity, turn taking, reciprocity, and perspective taking. I want her to manage herSELF as a co-regulator and self-regulator. I want her to gather her own cue and clues from her environment so that she better "rolls with the flow". I want her to grow into a "communicating partner", an "active participant", not a passive follower of a schedule or prompt. The goal isn’t to get work done, or “get” her to work “for me” – it’s to give her the experience of working *with* me, because that’s how we make discoveries about ourselves, and then, as she is ready for more responsibility for herSELF and her own learning, to gently hand that responsibility to her.

I am thinking through what parts of the workbox concept that we will use as short term accommodations, which parts will be scaffolds to a higher developmental level, and I'm asking myself, are there long term accommodations that will be beneficial, and do I have a plan for building foundations so that the long term accommodations aren't needed so much at some point.

Sue Patrick has given me so much food for thought.

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So, as my thoughts return to Sue Patrick's Workbox System, I am pondering how we'll use them and why. Will they be an accommodation and if so, for what skill or function? Can I use them in ways that help me scaffold development? If so, how? That all depends on my assumptions about all things autism and on our goals for my child.

Sue Patrick's Workbox System: A TOS Crew Review

Workboxes are a hot topic right now at homeschool conventions, on homeschool related blogs, and in internet chat groups for homeschoolers. I spent some time reading some blog posts about the workboxing craze and I know a few families who use them and love them.

But what are workboxes, exactly, and what is a workbox system?

Sue Patrick's Workbox System, A User's Guide, available by download for $19, is a very thorough description of the framework, the "why bother", "what for" and "how to" guide to setting up a system of workboxes to get a child through his or her school and chore time, complete with downloads for all of the visual pictures Patrick uses and some teacher planning and record-keeping pages.
As a TOS Crew member, Sue Patrick gave me, at no charge, the 122 page e-book, Sue Patrick's Workbox System, A User's Guide, so that I may review it here for you. I was given no further compensation, and I purchased my own materials for my workbox project.

If you purchase the book and plan to use the workbox system, you'll need paper for printing, a laminating machine, velcro, and something to hold your workboxes plus the boxes themselves. And you'll need your own curriculum, products or resources to fill the boxes.

Click on the picture at the left to take you to some sample pages in the User Guide.

BACKGROUND: When I looked at blogs and descriptions of workboxing, they looked very familiar to me. It is similar (if not exact) to a system that is being used in classrooms for autistic children all over the country (maybe all over the world). Giving you a peek at how my mind makes associations, I immediately thought, "TEACCH" and "North Carolina". And my next association was, "Ick."

When my daughter was four years old, she was in a contained classroom for pre-schoolers with an autism diagnosis, and each child (except mine) had one rolling plastic container with three big drawers. They were given four activities, one in each drawer and one on top of the rolling box. Each child had, on their visual schedule, a time to do their "work", which meant "independent work". My child could complete twice the work in the same amount of time and she had TWO plastic rolling boxes and completed EIGHT independent activities in the time the other children completed FOUR. The students had a schedule strip, they had to tackle the activities in the order laid out on that schedule strip, and that way, they always knew what was coming next. They didn't have to gather clues and cues from their environment to sense a transition coming because all of the informaton was summarized on those strips. In school, the students had "help" cards and "break" cards. There were picture cards for the teachers to use to remind them to quieten down if they were too loud because (I now understand) the children were unable to perspective take and reference and understand cues from others around them that they were too loud. The "work" space looked like an office cubicle with a long table instead of a desk.

It always looked to me like the public school classroom was trying to prepare the children to work on an assembly line or in a sheltered workshop.

To learn that Sue Patrick is the mom of a child diagnosed with autism and is from North Carolina (home of TEACCH) came as no surprise to me. Part of Sue's story is here.

So, the big question in my mind was, just how are Sue Patrick's workboxes different from the system I saw in the public school classroom for autistic children that I ultimately rejected in order to homeschool?

From my perspective, Sue Patrick is bringing home the system that my daughter used at school. I have no desire to duplicate an autism classroom at home. In my opinion, a lot of what Sue Patrick does in her workbox system was originally developed for a child who is not expected to EVER develop much else beyond the ability to follow a schedule. If the child cannot share attention with a teacher and interact, professionals remove the teacher interaction part and put all of the "work" in a system that is very visual into the classroom. It's a big 'ol compensation for the student's lack of joint attention.

Our goals for my homeschooler at this time are more focused on INTERDEPENDENCE than the INDEPENDENCE that workboxes are designed to grow in children. Independence will be a bigger focus later.

