(It's actually becoming glaringly obvious to me so maybe "stealth" is a misnomer. 🙂) I'm pretty much convinced my DD is dyslexic. I have had suspicions since she started reading, but she's progressed just enough to fool me every year. She started at public school about a month ago and it seems very obvious to me now that she has some sort of language processing disorder, seemingly dyslexia. Here is what I'm seeing: 1. Dislikes reading despite reading above grade level. She says it makes her tired and makes her head hurt. 2. Her spelling is abysmal. "evryon" (everyone) "pepol" (people) etc. Today I asked her to spell "word" and she said "wrode" 3. Her handwriting is nice but the content of her writing is not up to par. Aside from the spelling, she just has no stamina. She has a large vocabulary and can decode well: she reads out loud very well. Its the "expressive language" piece. She did do a round of vision therapy last fall for convergence and saccadic issues. She has reading glasses but she doesn't love to wear them and tells me she doesn't need them. Did any of your kids present this way? How have you accommodated them? I have a conference scheduled with the teacher next week, and I have started to look into getting her evaluated privately. (Not through the school district.)

Hi, We are getting ready for a nueropysc appointment and would love to have recommendations for testing for suspected dyslexia. I have tried to search and did see the norms are different for a 16 year old, I really appreciate that people posted that, I had no idea. It makes me wonder what else I don't know. I have to admit acronyms are diificult for me and when I look at previous posts, it is quite confusing. I am guessing an IQ test , is that WISC? And some sort of receptive/expressive verbal/ visual/ reading test to see the discrepency between that and IQ? Any specific tests I should request? All help is appreciated!

“French scientists say they may have found a potential cause of dyslexia which could be treatable, hidden in tiny cells in the human eye. In a small study they found that most dyslexics had dominant round spots in both eyes - rather than in just one - leading to blurring and confusion. UK experts said the research was "very exciting" and highlighted the link between vision and dyslexia. But they said not all dyslexics were likely to have the same problem.†More info/explanation in the news article http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41666320

My son is 9 and entering third grade at a public school in Ohio. During the second grade year we had him privately tested and learned that he is dyslexic. I began using the Barton system almost immediately and have seen really great results with the program, however doing at least two hours of Barton Tutoring per week plus the normal homework he receives at school was very challenging last year. He was tired and burnt out, and I noticed many times that the instruction he was receiving at school would contradict the instruction he was receiving from me regarding Barton, which then left him confused. I am unhappy with the reading/intervention program that he is receiving at school and would love to be able to pull him out of school during the reading portion of his day and have him complete that requirement by using the Barton system at home with me. Is this possible? I love our school district and would like for him to continue to be a part of the rest of the school day. Can anyone give me any guidance regarding whether or not this is possible? I want to make sure I fully research my options and know what's legally possible before approaching the school. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

We have the testing completed. Dyslexia -dysgraphia- ADHD is the diagnosis for my 11 yr old ds. I'm having trouble finding a Tudor. Does anyone have thought on Sylvan learning for a tutoring option. I'm asking questions at Sylvan but can't seem to make sense of it. I'm not hearing key words or phrase like "Barton, O-G system, systematic phonetic approach..." and it has me concerned. The guy just keeps talking about how great his software is. His approach for my kid is to build his vocabulary. He thinks the phonetic window has closed because of his age. I really trust the experience you all have here. Thoughts?

I don't think my 8 yr old DD is dyslexic -- she can usually spell just fine. But, sometimes her thought processes aren't clear, and her sentences, or responses to questions, don't come out clearly, or are missing a few words (like a, or the). Other times she speaks and writes just perfectly fine! In the cases of her mistakes, she'll go back to reread her sentences and immediately find her error and correct it. But I can't help but think that she shouldn't be doing this at the third grade level. We had been using CLE English, and then moved on to BJU and then finally a more CM-ish approach with copywork... but I'm starting to think she needs more drill and practice with basic sentence structure. AM I wrong in thinking this? If not, what curriculum would you recommend? If yes, do you think I should I get her tested for dyslexia? Or some kind of auditory processing disorder?? Because she doesn't always make grammatical errors, I've hesitated to seek out professional evaluation. Just trying to see if anyone else out there has had similar experiences? TIA!

