Trying not to get discouraged..helping reading

[choirfarm]

I'm trying not to get discouraged with my 7 1/2 yo girl. Her attention span for school is fine for everything but reading...her own reading I mean. She can sit next to me quietly and still for hours and listen to ME read. She is intuitive in math and loves history and science but since she doesn't read much things like word problems or worksheets I have to read to her. She knows all the answers and more, but can't read them herself. When I have her read I have to force her to sit up, otherwise she will wiggle everywhere. She cannot be still. Sometimes I give up and let her read upside down or lying down.

 

She thinks reading for 10 full minutes is torture. She is reading Clifford books, but I still have to help her with an occasional word. I had to call the vision therapy person yesterday because they had her start Dynamic Reader. My middle son did this and LOVED it and it made his reading even faster and more efficient. His eyes didn't track either yet he still read college level books and it helped it be so much easier. Anyway, we tried the 2nd grade test since that is where she is..no way. She made it through the 1st grade test ( missed a ton since I couldn't help her) So our 1st session they have to read 3 stories and answer the questions. That first story was longer than anything we have ever tried to read together. Anyway, we took the breaks that we recommended between stories. I thought this is taking forever.. So I got out a timer. It took her 35 minutes to read one story ( this program has the thing where you can only see certain words at a time) and 5 to answer questionsthe story. So 3 stories took her 2 hours!!! ( So basically 4 with athe breaks we took.) I looked at her notebook and she was supposed to do this for 30 minutes at a time, but if you just do one story it doesn't remember you did any) So I called her and she said OH MY and so now we will only be doing 1 story at a time. But if she can't even do 1st grade stories, how far behind is she. And believe me she is doing SO much better than she used to. At least 3 letter words are smooth in a book now. (We've been doing vision therapy since January.)

 

My boys were reading all those advanced stories like everyone talks about in the other threads. We do a couple of pages in Explode the Code 4, a page in Phonic Pathways (which is like pure torture even though we are only on p. 45) We only got through lesson 99 of Saxon 1 last year, but I went ahead and started Saxon 2 since it is all review and the first few lessons have been so easy that we have done 2 at a time. However, once it gets back to where she was I will probably take it half time again. We were basically taking 2 days to do 1 when we did Saxon last year.. I will use both lesson worksheets in 1 and 2 to reinforce. I have her read one of those Saxon little reader books a day and then 1 Clifford or Frog and Toad type book to me. ( ETC- 15 minutes, Phonic Pathways 20 minutes for one page, Saxon 20 minutes and then reading probably takes 20 to 30 minutes... These are spread out throughout the day.)

 

She just gets so frustrated at syllabic words and wants to be able to know them isntantly and not sound them out. Phonic Pathways is funny because the words are so easy but it takes her forever becuase she can't guess and has to REALLY read the vowels and such and it is really hard for her.. ETC I think she guesses A LOT. Even this dynamic reader thing is funny because it goes fast for her and she misses like every other word, but she can still guess the answer to the questions and it tells her she passed the level. :confused:She is really smart. Her IQ is like her Duke scholar oldest brother but I dispair she will ever read, much less LIKE it. And other schoolwork is hard to do if you can't read!!!

 

Thanks for letting me vent. She begs for ME to read to her all the time, which I do a lot and she loves books on tape. Just don't ask her to do it.

 

Christine

[8filltheheart]

I would suggest dropping the reading level of the materials you are giving her to ones where she is experiencing complete success. I would work more on fostering self-confidence and less frustration. Only after the resistance to reading fades would I gradually start introducing more difficult materials. Alternate harder books with easier books. This will lessen frustration, allow for success, stretch her level, and increase confidence.

 

FWIW, I have had 2 children that were late readers for no other reason than that is how their brains matured. I read aloud their other work until 4th grade b/c their reading level was so far behind the rest of their abilities. It is simply who they were.

 

Another FWIW......your dd sounds a lot like my 7 1/2 yod.....she is simply too fidgety to sit still and read for longer than 10 mins. No biggie. One day she will. :)

[WishboneDawn]

I would suggest dropping the reading level of the materials you are giving her to ones where she is experiencing complete success. I would work more on fostering self-confidence and less frustration. Only after the resistance to reading fades would I gradually start introducing more difficult materials. Alternate harder books with easier books. This will lessen frustration, allow for success, stretch her level, and increase confidence.

 

FWIW, I have had 2 children that were late readers for no other reason than that is how their brains matured. I read aloud their other work until 4th grade b/c their reading level was so far behind the rest of their abilities. It is simply who they were.

 

Another FWIW......your dd sounds a lot like my 7 1/2 yod.....she is simply too fidgety to sit still and read for longer than 10 mins. No biggie. One day she will. :)

 

I agree with this. 7 1/2 is still fairly young for some kids in terms of reading and she very likely just needs more time.

 

If it helps my own daughter didn't start reading anywhere near grade level until she was 9. But at that time something seemed to click, whether it was developmental or something else, and she went from picture books to novels overnight.

[choirfarm]

Part of the problem is that the books she CAN read are incredibly boring and she even says so. She listens to Henty audiobooks and has listened to the boys readalouds since she was born. She was only 3 when we did Core 5 and she would tell my husband all about what was happening in those books... So The dog is black. He ran. is incredibly boring to her!!! When they tested her in December, they said her audio skills were off the charts and many things they tested her for she hit the limit and went farther than the junior high people they tutor. I think that was the problem with her therapist is she forgot how slowly/poorly she reads because they do skill type stuff not reading type stuff and she is really bright.

 

Christine

[choirfarm]

Another part of the problem is I am the only homeschooler in the family. Everyone on my dh's side of the family is an educator. My sil is an assistant principal and her daughter is only 6 and adopted from China and reading anything you hand to her..Narnia, whatever. The other sil has a daughter 5 adopted from China and she is also reading...

[8filltheheart]

Part of the problem is that the books she CAN read are incredibly boring and she even says so. She listens to Henty audiobooks and has listened to the boys readalouds since she was born. She was only 3 when we did Core 5 and she would tell my husband all about what was happening in those books... So The dog is black. He ran. is incredibly boring to her!!! When they tested her in December, they said her audio skills were off the charts and many things they tested her for she hit the limit and went farther than the junior high people they tutor. I think that was the problem with her therapist is she forgot how slowly/poorly she reads because they do skill type stuff not reading type stuff and she is really bright.

 

Christine

 

 

You are discussing completely different issues and ones that are also normal. My young kids will listen to all sorts of reading (I read aloud to my high schoolers!), yet they also know that as frustrating as it may be, everyone has to start off at the beginning. I do not believe that is the only issue at work.

 

My recommendation still stands. You might want to look for more interesting readers. I do not give my kids Dick and Jane type stories b/c they drive me as crazy as they sound like they do your daughter. There are introductory level reading books that are more interesting. CLASS nature readers are one example.

