Dyslexia long term question

[displace]

So, DS can read well, mostly. I haven’t graded his reading level in a year but he was last on level (for his grade, not IQ).

 

When he reads now by himself (almost never for pleasure), he is having trouble with comprehension. I think the problems still have to do with skipping small words, misreading words, skipping lines or reading out of order. He refuses to use a guide for reading, or a marker.

 

He was mostly cleared from COVD, but I do plan on following up.

 

Do these issues ever resolve or self resolve, or is this likely to be a lifelong problem? I don’t feel like doing in depth research and I can’t remember.

[OneStepAtATime]

There could be a lot of reasons for the trip up in comprehension so it really kind of depends on what the underlying cause or causes are.  I can't remember, what were you using to remediate his reading issues?  (Sorry, my brain is a sieve these days).  And is he struggling with pleasure reading or content reading or...?  How does he do with audio books?  If he is reading a series, where main characters and general universe are already established, how does he do then?

 

DD does poorly with comprehension if she is reading content subjects like Science and History, especially if she is reading something cold, with little previous knowledge of the subject.  Also, comprehension drops if we have not already gone over the terms and discussed their meaning in context.  She decodes with fluency and at grade level or above but it still takes effort.  I think her brain can either focus on smooth "reading" or smooth "comprehension".  It helps if we have watched a documentary first, discussed the vocabulary, and then break up the reading passages into smaller segments that we review.  It helps her tie those symbols on the page to something her brain can anchor to for comprehension.  She does fine with pleasure reading, but does best with book series where the main characters and environment are already established.

 

FWIW, some people never end up retaining well from reading.  That doesn't mean they can't do well in life.  DH is like that.  He learns a ton and is brilliant but he only reads when he absolutely has to.  He does not learn well from reading.  Or writing.  He is dyslexic and dysgraphic.  Once he got into the adult world (he was lucky enough to have that opportunity while he was still in high school) and into a field that he is good at (Broadcast Engineering), it didn't slow him down at all.

[Lecka]

My son doesn't have comprehension issues from reading, but he misses things like character's motivations for something to happen. I help him with social studies sometimes and he will have a hard time finding an answer because of the wording -- on this I feel like the wording is just hard to understand sometimes, I don't think it's a problem as he is newer to this kind of social studies stuff -- I think he'll get the hang of it. This is for 7th grade.

 

For the character motivation -- yeah it is harder for him when stuff isn't spelled out so much, but he does fine with stuff that's for say 4th-6th now, so he has made progress; maybe he is on the lower end of the age range when it comes to understanding character motivation.

 

I think easier reading helps a lot for trying to build independent reading. It is still a goal I have. My son has come a long way; and he does have books/series he has really liked and read on his own and read new books on the series on his own; but he spends a lot of time between books and not liking anything he tries.

 

Good series for him have been: Jedi Academy (but the first book is the best), Origami Yoda, he liked Ranger's Apprentice but I probably read to him more than he read himself, he loved the earlier books in Five Kingdoms by Brandon Mull, and Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland. He is reading Star Wars Bane Chronicles now and liked Revan by the same author, which he has read I think 3 times.

 

It is a short list, for how many series/books I have tried to get him to like.

 

Anyway -- since 4th grade he hasn't had more trouble with reading compared to listening.

 

But he has skipped lines before, or re-read the same line ---- it used to be hard for him to go to a new paragraph, he would skip to the second line in a paragraph and just miss the indented line. He was doing that a lot in 2nd grade.

 

He has never missed small words. So, I don't know about that.

 

I say that based on his mistakes when he read out loud. It still comes up for me to hear him read out loud when he reads to his younger brother and sister here and there.

 

Edit: so far he seems to read fine for science, but the packets he has for reading for science seem easier than what he has for social studies.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Lecka

[Heathermomster]

My DS could barely stumble through a BOB book at 8 years of age and mid 2nd grade. My son worked with a Wilson tutor for 5 years and tested out of books 11 & 12. He completed a couple years of Latin roots classes and continues to use immersion reading with audiobooks. Immersion reading has made a huge impact on his reading comprehension. Literally 10 years on, my son tested in the 99% for reading comp on the ACT. Yes, these kids improve with practice.