I've been reading a lot of research about kids' attention spans and how exercise helps focus and learning. Some schools are increasing recess time, but some are not. It seems like the pro-recess schools get as good or better results than the non-recess schools. For those of you with kids in school, how much recess/movement do your kids get? Or... how much do you wish they would get? For some reason I'm picturing 30-45 minutes of inside time followed by 15 minutes of recess, rinse, repeat. At my school they get one 30 min recess, with short movement breaks during classes, but there isn't any real serious outdoor time except for the one recess in the middle of the day.

Let me start this out by saying, please be kind in your comments. I want to hear your opinions, but this is a super sensitive topic for me right now. I am going to to be very vulnerable and share kind of the "whole big picture". We adopted our daughter when she was eight years old through the foster care system. She was born premature ( does that play into learning disabilities?), she was severely neglected the first 5 years of her life, also head trauma at the age of 3 (car accident with no seat belt), tossed around in foster care for 3 years, diagnosed with a speech disorder while in foster care ( went through 2 years of speech therapy), and failed Kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd grade in the public school system. We adopted her at the end of her 2nd grade year. I urged for them to hold her back because she could not even add 2+2=4, but they refused because of her height. (Crazy, right?) That is where our homeschool journey began. She is now 16 years old and we have been homeschooling the past 7.5 years. We had further testing done over the years and she has diagnosis of Dyslexia, Auditory Processing Disorder, and a general Processing Disorder along with Anxiety and ADD. She also had a low IQ score when she was first placed in foster care and her report says she would never read above a 2nd grade level. Thankfully, I didn't have time to read that report when we first adopted her, because I had also just had a baby. So while those papers sat in a box in the closet, I embarked on a mission to homeschool her. Her vocabulary is not up to high school standards but her ability to read is, so she lacks in comprehension of some high school text even though she can pronounce the words. Teaching Textbooks Math has been the best math program for her, she is passing Algebra 1 with a B right now. She loves Guest Hollow Biology because it is very visual and the lady has a good sense of humor in her text. I am at a loss on what to expect from her for Language Arts and History. For language arts she is currently doing Fix It Grammar from IEW, SWB Writing with Skill ( I know this is considered logic level, but it is where she is at), Spelling Power, and reading from a book of her choice for 1 hour a day. For History she listens in on her younger brothers SOTW and we have been trying to match it as closely as possible with HOTW for her. She does NOT do well on the comprehension questions or essays that go along with HOTW. We also tried Notgrass History, which she didn't mind, but also scored poorly on the comprehension questions. She actually does do well if I ask her to just write a paper on what she read that week in History. Would you suggest switching curriculums, allowing her to just read HOTW and write a weekly paper, or beef us SOTW for her in some way? And back to language arts....what else should I be expecting out of her for high school level English? I am a literature lover and she is NOT! I still feel like there should be a high school level book assigned once a month and discussed. Is this expecting too much of her? Do I cut out the 1 hour of free reading to accommodate for the required high school level reading? Will that kill any love for reading she has? I will be the first to admit I have pushed her hard over the years. Not in a mean way, but wanting her to realize she is capable of more than what she thinks she is because of her learning disabilities. She has no desire to go to college at this point, even though she has briefly brought it up in the past. She also has no idea what she wants to do with her life after graduating. Is that normal? Like not a clue. My boys are 8 and 14 and are always dreaming of future careers of being an engineer, zoologist/marine biologist. She does have a natural talent for writing fiction. I have tried so many times to harness that and help her grow in that area. Despite her dyslexia causing spelling and grammar errors, her story telling is phenomenal. However, when I try to key in on that and offer one of her high school electives to be a Creative Writing class....she shuts down and all of the sudden hates writing. If I make it a part of school, she no longer finds joy in it. I am stumped by this, because the boys love for me to incorporate their passions in with their school assignments. Sorry for the long book, but I really need help in knowing how much I should be expecting of her and where I need to just let it go. Thank you ladies so much for your time and wisdom.