[8filltheheart]

Another part of the problem is I am the only homeschooler in the family. Everyone on my dh's side of the family is an educator. My sil is an assistant principal and her daughter is only 6 and adopted from China and reading anything you hand to her..Narnia, whatever. The other sil has a daughter 5 adopted from China and she is also reading...

 

:grouphug: I think you need to give yourself permission to de-stress and allow your dd to be herself. If she isn't as advanced as some other kids, does it really matter? If other kids are advanced, does it reflect on their abilities or their teachers?

 

Relaxing and trusting in yourself and embracing the level where your dd is will ultimately give you more success and joy than worrying.

 

Best wishes!

[AllSmiles]

I agree with Momof7, I would try dropping the reading difficulty of the books you are giving her. I think that confidence will be the key here. Once she becomes confident in her reading ability, she might begin to really enjoy reading and ask for more difficult books herself.

 

Also, have you had her eyes checked? My dd was struggling with her reading, and once we got her glasses, she took off with it.

 

If you are confident it isn’t her eyes, I would just take it slow but steady. It will come; kids develop in different stages.

 

Good Luck!

[choirfarm]

She has glasses and she has visual tracking issues, hence the vision therapy. But all of you are talking about Magic Tree House Books and Junie B Jones and Clifford is what is comfortable to her right now. I don't think I should go back. I think helping her with one or two words is ok, but it is hard to find that many books at her level. We've read them all. It is just when the vision therapy gave her that program expecting her to read it and she is struggling at a year below, I got depressed. I'll keep going slow and steady it is all I can do. She asked to skip ahead in Phonics Pathways, but I won't let her because we often have to do a page twice because she mispronounces a word: luck instead of lock, etc. She just tries to guess. If she looks at it carefully, then she doesn't have to blend it or anything. But she just tries to race and misses it. So if she misses too many, then we do the same page the next day. I don't think the readers I give her are too hard. I'm just depressed that she isn't doing what her brothers or anybody else in the family can do at her age. We all live with books in our hands.

 

Christine

[TracyR]

All children are different,. There is something about the age of 7 where they just want to read the words and not bother with sounding out words. So far my first three daughters have done this very thing. My third daughter is doing it much earlier then her two older sisters though. She is 6 and wants to skip the whole sounding out stuff if she can. LOL.

 

My suggestion is to maybe back track a little. It maynot sound feasible to you, but really this helps. If she is struggling with reading then this means she has not mastered reading words.

 

I wouldn't get to depressed. Remember all of your children will be different. I have four girls and each of them reading had clicked at a different time. As smart as my oldest daughter is reading did not click with this child until she was 9. Period. No matter what I did, vision therapy, glasses, different reading programs and methods. It just did not click with her until she was 9. Then there was my second daughter. I picked up the 100 EZ lessons book and she learned to read at age 4.5. She made the process so easy that I thought I was doing something wrong. She was my total opposite , she didn't fight with me , there were no tears. K immediately was happy and willing to sit with me and read. She was reading at a 2nd grade level by the time she was a kindergardener. She reads at the same level as her oldest sister does now.

 

My third daughter is currently learning to read. She is 6 now but when we started with K12 she got it but the process was Soooo slow. She was sounding out every single word and she wouldn't remember the words after she learned them. So we gave Headsprout a try and it has worked wonders. I recommend it for any child learning to read, and for those that struggle with reading. Headsprout is worth every penny and then some.

 

We also read here as I'm sure many families on this board do. You will find my husband and I reading the newspaper, online articles, books. The way your child learns how to read doesn't have anything to do with the fact you and your husband reads. Its just families who read in front of their children encourage their children TO read, but just because you read infront of your child doesn't mean that they all are going to be excellent readers at the same time.

 

Girls are just different and all children are different. I really do agree with a lot of what has been recommended to you.

There are also some things you can do to help. I would have her read the story, mark down the words that she struggles with and make some flashcards. Play games with the words that she struggles with. Such as Memory , or you can take those words and take some sidewalk chalk and write them on the sidewalk. Have her throw a ball or a rock on the sidewalk and whereever it lands have her read the word. Pick a story that has a word that she has difficulty with. Read her the story and when you come upon the word have her read just that word. Reading is a combination of phonics and site. If you sit and think about it ever word you are reading right now is because you have learned it and memorized it. We don't sit and sound out every word we read. Children eventually figure this out that they can learn words and read them quickly, but early on they donot know every single word there is to read yet. So they get frustrated and just want to continue reading regardless of whether they know the word or not. I mean if you had to sit and sound out every word that I have just typed wouldn't reading become redundant to you? I know it would for me.

 

Think of it this way. My third daughter has been learning to swim this summer. She loves to be in the water, H is a true water baby. She had her first lesson, and they had them wear a bubble to keep them afloat. Well I am totally against teaching children using a bubble because it totally builds up their confidence in swimming. It builds it up so much so that they feel they can swim without it and they haven't built up their muscle strength and endurance, nor have they learned yet all they need to know to successfully swim on their own without help yet . Its the same with reading. Young children learn a few words quickly and they figure that out. It builds up their confidence so much so that they figure out " Hey, I can read this fast and it takes me less time then it does to sit and sound out each word." So they "jump" in and forget that they don't know all they need to know yet about reading. They don't have that vocabulary yet to just sight read, and they don't realize that the English language is way more complicated then it should be. Some children figure this out faster then others.

 

Reading will come to her in her own time. It is so easy to compare our children with our other children, the children who live next door and so on. My suggestion is to please don't compare as hard as it can be. Your daughter is her own person and I'm sure her strengths are elsewhere. My oldest who struggled with reading is very good in the subjects of math, history and science. She loves to read now and she loves to read with me. All that is needed is time.

[Jann in TX]

Even after some vision therapy reading is PAINFUL for her....she was not reading chapter books of any sort until she was in 4th grade. I continued reading high level books to her--and her comprehension was/is WAY ABOVE grade level---this helped a lot once she started reading--she was above grade level AND her peers who were reading a few years before her by the time she was in 5th grade.

 

Early readers are not necessarily more advanced than late readers by age 12... things tend to level out. A child who learns to read at age 4 is no more likely to read above grade level in Jr high than a child who learned to read at age 10. (I have a college minor in teaching reading).

 

DD does NOT like to read--even at 16yrs. The book has to be VERY engaging to make it worth her discomfort--but she is an HONORS student and has always scored a perfect score on any standardized reading test--she just made a perfect score on the Compass college entrance test...

 

I wish my dd had the ability to fall in love with reading like I did... we use mostly audio books so she does not 'miss out' on too much.