I just read an article that linked life experience to reading comprehension. Expose your son to museums, the arts, documentaries, and excellent literature filled with quality language. Provide him with real-life hands-on activities. My DH has spent countless hours including DS with home and car repair, car shows, building, designing, painting, and man stuff. Life experiences help provide context to stories.

I cannot say enough good things about immersion reading. As the story is read, the word is highlighted. The user reads along and sees the highlighted word. The pitch and reading speed may be adjusted/increased.

Non-fiction reading is a skill. I think Scholastic Publishing sells materials to teach it. I started teaching DS to outline and use textbooks in 7th grade.

Your DS needs practice. If he doesn’t read for pleasure, select an audio book that you think he might enjoy. My DD loves the How to Train Your Dragon series. David Tennant reads them, and they are funny and kid gross.

Edtited: for a gazillion spelling errors.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Heathermomster

[Lecka]

Our library didn't have a lot of audiobooks. He liked Harry Potter, Origami Yoda, and a book called Half Magic by Edward Eager.

[Heathermomster]

Reading remediation is so hard around 3rd and 4th grades.  I couldn't handle it, and that is why we hired a tutor.  According to Dr. Shaywitz, the reading jump occurs around ages 11-12.

 

The best advice I can provide you is to gird your loins and manage expectations while continuing to provide systematic and explicit multisensory instruction. 

Edited December 5, 2017 by Heathermomster

[Kanin]

Reading comprehension can continue to grow throughout adulthood. According to a HBO documentary I just watched, adults can continue to make significant gains in decoding and comprehending... the problem is, almost no adults get continuing reading instruction. 

 

It's amazing that your son is reading at grade level. Wonderful!! To boost comprehension, he should probably be reading a grade or two (or three) below what he's *able* to read. Once he's really comfortable at a certain level, continue on. 

 

I think you're doing great :-)

[displace]

We did vision therapy for a good 6? Months, for ... I forget atm. My brain is mush, but it wasn’t convergence, just generic vision difficulties.

 

We remediated reading with AAR (plus OG), but I’m considering that program that forces more prefix/suffix attention (rewards).

 

He does listen to audiobooks with no problems that I can detect, except occasional boredom depending on the text. But we do have the highlighted words. Sometimes he’ll pay attention but usually he’s just listening while playing.

 

We don’t do much audiobooks in nonfiction.

 

I’ll focus more on read aloud practice at a lower level for now. Since he said to me he’s doing those things while reading (skipping small words, reading out of order, skipping lines), I’m thinking of forcing a guideline. He states it causes him to have trouble understanding what he’s reading, but to have to re-read a section... I don’t think the self regulation to prevent a meltdown is up to it yet. But we’re trying.

[Lecka]

You don't have to perfect a re-read in one day at all. If a section needs to be re-read, you can read it and then he can read it the next day or another day. You can read it before him.

 

You can look at Read Naturally (iirc) for ideas, it has kids practicing the same text over time and has supported practice.

 

It makes it a lot less frustrating and is still beneficial.

[Lecka]

But for fluency practice and someone who dislikes reading -- I would start with something really, really easy so that they can break the "this is hard" association if possible. My son did break it but I don't think everyone is guaranteed that outcome. I think it's worth a try for sure.

 

Fluency was very slow for him and I almost always pre-read things to him. I would try to, say, read all the library books aloud and then he could pick what he would do for reading practice. And I have younger kids and he was allowed to pick pre-school books. It's a good way to work on reading with expression.

 

I was impatient a lot too and it took longer than I would have thought. But I wanted him to be able to read aloud to his own kids someday, and sound fairly good!

 

He has been reading Wings of Fire to his brother at bedtime, recently. I don't think he sounds amazing and he stumbles some on phrasing, but he is not bad either.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Lecka

[Storygirl]

A lot of good answers for others.