Hello! We tried a montessori this year and it did not work for my dau with dyslexia/processing issues (long story). I just pulled my 9 year old dau, 7 year old son, and 4 year old son out and quit my full time job..... My daughter struggles to learn unless she experiences what she is learning, so I'm searching for a curriculum that is specific to 'experiential learning'. My first grader is advanced, and my 3rd grader is behind, so I'm thinking about doing a second grade curriculum and modifying it as needed for each individual student. What do you use? Any suggestions? I started to do the online public school but it was so stuffy and boring, with too many rules. If there is already a thread about this (I've searched), would you direct me to it? I'm also searching for experiences people have had with neuropsychologist for testing their kiddos for processing issues, memory issues, etc. Something beyond dyslexia is going on and I just wish it was easier to find it out- I'm researching like a crazy woman but I feel like I'm reinventing the wheel when some parent out there may be able to point me in the right direction. Our dyslexia remediation therapist is helping us find someone to test, but it's taking a while and then what do we do with the results? I wish there were somewhere we could type in all of her symptoms and then it gave us an answer about what is wrong, how to help strengthen her brain, if it is something that can even be remediated, and where we should seek help? Has anyone done Brain Balancing for their processing disorders? Thank you!!!!!!! I'm so needy at this phase and the professionals in my community don't seem to get it or have any ideas for me.

Hello! I love this board and am kind of addicted to coming here for help haha. We have been going to an educational therapist doing the Wilson Program for my 9 year old daughter with dyslexia and executive functioning issues. Needless to say, it's been an expensive summer. Due to my work schedule coming up, homeschooling is not an option unless I quit and do homeschool full time. We found a great Montessori school that is about 40 minutes away. They seem to have worked with kids with EF issues and I love that their program is strength-based and focused on experiential learning. All words I have never heard at public school (which I took her out of last year after all of you wonderful folks gave me great advice). My concern is she will be in a class with 3-5th graders....which seems like a pretty distracting situation. Has anyone else had their dyslexic child in montessori? Any words of advice? How about grants for Elementary Private School for kids with learning disabilities? I just sent out a bunch of emails today to our state government education and other services, asking questions. Thank you for your ideas and good luck to all of those whom are starting school next month! How did summer go so quickly?!

I'm looking for a good way to introduce reading remediation to a 12 year old boy who has had pretty negative experiences with school and is now REALLY emotional about reading. I can do my usual spiel about how having a hard time with reading doesn't mean you're stupid, how people with dyslexia have lots of cool strengths, creative thinking, etc. I was thinking of using the analogy of a foundation of a house - being aware of each sound in a word is like the foundation of the house, and once that's in place we can go on to build the rest of the house...? His phonemic awareness is low, his ability to separate sounds, blend and manipulate sounds is low, so I'm planning on starting with LiPS. It's so unusual that I think he may be on board, and I'm fairly sure it's just what he needs, but I'm still concerned about the emotional buy-in. Has anyone had any good/bad experiences with selling reading remediation to a pre-teen? I'm looking for a good way to introduce the remediation - I can do my usual spiel about how having a hard time with reading doesn't mean you're stupid, how people with dyslexia usually have lots of strengths, etc. I was thinking of using the analogy of a foundation of a house - being aware of each sound in a word is like the foundation of the house...?

I have a tenth grade DD. She has pretty severe dyslexic symptoms. She reads at about a 6th grade level and needs significant help writing essay type answers. She also needs a lot of support to finish her assignments. I'm planning on working 1:1 with her this year and not assigning any independent work that will be graded. I'm struggling with how to grade her work. For example: we will be using Susan Wise Bauer's The History of the Medieval World and the accompanying student guide. Last year, I read the text to her and dictates the guide questions. The guide has four section per chapter, three requiring written answers and one is maps. She is still learning how to express her ideas in full sentences and so I need to coach her in order to complete those sections. I doubt we will finish every question. The map section may also need to be tailored as she is slow getting them done. How would you grade a student with these challenges? PDF sample of the lesson is here: https://welltrainedmind.com/p/study-and-teaching-guide-for-the-history-of-the-medieval-world-pdf/