[msjones]

Another part of the problem is I am the only homeschooler in the family. Everyone on my dh's side of the family is an educator. My sil is an assistant principal and her daughter is only 6 and adopted from China and reading anything you hand to her..Narnia, whatever. The other sil has a daughter 5 adopted from China and she is also reading...

 

If they all work in traditional school settings, then they should know many, many 7 1/2 year-olds who are still reading haltingly. ;)

[The Governess]

Here is a list of books at reading level 1.0 up to 1.9. Maybe you could take this list to your library, look them over, and bring home the ones that are the least juvenile. Bring home a LOT (I'm thinking at least 20 or so) so she has a nice selection to choose from, and let her pick what she wants to read for practice. I think if you can find some books that she is really interested in you will have won half the battle.

 

My dd has a lot of early reader books; I would recommend Henry and Mudge, The Golly Sisters, the Good Knight series (these may be at a low 2 grade level). These are some of the least "cutesy" early readers I've seen in the fiction genre. I would also wait on the chapter books and stick with early readers or picture books for a bit, until her fluency/speed increases. Even if a chapter book is at her reading level, the number of words on a page and the amount of time it takes before the page gets turned might be overwhelming in itself.

 

Once you do move up to chapter books, you can transition by reading a page to her, and then having her read a page to you to break things up a bit. My dd really enjoyed the Rainbow Magic series of fairy books. They are chapter books at a second grade level, about 70 pages each, and they have small illustrations on each page. We read the first book together and then she devoured the next 20 by herself. Her first reading obsession. :D She still doesn't have much interest in Junie B Jones or Magic Tree House books.

 

I hope you find something that works. :grouphug:

[8filltheheart]

. But all of you are talking about Magic Tree House Books and Junie B Jones and Clifford is what is comfortable to her right now. I don't think I should go back. I think helping her with one or two words is ok, but it is hard to find that many books at her level. We've read them all.

 

 

I have never seen a Clifford book so I am not sure what words are in them, but I am most definitely not referring to Magic Tree House books nor Junie B Jones books b/c I don't give my kids books like that to read.

 

I find it extremely hard to believe that you have read all the books at her level. There are the Little Bear series, the Frog and Toad series, all the Step into Reading books, I Can Read books, Dr. Seuss books, etc. I literally own over 100 books between step 1 and step 3. There are also good books that have simple vocabulary that are slightly more difficult.....100 Dresses, the Littles, the Thornton Burgess books like the Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, etc.

 

I really think you are too stressed about her reading level. Relax. There are many, many 2nd graders that can start 2nd grade unable to read books equivalent to Magic Tree House. My very bright and successful 20 yr old was one of them. He ended 1st grade reading only simple 3 letter words and very controlled vocabulary. Today he has been highly recruited for internships and co-op jobs. (FWIW......a young man the same age as him that was "advanced" in the younger yrs and reading on a 5th grade level in K now lives at home playing Guitar Hero!! :tongue_smilie:)

[AngieW in Texas]

Your dd sounds so much like my youngest.

 

Have you seen the symptoms for dyseidetic dyslexia? My dd had visual effiency delays, visual processing delays, and dyseidetic dyslexia. Vision therapy took care of the tracking, convergence, double vision, depth perceptions, and eye suppression issues, but it didn't do anything for her dyslexia.

 

My dd was also very frustrated that she could hold her own with her sisters in Core 6 at 7yo and often even demonstrated better understanding than they did, but she still couldn't read sentences as simple as "The dog ran down the street.". She couldn't read ANY trade books at all. Frog and Toad was way beyond her as were all the other primer and pre-primer books. The only books she could read were the very early Bob books and the I See Sam books. But even with the I See Sam books she couldn't get beyond the 3rd set and had to sound her way through every word. She could spell all the words automatically, but blending was difficult.

 

Below I've cut-and-pasted the best description I've found for dyseidetic dyslexia. My dd is reading at grade level now, but she still struggles. She can read to herself and get meaning quite well. She is fabulous at inferring meaning from text.

 

The program sequence that worked well for her was:

Headsprout part 1 with I See Sam sets 1-3

Headsprout part 2 with I See Sam set 4

Funnix 2 with Phonics for Reading #2

Phonics for Reading #3

lots of timed readings using DIBELS oral reading fluency passages

lots of work with nonsense words

Rewards Reading Secondary

 

Programs that I think look very good for this type of dyslexia that I haven't actually used:

Abecedarian (my dd was pretty much beyond it when I first started looking at it)

Teach Your Children to Read Well (looks similar to Phonics for Reading and Rewards Reading)

 

------------------------

 

The terms dysphonetic and dyseidetic are words used to describe types of dyslexia.

 

Dysphonetic dyslexia, also called auditory dyslexia, refers to a difficulty connecting sounds to symbols. The child might have a hard time sounding out words, and spelling mistakes would show a very poor grasp of phonics.

 

The dyseidetic child, on the other hand, generally has a good grasp of phonetic concepts. The prominent characteristic of the dyseidetic is the inability to revisualize the gestalt of the word. Usually, the child has little difficulty spelling words which may be long but are phonetically regular. It is the small but irregular nonphonetic words, such as what, the, talk, does, that create the greatest difficulty for this child.

 

Author Corinne Roth Smith lists the reading and spelling patterns of children with dyseidetic dyslexia (also called visual dyslexia):

 

* Confusion with letters that differ in orientation (b-d, p-q).

 

* Confusion with words that can be dynamically reversed (was-saw).

 

* Very limited sight vocabulary; few words are instantly recognized from their whole configuration — they need to be sounded out laboriously, as though being seen for the first time.

 

* Losing the place because one doesn’t instantly recognize what had already been read, as when switching one’s gaze from the right side of one line to the left side of the next line.

 

* Omitting letters and words because they weren’t visually noted.

 

* Masking the image of one letter, by moving the eye too rapidly to the subsequent letter, may result in omission of the first letter.

 

* Difficulty learning irregular words that can’t be sounded out (for example, sight).

 

* Difficulty with rapid retrieval of words due to visual retrieval weaknesses.

 

* Visual stimuli in reading prove so confusing that it is easier for the child to learn to read by first spelling the words orally and then putting them in print.

 

* Insertions, omissions, and substitutions, if the meaning of the passage is guiding reading.

 

* Strengths in left hemisphere language-processing, analytical and sequential abilities, and detail analysis; can laboriously sound out phonetically regular words even up to grade level.

 

* Difficulty recalling the shape of a letter when writing.

 

* Spells phonetically but not bizarrely (laf-laugh; bisnis-business).

 

* Can spell difficult phonetic words but not simple irregular words.

[lgm]

If she looks at it carefully, then she doesn't have to blend it or anything. But she just tries to race and misses it. So if she misses too many, then we do the same page the next day. I don't think the readers I give her are too hard.

