Dyslexia or too early to tell?

[stephanie]

Dd7 has been my slow reader of all my dc. We've had to move at her own pace since K, and now finishing 1st, she's still what I would call behind. I really became concerned today when we were doing the comprehension part of her CAT test, and she couldn't read the passage fluently enough to even answer the questions. She is very bright and excels at comprehension when I read to her, can summarize very well and detailed, and can read very short passages and narrate well to me. However, as we've had to learn the more difficult sounds she has really struggled. She often adds in letters that aren't there, even after several attempts. It's like she simply just doesn't recognize the sounds. She does have some problems with pronunciation of sounds and was evaluated last year at the local ps, but they said it was normal and she would grow out of it. She still has trouble with some of her sounds,but it has improved. Her handwriting is ok , but she has to try really hard. When she writes what she calls stories, the words are all over the place, misspelled, and out of order. I just thought this was all normal for her age, but now I don't know. I'm just wondering if I should just give it another year to let her mature, or should I look into some testing? I need to add that dad is dyslexic as well. Thanks so much!

[Laurie4b]

Dd7 has been my slow reader of all my dc. We've had to move at her own pace since K, and now finishing 1st, she's still what I would call behind. I really became concerned today when we were doing the comprehension part of her CAT test, and she couldn't read the passage fluently enough to even answer the questions. She is very bright and excels at comprehension when I read to her, can summarize very well and detailed, and can read very short passages and narrate well to me. However, as we've had to learn the more difficult sounds she has really struggled. She often adds in letters that aren't there, even after several attempts. It's like she simply just doesn't recognize the sounds. She does have some problems with pronunciation of sounds and was evaluated last year at the local ps, but they said it was normal and she would grow out of it. She still has trouble with some of her sounds,but it has improved. Her handwriting is ok , but she has to try really hard. When she writes what she calls stories, the words are all over the place, misspelled, and out of order. I just thought this was all normal for her age, but now I don't know. I'm just wondering if I should just give it another year to let her mature, or should I look into some testing? I need to add that dad is dyslexic as well. Thanks so much!

 

It is not too early to tell whether she has dyslexia. I would recommend the book, Overcoming Dyslexia, by Sally Shaywitz. It contains a summary of the latest research on dyslexia. For the majority of people, the issue is phonemic awareness--the brains ability to "get" that words are made of different sounds. This ability to perceive correctly the sequence of sounds in a word obviously is a prior foundation one needs before phonics, which is associating a sound to a symbol. You need a program which will work on phonemic awareness as you do phonics. Reading Reflex is excellent for phonemic awareness, but isn't the most user friendly program. ABCDarian is built on the principles of Reading Reflex. If you can find a Phonograhix tutor in your area, I would jump on that. It usually takes about 3 months to get a child on target if that program will work for them. If Phonographix doesn't work, one of the Orton-Gillingham programs such as Wilson or Barton are good choices.

 

You are so wise to be seeking help at this stage. FYI, there are very, very few true "late maturers." Some labeled such are smart kids with dyslexia who can eek it out on their own, but don't really become proficient readers. The great news is that with directed instruction, your child's brain can actually be trained to use the correct part in reading (Dyslexics use the wrong part of their brain to read) and thus be re-wired. Often spelling problems (not so big a problem with spellcheck) and sometimes slower reading are the only lingering clues that dyslexia is present.

 

As for testing: you can go through your local public school in most areas and get a WISC-IV (That's the big bucks IQ test), and an individualized achievement test like the Woodcock Johnson. They may or may not do more.) If she is already seeing a speech therapist, ask them to do a CTOPPs. Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing. That will give you very important information on both phonemic awareness and rapid naming. If a child just has issues of phonemic awareness, remediation is pretty quick. If they also have rapid naming deficits, it's going to take longer. If you combine the CTOPPS with a Woodcock Johnson reading battery (includes all reading substests: letter-word identification, reading comprehension, word attack, reading vocabulary, and reading fluency), you will have excellent, specific info to plan instruction. The WISC-IV is helpful (but like I said, the most expensive) and would be necessary for a formal diagnosis. But doing the other two tests should cost $200 or less and will give you almost as much info. One advantage of the WISC-IV is that it may show up issues that you haven't seen yet. It would give you a test of working memory (which also can contribute to the issue), a comparison of verbal abilities to spatial reasoning, and a probe of processing speed.

[Renee in NC]

Laurie -

 

Are you saying that children with dyslexia can be remediated so that the symptoms of the dyslexia are no longer present? Were you able to do this with your dc?

 

By saying there are no late maturers, what age do you consider "late"?

[stephanie]

Thank you so much, Laurie. As usual, very informative!

[Laurie4b]

I didn's say no late maturers, I said very few. In any population, there will be variation. However, I think in the homeschool community, there is a myth that there are many kids who just need time to mature. I think some of those are kids who would have learned with very systematic instruction early on--but the parents waited because they thought they shouldn't push it--no harm done. However, there are also a large number of kids who were initially thought to be late maturers who are, in fact, dyslexic. To have waited for that population makes things much more difficult, though not impossible,.

 

Yes, both of mine are remediated in reading--read way above grade level--even the one with "double dyslexia" (both phonemic awareness and rapid naming issues.) The spelling of the one with milder issues is still not as good as his other subjects, but reasonably passable. The spelling of the younger one is still bad. We will "keep on keeping on."

 

Shaywitz in her book Overcoming Dyslexia also mentions that dyslexia can be remediated. Your brain actually changes with the right kind of instruction.