It's summer! I'm excited, as I'm sure most of you are. But is anyone else kind of pulling their hair out? I ended up homeschooling my daughter so it's not that I'm not used to being around the kids, it is just anytime there is a shift in schedules or routines, my dau (8yrs, dyslexia, executive functioning issues) struggles to rally. I'm trying to be patient as possible because I know I can't get frustrated with her. I've realized today I need to cut back my work schedule, stop some other things that are taking up my mind and making us hurry to places.... What do you do with your executive functioning kiddos in the summer to get them on the right track? I want to enjoy this time, be encouraging, and not nagging all summer. If I were answering my own questions i would say- chore chart, reward system, signs on the doors, start a new routine schedule, calendar on the wall with whats happening.... Anyone else have magic tricks? :) Thank you for this forum- it has helped me so much even though I have mostly been reading and I haven't had much time to interact. You folks are a blessing! And I started my daughter with an educational therapist this week- means driving 45 min to appointment, 4 days a week, but it seems like it will really help! Yikes, motherhood is a lot of work but I love seeing my little girl smile! My two boys think it's pretty fun going to town too- we've been hunting for pollywogs every day near her appointment;) Cheers to you, :driving: great moms!

If anyone has any experience with either of these, I'd love some input! DS1 (nearly 10) is in the middle of Barton level 5 and DS2 (age 8) is in Barton level 4 (during which we repeat/stick with each lesson until he "gets it"....this level is just so stinkin' difficult!) I have had them do copywork, but have not addressed "writing" (as in, composition) thus far (or at least, not "formally"!) Now, though, I am debating between IEW (institute for excellence in writing http://iew.com/ ) and Here to Help Learning (http://heretohelplearning.com/). I have researched IEW alot and know it is a great program with many people who love it. I saw Here to Help Learning at our recent local Homeschool Convention/Conference and it looks promising - and entertaining (a big bonus for my boys). For what it's worth, I went to the convention expecting that I would leave there with the IEW products I had planned to purchase there....but, then saw the Here to Help Learning booth. Talked to the person there (the husband/owner) and watched some of the video stuff. Then, I wasn't sure which one might be a better fit for us!?! (grrrrr.....sometimes too many choices just makes homeschooling life more difficult ;) )

I'm addicted to this forum because it's so nice to find intelligent mothers/educators whom are willing to share their ideas and suggestions. I'm going to keep this super short. I tried to search the forum for suggestions before posting this. If you know of a discussion on this topic already, will you lead me to it? My current decision: My dau is in special education off and on throughout her day at school (math, reading and writing). This transition happened about a month ago. The beginning of the year she wasn't this stressed out, but now that she has so many para pros and schedules to juggle, I think it has maxed her out. She is feeling overwhelmed with all of the transitions, inadequate amongst her peers, and is mad at herself for being so easily distracted (all of this coming out only the past few months). The school knows absolutely nothing about dyslexia and it was not even discussed by them in their IEP meeting until I was pushing for it. I sat with my dau in her math-time class last week and I was so overwhelmed. The class has 27 kids in it, walls filled with stimulus and words all over the room- up to the ceiling actually. My dau is in the very back and sits next to an obnoxious kid (I have had her moved three times). So many kids off task. Wonderful teacher, just so many distractions. Shorter story: not a great environment for a dyslexic, easily distracted, child. More confused and frustrated. With my background in psychology and case management, and after reading the numerous books recently and online articles about dyslexia learning styles etc., I'm ready to pull her out and do our own curriculum that I can focus on her strengths. I have her set up to meet with a specialized tutor too for an assessment. We have already started Barton and are doing it in the evenings, which I think is really great to start from ground zero and building up. QUESTION: Why is it so hard for me to finally pull her out of public school? How do I know it's the right decision? How can I build my confidence? She is so eager to learn and very bright. She is an amazing artist and I feel like we never have time for her to explore her art. We have a great relationship and I really enjoy spending time helping her learn. Has anyone else been in this position? Is there something else I should try before I pull her out? THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I hope to someday be able to help encourage moms that are in my same position, just getting started on this new path. I also have a three year old son and a 6 year old son (who is already reading above my dau's level).

Does anyone know of a test that can tell me what level my child is for her written expression? I know she is behind. But I am needed a score to provide social security for her re-evaluation and I have no idea what test to use. She is currently in 3rd grade. Thanks in advance!