HOWEVER, reviewing Sue Patrick's Workbox System, A User's Guide forced me to take a really hard look at what I rejected and also look deeply at myself and my daughter and ask myself, "Have I created some learned helplessness in my child(ren)?" and "Are there things my daughter should be doing independently right now? And if so, what?" And Patrick forced me to look at the "what" very closely, too, paying attention to details like lesson length and time.

And, if, developmentally, she's processing and learning like a typical pre-schooler, can I use workbox ideas aimed at a developmental preK/K student?

And once I define the "what", Sue Patrick gives me the "how to" begin to set up a system for doing just that, and Sue Patrick provides the information, down to the teensiest detail. Seriously -- the teensiest detail.

The table of contents is available in the download of free sample pages:

1. The Benefits of Homeschooling
2. How We Teach and Train
3. What is the Workbox System?
4. Who is this System for?
5. How a Day Works
6. Curriculum and Materials
7. Breaking Down Curriculum for Success
8. Life Skill Foundations
9. Discipline and the Workbox System
10. Problem Solving and Specializing Your Child’s Education
11. Family Dynamics and Homeschooling
12. Tips, Tricks and Problem Solving
Resources

Because my child is developmentally at a preK/K level, I chose not to purchase the exact items that Mrs. Patrick recommends in her system. I chose a smaller system of boxes, similar to the one my daughter used at school when she was four. I spent some time reading what Sue Patrick has to say about preschoolers in Chapter 11. I also spent more time on the section in the same chapter about homeschooling children with special needs, including helpful actual examples of how she modified assignments for children of clients.

The e-book is very thorough and is written from Sue Patrick's own experience. I would not use the rigid system exactly as she created -- in my opinion, and for our situation, Sue Patrick takes too much of the relationship aspect out of the homeschool for a child with a developmental delay in areas of communication. I want my daughter referencing ME and not a schedule strip.

Today, I am still experimenting with my version of a workbox system. Most of our boxes involve working together. We have an RDI(r) Program Certified Consultant who guides us in our remediation intervention, and she and I continue to discuss what, exactly, my daughter should be working on independently, in terms of academics. I see the need for my daughter to begin to do some work on her own, and I have been experimenting with different ideas for some independent boxes. Sue Patrick's section on pre-schoolers is helpful for me in this respect. Additionally, "Book Look" is borrowed from our old public school days -- my princess understands that term. I can load one box with several books that she is able to read independently and she can choose which ones to look at. We've experimented with a few options, including some activities from unit studies and some copywork and simple math worksheets. We're adding and subtracting with manipulatives -- they're great in a box. Coloring pages paired with tiny pieces of crayon provide fine motor work. File folder games are good. I'm thinking about the right way to include working with coins in a workbox. I need to purchase a small physical set up for my daughter's bedroom and get some get-yourself-ready-in-the-morning boxes happening at my house.

My first impression of "Ick" was wrong. When I thought that there was nothing about Sue Patrick's Workbox System for us, I was "throwing out the baby with the bathwater". I was going to reject an entire system without looking at it closely enough. Reviewing the e-book made me sit down and look hard at what we are doing and why, and it made me realize one of the reasons that I disliked the school version so much is that the public school was not focused at all on the relationship development aspect. The workbox system has a built-in "same but different, different but same" philosophy that RDIers look for. It forced me to begin to identify some areas where my daughter is ready for more independence and to begin to scaffold the process of handing her more responsiblity for herself. When we are ready to begin to scaffold higher levels of independence, particularly in academics, we may use more of Patrick's techniques and strategies.

If you have a child on the autism spectrum and you like the method they use at school and are interested in duplicating it at home -- Sue's book is for you. You won't even have to buy expensive Boardmaker software, because she includes picture strips and cards in downloads that you may access after you register your book.

Me? I'm a proud tweaker, tweaking Sue's ideas to fit our specific, individual situation. I'm glad I read the user's guide because it forced me to clarify some aspects about what we do at home and it has encouraged me to think outside my own box. ;)

Stay tuned to the blog, because, from time to time, I'll write about the discoveries I make as we continue the trial and error approach to growing independent work with the workbox system within a developmentally appropriate framework.

There's an interview w/ Sue Patrick on facebook HERE. For reviews by my Crewmates of Sue Patrick's Workbox System, A User's Guide, go HERE.