[Renee in NC]

I didn's say no late maturers, I said very few. In any population, there will be variation. However, I think in the homeschool community, there is a myth that there are many kids who just need time to mature. I think some of those are kids who would have learned with very systematic instruction early on--but the parents waited because they thought they shouldn't push it--no harm done. However, there are also a large number of kids who were initially thought to be late maturers who are, in fact, dyslexic. To have waited for that population makes things much more difficult, though not impossible,.

 

Yes, both of mine are remediated in reading--read way above grade level--even the one with "double dyslexia" (both phonemic awareness and rapid naming issues.) The spelling of the one with milder issues is still not as good as his other subjects, but reasonably passable. The spelling of the younger one is still bad. We will "keep on keeping on."

 

Shaywitz in her book Overcoming Dyslexia also mentions that dyslexia can be remediated. Your brain actually changes with the right kind of instruction.

 

That would be good. I have no doubts that my 11yo can be remediated, but I am not so sure about my 8yo. He has very bad phonemic awareness skills and his word retrieval is very bad (he still can't name numbers consistently over 10.) Add to that his language problems (irregular plurals and verbs) as well as his segmenting, blending, and the list goes on and on.

 

I just wondered whether I should even hope. If I am ever able to get him formally tested it might tell us more.

 

Thanks for the response.

Edited June 17, 2009 by Renee in FL

[lisabees]

You have given me hope, Laurie. I have a 13 year old son who is dyslexic. I sure hope he improves. Dh overcame his reading struggles, but his terrible handwriting and math computation skills linger on! :D

 

Ds recently took the WISC IV and it showed low scores in working memory and processing speed, which sure doesn't help matters (no signs of add). Laurie, if you have any wisdom, please pass it on. Right now, ds is doing Earobics, listening to audiobooks and is starting with a Barton tutor next week. His fluency and comprehension is lousy; I will implement Lindamood-Bell's Visualizing/Verbalizing, myself, in the fall, after he gets some Barton under his belt. He'll also use Read Naturally.

 

To the OP, I sure wish I had started this process years ago. I knew something was not right. DS had speech problems and couldn't recognize his letters until he was almost 7. Sure signs indeed. The book that Laurie recommends is wonderful. Read and read some more. Even if it's not dyslexia, maybe you're in tune with some other issue.

 

Phono Graphix is probably a perfect place to start. For under $20, you can really start to be in charge of what needs to be done. I got a tutor for a few months. It helped, but just wasn't eplicit enough for my older son.

 

Good luck to you. Just the fact that you are in tune with your son's abilities and needs means he'll be just fine, in the end!

 

Lisa

[Laurie4b]

I think you've got a great plan. You might want to try Brainware Safari, available through Homeschool Buyer's Co-op for $49 for the working memory issues. I think it helped my ds a lot. When he returns from his travels this summer, we'll move on to Cogmed. That's hugely more expensive, but also has double-blind, peer-reviewed research to back it up. Every little bit helps.

[lisabees]

The funny thing is we just installed Brainware Safari this morning! Ds was extremely frustrated. I can't believe that this is for younger kids! Of course, because of the dyslexia, it was difficult for him to read/understand the directions. I had to help him through it.

 

I have two questions for you.

 

Does the program specify which tasks are difficult for them? I know it tells you which level they have passed, but it would be helpful to know which they are struggling with specifically. He did NOT meet many of the challenges, yet that is not reflected anywhere.

 

Do you have a system regarding the order or number of games your son is supposed to play? If it were up to my son, he would play the games that he find easiest!!

 

Thanks!

 

Lisa

[Ottakee]

Check out the I See Sam program http://3rsplus.com/ This is very easy to use and highly effective for kids with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. You can get the first 2 sets free to print out at http://www.teacherweb.com/CA/PomeloDriveElementary/Mrssakamoto/printap2.stm

 

I have used this successfully to teach both of my daughters to read.

 

Check out the notched card/cursor as well as a great tool to help with tracking left to right while reading.

[Laurie4b]

The funny thing is we just installed Brainware Safari this morning! Ds was extremely frustrated. I can't believe that this is for younger kids! Of course, because of the dyslexia, it was difficult for him to read/understand the directions. I had to help him through it.

 

I have two questions for you.

 

Does the program specify which tasks are difficult for them? I know it tells you which level they have passed, but it would be helpful to know which they are struggling with specifically. He did NOT meet many of the challenges, yet that is not reflected anywhere.

 

Do you have a system regarding the order or number of games your son is supposed to play? If it were up to my son, he would play the games that he find easiest!!

 

Thanks!

 

Lisa

 

I sat with ds so that I could see what was happening. I think it's fine for your child to do the easiest things first--just don't let him go too high up on the levels of the easy things without also working on the ones that are harder. The tasks have things that overlap, so as your child achieves on one task, he will be more able to do other ones. Apparently, what you don't want is for him to get to level 7 on one thing while being on level 0 at something else! Try to keep him working on several things.

 

I actually paid my ds to do Brainware on some days--sometimes $1 per level passed; other times $1 for 20 min of work on a certain task whether he passed or not. didn't do this every day and I didn't do it until later in the program when it was getting tougher. I also sat right with him and would encourage and cheerlead.

 

I don't think it's expected that every child will achieve the highest level on every task. Ds, for instance, never got past level 3 on sky-scanning. But I tried to keep levels fairly even, and just have him continue to practice on the hard ones. He reached level 7 on most stuff.

 

You can also put it in practice mode and try it yourself. A lot of the stuff is HARD. It's amazing, though, to see your ds begin to conquer those hard things!