 

What level (in terms of G.E.) would she be at if she was careful when she tests? Would giving her books at that level and partner reading be helpful? If Clifford is going well, how about Poppleton, Mr. Putter & Tabby, The Know-Nothings, George & Martha, Young Cam Jansen ?

 

Can she read to a younger child or a stuffed animal?

 

 

The librarian should be able to help you find "Hi-Lo" books that may help motivate her:

http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/toppicks/tp/hi_lo_books.htm

 

 

 

 

I'm just depressed that she isn't doing what her brothers or anybody else in the family can do at her age. We all live with books in our hands.

 

Christine

 

:001_smile: Have you read aloud "Surviving the Applewhites?" yet....

[choirfarm]

Wow!!! This is my child. See my comments in bold.

Your dd sounds so much like my

 

 

 

Author Corinne Roth Smith lists the reading and spelling patterns of children with dyseidetic dyslexia (also called visual dyslexia):

 

* Confusion with letters that differ in orientation (b-d, p-q). Yep.. reversed them in her spelling and vision therapy said that her right left orientation is HORRIBLE... below school level.

 

* Confusion with words that can be dynamically reversed (was-saw). Yes...she reads saw as was and on as no ALL THE TIME.

 

* Very limited sight vocabulary; few words are instantly recognized from their whole configuration — they need to be sounded out laboriously, as though being seen for the first time.

YEP

* Losing the place because one doesn’t instantly recognize what had already been read, as when switching one’s gaze from the right side of one line to the left side of the next line.

This is getting better since she started vision therapy.

 

* Omitting letters and words because they weren’t visually noted.

 

 

* Difficulty learning irregular words that can’t be sounded out (for example, sight). yep

 

* Difficulty with rapid retrieval of words due to visual retrieval weaknesses.

not sure what this means

 

* Insertions, omissions, and substitutions, if the meaning of the passage is guiding reading.

yep, she does this all the time

 

* Strengths in left hemisphere language-processing, analytical and sequential abilities, and detail analysis; can laboriously sound out phonetically regular words even up to grade level. Would this be like her word recognition on the SAT 10 test last year was fine, but comprehension on sentences and paragraphs was pitiful.

 

* Difficulty recalling the shape of a letter when writing.

No problem here. She has beautiful handwriting

* Spells phonetically but not bizarrely (laf-laugh; bisnis-business).

Yep

* Can spell difficult phonetic words but not simple irregular words.

 

I'll check out the links and do some research on this.

 

Christine

[Carol in Cal.]

Not every child learns to read perfectly phonetically.

 

The books I would use with her are the ones that are very specifically leveled. Clifford books are all over the map. Switch to Dr. Suess books, the easier ones first, and then work up to the hard ones like "The Sneetches" and to the Amelia Bedelia and Frog and Toad books--those are more engaging than easy readers, even though the reading levels are pretty easy. For other really engaging books at easy reading levels, consider the IR books recommended for SOTW1--those are great for an emerging reader, and I remember my DD liking the fact that she was reading something 'real'. There are also some good science books that are easy to read--I don't remember the series, but any good children's bookstore would have levels 1, 2, and 3 in science books.

[ElizabethB]

Based on the guessing, I would also give her the MWIA, give her the 1 page MWIA level I. If she misses more phonetic words than holistic words or reads the phonetic words more than 15% slower than the holistic words, she needs to do a lot of nonsense words and stop reading stories for a month (it sounds like that wouldn't be torture for her right now, anyway!)

 

Here is the MWIA:

 

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

 

From the guessing you described, she sounds like a lot of my remedial students. With targeted remediation to stop the guessing and make sounding out words more automatic, many of them have improved 3 to 4 reading grade levels in as little as 2 months. The slower students have improved 1/2 to 1 reading grade level in the same time, but they were then capable of reading at a much higher level than that with only a little help.

 

After they work through my Blend Phonics/Webster combo, they are able to read one syllable books, these are books written at a high grade level but broken up into syllables that are easy to decode after you have done a bit of work with Webster, here's an example:

 

George Wash-ing-ton was born in the State of Vir-gin-i-a, at a place known as Bridg-es Creek, on Feb-ru-a-ry 22, 1732. His great grand-sire, John Wash-ing-ton, came from Eng-land in the year 1657, and took up lands in that state and was a rich man. George was the son of his grand-son Au-gus-tine. Au-gus-tine’s first wife was Jane But-ler who died and left him with two boys. His next wife was Ma-ry Ball, and George was her first child.

 

A link to many more of these one-syllable books is at the end of my Webster page (Webster link below), they are right after the link to Parker's Readers.

 

Also, I would write out words for her in uppercase on a white board in large print when you're working, that is helpful for many of my students who have trouble reading small print.

Edited August 7, 2009 by ElizabethB

[choirfarm]

Elizabeth,

 

Help me interpret the results. On Holistic I she didn't say 8 words correctly. She corrected herself on 2 of them as she went along ex: eat she pronounced eht but then said eat, but to me that one was phonetic because I've told her there isn't a rule for ea, you just have to try them out. Ham was the other one, she missaid it but corrected herself immediately. She did this at 30 WPM.

 

She did the phonetic at 28 WPM and missed 10 words but she corrected herself immediately on 6 of them. In other words she said jat..no jet. Out of the 4 she missed, when she spelled them she still got them wrong but she was crying by that time. She cries anytime she misses a word or doesn't know it exactly so she was sobbing by the end of the phonetic test. I wonder if she would have done better on the phonetic if she had done that first. She tends to read worse the longer she reads.

 

Christine

[choirfarm]

She missed 6 out of those 10 on the last couple of lines. There were three words in a row that started with b or d and she was getting completely mixed up. She couldn't tell and got frustrated and had no context for deciding what the word meant. That is why she didn't pronounce those 3 write even when she spelled it because she named the wrong letter. That phonetic had a lot of b and d's on it. Those were most of the ones she missed.

 

Christine

[AngieW in Texas]

Vision therapy helped a lot with my dd's b/d errors. She almost never has b/d errors in her reading anymore. When she spells words orally or types them, her b/d errors are very rare, far less than 1%. When she writes words, her b/d error rate is around 10%.

 

We did vision therapy when she was 6.5yo and finished right around her 7th birthday. The therapist told me that she thought my dd was also dyslexic and recommended that I do testing. We did testing with the ps when she was 7.25yo. They didn't test specifically for dyslexia, but I posted her test results everywhere and also did some more testing on my own on the recommendation of Dr. Stephey. He agreed with me that she had dyseidetic dyslexia. She had every single one of the items on the list even after vision therapy.

 

I had already started her in the I See Sam readers, but she couldn't get past sounding her way through every word. Headsprout had visual processing exercises that finally got her over that hump. She'd never been able to process more than one phoneme visually before, but Headsprout got her past that. Her reading speed doubled within the 1st month, although she didn't learn any new code until the 3rd month. She finished HS in about 5 months. After that she was finally at a level where she could read most of the words in Hop on Pop. I started her in Funnix 2 (started right where Headsprout left off). She liked the stories in Funnix a lot better than in I See Sam and Headsprout. After Funnix 2 she was reading on an early 2nd grade level.

