<<So I can say 'cat' and they can spell it out. But if they see 'cat' in writing, they might not know it. I'm sure confused...>> oops, somehow i didn't clip the whole message in my other response. the most currently available info on dyslexia indicates that it's all centered (regardless of type) around phonological processing. even if they can tell you the sound (but not the name) and even if they can't read the word. an evidence based multi sensory systematic *intensive* program will work on all of those things. to be successful, 45-60 minutes per day, 5 days a week is needed plus 15-30 minutes of fluency practice (with specific texts). it really does work pretty much 100% of the time based on my reading of the currently available scientific evidence. :) K

<<what little phonics we have done (which stopped progressing due to their difficulties keeping letters -by sight- straight), they *do* hear the sounds and can typically tell me which sounds are for which letter.>> that's where the multisensory thing comes in.....tracing a rough surface (like montessori sandpaper letters). but really, at the end of the day the names of the letters are much less important than the sounds they make. don't let the naming thing stop you. find a good multi-sensory 'off the shelf' program and forge ahead. :) K

i thought hard about Barton. Let me tell you. I love the structure. I just couldn't justify the cash though when dd9.5 already has some Wilson under her belt and thankfully I ended on good enough terms with her tutor that she'll be a resource for me for Wilson. But I was choosing from a totally blank slate I'd probably go with Barton just b/c it's set and ready to go. Ah yes, I can see why _OD_ wasn't what you needed the first go around. I found it at first a little nerve wracking and stressful, but then motivating. It really helped my brain organize the major bullet points regarding what I needed to be doing. Getting clear on that helped me make the decision to get out of a tutoring situation that was no longer working and has helped me 'rally the troops' (me being the troops LOL) so that I can move forward with my challenging little one in a positive energetic way. Crossing fingers for you wrt the testing and all it yeilds. K

Are you certain that he isn't at all dyslexic? Everything you mention points in that direction.....reading w/o regard to any punctuation, skipping words, adding words, loosing his place, not being able to spell......classic classic dyslexia symptoms. I'd do some testing/investigating on that front to see what turns up. Sally Shaywitz's book _Overcoming Dyslexia_ is the most thorough overview of the currently available scientific literature wrt dyslexia. It's excellent. If that is the issue, you'll be able to use the book as a roadmap really....outlining exactly what you need to do to move forward. Time is of the essence, it's very difficult to remediate as they get older.....but still absolutely possible and worth the effort to get a dx and accomodations. All the best, Katherine

consider using one of the orthon-gillingham based reading programs. they're developed for dyslexic kids...and that may not be your daughters issue (or it may)....but they tend to be very hands on/multi-sensory. I use Wilson Reading with my 9.5 yo. It's not very scripted and I did have to put more than a few hours into figuring it out, but really anyone who can manage homeschooling their child can definitely manage using Wilson or similar. dd9.5 loves the magnetic tiles..... other great programs Barton (much much more expensive but totally scripted....which is wonderful) Wilson Reading Fundations (the younger kids program) Read, Write and Type Learning System (http://www.readwritetype.com) Recipe for Reading Horizonsreading.com reading mastery (sra4kids.com) Barton would probably be the easiest for you (totally scripted, phone support is *awesome*) and the benefit it that she might be just up and running with a little multi sensory intensive help. Then you can move towards something less expensive to keep going. But if she does need direct instruction the whole reading journey, then you've already got something great onboard. All the best, Katherine

Many dyslexia experts recommend cursive early for dyslexic kids. It's a real struggle for my 9.5 yo dd to read it and write it, but perhaps no harder than print is:) She's very very dysgraphic. Very. Handwriting without Tears is probably the best of the lot though it's not pretty:) It's a very developmentally appropriate curriculum. We use many of it's tenents in our Getty Dubay.....and I may be switching to Barchowsky Fluent Hand. Nan Barchowsky (sp?) has some great (if incredibly boring) videos on how.com (or one of those kinds of websites) All the best, Katherine

