Slight dyslexic tendencies.. how to test and help?

[Hedgehog]

We think our 8yo dd might have slight dyslexic tendencies. I say slight because they really are mild but they are noticeable enough to trip her up every now and again. However I am reluctant to check this out in a big way because I am afraid of making her feel stupid, or that she has a reason not to try hard. I know people who have felt both these things because of the learning difficulties they have had. There is no guarantee that her life will be made easier by anyone just because she might struggle a little with reading and writing, although I do wish to give her as much help as I can while she is at home with me.. kwim??

 

So to those who have experience with dyslexia and similar learning difficulties, how would you quietly assess your child without going through the rigmarole of official testing? What resources do you know about which you have found to help your child deal with the hiccups of dyslexia?

 

(ETA: yes.. I know I am a worrier!)

[Dobela]

I had my child assessed and I didn't do it quietly. You can't do it quietly. The label of dyslexia doesn't make them feel dumb, it helps them understand why their brain works the way it does. Long before we pursued help my son had already decided he was dumb and wouldn't be able to accomplish his goals. He was 8 when I began my search. It broke my heart to hear him admit that.

 

I don't have time now to describe our process, but hopefully someone else will. Searching in the Special Needs section will also bring up lots of discussions on dyslexia and the different routes we all chose.

[SailorMom]

We think our 8yo dd might have slight dyslexic tendencies. I say slight because they really are mild but they are noticeable enough to trip her up every now and again. However I am reluctant to check this out in a big way because I am afraid of making her feel stupid, or that she has a reason not to try hard. I know people who have felt both these things because of the learning difficulties they have had. There is no guarantee that her life will be made easier by anyone just because she might struggle a little with reading and writing, although I do wish to give her as much help as I can while she is at home with me.. kwim??

 

So to those who have experience with dyslexia and similar learning difficulties, how would you quietly assess your child without going through the rigmarole of official testing? What resources do you know about which you have found to help your child deal with the hiccups of dyslexia?

 

(ETA: yes.. I know I am a worrier!)

 

Ouch - really bad attitude towards those with dyslexia (like my son....)

First - what would you rather have - your dd feeling stupid because she has some problems - but doesn't know why and her parents have never explained it to her.

or

Would you rather say- hey - here's why you are having a bit of problem with (insert whatever...), and here is what we can do to make it possible for you to do it.

 

My son has never used his dyslexia as an excuse to not work hard - he's known that he has to work even harder at the things he struggles with. He also expects no accomodations from anyone......

[Quiver0f10]

Here is a list of the warning signs of dyslexia:

http://bartonreading.com/pdf/Dys%20warning%20signs.pdf

 

If your child has three or more of those symptoms then I recommend doing an evaluation. Dyslexia has nothing to do with being stupid(I really hate that word). An eval will give you the necessary information in order to best help your child.

 

I also recommend Overcoming Dyslexia

 

My son is dyslexic and knows it. He works very hard and is an enthusiastic student.

Edited September 4, 2010 by Quiver0f10

[romeacademy]

Here's a link the the International Dyslexia Association's Fact Sheet Page. http://www.interdys.org/FactSheets.htm There is one on "Is My Child Dyslexic" and one on testing and evaluation.

 

IME, kid's tend to give themselves labels like stupid or dumb in the absence of other label's. Helping your child understand what they need to do to learn best doesn't mean they need to expect other people will make their life easier.

 

Good luck.

[RamonaQ]

There are many great resources on the Special Needs Board concerning dyslexia. So that you know, likely your child is aware that there is "something" going on. They likely can see the ease that other children experience, that they do not. This is an excellent book to read to understand this experience. The Secret Life of the Dyslexic Child:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Dyslexic-Child-succeed/dp/1579549853/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283563615&sr=8-1

 

Honestly, I have been profoundly amazed what strong, hard workers the dyslexic individuals I am in contact with. I am also continually amazed what brilliant (IQ included now that I know that in some cases), fascinating, unique thinkers that they are. here is another fascinating book-In the Mind's Eye:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Minds-Eye-Thinkers-Difficulties-Creativity/dp/1573921556/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283563766&sr=1-1

[Georgia On My Mind]

I have worked with many children with dyslexia. They are in their skin, you don't have to tell them they have learning disabilities, they already know it. Children with learning difficulties are very relieved, for the most part, to know what makes them different. Most students with dyslexia have average or above average intellectual ability but the dyslexia interfers with their learning. Knowing will give you the tools to know how to modify his academics to facilitate learning. Don't be afraid of knowing or your child knowing. He will be able to handle it. Most have already developed and are using compensatory measures in their strength areas and you can tap into the knowledge they already have about how they learn best and teach to their strengths while patching holes in their foundational weaknesses.

[Peela]

The label really helped my son and I wish I hadn't waited till he was 12. On the drive home from being tested, he said "so, I am not stupid after all". The label helped him understand he was different. But, that was about it.

 

In the end I have homeschooled him exactly the same as I did beforehand and I would do the same again. Copywork, dictation and narration were the foundation of his English program and the centre of his homeschooling until recently. The lady who tested him also runs programs and she told me what i was doing was infinitely more than she could do with a once a week session, and to just keep going.

 

He doesnt really think much about it anymore. We dont mention it much- there is no need. He needs a lot more one on one from me than his sister and I just have to give it and be grateful that I can, and that he is not throwing paper aeroplanes and getting up to mischief in school becauyse he fell through the cracks.

