Dyslexia? Something else?

[Evergreen Academy]

My ds 9 is extremely intelligent, and remembers everything I've ever read to him or that he's ever heard - anywhere. He does very well in math. However, I started to notice last year that while he had learned to read on schedule, he wasn't improving as much as I'd expect for a 2nd grader - and what's more, he had no memory of anything he'd read as little as a few moments before. I also noticed that he leaves out little words like "the" and "and," and substitutes other small words sometimes. He makes guesses for some big words and when reading aloud, plods on through even if his ommissions and substitutions make no sense.

 

He is a perfectionist and has really resisted my suggestions to put his finger under the line he's reading, to keep his place; I've been trying to determine if this is a tracking problem. In reading a website of dyslexia symptoms tonight, I noticed some of his speech patterns that we attributed to him learning English as a second language; he takes a long time to find the word he wants sometimes, gets frustrated when he can't find it, loses his train of thought. I am also seeing some of the ommissions/substitutions appear in his writing, and I am getting concerned as he is in 3rd grade and I feel like these things should be improving, not worsening.

 

He is so very bright, I don't want this issue to hold him back as he gets older. He has a physical disability and his academic ability is something he's always been proud of - of course we are proud of him, period.

Any ideas as I try to help with this reading issue?

Thanks and blessings,

Aimee

mom to 6 great kids, ages 6-19, schooling grades 1, 3, 3 and 6

[MerryAtHope]

 

He is a perfectionist and has really resisted my suggestions to put his finger under the line he's reading, to keep his place; I've been trying to determine if this is a tracking problem.

 

How would he feel about using a plain white index card (it could also be the bookmark) to cover the words ABOVE the line that he is reading? This would actually help more with a tracking issue because it doesn't block what's coming next like a hand/finger can. When we put something below the line, it doesn't allow for smooth tracking from one line to the next--it interrupts the flow.

 

For dyslexia--check out this link and see if you think some of the symptoms might apply to him. HTH! Merry :-)

[Evergreen Academy]

Thank you, the index card is a good suggestion. I did see some of his characteristics in a list of symptoms, and yet others weren't so clear. My husband suggested asking him to read a book with larger type, and when he read that aloud to me yesterday, he was MUCH clearer, missed less, and stumbled on the words less. It makes us wonder if this is some sort of vision issue in part. I'll need to have him re-evaluated for that. I think he is realizing he has some trouble with smaller print, and both my husband and I shared that we need to use something for tracking when reading smaller type. So until we get his vision checked again, I think he will be more comfortable with something like the card you suggest. I'll go read the dyslexia list again as well and see if it doesn't give more insight.

Thank you!

Blessings,

Aimee

[Dobela]

You odn't say what the physical problems are, but if he has them, it is very possible that he has vision problems as well. Vision therapy has been a huge blessing for our son. Without it I don't think he could have progressed in reading at all. The site that helped me most at first was covd.org. They have a signs and symptoms page that helped me realize some of my son's difficulties were possibly more than dyslexia. His tracking was very poor and he would often make wild substitutions and even describe words jumping all over the page. He also resisted the notched cards but I now realize it wasn't so much for vanity but because his eyes would jump up and to the side (where exposed words were) and the card didn't prevent that.

[Laurie4b]

The not remembering things he's just read could be a working memory problem. I'd go get him tested. A neuropsychologist can do an IQ test like the WISC-IV, and can do other neurological tests as needed to try to uncover what's wrong. The working memory issues will show up on the WISC-IV. (School systems can also give the WISC IV . You need to make the request in writing to the director of exceptional children and state that you suspect your child has a learning disability)

 

You can get the tracking tested at a developmental optometrist, but I don't know that I've ever heard of one who told a kid they didn't need vision therapy. On the other hand, some kids clearly do need it and benefit from it.

 

I recommend the book, Overcoming Dyslexia for the latest research. Not all books on dyslexia are research-based.

[Terabith]

You can get the tracking tested at a developmental optometrist, but I don't know that I've ever heard of one who told a kid they didn't need vision therapy. On the other hand, some kids clearly do need it and benefit from

 

Here! The dev optometrist said my daughter had some midline crossing and convergence issues, but they were minor and unlikely to effect her development. He gave me a couple exercises to do, and said he'd like to see her again in a year!

 

But apparently the work he does with kids that he does recommend therapy for is phenomenal.

[Laurie4b]

Here! The dev optometrist said my daughter had some midline crossing and convergence issues, but they were minor and unlikely to effect her development. He gave me a couple exercises to do, and said he'd like to see her again in a year!

 

But apparently the work he does with kids that he does recommend therapy for is phenomenal.

 

That's encouraging!

 

The one here appears to work with everyone.

[Mandamom]

It sounds to me like a little more than dyslexia -- maybe some memory issues along with some language (i.e. word retrieval issues) that concern me. I would highly recommend getting an evaluation to find out what you are dealing with.

[Rod Everson]

My husband suggested asking him to read a book with larger type, and when he read that aloud to me yesterday, he was MUCH clearer, missed less, and stumbled on the words less. It makes us wonder if this is some sort of vision issue in part. I'll need to have him re-evaluated for that.

Aimee

 

As others have indicated, you should try to find a developmental optometrist for the vision evaluation. Your regular eye doctor will usually not pick up on the sort of issues that require vision therapy.

 

As for the sense that some developmental optometrists almost always recommend vision therapy, I think there's a reasonable explanation for that. If you take your child to a developmental OD for a regular checkup, he might find some minor issues and tell you to make some minor adjustments in the environment, e.g., less TV, more play time, more time outdoors, etc., to speed the development of vision skills.