Child's Play (continued): Balancing

If you don't know about Dr Jim from Communicating Partners, take the time to "meet" Dr Jim. I have had the privilege to see him present in person. He chats on a yahoo group called "communicating" and offers insight similar to the way Dr Gutstein of RDI(r) did a few years ago.

I like to know the "why bother", the reason I am asked to do something a particular way with my child, and Dr Gutstein has been the source of the "why bother" and the "what to do" for me for the last five years.

What I appreciate about Dr Jim is his way of explaining the "what to do" in a new way, one that rich in simplicity and word pictures that enhance what I already know. Check out Dr Jim's thoughts on "balancing". It reinforces for me the idea that finding peers who offer that "balance" for my daughter is important.

The wisdom of Communicating Partner's Dr James D MacDonald:

"Make balancing an habitual way of life............

Balancing simply means two persons having a give and take in play or communication where each person does about as much as the other and each waits enough for the partner to create and carry out a response.

The more you balance with your child, the more he or she will get to learn and practice communication.

Be sure you exchange actions as well as communications.

Two powerful things happen when you balance with your child. First you give you child time to figure out what he can do, he often needs more time than you do to get a response together.

Second, balancing allows you to do something that he can model and learn from.

Balance means 'give and take' communication , successful communication requires two people doing something together and giving each other waiting time to both initiate and respond.

We need to start defining 'communication' not as what you or your child does but as a two way exchange. We need to define successful communication in terms of what two persons do together. Communication is like a marriage, it cannot be defined by what one person does alone.

Of course there will be many times when you or your child will do most in an interaction.

But our over 30 years of clinical research shows strongly that it is rare to see a balance in adult child communication, that is exchanges where each person does about the same amount with each other. And it shows little waiting on the part of the child or adult.

Try to practice in your regular routines to balance and you will learn more of what your child can and wants to do and he or she will have more a chance to learn what to do from you.

Make balance a way of life, even with other people in your life and you will find a more effective and enjoyable communicative life.

Dr.Jim"

Child's Play

The journey to remediate the core deficits of autism has been an interesting one. The cliche, "It's a marathon, not a sprint," is a good description of the past nine years for me.

Remediation has been slower than behavioral "programming", but far more rewarding.

Learning to change myself so that I give my child opportunities to be responsible for herSELF in interactions with others has been challenging for me. I've had to learn to slow down, wait, give her time to take her own response, shift her own attention and/or gaze.

I've been looking for opportunities for her to play with children at her developmental level, where the peer's pacing and attention sharing, attention shifting, response is about the same as my daughter's.

I found two opportunities through the church our family has been visiting for just a few weeks. The church wants all children to attend Sunday School in the place where they learn best. They blur the lines that divide children by age or grade, and bend the rules to allow children to go to Sunday School with much younger children if they need to. The other is a short-term Bible study which happens to meet at the home of a mom who runs a day care out of her basement.

There's a part of me that wonders if I'm doing the right thing -- maybe I should try harder to push her into a class her own age.

But all of that uncertainty melts away when I see her enter Sunday School and drop to the floor to join a child who is playing with Lego, and when we come to get her after the morning service, she's completed the crafts and I'm told she participated in the song time and even did the motions. She skipped to the car in the parking lot.

And the uncertainty melts away as we drive to Bible study and I hear her singing a song about going to Grandma's (that's what the children call the lady who plays with them there) and when I take her to the basement day care and she joins the other children in an activity-in-progress, and when I return to get her after Bible Study, she is playing in the play kitchen WITH another child, an activity they made up together (not something we taught her with prompts and rewards).

She needs more opportunities with people, including PEERS, who are "possible" for her. ("Possible" is a term that Dr Jim uses.)

I have to get over my "stuff" that wants her to catchupnow and allow her to be who she is, right now, and be ready to grow with her.

Five Star Publications, Inc: Designer Copper Bookmarks

Designer Copper Bookmarks
by
Five Star Publications, Inc.

It's beautiful jewelry for a book!

Made in the United States (in Arizona), of beautiful copper, Linda Radke, president of Five Star Publications, Inc, offers a choice of three designer bookmarks for readers and gift givers.

Priced at $11.95, the bookmarks are "custom-designed using quality copper and Swarovski crystals and pearls."

Five Star Publications, Inc., sent me, at no charge (in order to review here on my blog), the angel design. Readers, I gushed when I opened it -- the bookmark is beautiful! As I anticipated receiving it, I was afraid the copper would be flimsy, and it is not. How can it be thick enough to hold the page, while not marring the page, but not be flimsy. Well, somehow, it works! :) The little angel is adorable.