 

When she first started reading, her comprehension was abysmal. She read so slowly and had to work so hard at it, that all meaning was lost. By the start of 3rd grade (when she was almost done with Funnix 2), her reading speed had improved enough that her comprehension was very good. Now her comprehension is fabulous.

 

Her test scores are all over the place. On the CTOPP test (pretty standard test for dyslexics), her blending is in the 5th percentile and her rapid naming is in the 16th percentile, but her elision (breaking words down into sounds) is in the 84th percentile. On the GORT (Gray Oral Reading Test), her rate, fluency, and accuracy are all in the 10th-63rd percentile range, but her comprehension was in the 95th percentile. The tester commented that she could completely butcher a passage, but still narrate it perfectly. Somehow she still managed to get the appropriate meaning from what she read.

 

She doesn't like reading, but she will read on her own time if she's interested enough. Bluestar's Prophecy (newest book in the Warrior cats saga by Erin Hunter) came out two weeks ago. My dd blew through it in just 8 days. That book was 544 pages. All the books in that series that have been lexiled so far are at 5th-6th grade reading level, so the book is right on target for her. I know that she understood it because she and my 13yo have had long discussions about it.

[ElizabethB]

Elizabeth,

 

Help me interpret the results. On Holistic I she didn't say 8 words correctly. She corrected herself on 2 of them as she went along ex: eat she pronounced eht but then said eat, but to me that one was phonetic because I've told her there isn't a rule for ea, you just have to try them out. Ham was the other one, she missaid it but corrected herself immediately. She did this at 30 WPM.

 

She did the phonetic at 28 WPM and missed 10 words but she corrected herself immediately on 6 of them. In other words she said jat..no jet. Out of the 4 she missed, when she spelled them she still got them wrong but she was crying by that time. She cries anytime she misses a word or doesn't know it exactly so she was sobbing by the end of the phonetic test. I wonder if she would have done better on the phonetic if she had done that first. She tends to read worse the longer she reads.

 

Christine

 

You count the immediate self corrects as right, so she got 6 words wrong on the Holistic and 4 words wrong on the Phonetic. Her slowdown wasn't that much, either.

 

It seems like an underlying problem for all words, not a sight word induced problem.

 

Have you tried experimenting with different sizes of print and different fonts? Can she read better with all uppercase? For some of my students, the distinct shapes of uppercase letters make things easier. Also, over-teaching uppercase B and D have helped some of them, B and b go in the same direction, so if they learn B and D really well, it helps them transition to b and d.

 

It sounds very difficult.

:grouphug:

 

I hope some of AngieW's suggestions help.

[choirfarm]

Yes, she writes capital letters for B and D on her Saxon phonics because she KNOWS those. I keep telling her the child of B obeys his parent and goes in the same direction, but D disobeys his parent and goes in the opposite direction and if she thinks about it she gets it, but she still has to think about it every time. I may look into Headsprout. I know homeschool buyers co-op had it at one time, so I may see if it goes on sale again since it is 200 dollars. And I mean, I do see improvement. After about 5 months in therapy she could at least read the Bob and other type books. And she can read Clifford. I'll check out your website for some of the other readers.

 

Christine

 

PS what I meant by she's read all the books is that she's read all the ones we own and that our teeny tiny little library has. I've always been hesitant to buy books for her as there is no one behind her, and if she could get into chapter books I have TONS of those in boxes. I have every single boxcar children book, Magic Tree House book, lots of Junie B Jones and Cam Jamsen, etc. I just thought it was a waste of money to buy I can read books when she would only use them for a short time as opposed to a nice hardback copy of Jane Eyre or something. But perhaps I should rethink and also perhaps I will go to all the used book stores and scour the children's sections. I just own so many books already and have 10 or more boxes of them in my attic that won't fit in my house. And my playroom/school room has an entire wall of built in bookshelves as well as two other units and every room in our house including the children's room has at least 2 bookcases. My name is Christine and I am a bookaholic.:D That is why it hurts me so much that she hates to read...

 

Christine

[Geo]

Yes, she writes capital letters for B and D on her Saxon phonics because she KNOWS those. I keep telling her the child of B obeys his parent and goes in the same direction, but D disobeys his parent and goes in the opposite direction and if she thinks about it she gets it, but she still has to think about it every time. I may look into Headsprout. I know homeschool buyers co-op had it at one time, so I may see if it goes on sale again since it is 200 dollars. And I mean, I do see improvement. After about 5 months in therapy she could at least read the Bob and other type books. And she can read Clifford. I'll check out your website for some of the other readers.

 

Christine

 

PS what I meant by she's read all the books is that she's read all the ones we own and that our teeny tiny little library has. I've always been hesitant to buy books for her as there is no one behind her, and if she could get into chapter books I have TONS of those in boxes. I have every single boxcar children book, Magic Tree House book, lots of Junie B Jones and Cam Jamsen, etc. I just thought it was a waste of money to buy I can read books when she would only use them for a short time as opposed to a nice hardback copy of Jane Eyre or something. But perhaps I should rethink and also perhaps I will go to all the used book stores and scour the children's sections. I just own so many books already and have 10 or more boxes of them in my attic that won't fit in my house. And my playroom/school room has an entire wall of built in bookshelves as well as two other units and every room in our house including the children's room has at least 2 bookcases. My name is Christine and I am a bookaholic.:D That is why it hurts me so much that she hates to read...

 

Christine

 

What about the library.....?

 

Geo

[Geo]

I have never seen a Clifford book so I am not sure what words are in them, but I am most definitely not referring to Magic Tree House books nor Junie B Jones books b/c I don't give my kids books like that to read.

 

I find it extremely hard to believe that you have read all the books at her level. There are the Little Bear series, the Frog and Toad series, all the Step into Reading books, I Can Read books, Dr. Seuss books, etc. I literally own over 100 books between step 1 and step 3. There are also good books that have simple vocabulary that are slightly more difficult.....100 Dresses, the Littles, the Thornton Burgess books like the Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel, etc.

 

I really think you are too stressed about her reading level. Relax. There are many, many 2nd graders that can start 2nd grade unable to read books equivalent to Magic Tree House. My very bright and successful 20 yr old was one of them. He ended 1st grade reading only simple 3 letter words and very controlled vocabulary. Today he has been highly recruited for internships and co-op jobs. (FWIW......a young man the same age as him that was "advanced" in the younger yrs and reading on a 5th grade level in K now lives at home playing Guitar Hero!! :tongue_smilie:)

 

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

 

So simple and so true. Perfect juxtaposition!