 

I'll just add an anecdote. The intervention specialist at our school has dyslexia herself. She was remediated enough that she is now an OG tutor and has a master's degree in reading education.

 

She mentioned today that using text to speech technology (she uses Voice Dream app) got her through her college classes, so she continued to benefit from support, even with a high degree of remediation and education.

 

I do think the comprehension issue can be related to the trouble with decoding. But it's also possible to have comprehension problems not related to decoding. It might be worth doing some work with him to see if you can tease it out. (sorry, too tired now to have a good suggestion about how to do this.)

[PeterPan]

Also, I think the thing that has surprised me about this thread is people admitting that it's still HARD. This is what my ds is saying. Like even when I've done everything I can, it's still HARD, still a disability. It wasn't like he was missing a tire and we put on the tire and boom he took off. Sigh.

 

I don't know. Like on the one hand I read this thread and I'm like wow, maybe I should be more worried. Maybe I should have READING as some goal for him, maybe I'm failing if he's not READING. But you know, my kid CAN read in short amounts. I give him tons of worksheets to do, and he READS them, absolutely. On a tired day, maybe I read them. But typically, I read the instructions and he reads everything on the page. So he *can* read, but the difficulty of reading a full book, long this or that, is going to be such that he won't do it.

 

And maybe it's something we get to eventually. Really though, my ds hasn't gotten the text hunger yet. Like there's a point where someone chooses to do something hard because they WANT it. He doesn't have that yet. In his case, my gut take is it's developmental, not my fault, and I'm not gonna sit here sweating it. I've done the ethical thing and made sure he has instruction and has sufficient skill to do his work. But for how much he uses that skill, there's a sense in which it's his deal, not mine.

 

He's ear reading a really adorable book right now Flora & Ulyssees. 

[Lecka]

He is still pretty young, E.

[Storygirl]

Also, I think the thing that has surprised me about this thread is people admitting that it's still HARD. This is what my ds is saying. Like even when I've done everything I can, it's still HARD, still a disability. It wasn't like he was missing a tire and we put on the tire and boom he took off. Sigh.

 

Yes. This.

 

Even when remediated, the act of reading is likely to take more effort from the brain in someone with dyslexia. The brain has to work hard. So using supports can make a difference.

 

So our dyslexic teacher had people read her tests aloud in college, even though she could read the words herself, for example. When her brain didn't have to work on the decoding, she could use her brain power to think through the content of the question and figure out how how to answer it.

 

When she had to do the decoding as well, she would wear out much sooner and would be able to comprehend and process less. So she used her decoding accommodations and saved her brain power for the thinking tasks of her schoolwork.

[PeterPan]

Yes, then I'm not crazy! When the reading section is *long* for a comprehension worksheet, I'll read it to him, because the point was the comprehension exercise, not the reading. He does better with small bursts of reading.

 

As an aside, I knew an adult dyslexic who was very into poetry and anything with short segments like devotionals, quotes, that kind of thing. So there is a way to roll with this...

[PeterPan]

He is still pretty young, E.

 

It's the discrepancy and that HE is saying it's hard. It's clearly a disability.

[OneStepAtATime]

Also, I think the thing that has surprised me about this thread is people admitting that it's still HARD. This is what my ds is saying. Like even when I've done everything I can, it's still HARD, still a disability. It wasn't like he was missing a tire and we put on the tire and boom he took off. Sigh.

 

I don't know. Like on the one hand I read this thread and I'm like wow, maybe I should be more worried. Maybe I should have READING as some goal for him, maybe I'm failing if he's not READING. But you know, my kid CAN read in short amounts. I give him tons of worksheets to do, and he READS them, absolutely. On a tired day, maybe I read them. But typically, I read the instructions and he reads everything on the page. So he *can* read, but the difficulty of reading a full book, long this or that, is going to be such that he won't do it.