I've never used a fancy bookmark -- I'm the one who uses bookmarks made from card stock and loses them and winds up using simply a scrap of paper. This is one we'll keep up with at our house, and for the time being, my middle schooler and I will fight over share it. I don't recommend it for small children because of the little pieces and parts. And my daughter who is on the autism spectrum might lose it.

The bookmarks are available in three designs; in addition to the angel made with a divine crystal and opulent pearl, FSPI offers a paw print with a blue crystal and a crystal-packing star motif as well.

The company press release suggests using them to decorate your holiday trees, too.

I like them because they are made in the USA, they're beautiful, and they are easy to ship or take to family for folks who are many hours away. Shipping gifts or traveling with gifts can be challenging, and finding small-in-physical-size gifts that are substantial in quality is important.

You may order them via the Five Star Publications catalog.

Fun Fall Saturday

TOS Freebie: AUTUMN TREASURES (A freebie, an article, a coupon and a sale)

The Old Schoolhouse is offering an 80+ page unit study from Amanda Bennett FREE. I got mine a week or so ago and my daughter and I have been doing some of the activities together. Click HERE to get yours.

The magazine also has a free enouragement article that includes a coupon code for a $7.95 subscription to the magazine.

PS: Amanda Bennett has a few items on sale today (Friday) for $5.

Skating lesson updates

I snapped a few pictures and shot a little video last week and just never took the time to upload any of it. I continue to watch in amazement as my princess struggles with a new skill as it is introduced, and soon masters it. Pumping has suddenly become much easier for her. I always see some new gross motor experience and motor planning experience when she's on the ice -- concepts that do not feel like "work" there.

Today, I put the camera down and watched a lot. I've never seen my princess smile so much--she worked very hard today and she knew it -- and she enjoyed it, too!

Thanks for sharing the fun with us!

The first three clips are from a week ago:

Coach spotted a challenge--something to ask the OT about. Going backwards, the skating princess is moving one leg more than the other one, which interferes with skating in a straight line:

I managed to capture a bit of video from today's session, but mostly I just enjoyed the "show". She worked her tushie off and smiled all the way through it. I LOVE THAT! :)

(check out the new, better fitting helmet!)

Here's the one-leg-working-harder-than-the-other thing again --
is it a bilateral something issue?
Hmmmm...
She hangs in there with the backward pumps, even though they feel challenging.

Communicating in ways that the child can do

Some churches set up their Sunday School and Vacation Bible School programs to mimic the grade levels of our public school system. Rigidly (legalistically?) adhering to these invisible dividing lines can create a negative situation for an older child with developmental delays.

I had what I thought was a brilliant creative idea after I saw how negative attending Vacation Bible School with peers more developmentally mature was for my princess over the summer. I had an a-ha moment! Let's move her to the class where she can better interact with peers and at the same time, process the lessons. Developmentally, she's interacting and reciprocating and processing information somewhere between pre-school and kindergarten age, although by grade she's a 5th grader. She could even be a helper (active participant!) in one of the preK/K classes!

For some reason that I do not understand, some churches have a problem with this idea. Some church folk think I've lost my mind for suggesting it and can't imagine that it was a well-thought-through idea with some solid reasoning behind it.

Wednesday, on the yahoo group devoted to discussing Dr James D MacDonald's Communicating Partners program, "Dr Jim" typed these words that supports and illustrates my perspective:

"We are trained to think that more of anything is better, when the truth for our children is that the only more that is important is MORE OF YOU AND ANY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AND COMMUNICATE IN WAYS THE CHILD CAN DO."

He continued:

"One more response to what you said about restrictive environments and inclusion. Certainly we want boundaries or restrictions for a child's developmental stages... you want restriction on his curriculum so he isn't fruitlessly taught things he is not ready for. Similarly you do not want an inclusive program if it means the child is overwhelmed by faster, louder and more advanced students or with courses they are not ready for."

My princess has spent many years in situations that are developmentally over her head. What is wrong with my wanting, finally, now that we know better, to intentionally put her in situations where interaction and comprehension is not so much anxiety-producing work for her?

She's making discoveries about herself and others that prek/k-ers are making. She's making self-to-text and text-to-self connections at that level. I'm so encouraged by her progress! Let's give her more practice by finding more developmentally appropriate opportunities for her to make more discoveries and connections! Apparently, my opinion is in the minority.

I do like the idea of a one-room schoolhouse, too, with all ages and stages represented. One-room schoolhouses or childrens ministries are hard to come by these days.