[Laurie4b]

The difficulties may look slight now, but the reading load gets harder and harder. A lot of bright kids with dyslexia can compensate up until about 4th grade and then they just can't keep up.

 

Please get an evaluation and get help. Don't self-treat. You may be seeing only the tip of the iceberg now and end up wasting time trying to tiptoe around it when you could be getting her help. You'll kick yourself for it later.

 

I agree with all the pp's who have said that the label is a relief to the child. You cannot avoid a label. Either a child will label herself (and it will be "stupid" or "dumb") or a professional can give a correct label and the student can sigh with relief that she's not uniquely defective and go on to overcome.

 

Orton-Gillingham methods or Phonographix methods work well with dyslexic children. But get the eval, too. There may be other stuff that you aren't even aware of yet.

[rafiki]

.

[EKS]

Some book suggestions: Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz and The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

Edited November 21, 2012 by Shari

[AngieW in Texas]

It was a huge relief to my youngest to find out that she was dyslexic. She had already labeled herself and the label wasn't pretty. Even though we were hsing, she knew that all the other kids her age were reading well and there she was at 7yo, not able to read anything at all that the library had, not able to recognize even her own name until she sounded it out.

 

Testing was wonderful for her.

 

Once I got the test results, I posted them everywhere so I could get help figuring out what to do. I got leads on programs that were good for my dd and she finally started to make progress in reading. She went from not recognizing any words on sight and only being able to sound out cvc words at 7yo to reading at a solid 1st grade level by 8yo. She was reading at grade level by 10yo.

 

We still have to work at figuring out what programs to use. Math seems to be the bigger problem now. It's hard to find math programs that have a layout that she can cope with visually.

[simka2]

I'm in a similar boat here. We just haven't made it to the actual specialist yet...and I don't want to be the one to label and then find out it's something else later. So, I've been doing some research...and here are some of the things we have started doing.

 

I purchased the Master reader program from HOP. DS's do that on the computer, and then they have a card they can read. I have them read the card to themselves...then they read it to me. We are working on fluency....not comprehension right now. I have one son in particular who struggles worse than the other. I have him read a sentence to himself in head, before he reads it outload to me...sort of a self check. This makes the reading outload a bit choppy, but he is correcting a lot of his own mistakes. Then I can really catch...when he switches the sounds or inserts other words.

 

Nothing I have said is professional...it's just what we have started to do, and I am seeing a lot of improvement.

 

I do agree with others...the label doesn't hurt them, it really helps!!! We went thru this with ADD, and he was very relieved to find out there was something we could do about his "focus" issues :D.

[Hedgehog]

Thanks for your thoughts everyone! I'll look up those books and have a read.

 

I think the issue for us is that my dd is mostly fine, but just occasionally she does something which makes me think - huh.. that is odd.. why can she not understand this/remember how to do this when we've gone over this umpteen times in x number of different ways? Whatever it is, it doesn't affect her math, in fact she is so far ahead of herself that she's on the same level as her sister who is two grades above her and actually finds it easier; it's just the occasional hiccup in reading and writing.

 

As for testing being a rigmarole.. it's very costly, and time consuming (according to some friends who had their dc tested privately). But I see your (plural!) point, that if she is thinking that she's stupid, it would be better to have a proper reason.

 

Sadly, I don't actually know of anyone with any special educational need who has done anything other than just give up, or be extremely hard on themselves, which is partly why I'm rather anxious about all this. Limited experience, I guess. Because dd9 is so good at Math, I've always made the point to her that different people are good at different things, and therefore she doesn't need to feel bad about what she finds hard. We believe in celebrating the people our dc are, as special individuals. Different skills are part of what makes people so interesting, IMO.

 

Anyway thanks again, it's given me plenty to chew over :001_smile:

[EKS]

Another thing--google "stealth dyslexia" and see if it fits.

[ElizabethB]

My students who I suspect of dyslexia have a different pattern of scores on the MWIA than my students who just have some symptoms of dyslexia due to sight words and whole language teaching. (I cannot be sure that they have dyslexia because they also got sight words in school, so it could just be that as well.)

 

Students with true dyslexia will have an equally hard time reading both sets of words or find the holistic list (sight words) more difficult. Students with sight word induced problems have a more difficult time reading the phonetic list.

 

Some of my students have speech related difficulties. Interestingly, most of them seem to hear "too well," they hear the difference between the t in tap and the t in pat (yes, they are different!) and the r in rat and brat. (Again, yes, they are different.) Also, they don't automatically get "ring" but say rin - g, and cannot make the slight change on their own, they have to be explicitly taught how this change happens. And, they don't automatically get to "local," they have to be explicitly walked through how schwa works. (Webster's Speller is especially helpful for these types of students, the arrangement of words by accent pattern helps them understand and hear this schwa and accent pattern, after they read through di-al, tri-al, vi-al, o-ral, le-gal, etc, they start to get it.)

 

I need to work on different things with all my students, but they have all benefitted from nonsense words and Webster's Speller.

 

Also, my students who are good at math really like these charts, it helps them apply their strength to their weakness, it applies math to reading and spelling:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/phonogramsoundch.html

 

If you want to try some OG methods, the cheapest book out there is "Recipe for Reading," everything you need to make your own OG curriculum for $25.

Edited September 22, 2010 by ElizabethB