Vision Therapy treats vision issues. Explicit intensive, systematic phonics instruction remediates dyslexia. Some kids will have both issues. Many will just have one issue. If there's a hint of reading difficulties, do get a full psychoeducational battery done as soon as you can. If there is a dyslexia component or other ld issue, earlier rather than later is the time to find out. Esp with dyslexia - early intensive remediation can head off a massive bunch of problems. _Overcoming Dyslexia_ by Shaywitz is a compilation of all of the currently available literature. Wishing you all the best, Katherine

<<My 7 yo's APD (and probable dyslexia) is much more severe than the 12 yo's. In addition to the NCSU appt, she has appts for an OT eval and an updated speech eval. Yeah!!! I'll heartily add my reassurance. I think you're absolutely doing the right thing. Your statement regarding labels is spot on.....give them the right one or they'll find their own negative ones:/ Wishing you all the best and hoping you get excellent useable info both on weaknesses/challenges but also great info on strengths!! A psychoed battery from an EdPsy is definitely the right choices over a neuropsych since neuropsych testing for dyslexia is generally quite poor. Take lists of symptoms/examples in for the testing..... For us, dyslexia was initially missed b/c the adhd was so front and center. Everyone was willing to attribute adhd behaviors and just age (she was under 8) to the redflags that were, to me, so clearly signs of dyslexia. Over time it became painfully apparent that we missed two critical years of intervention:( Then once we had a dx, we had a highly recommended tutor but it turns out that wasn't going as it should - mostly b/c of her own personal bias' regarding homeschooling. We just ended that relationship and I'm doing Wilson with her now, 5 days a week. << Our audiologist (who is also a certified SLP) was not going to recommend an updated speech eval until we mentioned that Katie sometimes reverses sounds in words (eg hostipal vs hospital). She said that's a fine motor issue rather than an articulation error, and her fine motor issues should have resolved by now. >> it's also a classic dyslexia symptom so it could be that component rather than motor or articulation. my 9.5 yo dyslexic daughter does it frequently (cashtran instead of trashcan is one exceptionally cute term)....we have absolutely no fine or gross motor issues and no speech issues. Have you read Shaywitz's book _Overcoming Dyslexia_? It's fantastic. wishing you all the best!! Katherine in atlanta

<<Most dyslexia is caused by auditory processing problems,>> the current predominating model is that it's not so much auditory processing but specifically phonological processing. they can hear the words and sounds and they can understand and comprehend what they hear. it's the pulling apart of the individual sounds that ends up being troublesome. for example....if you give them the word stale and ask them to take the 't' out....dyslexic kids have a much much harder time (unrelated to vocab, intelligence, reasoning ability) than non-dyslexic kids. it's not that they don't hear the all of the sounds....they just can't unstick the sounds to know how it will sound with one letter removed (sale) some are still floating the auditory processing model but the leaders in the field are currently operating under the 'phonological weakness' hypothesis....and that the weakness is 'circumscribed and encapsulated' (shaywitz) when dyslexia is the only issue. all the best, Katherine

<<Not eyesight, per se, but how the brain processes what the eyes see.>> exactly. Not a vision problem. A processing issue w/in the brain. :) K