 

And maybe it's something we get to eventually. Really though, my ds hasn't gotten the text hunger yet. Like there's a point where someone chooses to do something hard because they WANT it. He doesn't have that yet. In his case, my gut take is it's developmental, not my fault, and I'm not gonna sit here sweating it. I've done the ethical thing and made sure he has instruction and has sufficient skill to do his work. But for how much he uses that skill, there's a sense in which it's his deal, not mine.

 

He's ear reading a really adorable book right now Flora & Ulyssees. 

It will probably always be harder than for an NT kid.  I think that depends on the natural interest in reading and the comorbid issues a student is dealing with as well as how that particular child responds to remediation emotionally.  As others have said, though, E your child is still very young.  He has made a LOT of progress.  This process takes time.  I absolutely would NOT be blaming myself if I were you.  You have put in tremendous effort.  He IS making progress.  He will be able to successfully function as an adult.  I am certain of it.  You are his staunchest advocate.  Don't condemn yourself.  

 

I don't want anyone reading this thread to get discouraged, including the OP.  Hugs to all.  I realize it seems daunting and depressing to think that putting in all that time and effort over many years might not turn your struggling reader into an enthusiastic one that can easily whip through tons of books (and chooses to do so for pleasure), especially if the teacher is a lover of reading (as I am).  Even if your child never ends up loving reading, that's o.k.  Putting in a lot of effort over many years on remediation of dyslexia challenges is absolutely worth it.  It unlocks doors that would never have been unlocked before. 

 

With "successful" remediation I think maybe we need to change our definition.  Depending on the child and the individual circumstances, that word "successful" may not mean within a couple of years our child is now whipping through advanced reading material with gusto and pleasure and ease.  What it does usually mean now is that it is POSSIBLE to decode accurately and with fluency, now it is POSSIBLE to read and read pretty well.  It may take longer.  It may take more effort.  They may not decide to pick up War and Peace on a whim as adults.  But they can read.  They can read when they have to and they may choose to read when they want to.  That's huge.  

 

We also have to recognize, though, that not everyone actually enjoys reading, even NT folks.  Some people just don't enjoy it.  That isn't their modus operandi.  They still do fine as adults.  They have successful careers, they get married, they have families, they have hobbies they love.  One size does not fit all.  Reading is a very useful skill but it is not the be all and end all of existence and a love of reading is not required to have a happy life.  Having the skill of reading is certainly very important.  Without it, life is much harder.  But loving reading really isn't required to succeed and be happy.

 

I had a hard time fathoming that for a long time, TBH.  Books were such a HUGE part of my childhood and life in general.  I love books.  So does my brother.  So does my mother and so did my dad when he was still alive.  Growing up books and magazines were all over our house and a huge part of my memories.  They still are, at least for me.  In fact, for Christmas last year my mom, brother and I exchanged a ton of books.  We do most years.  A fun afternoon for us is hanging out in a bookstore when they have a sale or going to the library or just sitting near each other reading and sharing.  DH's family?  I don't think I have every once, in over 20 years, seen ANY of them give books as gifts.  DH is dyslexic but his siblings are not.  They read when they have to and one of my SILs does like reading so she buys herself books upon occasion but the family as a whole honestly does not really like books.  They are not big on reading.  DH's siblings have still gone on to college and to get jobs and have families and pursue hobbies and live their lives.  

 

:grouphug:  and best wishes to all.

[Storygirl]

Yes, I am a big reader. I have a bachelor's degree in English literature! I have a master's degree in children's literature! When I was in the working world, my jobs were in publishing and bookstores and libraries. One of my main reasons for wanting to homeschool was my love of books and reading and wanting to share it with my kids and see them devouring books like I do.

 

And I have two kids with reading disabilities. One dyslexic. One with comprehension issues.

 

It was so so so so hard for me. So hard. It has at times been a deep sadness to me that my kids don't love reading the way that I do. Because reading is the BEST!!! It makes me so happy and fulfilled!!