 

Geo

6 kids, homeschooling for 22+ years

[choirfarm]

What about the library.....?

 

Geo

 

We live in a teeny town and our library stinks.

[Ottakee]

Can you get free interlibrary loans? We can get books from libraries in surrounding counties/towns for free. We can request them on line and then they email me when the books are at the library.

 

Otherwise, are there any other towns you could drive to and use their library?

[Katrina J]

Hi Christine,

 

I have a little girl remarkably similar to yours, here on the other side of the world. In March this year I discovered a UK program called Phonics International. You can find it at www.phonicsinternational.com and check out the resources online. If you purchase the program you just download and print the resources as needed. I got the starter package for $70 Australian so it would be less in $US. (I hope this isn't considered an advertisement).

 

There are so many phonics programs out there but this one has worked for my daughter because she enjoys it I can use the baseline assessments to tailor it specifically to her needs. Each sound has a colourful (the spelling is English not American) worksheet and my daughter loves them because she feels like she is in control. There is reading, drawing, spelling and cutting out for children to do and we've been using the resources to create a 'sounds scrapbook'. The fidgeting and the tears stopped immediately and the b and d confusion, reading backwards, guessing etc. has almost disappeared. Just this week she's started to read for pleasure and she's reading everything - packaging, instructions, storybooks, anything she sees, although she's still not ready for chapter books.

 

You've had so much advice, but I really doubt that reading would have 'clicked' for my daughter if I hadn't used this program or found one very similar.

[Loupelou]

Christine,:grouphug: It seemed like you needed one!:001_smile:

 

My 8 1/2 dd is a struggling reader, it's only been in the past month that she has really started going. I spent 2 years on AO Phonics Museum, numerous little phonics stories, trying to help her read, got her glasses, checked out and read books on delayed reading abilities, cried, prayed, etc. She too was my first to have these kind of issues, but it gets better, as other posters have mentioned. I agree that you need to step back, take it at her pace, let her read lots of things she is comfortable with, buy the books and sell them when you're done if you have to. Just try to focus on what she is great at you are obviously working hard to help her and it will pay out in the end.

[MerryAtHope]

I was thinking dyslexia too, glad you are checking into that. Hang in there, I know teaching reading is W-O-R-K for a student who is struggling. But she will get it. Get her into some good Orton Gillingham-based methods & that will really help.

 

Merry :-)

[EKS]

I would recommend an evaluation by a developmental optometrist and also reading the book Overcoming Dyslexia.

[silvermine]

Some kids need to wiggle. :) It used to make me crazy to read to my son. He generally is standing on his head, humming and fiddling with a toy. For the longest time, I was sure he was ignoring me, but he really wasn't. I used to "test" him by changing the words to something silly or nonsensical. And you know what? He *always* notices. He just needs to wiggle and multi-task. Trying to make him sit still just wouldn't work for him. :D

 

I mean, even at lunch, he wants to take a bite, then jump up and hop around. I make him sit down for dinner when we eat together, to learn how to behave, but really he would rather be moving! His dad and uncle are the same way... ;)

 

My son is 6.5 and he's just barely reading very easy books (that he's half memorized anyway). We're just about to start spelling work, using the Sanborn reader (it's 100 years old, and you should be able to find it through Google -- they scanned it in to their Google Books database). It teaches kids, once they know their basic phonics and blending, to read by syllables. You build up your syllabary and attack words by the syllables. It explains some things that are hard by regular phonics -- such as when c says 's' and when c says 'k', because it has to do with the vowels in the syllable. I have no idea if it will work, but it's what we're trying! (We only just started).

 

For kids like this, it probably helps to let reading just be reading for fun, instead of reading + math work. Or reading mixed with anything else. Does she like the Clifford books she's reading? I know a lot of late readers really just don't find the level of books they are able to read interesting enough to bother with all the work. (Ahh, reading on, it sounds like this is the case -- a lot of kids are like this!). I mean, when I read to my son, he'd rather hear Harry Potter, or Hardy Boys or something he has no hope of reading on his own right now. It's hard to step down to something he's capable of. So we have found a few books he likes (silly early readers, like Wocket in my Pocket, A Fish Out of Water) and sometimes I just write stories about things he likes (such as little slugs who go play at the park :D).

 

Kids are different. :) It's okay if she doesn't read as young. Heck, my mom says my sister and I were reading when we were 3. But my brothers? Gosh, I think my brother first read a book for fun when he was 11. And he loves books now. (Similar story with my husband). I lucked out and learned early, so that when I was 7.5 I was reading Nancy Drew, not trying to muster the energy to read Dick and Jane. :/

 

Go with whatever is fun for her, so she loves it. :)

 

Do you know other failies who are maybe outgrowing early readers? Maybe someone can give or lend you some doctor seuss, etc. books? We've gotten a lot from friends with kids who just outgrew them.

[siloam]

Wow!!! This is my child. See my comments in bold.

 

I'll check out the links and do some research on this.

 

Christine

 

Christine,

 

((Hugs)) It does sound like dyslexia or some form thereof. The good news is these are issues that can be dealt with and overcome. I am dyslexic, and each of my kids show signs of various forms of dyslexia. For example my 2nd dd could spell a year before she could blend anything. If you put the word cat in front of her and asked her what sound c makes she had a hard time recalling it (most likely a processing issues), but say cat and ask her to spell it and she could in a heartbeat. My 2nd dd is more like yours, she reads words backwards, adds r and l randomly to many words (she will read bent as brent). She still confuses b and d, through she is getting better about self checking. She was also particularly bad about reversing almost all her numbers when she wrote them, though that has also gotten much better.

 

First of all realize that it isn't you. There might be methods that you could use that might work better, but overall you haven't done anything wrong. She has a or multiple processing issues, and you have to learn to work around them. They really aren't curable. On the flip side they are usually late bloomers, but when they do come into their own, they often can succeed as much as another other person. Dyslexics often have great analytical skills that can help them shine in a number of fields. That is what gives me my ability to look at curriculium, describe it and explain to other people how it works. :D

 

Where to go from here is a hard one. Does she struggle to recall letter sounds? I personally review all the phonograms weekly with all my kids, including my oldest. The rule around here is if they can get them right 4 weeks in a row then they only have to cover them monthly. Only my 2nd dd has done it once, dyslexics needs lots of review. :) Next is to try to incorporate as many multi-sensory methods as you can. If you use one sense the the only pathway to that information is through that one sense. If the pathway is blocked for any reason then the information is unreachable. Multi-sensory methods create multiple pathways in the brain to the same information so that the child has a better chance of recall. Here that means using letter tiles, clapping syllables, tracing sand letter cards, writing in sand or rice, making letters with Playdoh...those type of activities. I change it a lot to try to keep it interesting because dyslexic children usually need to be over taught reading concepts and it gets tedious for me and for them. Here is another list of multi-sensory methods that can be used with any program.