 

On the other hand, if you bring your child in for a full developmental vision exam, having indicated that you're concerned about his academics, particularly reading, two things are likely to happen. First, the probability that he does have a vision problem serious enough to affect his reading are much higher than in the first case I described. And second, nearly everyone has something in their visual system that can be improved with vision therapy (this is why some high-level athletes go through VT, for instance) and the optometrist will be much more likely to suggest trying VT just in case what might just be a minor issue for some children is actually the main reason your child is having difficulty.

 

Do kids get VT, even in excellent practices, but not significantly improve their reading skills? Yes. That could be because the OD was being too optimistic in hoping that fixing a relatively minor issue would make the difference. However, it could also be because now that the vision issues have been addressed, other issues still remain. In particular, and in your child's case, he might not yet understand phonics well enough to read properly. This is especially true if he was bright enough to memorize most of the words in his first year of reading. The reason he doesn't recall what he's just read is that he's not really reading. Instead, he's working hard (and with less and less success) trying to remember all the words he's trying to read, using non-phonics cues such as inefficient mnemonics he's invented himself. This ties up all available short-term memory and leaves no room for a story line.

 

So, my recommendation: First, get the evaluation from a developmental OD. Second, make sure his phonics knowledge is sufficient. Third, if there's still a problem, investigate other possible explanations for his reading problem. By the way, until you added the information on his difficulty reading smaller print, I would have reversed the two options, but it makes more sense to fix vision first, then do the phonics instruction.

 

The link below has some useful information on locating a developmental optometrist. You can get to the covd.org site from there too.

 

Rod Everson

OnTrack Reading-Find a Vision Therapy Provider

[Dobela]

Rod is so right. We began intensive reading therapy (tutoring) after we saw visual improvement in our son. We did hire a well qualified tutor but we could have done it at home. I was just amazed at how few connections he had made phonetically after 3+ years of phonics - all because he had serious tracking, depth, and convergence issues. For him, it took the combination of a lot of hard work, vision therapy, and a specialized reading program to learn how to read. He isn't dyslexic after all even though we were seriously concerned about it. The specialized reading program (the tutor is using Scottish Rite) wouldn't have worked without the vision therapy. But vision therapy alone would not have made him into a proficient reader either. Because he and I had been so stressed out over his reading, we hired the tutor. I believe I could have taught him to read using Barton or another program but I needed to step out of the picture and become a cheerleader instead. It hsa been a financial drain for the tutor, but his confidence has improved tremendously and we are not stressed out as a pair. It makes all the other subjects work better when you are not completely frustrated all the time by one subject.

[Rod Everson]

We did hire a well qualified tutor but we could have done it at home. I was just amazed at how few connections he had made phonetically after 3+ years of phonics - all because he had serious tracking, depth, and convergence issues. For him, it took the combination of a lot of hard work, vision therapy, and a specialized reading program to learn how to read. He isn't dyslexic after all even though we were seriously concerned about it.

 

I think we'll eventually find that "dyslexics" almost always have vision issues and that addressing those vision issues paves the way for a decent phonics program. If the "dyslexia" is relatively severe, this combination might not be enough, but in most cases, both VT and phonics instruction will be found to be necessary steps in the process regardless. It's important to keep in mind the likely genetic component, rather than assuming it wasn't "dyslexia" after all. If reading struggles run in the family, "dyslexia" is probably running in the family. Some cases are just more severe than others, in that more issues need addressing.

 

 

Because he and I had been so stressed out over his reading, we hired the tutor. I believe I could have taught him to read using Barton or another program ....

I'm probably not supposed to do this, but.....

 

Most parents of kids with reading challenges have already spent hour upon hour trying to teach them their phonics, some using good programs, some not so good. As Dobela indicated, following VT she might have been able to use any decent program successfully, but I'm assuming she was burned out and felt they both needed a break.

 

Well, I taught these kids for going on 8 or 9 years, often following VT. What I found was that you don't need a fancy system after VT. Before I learned how important it was, I found myself designing card games for phonics memorization, board games to reinforce lessons, etc. After I learned about VT, I quit all that, sent kids to VT and if I got them back (sometimes I didn't because VT caused all the previous phonics education to kick in) I used the same basic curriculum with every single one of them.

 

The only variation was in how fast I went. Some kids flew; some took much longer (50 hours instead of 15, say--plus an equal amount of homework time to review the lesson) and needed a refresher later, but all of them could learn to read if they would cooperate and do the lessons (about 4% rebelled against the work, even though they were capable of doing it)

 

Over time, I developed my own advanced code workbook and fine-tuned it by using it with my students. If something caused a problem I changed it. If the sequencing was off, I switched lessons around. In the end, I had a program that I could run through in 16 to 20 hours with a child of any age (after they'd learned the basic code) and even with adults.

 

It's a blend of the methods used in Phono-Graphix and some of the philosophy from The Spalding Method, plus a multisyllable technique that I settled upon after starting with Phono-Graphix and finding it too haphazard. In my opinion, the multi-syllable method (free on my website here) is second to none in how fast it builds a child's confidence when tackling unfamiliar multisyllable words.

 

When I got done developing the workbook, I wrote an instruction manual that details virtually everything I did myself when working with nearly 200 kids over the past decade. It's a step-by-step guide to using the workbook exactly as I learned to best use it. The instructions are also free as a PDF here. Tip: If you download it, read page 6 on how to explain what a vowel sound is to a child. That will give you as good a feel as anything for how my curriculum gets to the meat of the matter and deals with issues at the "kid-level" logic.

 

And if you're interested in the workbook itself, you can find more about it on my website at OnTrack Reading.

 

Rod Everson

OnTrack Reading

Edited December 22, 2009 by Rod Everson