 

But it's not really the best avocation for my kids. I've come to accept that they will be happy and fulfilled without being people who read a lot for fun. They will find their fulfillment in other things and mostly just read when they have to for school.

 

And that's okay.

 

I know that is a sidetrack from the main point of the thread, but I had to share, because it's such a personal thing for me.

 

And sometimes I remind myself that DH is super Ivy League smart. And he's not a big reader. He will enjoy reading books when I hand them to him and say, "Read this one." And he will read that one to the end and enjoy it. But then not pick up another book for weeks until I hand him another one. He enjoys it, but it's not his thing. And that's okay, too.

[Lecka]

I didn't mean it's not a disability, I just mean ---- he has time to continue making progress.  My older son isn't where I would want him to be, either, but he is really doing well, especially considering where he started from.  I am still trying to establish reading for pleasure as a habit, and with my younger daughter, it is just a non-issue, she is already a reader. 

[PeterPan]

That's the thing. He's not actually progressing because we had so many other things to work on. We haven't worked on decoding in ages. We did F&P and increased function, but he got to a place where it was hard again. So it's not like I'm doing a good job. It's more like I'm a firefighter putting out fires.

[PeterPan]

So like if I have two hours with him, I'm going to be doing compliance work and worksheets, cleaning his room (life skills), and a state study or some science videos. The F&P was nice because we could do it in the evenings but he he books got boring. I pulled s new pile to try to get us moving again. A lot of the things I try and ideas I get have too big of steps. I flop way more than I succeed. Sometimes I succeed so well it's like WOW but I have a lot of failures interspersed there.

Edited December 6, 2017 by PeterPan

[OneStepAtATime]

That's the thing. He's not actually progressing because we had so many other things to work on. We haven't worked on decoding in ages. We did F&P and increased function, but he got to a place where it was hard again. So it's not like I'm doing a good job. It's more like I'm a firefighter putting out fires.

Again, though, he is still young OhE.  My daughter, as I have said many times, was only barely decoding Clifford books at the end of 5th grade.  We didn't even START Barton until she was technically in 6th (and actually should have been in 7th based on her birthday but she had repeated a grade in school).  Think about that for a moment.  My daughter was only barely decoding Clifford books when she should have been in 7th grade.  She is now a Junior in High School and can read well.  Not without effort.  It is still effort for her, unlike when I read.  But she can read and can read advanced materials.  She even reads for pleasure upon occasion.  Will she ever be the avid reader I am?  No.  I don't think so.  But she does like reading and she CAN read.

 

In other words, as you yourself said in this post, he has a LOT to deal with, a LOT to work on.  You KNOW it takes time for all of those things to smooth out and integrate.  Keep working on putting out fires but also don't give up the long view.  Don't only see those fires you are putting out.  Long term progress is there. It might not be obvious right now but it is there.  It just takes time.  Give yourselves, both of you, that time.

 

:grouphug:

[Lecka]

Fluency and comprehension and fluency are really slow, and they don't have noticeable, identifiable signs of progress.  He is making progress from the reading he does in the worksheets, even if you don't have some proof from him going up a level or picking up a book to read.  He is still making progress. 

[Lecka]

If you know his F and P level, look for books below that level.  Those are books that will be easier for him.  That is the recommended way to work on fluency, you are supposed to use materials below the "instructional level." 

 

And Eli has moved up to F now at school, but he was in D for some of Kindergarten (iirc he got into D during Kindergarten?), all of 1st grade, all of 2nd grade, and the beginning of 3rd grade.  That is a lot of time to be in level D.  But he was making progress the entire time, it is just HARD to move up in F and P levels. 

 

Plus they are designed to that kids don't move up very much over a year, really.... they expect kids to take a long time at each level. 

 

It is hard if he is bored by books at his level, but there are funny books and books with nice pictures that can still be appealing to kids.  Or if you read with him you can fill in the harder words.  Or you can pre-read.  Whatever works with him that he doesn't mind doing. 

 

But he is absolutely getting practice from the worksheets! 