 

When looking at a program to use for you dd, Orton/Gillingham program are generally considered the best. Why? Because they have the research behind them to show they work. They use multi-sensory methods, and teach things step by step with lots of review. Generally they integrate phonics, spelling, reading and writing into a complete program so each area reinforces the other. I don't know of all the O/G programs out there. I am personally looking at using Barton Reading (price is an ouch, though it has high resale value), Wilson Reading and Prevent Academic Failure. I believe the programs Angie mentioned are also O/G, or at least use some of their methods. All About Spelling also uses O/G methods, and has helped my 2nd dd a lot, but my ds looks to be my most challenging student yet, so I think I am going to switch to a full o/g program instead of continuing with the pasting together different methods and such that I have been doing, which has worked so far, but it would be nice to have something more scheduled, KWIM?

 

Also know you are not alone. You have us here who have walked this path, or are walking it. There is also a great yahoo reading support group at: Heart of Reading. It has homeschoolers and professionals trained and just using in wide variety of programs. Because it is a diverse group they don't always agree, but they do seem to keep the chatter friendly and informative.

 

Heather

 

 

[choirfarm]

Thanks for the encouragement. Yep, she could spell easily when she was 4 and 5. I would tell her to spell cat or sat or whatever and she could spell it easily. I put the word cat in front of her and she had no idea what it was.:confused: In kindergarten and the first half of 1st grade she reversed TONS of stuff. Since we started vision therapy the only ones she still has trouble with are b, d, p and the letter 9. (See a pattern?:)) The one thing the eye doctor said was that he would expect her handwriting to be terrible and for her to be unable to copy. However, she copies things VERY well. It is beautiful handwriting, so much better than my boys. She has to keep a journal for vision therapy and most of the time she tells me what she wants to write and then she copies it. She does so perfectly and has no trouble whatsover with WWE and has memorized the poems in FFL easily. However, I laugh at what she writes on her own without my help. Here is an example: It raind last nite. How was cherch. I got don with a computer progam.

 

Thanks for telling me it is not my fault. The eye doctor said it was the homeschooling that made her function as well as she did and made me catch it early instead of them failing the TAKS test in 3rd grade. Her IQ is really high, so it is really hard. Plus, since I never taught the boys how to read, (ps did )I felt like it was me, so the vision results were at least some vindication. I just want it to be fixed.

 

It is just hard when her score on the Otis Lennon was 127 and she was in the 33rd percentile for comprehension score. Her brother has a similar IQ and rarely falls below 95 percentile on those test and got state recognized for his ACT score from Duke a couple of years ago, so I feel like she should be doing as well.. It is just really hard for me not to feel like it is because I am homeschooling and fumbling.

 

I'll be honest, I hate everything about the younger kid stuff. My degree was in secondary education and I LOVE high school students. I am having SO much fun with my oldest in his high school courses. It is so fun.. The bed is red is boring me to tears!!!!!!!!!! And listening to her stumble is so hard. I just remember her middle brother at that age when I pulled him out of ps. I asked him to read Chronicles of Narnia to me and he did so flawlessly. And it turns out later I found out he did have visual processing issues as well. The eye doctor couldn't believe he read as much or as fast as he did. But homeschooling he had tons of time to practice.

Christine,

 

((Hugs)) It does sound like dyslexia or some form thereof. The good news is these are issues that can be dealt with and overcome. I am dyslexic, and each of my kids show signs of various forms of dyslexia. For example my 2nd dd could spell a year before she could blend anything. If you put the word cat in front of her and asked her what sound c makes she had a hard time recalling it (most likely a processing issues), but say cat and ask her to spell it and she could in a heartbeat. My 2nd dd is more like yours, she reads words backwards, adds r and l randomly to many words (she will read bent as brent). She still confuses b and d, through she is getting better about self checking. She was also particularly bad about reversing almost all her numbers when she wrote them, though that has also gotten much better.

 

 

 

Heather

 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2009 by choirfarm

[EKS]

 

It is just hard when her score on the Otis Lennon was 127 and she was in the 33rd percentile for comprehension score. Her brother has a similar IQ and rarely falls below 95 percentile on those test and got state recognized for his ACT score from Duke a couple of years ago, so I feel like she should be doing as well.. It is just really hard for me not to feel like it is because I am homeschooling and fumbling.

 

 

 

The 127 is probably a low estimate of her abilities. My son is gifted and has dyslexia and only recently did we get an IQ result that is somewhat in line with his abilities.

 

My son was unable to read well until he was 9. We did vision therapy, audiblox, occupational therapy, and lots and lots of reading instruction. If you haven't yet, I would definitely get a developmental vision exam. This helped my son a lot but wasn't the entire answer.

 

When my son did start reading though, he went from Bob Books to Magic Tree House to Harry Potter to Mark Twain and H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Take a look at Brock and Fernette Eide's blog the Eide Neurolearning Blog for more about gifted dyslexics (that's their speciality) and also their book The Mislabeled Child.

[TracyR]

Well honestly its hard to say whether she is dyslexic or not. Most children under the age of 8 mix up letters such as b and d and p and q. Concern really doesn't happen until after the age of 8. All of my girls have mixed up those letters, even my really great reading 2nd child. I know right now my 6yr old gets these letters mixed up constantly but I don't see her as being dyslexic at all.After all she is only 6 and those are common letters to get mixed up at this age.

You could keep an eye on it and if she is over the age of 8 and is still getting b and d and p and q mixed up then I would be concerned. But at this age all I have ever done was to tell my girls B has a Belly and D has a butt( sorry but it works with kids), and lots of practice with writing the letters.

Headsprout does have a couple of lessons on B and D and I do recommend repeating those lessons when you come upon them because there are only two lessons in the program that deal with b and d.

I know that Headsprout has definitely worked wonders for my 6yr old.

[8filltheheart]

eat she pronounced eht but then said eat, but to me that one was phonetic because I've told her there isn't a rule for ea, you just have to try them out.

Christine

 

May I inquire as to what approach you are using for teaching reading?

 

I ask b/c ea does have a rule. It only produces 3 sounds.....long e, short e, and long a. Using a rule based phonics approach to reading, children are taught sounds in order of their frequency of use and to substitute in the sounds in that order to find the correct sound.

 

I am unfamiliar with all of the other problems she has, however that part of your post did stand out and wonder if a rule based phonics program would help with some of her frustration.

[choirfarm]

Yep, that is the rule. It has 3 sounds but you just have to guess which of the 3 it is. It is Saxon phonics. I think it may have said which one was more frequent, but I can't remember. She normally starts with the long e sound first, but didn't this time. Believe me, Saxon has so many rules and I can't keep track of them all. Especially since I never learned any of them. I knew how to read before I went to school, and my parents aren't sure how I learned. My oldest was just like me. He basically just memorized words. I would read to him and he would ask me what the word was and after that he would always know it. Now he got Saxon phonics in the schools at ps.

