Just a warning about some of the pricy programs like LMB....

Many of these programs use tutors (often college kids with minimal training) that administer canned programs. While the program itself is research-based and may be very good, much of your child's success really depends on the tutor.

LMB, for example, pays their college tutors less than $20/hour, but charges almost 5x that much. So you are not paying for the quality of the tutor, but for the LMB brand.

IMO, you are better off finding an individual tutor (not someone affiliated with a service) because the agency will take a huge cut from what they are charging...and you often end up with tutors with little and/or poor training.

hi should we get into this program or not?

Anonymous wrote:9:52, did you find a tutor that "specializes" in ADHD inattentive with processing issues? Our DS has the same diagnosis, and while he has a tutor, I'm not sure the fit is quite right. TIA!

So interesting that I should happen upon an old post of mine where someone is asking ME for an update....

I actually spoke at length with a tutor yesterday that I think is going to be a great fit for DS. We are meeting with her on Monday for an assessment. She has 35yrs of teaching experience specifically in the area of language-based learning disabilities (which DS has) and seems to be passionate about working with children with LDs.

She is pricey but she also told me that she is very good at being able to quickly hone in on the issues, and remediate those specific areas and that using her as a tutor would "not be forever"...her goal is to get the kids up to speed and sometimes ahead of their peers so that you can go from using her 2-3xs per week to only once per week if at all.

I am more than happy to report back on my findings once we meet with her. I can either post online or email you directly?

9:52, did you find a tutor that "specializes" in ADHD inattentive with processing issues? Our DS has the same diagnosis, and while he has a tutor, I'm not sure the fit is quite right. TIA!

Thanks for the link, PP. Very helpful article!

My 10-yo ADD daughter did CogMed this summer. I have not seen much improvement even though objectively she made major gains according to the program.

I would probably pay the $15 a month to get a subscription to Luminosity or something rather than $10,000 to do one of those programs! The NYT did a piece on these today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/a-new-kind-of-tutoring-aims-to-make-students-smarter.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1351775651-fgddMC5aHLjVjRb72Za6eg

Anonymous wrote:Yes, Lindamood and CogMed are expensive but also evidence based, which I don't think Learning Rx is.

Can you define what you meant by "evidence-based?" Virginia State and LSU are conducting a study of LearningRx on a $1-mil grant from the National Science Foundation. Furthermore, the various procedures are based on the scientific literature. For example, one uses a stimulus from a classic selective attention study called the Stroop Test.

Anonymous wrote:My DD (12) has ADD, dyslexia, and other serious medical conditions. We have chosen to go with private tutoring and feel like the relationship our family has with our tutor has been invaluable. She is able to adjust to DD's energy levels and academic needs. I can't imagine getting this kind of service from an agency and I don't trust their expertise anyway. It is still expensive, but you get what you pay for.

I work there part time. The pay isn't great, but most of the trainers I work with are K-12 teachers trying to make some extra money in the evenings and over the summer. I personally have a PhD in cognitive psychology - i.e., I study and teach learning, memory, cognition, and perception for a living. I'd say my expertise is fairly trustworthy. You're right, though, that there is a curriculum for the program. But that helps with consistency across the various trainers, although the exact conduct of the program (pace, order, etc.) is different for every kid depending on their strengths and weaknesses.

All that said, education is ridiculously expensive these days. LearningRx does help, but does it help $10k worth? That's hard to say.

There are several other posts on the forum about LearningRx. Here is a thread: http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/264166.page

Yep, about 10K / year for private tutoring 3x / week. no 401K for us for a while.

My DD (12) has ADD, dyslexia, and other serious medical conditions. We have chosen to go with private tutoring and feel like the relationship our family has with our tutor has been invaluable. She is able to adjust to DD's energy levels and academic needs. I can't imagine getting this kind of service from an agency and I don't trust their expertise anyway. It is still expensive, but you get what you pay for.

Yes, Lindamood and CogMed are expensive but also evidence based, which I don't think Learning Rx is.

Lindamood works out to about $120 per hour and you have a long term contract. Lab School tutors were $90/hour, but they aren't doing their referral services anymore. With anyone, you need to ask about the qualifications of the person actually teaching your child.

Lindamood and CogMed are both very expensive - Lindamood will be more than the $10K OP is mentioning.

OP - What are your DC's issues? You may be able to just hire a tutor. We are doing that for our DS. Cannot afford private, so are trying the tutor route. IF that does not seem to help we will dip into retirement to pay for private....or I will get a job although that is not optimal.

Most tutors run between $50-$70 per hour. Twice a week would do it for him. So $600 a month x12 = $7200 which sure beats $30K

DS is in 4th. I figure we have about 2 yrs to really ramp up for MS so that he is prepared. Hopefully intensive tutoring will do that for us.

For the record, DS is ADHD/Inattentive with processing issues.

Have you looked into tutoring? What areas are you trying to address and how old is DC?

We've had good experience with the Linda Mood Bell program. Also, for older kids there are some interesting thread on CogMed.

yes, you heard right. It's $10,000 and I'm wondering if it's worth it. We don't have that kind of money for therapy for our SN DS but we are desperate and are thinking of taking a loan out to pay for this. Anyone try Learning RX? Any thoughts?