[Heathermomster]

We did vision therapy for a good 6? Months, for ... I forget atm. My brain is mush, but it wasn’t convergence, just generic vision difficulties.

 

We remediated reading with AAR (plus OG), but I’m considering that program that forces more prefix/suffix attention (rewards).

 

He does listen to audiobooks with no problems that I can detect, except occasional boredom depending on the text. But we do have the highlighted words. Sometimes he’ll pay attention but usually he’s just listening while playing.

 

We don’t do much audiobooks in nonfiction.

 

I’ll focus more on read aloud practice at a lower level for now. Since he said to me he’s doing those things while reading (skipping small words, reading out of order, skipping lines), I’m thinking of forcing a guideline. He states it causes him to have trouble understanding what he’s reading, but to have to re-read a section... I don’t think the self regulation to prevent a meltdown is up to it yet. But we’re trying.

I need to clarify something. As DS attended Wilson tutoring, he was purposely taught roots/affixes and reading comprehension skills as decoding skills increased. He also purposefully used an online vocab program for maybe 10 minutes 3 times per week. All of those skills were addressed in an ongoing fashion with Wilson for 5 years.

 

If your DS is actively engaging in these activities with you and doesn’t want to pick up a book and read for pleasure later, don’t lose hope. Introduce a really awesome audio book at a later time. As long as he listens to story and hears language and new vocabulary in a pleasurable setting, he’s benefiting. Remediation is not forever. Try to work consistently and manage expectations.

 

Testing for comprehension doesn’t always have to be performed in a formal way. If you’re reading a science or history, periodically stop and ask Socratic type questions. You’re going to know immediately whether he understands what he’s listening to. You can also use mind mapping with him and start demonstrating how to write down and connect ideas. eta:  The iPad is great for this.

Edited December 6, 2017 by Heathermomster

[Pen]

You might want to look at hi/lo -- high interest level/low level -- books for him to practice on (letting him choose which as much as possible to help with interest).   I found with my 2e kid that this helped a lot.  We were on mailing lists for catalogs of these, but it has been too long for me to remember much of details.  Mainly we used ones from High Noon, but there are a lot out there.  The catalog that used to come was about half an inch thick with hi/lo books from many sources.

 

Among other things, many of these hi/lo books (including High Noon) had pages with larger white spaces between rows of type and tended to use easy to read fonts, which made it easier to not skip words and lines even without using a guide, though ds did use his finger to some degree.

 

Also not specifically a hi/lo, but my ds liked the Magic Tree House and its non-fiction Fact Finder books series at the stage where he was at the stage yours seems to be at.  And that--especially with the Fact Finders--was a help in reading comprehension work.  Our local children's librarian recommended finding series books to get hooked on as a big help, and for ds that did turn out to work well.  

 

Mine did not read for pleasure until his reading level was more caught up with his IQ though.  At that point --age 10-12 or so-- he read a lot of series for pleasure, such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc., and got to where he did get past the sort of problems you are mentioning, so long as the material was not too difficult. Also, mine had amblyopia which was addressed before the dyslexia etc., but I think if he gets tired, he still starts having some visual problems on top of LD's.  Sometimes he'll ask me to check if his eye is drifting.

[PeterPan]

If you know his F and P level, look for books below that level.  Those are books that will be easier for him.  That is the recommended way to work on fluency, you are supposed to use materials below the "instructional level." 

 

And Eli has moved up to F now at school, but he was in D for some of Kindergarten (iirc he got into D during Kindergarten?), all of 1st grade, all of 2nd grade, and the beginning of 3rd grade.  That is a lot of time to be in level D.  But he was making progress the entire time, it is just HARD to move up in F and P levels. 

 

Plus they are designed to that kids don't move up very much over a year, really.... they expect kids to take a long time at each level. 

 

It is hard if he is bored by books at his level, but there are funny books and books with nice pictures that can still be appealing to kids.  Or if you read with him you can fill in the harder words.  Or you can pre-read.  Whatever works with him that he doesn't mind doing. 