Barton and Wilson are both O-G programs. So is Recipe for Reading. So is Horizonsreading.com Honestly, it doesn't matter which one you choose. The evidence indicates that any of them work (there are tons) as long as 1)the teacher is trained and doing the program properly (imo it doesn't have to be a professional...you can learn to 'properly' do it) 2)the program is administered at sufficient intensity (45-60 min daily direct instruction of the encoding/decoding component and another 15-30 min of guided shared reading to improve fluency) 3)the program is administered for sufficient duration.....ie don't get them to grade level, but past grade level. it typically takes 2-3 years. could be less depending on age, frequency and how quickly the child is 'getting' it. I am now acting as my child's Wilson teacher.....we were using a $90/hr professional who was highly recommended, very experienced in all things O-G and LD/dyslexia. But at the end of the day her personal (negative) feelings about homeschooling were undermining what should have been her professional integrity and we were given bad information at every turn of the road. Sally Shaywitz' book _Overcoming Dyslexia_ lays out very clearly what constitutes a successful evidence based program. Just make an outline and go for it with one of the 'off the shelf' programs. it'll basically look like this: 1)right program being taught correctly 2)5 days a week. 45-60 min direct instruction *right* phonics program *and* 15-30 minutes right kind of fluency practice on appropriate text. 3)till complete mastery is reached (1 year? 2? 3?) 4)set goals for weekly *increases* in words correct per minute 1st grade-3.00, 2nd grade-2.00, 3rd grade-1.5, 4th grade - 1.10, 5th grade - .80, 6th grade - .65. again those are the *increases* you're looking for when assessing words correct per minute (wcpm). dont' base judgements on 1-2 weeks, but on trends over 5-6 weeks. 5)frequent regular assessment via Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) graphing progress so child has a visual of how far they've come. Fwiw, I would prefer Barton except for the cost (moves faster). So we're doing wilson exactly as it's laid out...and will be doing it 5 days a week until she's reading any text with complete fluency. All the best:) Katherine

Have you considered having him evaluated for dyslexia? Many of the things you describe fit the profile exactly. The extreme aversion to writing could be a dysgraphia component to the dyslexia. If that is the issue, you could do daily intensive phonics instruction with him using Wilson or Baron or Recipe for Reading or Horizonsreading.com All the best, Katherine

3rd, 4th and 5th. Cognitive Behavioral is the way to go. It's *so* not about the 'how are you feeling right now and why' It's about learning the exact skills needed to change *thoughts* so that the feelings will follow. I'd also recommend reading _Depression Free Naturally_ To say it saved my life wouldn't be an overstatement. I was in the throes of an extremely severe anxiety disorder. Fairly close to psychotic. The gorey details can be skipped:) but the bottom line is that with some CBT, clinical doses of fish oil (ie 16 g per day....stoll's study protocol for bipolar even though I'm not bipolar), sufficient b6, p5p (form of b6), additional zinc, sufficient vitamin d (2000 IU per day to maintain blood levels of 50-55 ng/mL), tryptophan, GABA, taurine (all inhibitory/calming amino acids), inositol....sufficient calcium, magnesium, b5, c.....it's a long crazy list;) If I miss 5 days of supplements, I fall off the deep end again....could be anxiety, could be irritability, could be depression...it's like a grab back of awfulness. But as long as I stick with it, get sufficient animal protein (ugh...former veg here), and work the cbt I'm good. This is how I see it...even though the supplemention removes the chemical cause of the mood/anxiety issues, there's still the *habit*. the cbt works on that part. Wishing you all the best, K PS my 9.5 yo uses significant supplementation as well.....tryptophan, 800-1000 IU to maintain optimal serum D levels, b6, p5p, niacinamide (for irritability), multi, extra zinc....magnesium, inositol

Dyslexia is a weakness in phonological processing. It's a processing issue that occurs in the brain. For better or worse, it has nothing to do with eyesight. There are other struggling readers who some believed are helped by vision therapy (over/underfocus, tracking etc). There may be a segment of struggling readers who have both *separate* issues. A thorough psychoeducational battery will clearly show any phonological weaknesses. It will also likely show issues that might be helped by vision therapy (visual perception part of the test). Because direct instruction, intensive, evidence based, multisensory, comprehensive phonics instruction won't hurt anyone:) and will dramatically change the course for about 1 of 5 kids, I'd rather accidentally be unnecessarily be 'treating' a child with such a reading program v. skipping that for vision therapy and missing out on a child that could be dramatically helped. There is evidence that early intervention with phonics instruction can bring the reading failure rate to just about zero by third grade. The key with dyslexia is to get remediation going early, often and for a sufficient duration.....by someone who knows what they're doing. Doesn't have to be a pd professional, imo it's not rocket science - well, to create it would be;p but to follow Barton or Recipe for Reading or to work out Wilson lessons - it's very doable. All the best, Katherine