 

Christine

[8filltheheart]

Yep, that is the rule. It has 3 sounds but you just have to guess which of the 3 it is. It is Saxon phonics. I think it may have said which one was more frequent, but I can't remember. She normally starts with the long e sound first, but didn't this time. Believe me, Saxon has so many rules and I can't keep track of them all. Especially since I never learned any of them.

Christine

 

Well, I am going to make a very unpopular observation based on the above quote. (((very gentle observation here))) Perhaps the phonograms were introduced too quickly for your dd to have learned them accurately/appropriately and that is part of the frustration.......she isn't confident in what she has learned.

 

A "built-in" guage we have as teachers, especially when it is new material for everyone.......adults typically learn information far more rapidly than young children (I wouldn't say this is true of older kids, but primary grades, yes)

 

If you haven't learned the material with immediate recall, you might want to re-do the phonics lessons together at the pace it takes you to learn them. Then when she comes to words that she can't read, you can help her by reminding her of the rule (or by asking for the rule).

 

For example, my 7 1/2 yr old dd couldn't read the word "enough" last week. I asked her what the sounds of "ough" were. She told me, and we went through the list with the words until she determined the correct word. It is through guided reinforcement that they learn to incorporate these skills independently. If as a teacher I didn't know the rules and the order, I am handicapped in my ability to assist my student.

Edited August 10, 2009 by 8FillTheHeart

[choirfarm]

Yep, Saxon was too fast. That is why we took it at half or less speed. We spent 2 or 3 days on a lesson as it took that long to get through everything and we only made it to lesson 99. That is why I was doing Phonic Pathways and ETC as well for extra reinforcement. I decided to go ahead and start Saxon 2 because there is so much review. We have flown through lessons 1-10 doing 2 a day. I think we will just be doing one a day now until we get to an unfamiliar concept. Then I will keep doing extra reinforcement and maybe alternate doing a lesson from Saxon 1 then from Saxon 2. We just couldn't remember enough. I had forgotten all of the complicated coding and such from lesson 100. Starting at the beginning of Saxon 2 was easier. It looks like Saxon 2 covers everything in Saxon 1 and then just a little bit extra. I think Saxon 1 is REALLY complete as that is what both my boys used in ps and they could read and decode whatever they wanted to. Their teacher (both had the same one) made it through it in one year, though I don't see how. My boys thrived with it. All the coding and rules just seem useless to me. I mean I just look at it and know and have trouble understanding why everyone else can't. So it doesn't go in my long term bank.

 

Christine

[ElizabethB]

OK, here are some ideas from Dr. Hilde L. Mosse's book "You Can Prevent or Correct Learning Disorders The Complete Handbook of Children's Reading Disorders."

 

I would try a cover card and see if it helps--the correct way is ABOVE the words, not below:

 

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. (Page 130)

 

 

Also, I noticed you said something about her reading upside down.

 

Dr. Mosse talks about several children who were better at reading upside down than right side up, and talks about a Barger Mirroreading Board for treatment.

 

Dr. William C. Barger, a neurologist and psychiatrist, developed a treatment device designed especially for children suffering from these directional confusions. It is called the Barger Mirroreading Board and it consists of a mirror placed in such a way that a book or any other text can be placed in front of it outside the view of the child. The child only sees the mirror image of the text. Its left-to-right progression is not altered. (p.104)...

 

A test that indicates whether or not the child has a good chance of being helped by the mirror is to let him copy the text he sees in the mirror. This is done by giving him a sheet of lined or unlined paper. A child who will benefit from treatment with the mirror will invariable copy the text in correct up-down and left-to-right direction, even though he sees only its mirror image....Adults and children who have no reversals or inversions cannot copy such a mirrored text without the greatest difficulties. I have observed this phenomenon many times and have no satisfactory explanation for it. The mirror apparently helps the child in a thus-far unknown way to achieve the normal direction of letters.

 

To treat a child with the Mirroreading Board requires special training. It is only a transitional treatment device; children are treated with the morror for only weeks or months, and gradually Normal texts are substituted. (p. 105)

[ElizabethB]

My name is Christine and I am a bookaholic.:D That is why it hurts me so much that she hates to read...

 

Christine

 

:grouphug:

 

Me too. We have a lot of books.

 

The reason I started tutoring is that I love to read and felt bad for everyone who didn't read because they couldn't read well enough to enjoy reading.

 

One of my favorite books is Helen Keller--it's amazing to see how reading really opened up the world to her.

 

I once threw up a curry chicken sandwich. It was the chicken that was bad, not the curry, but I can't eat curry to this day, even though I know that intellectually, the curry was so strong coming back up that I cannot face curry anymore.

 

I would try to figure out some way to teach her the skills she needs without making it too painful. Like I said in the other thread, maybe with magnetic letters or orally? Or, can she read 96 point font without it being painful?

 

And, a crazy idea that I would save for last but keep in mind--what about the whole family learning braille and teaching her to read in braille until her visual problem is fixed? You could make it a fun "secret code."

Edited August 10, 2009 by ElizabethB

[TraceyS/FL]

OK, here are some ideas from Dr. Hilde L. Mosse's book "You Can Prevent or Correct Learning Disorders The Complete Handbook of Children's Reading Disorders."

 

I would try a cover card and see if it helps--the correct way is ABOVE the words, not below:

 

I tried this after you posted it a few weeks ago. My DD could NOT keep her place in tracking at all. She was jumping down lines and it was a mess (kind of like when the Dev Opt did her eye test without blocking the other lines, she could not read one line). SHE took it from me and moved it below. Her HOmesat teachers use it above and she can't track the online stuff that way either.

 

But i TRIED to do it the right way! LOL!!

[ElizabethB]

I tried this after you posted it a few weeks ago. My DD could NOT keep her place in tracking at all. She was jumping down lines and it was a mess (kind of like when the Dev Opt did her eye test without blocking the other lines, she could not read one line). SHE took it from me and moved it below. Her HOmesat teachers use it above and she can't track the online stuff that way either.

 

But i TRIED to do it the right way! LOL!!

 

Well, it seems that that was not the right way for her!

 

I go with what works with my specific students! (For most of my students, the card above works better. But, if it worked better for someone below the line, below the line it would go.)

[TraceyS/FL]

Well, it seems that that was not the right way for her!

 

I go with what works with my specific students! (For most of my students, the card above works better. But, if it worked better for someone below the line, below the line it would go.)

 

LOL, it for sure is working for her - BUT, i didn't know how much until we tried it the other way :tongue_smilie:

 

She has days where she doesn't need it at all, then others, YIKES. Today was a YIKES day. Worktext pages needed it even.....