 

But he is absolutely getting practice from the worksheets! 

 

Oh really! Well that makes me feel better, lol. We were FLYING through levels. I would say instructionally he's at L or M. Like if you just said what could you use motivators and require him to do. We were into the I, J, K books, maybe L, I forget, and they were turning into anthologies of stories he already knew. They lost their charm. At level M the books went over to regular books like early chapter books, magic treehouse,that kind of thing. Because he didn't like the anthologies, it was hard to sort out if it was the length or the lack of novelty and interest or what. If they had been GOOD, we might have perservered. 

 

Yeah, then I'm on the right track. I found lists online. I just got kind of perfectionist and freaky about getting the EXACT books they listed, which takes time. But we'll figure it out. I think that's good advice to back up. I pulled lists for that, so I can do that. So yes, if doing the below grade level reading is fluency work, then we're golden. Guess that's what we were doing and the correct term for it. The trick for him is that he still needs it paired with pictures for comprehension and motivation. He's really not ready to lose picture supports, but I've got enough books to make that happen.

 

OneStep, thanks. :)

[PeterPan]

You might want to look at hi/lo -- high interest level/low level -- books for him to practice on (letting him choose which as much as possible to help with interest).   I found with my 2e kid that this helped a lot.  We were on mailing lists for catalogs of these, but it has been too long for me to remember much of details.  Mainly we used ones from High Noon, but there are a lot out there.  The catalog that used to come was about half an inch thick with hi/lo books from many sources.

 

Among other things, many of these hi/lo books (including High Noon) had pages with larger white spaces between rows of type and tended to use easy to read fonts, which made it easier to not skip words and lines even without using a guide, though ds did use his finger to some degree.

 

Also not specifically a hi/lo, but my ds liked the Magic Tree House and its non-fiction Fact Finder books series at the stage where he was at the stage yours seems to be at.  And that--especially with the Fact Finders--was a help in reading comprehension work.  Our local children's librarian recommended finding series books to get hooked on as a big help, and for ds that did turn out to work well.  

 

Mine did not read for pleasure until his reading level was more caught up with his IQ though.  At that point --age 10-12 or so-- he read a lot of series for pleasure, such as Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, etc., and got to where he did get past the sort of problems you are mentioning, so long as the material was not too difficult. Also, mine had amblyopia which was addressed before the dyslexia etc., but I think if he gets tired, he still starts having some visual problems on top of LD's.  Sometimes he'll ask me to check if his eye is drifting.

 

Thanks! I had looked into those before from your mention and just hadn't taken the plunge. We were making the stuff that was free at the CC work, and it worked till it stopped, lol. And that's an excellent point about that convergence of IQ and what he wants to read. He'll read for pleasure when he can read what he wants to read, duh. Makes total sense.

[Lecka]

I don't know if there is an exact correlation, but I have an impression like ---- if his instructional level is L or M, his fluency level is I or J.  My impression is that fluency level is 3 levels behind instructional level, but I'm not sure.  Just as a general thing.

 

Edit:  But I think any easier book is fine.  Just to give an idea of how much easier, I guess?  I have that impression. 

Edited December 6, 2017 by Lecka

[PeterPan]

Yeah, and see in non-technical homeschooling we call that pleasure reading. We'll say he's doing x level for his reading curriculum but pleasure reads at another level. The 3 back makes sense.

[Lecka]

Lol

[summerreading]

He may need to get a recheck by the COVD doctor. My guy graduated but is now back for maintenance therapy. Doctor said hormones and growth can cause them to backslide a bit. 

I feel bad even suggesting it with the cost and all.

[KathyBC]

So, DS can read well, mostly. I haven’t graded his reading level in a year but he was last on level (for his grade, not IQ).

 

When he reads now by himself (almost never for pleasure), he is having trouble with comprehension. I think the problems still have to do with skipping small words, misreading words, skipping lines or reading out of order. He refuses to use a guide for reading, or a marker.

 

He was mostly cleared from COVD, but I do plan on following up.