Interestingly, we learned through another family about an area church that is already allowing older children who have developmental delays to attend classes for much younger children, because the younger class is a better fit for the child. They have flexible dividing lines that separate classes for children. What a brilliant idea!

PS: Why is it acceptable to move the church choir rehearsals from the basement to the main level when one choir member becomes handicapped and can no longer use the stairs, moving a physical dividing line for her, but moving the grade level lines of division between classes for children is not? The stairs are a barrier to active participation for an individual unable to navigate them, just like invisible grade level dividing lines are a barrier to active participation for a child who is unable to navigate the communication at grade level.

Sarah's Wish: A TOS Crew Review

I love to lose myself in a story. I have loved to read for as long as I have been able to read. (I came home from school the first day of first grade upset because the teacher didn't teach me how to read!)

I don't lose myself in many stories these days. Instead, when I read, I spend my reading time on all things autism.

I forget how much I enjoy letting a story take me to another time, another place, far away from the here and now. "Sarah's Wish" reminded me just how much I enjoy a good book.

"Sarah's Wish," ($9.99 w/ free shipping from SarahBooks.net) by Jim Baumgardner, is a book written by a grandfather for his grandchildren, historical fiction that is lively and captivating. Baumgardner told the Crew, "The Sarah Books are authored by me for my grandchildren. I say that so that you will know these books do not have any sex, profanity, or anything that would be offensive to young readers. I would never subject my grandchildren to such writing."

He continues, "The books have been referred to as Christian fiction. I prefer to describe them as Young Adult fiction written by a Christian author. Sarah’s faith is important to her and she lives by it, but the books do not try to convert the reader to anything. The stories do teach Christian principals of living a good life and treating others as you would have them treat you. I do not ignore the evil in the world and Sarah must confront it at times just as we all do. "

The main character, Sarah, is a 12-year-old girl and the setting is the 19th century, and Sarah lives on the route that slaves took from the south to the north, to freedom, on the Underground Railroad. Sarah's parents assist slaves to freedom, and when Sarah is orphaned, she is left to continue the mission with the help of neighbors that include some colorful characters.

I lost myself in the story. I could not put the book down. I'd set it down to make the kids something to eat or go to the restroom, and as soon as I was able to, I'd pick it back up again. I stopped almost everything one lazy weekend afternoon-into-evening and read "Sarah's Wish" from cover to cover. What a treat! :)

I could not stand the suspense -- I *had* to learn what happened next to Sarah, so I bought the next two books in the series. Excerpts from the books are located HERE. (Baumgardner is writing a fourth book.)

Author Jim Baumgardner took me into Ohio and Kentucky, through cities I pass several times a year as I travel from where I live now to where I grew up (and back). I could picture the journey in the story in my mind, because I've traveled that route so many times.

He introduces and defines terms from the day in the glossary before the first chapter, and I learned some terms I didn't know. Samples from the glossary are located HERE.

There's a surprise from the publisher located in the back of the book. It's a code for a free audio book download of Sarah’s Wish.

My public schooled children have learned about the Underground Railroad at school several years ago. One of their teachers created a mock UGRR at school and the students were able to take on different roles as "slaves" traveled to freedom. My children learned a lot and they enjoyed the experience. They talked about it often at the time, and still mention it occasionally. It's an interesting and important time in United States history, a time I want my children to know about.

I suspected that my middle schooler would love this book -- and once she read the information on the back cover, she took the book from me, disappeared with it one evening and read it almost non-stop until she finished it after school the next night. She said that sometimes a really big book is intimidating because it takes forever to read, but a thin book is often too easy with not a good story. She told me that "Sarah's Wish" is the perfect balance -- a great story that makes you want to keep reading without being too easy or too long. She was happy to learn that I'd ordered the next two books in the series, because she wants to know what happens next, too!

My homeschooled princess is not ready for this level of text. We're getting there and I'll share this with her when the time is right. I like having the audio book to use in combination with the text -- listening to an audio book while following text in the book may be a strategy we use in the future. It gives us another option.

Mr. Baumgardner offers a newsletter by e-mail. Check the web site for the directions you need to subscribe.

We are enjoying the Sarah series at our house -- I highly recommend the books.

Full Disclosure: Author Jim Baumgardner sent me an autographed copy of his book, Sarah's Wish, at no charge to me, to read and review for you as part of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew of reviewers.

To read what my Crewmates have to say about this product, go HERE.