Stealth Dyslexia

[homeschoolally]

I'm not sure whether this belongs on the special needs board or this one, but thought I'd start here b/c it is a spin-off of a previous thread here.

 

I hadn't heard of this term until I read it on this board last night and looked at this link http://www.davidsongifted.org/db/Articles_id_10435.aspx.

 

One of my kids is 2E, with a highly gifted IQ score but difficulty with working at his potential because of what I've always called 'executive errors' and ADD. His progress report from 7 years ago by an Orton Gillingham tutor lists difficulties that are almost identical to what I read in the article about stealth dyslexia, and those issues are visible in our homeschool every day--especially as the work has become more in depth in middle school.

 

Has anyone here found help for stealth dyslexia? Would it be treated like typical dyslexia? I'm specifically concerned with him being able to handle heavy reading assignments in the future and answer comprehension questions, as well as the errors in doing multi-step math problems.

 

Is it difficult to find someone able to properly diagnose/treat stealth dyslexia? Thanks in advance for any feedback--I've been really hard on this child over the years for careless errors and couldn't sleep last night thinking about this.

Edited March 9, 2010 by homeschoolally

[JenneinCA]

Since I am probably the cause of this thread I thought I would contribute what little I know.

 

I have suspected that something was different about ds9 for a very long time. Not the smart part, that wasn't surprising, but the wild differences in abilities part. He didn't learn to read like any other kid I knew. Dd11 learned to read with very little of my help at about 3 and a half. Ds9 was over five and still struggling through The Cat in the Hat. And then at about five and a half, he suddenly could read. It was bizarre and I was very confused. But he was reading and that was good. His handwriting was a mess and he couldn't spell for anything, but if you talked to him he was amazing. This disconnect was why we tested this child. *I* was convinced he was not nearly as smart as his older sister. My husband thought I was wrong. So we tested. And ds9 is PG, just like big sister. But with wild variances in his subscores. Even the lowest ones were within normal, but the differences were incredible, 6+ standard deviations. I was told I had an engineer on my hands and to teach to his strengths and not worry about the rest. Just teach him where he was.

 

So I muddled through. We tried Sequential Spelling, no retention, too much handwriting. We tried teaching him to type, too many coordination problems. We tried Saxon math, too much writing and too little content. We tried Singapore math, not enough explanation. Finally we tried Aleks math and that worked for a while. And then *my* life got too complicated and it was all I could do to keep library books in the house and food in the cupboards. So we didn't do much for trying to deal with the problems. This lasted for three very long years.

 

Finally this year things calmed down enough in my life to deal with his issues and we are making progress. So far Apples and Pears is helping with spelling. IEW and typing on the computer is helping with writing. And Videotext is being a good fit with Math. I don't know if I could have helped him earlier. I don't know if what I am doing now is correct. I am still just muddling through.

 

I am not sure that this long post is what you wanted to see, but I wanted you to know I did see it. I hope this helps.

[Guest]

I love the Eides and their book The Mislabeled Child. But at the same time, I find the book confusing, because so many different neurological syndromes or profiles have nearly identical symptoms or indicators and there will be one or two teeny tiny differences.

 

My child has the same gap between verbal IQ and written expression. She can read like a house afire -- was tested at post-graduate level when she was quite young; but she will occasionally be stumped at reading something that seems really obvious to me. She also at age 13 can still not reliably tell left from right, has difficulty reading analog clocks. Letter and number reversal persisted until she was nine or ten. She has motor coordination problems and problems with the wiring linking fingers to brain. Her spelling is better than it was a few years ago, when she was diagnosed with dysgraphia and could barely spell anything longer than four letters; but it, and punctuation, just drop right out from her writing when she is concentrating on drafting. Lots of other characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, including executive function challenges.

 

She was diagnosed with Nonverbal Learning Disorder, which is a learning profile. The word dyslexia was never mentioned, but to me it's clear that she meets an awful lot of the criteria.

 

Because the symptoms of so many conditions are very similar, unless you have the time and money to seek out someone who specializes in stealth dyslexia, or in sorting out the various neurological strands, it seems that many of these conditions recommend a lot of the same activities or therapies to help kids. And I have to say that a lot of it seems hit or miss in terms of finding out what works with your particular child. You seem to be well informed about what warning signs or potential problems to watch for in the middle school years; some will pop up, others will not, and some things will suddenly become challenges that you never expected. I agree with Jenne in that you try the best you can, see what works and what doesn't. If you haven't read The Mislabeled Child, I found it very useful because every chapter includes a section on things to do to address the problems they are talking about. I don't remember anything specific on stealth dyslexia in the book (I might have just forgotten it and others can tell you better), but there is a long chapter on writing, and a lengthy one on comprehension. Their suggestions were really helpful.

[homeschoolally]

Thanks so much Jenne and Karen for taking the time to share this info. It was very helpful to me!

 

Have you guys seen this website? I emailed the Eides today asking about referrals to likeminded clinics on the east coast. I wasn't even expecting to get a reply, yet did within a only a few hours. She recommended joining this community---there is TONS of info here. I could spend days reading it all.

http://dyslexicadvantage.ning.com/

Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide

 

Our Mission: Although many people think of dyslexia as just a reading problem, dyslexia provides many cognitive advantages that enable individuals to excel in tasks and occupations that require creative problem solving and big picture thinking.

 

The Dyslexic Advantage community is free and open to the public, new members must be approved before they join. Please sign up in the box at right, and Welcome! As part of the sign-up process, please provide a brief answer as to why you would like to join our community. We found this step necessary to avoid spam registrations. You do not have to be dyslexic or know for sure if you have dyslexia. You are welcome to become a member if you are gathering more information and want to find out more about the dyslexia experience.