 

Do these issues ever resolve or self resolve, or is this likely to be a lifelong problem? I don’t feel like doing in depth research and I can’t remember.

So when you read aloud to him or with him he doesn't have comprehension issues? Then yes, it does seem like a reading issue, whether vision or w.h.y.

 

The path we roughly did was:

A targeted phonics remediation program + vision therapy

Fluency work (using way below grade level material working our way up, timed 1 minute reading per day shooting for 100 words, initially I read aloud with him, dragging him along, so he understood what 100wpm sounded like)

REWARDS reading

 

If your ds is reading at least gr. 2.5 level, maybe look into REWARDS Reading by Sopris West?

[frogger]

That's the thing. He's not actually progressing because we had so many other things to work on. We haven't worked on decoding in ages. We did F&P and increased function, but he got to a place where it was hard again. So it's not like I'm doing a good job. It's more like I'm a firefighter putting out fires.

I understand wanting to call it fires since if we aren't progressing around here (at least with the kids with LDs) we are regressing but when I look at the list of things you mentioned the look like building things. If you were building a house you couldn't work on the kitchen, bathroom, roof, landscaping, office, wiring, windows, painting, etc all the time. You have to pick the most important parts to finish next. When those become easier you can move to other things. It can feel like we are are falling behind because we are explicitly teaching and practicing things that other kids just naturally pick up at times but we are progressing but really you ARE accomplishing things. Sometimes I look back to a year ago or even 2 years ago to do a comparison and then I can see big changes. I won't see those accomplishments if I'm only comparing to NT kids or to some common core standard but if I look back I can say, "Hey, we accomplished this now it's time to accomplish that."

 

 

 

 

I want to ditto the comments about kids needing to love to read. It is NOT a sin to not like reading. Sometimes it feels like our society thinks it is.

[kareng]

 

My dd is now 20 having been diagnosed at age 11 with dyslexia. At that time she was reading at the 2.9 level although she was in 6th grade according to my book.  Having found a super teacher who would tutor her in Lindamood Bell methods, in one year she was reading at grade appropriate levels. 

 My dd also had issues with skipping small words, misreading words, skipping lines or reading out of order. Many of these have resolved themselves in time, but most of them she has figured out how to work around or work with her issues.  Reading more and more and writing (fiction for her) has helped her the most with many things.

With that said, she still has issues with spelling (though she has learned many words through her novel writing) and sometimes wrestles with words as she reads.  Will she always have these issues? Probably.  Will she always wrestle with spelling and the mechanics of writing? Probably. But, she has progressed tremendously that most people wouldn't even know she has an issue.

Be encouraged. Most things are not static.  You just never know how things will work out.  I'm always hoping and praying for the best.

[ElizabethB]

I would work through my Syllables program and do a daily nonsense word reading for accuracy, time them once a week. (They are linked in my syllables page, groups of 25 words, but they can help a lot if you do a group a day.) I would also make sure the letter sounds, especially the 2 letter vowel teams, are overlearned.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

 

Also, the guide has to go above the line, not below, and slanted to allow correct linear reading, I will find the quote from my dyslexia page and cut and paste it.

 

Here it is, from Dr Hilde Mosse:

 

A folded piece of paper or, much better, an unlined card should be held above the line the child is reading, not beneath it. This is the so-called Cover Card Method of treating Linear Dyslexia. The reason for this position of the card is that it can steady the eyes, which have a tendency to wander above and not below the line being read, and it can connect the end of one line with the beginning of the next, thus indicating the return sweep and making it easier on the child's eyes. By blotting out all the text that has just been read, the cover card helps the child to concentrate on just that one line he is reading. By holding the card at a slant with the left corner slightly lower than the right, and by pushing it down while he reads, the child steadies his gaze and at the same time pushes his eyes from left to right and down via a correct return sweep from one line to the next. This is by far the simplest, cheapest, and most effective treatment for Linear Dyslexia.

Edited December 15, 2017 by ElizabethB