Since mom's know best, would like some fresh eyes looking in -

[rafiki]

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[merry gardens]

How would an official diagnosis help?

I have not gotten an official diagnose of dyslexia for my child. I went for testing when I first noticed problems, (speech, hearing, eyes) but the dyslexia tester I spoke with said he was rather young for testing and he suggest I wait. Since then, I have worked with my son as if we had the official diagnosis of dyslexia, even though it is not an official diagnosis.

 

At this point, the official diagnosis would change not change anything that I'm doing with him. I teach him using an Orton Gillingham based program for dyslexia that offers training and phone support. (Bartons) I've read several manuals and learned some very specific teaching techniques for various reading problems related to dyslexia. (Various Lindamood-Bell programs.) I scan through special education and speech therapy and occupational therapy websites and catalogs for products that I think may be of benefit to us. I have read and read and read about dyslexia and various other special educational needs.

 

Would an official diagnosis help? It depends what type of help comes with that diagnosis. And it depends what the diagnosis is. If you know your children have spelling and reading comprehension problems, then you already know that they need some extra help with spelling and reading comprehension regardless of what any expert says. The expert might confirm for you that they need help, might be able to point you in the right direction of what type of help they need, etc. etc., but not all are as helpful as we might like.

 

Those experts usually charge money. (School districts provide free testing for children with suspected learning disabilites, but my experience with my local school district earlier with my son didn't impress me.) I can buy an awful lot of special education and dyslexia materials with the money I saved by not paying for private testing.

 

I know my son. He is far more than just "dyslexic" or any other lable anyone might want to put on him. I work with what I already know about his skills and abilities as well as his shortcomings and struggles. If I planned to place him in a public or private school, I would need to have him tested so they could develop an IEP and send it to all the various teachers and others. Since I homeschool, I get to create and implement his education without needing an official diagnosis of dyslexia.

 

You have mentioned other possible issues beyond dyslexia. Perhaps there are other occupational therapists or speech therapists or others who may be more helpful to you and your children regarding those matters than what you've found so far. If there may a problem with their eyes or hearing or whatever, certainly it's good that you had all those things checked out. But if you know for certain that your children have problems with reading, you do not need to wait for an official diagnosis in order to teach them with methods developed for people with dylexia. If you know they have a weird pencil grip and difficulties writing, you do not need an official diagnosis of dysgraphia to buy various special ergonomic pens and pencils, grips and other assorted writing instruments and then try some handwriting programs recommended for children with dysgraphia. I do those types of things without any official diagnosis, and my son's reading and writing are slowly improving.

Edited September 14, 2010 by merry gardens

[Misty]

Okay, wow.. this is weird because you just described my household.. My 3 girls literally have the exact issues (in the same order) as your kids...

 

13yr old.. poor working memory (forgets instantly), voracious reader, struggles with handwriting and math, creatively gifted, talks too much, doesn't see details AT ALL.. Everything is work.. Absolutely no organizational skills.. Only real difference here is she is not a lefty and she is an excellent speller at all times.

 

9yr old.. Seeks patterns, very mathematical, VERY sensitive to sound, letters move on the page, slow reading, my only "tidy" child in the house, struggles with articulation

 

7yr old.. Extremely hyperactive, chews on her hair constantly, stimming behaviors, craves motion, stimulation, frustrates easily, reading and handwriting issues

 

Now I'll tell you what each child is diagnosed with..

 

13yr old.. Asperger traits, OCD, ADHD (predominantly innattentive), dysgraphia, dyscalculia, SPD, gifted IQ, hyperlexia, synesthesia

 

9yr old.. Asperger's, ADHD (predominantly innattentive), figure-ground auditory processing disorder, gifted IQ, SPD, slow processing speed, and she needs speech therapy for pragmatic language. She also needs sound desensitization therapy, but we have yet to do either therapies.

 

7yr old.. Asperger's, ADHD (combined type), severe OCD, dysgraphia, dyslexia, SPD, & NVLD

 

Now I'll tell you what has *almost* recovered all 3 of my girls from all of these issues..

 

1st, we removed gluten, casein, and soy.. We did food intolerance/sensitivity testing and found these three things to be issues. I see you have already BTDT with this so I won't preach to the choir. My kids are also on several supplements.

 

2nd.. We did behavior therapy, which included Interactive Metronome, neurofeedback, biofeedback, & Makoto.. This did wonders for working memory, slow processing, fine motor, gross motor, coordination, attention, reading, behavior, aggression, etc. etc. etc. I can't say enough about behavior therapy!

 

3rd.. You HAVE to do some brain integration exercises.. Do you have Diane Craft's brain integration therapy manual? It's a must for these kids! To fix the reading issues, you have to get these exercises done every day and you might also want to look into vision therapy. Another thing to look into is retained primitive reflexes. My 7yr old has a retained Moro reflex.. There are exercises you can do to address this issue.

 

My kids are now nearly to the point of being able to loose most of their diagnoses.. Here is what I still see in them..

 

13yr old.. Still has penmanship issues, some OCD issues, and some *slight* ADHD issues. She also has some hyperfocus issues consistent with Asperger's, but I feel this is a good thing and will serve her well for the most part. She also still has synesthesia, of course, which is not really a bad thing.. More of an interesting quirk.

 

9yr old.. Still socially awkward, but getting better. Processing speed has improved.. Excellent reader now.. Words no longer move on the page. Still sensitive to sound. Her biggest improvement was definitely with reading fluency. Still rigid, inflexible, stubborn, and very much a rule follower.

 

7yr old.. Went from no reading to reading sentences within a few weeks after beginning behavior therapy. Still ADHD, but a little calmer.. Anger and aggression has improved dramatically.. Still has OCD. Fine motor improved dramatically.. Writing well now.. Still has Asperger's, but is doing well socially for the most part. Stimming has improved dramatically.

 

To answer your question about getting a diagnosis.. Honestly.. It did not tell me much more than I already knew.. I took my daughter in to be evaluated for auditory issues because I thought she had auditory issues.. I was right. I took her in to be evaluated for dyslexia because I thought she had dyslexia.. I was right.. I took her in to be evaluated for ADHD, OCD, and Asperger's.. I was right..

 

I would focus your energy on researching ways to correct these issues as opposed to getting them diagnosed. I had to research my butt off and become experts in my children and their issues before any real progress could be made.

 

The only reason I would say that a diagnosis is helpful is so you can have access to therapies such as the behavior therapy I mentioned. Your insurance will likely not approve any therapies unless you have a proper diagnosis code down (which I'm sure you already know).

Edited September 14, 2010 by Misty

[rafiki]

.

[rafiki]

.

[Dobela]

8.5 y/o DS - excels at puzzles (was doing 500 piece puzzles in K), seeks patterns, extremely visual and better than 20/20 vision, reading is very laborous, compulsively neat, quite artistic, is an out of the box thinker, struggles with articulation, very sensitive to noise (tones, volume), letters "move" on the page, tires easily and often, sensitive to the texture of food, light bothers him, likes clean fonts, and needs lot's of white space in workbooks.

I suspect dyslexia and sensory processing issues?

I bolded the parts that jumped out to me. Those words very much described my son. At the same age he began telling me that words jumped and moved on the page and that sometimes he couldn't find them again. I took him to a regular optometrist and to a pediatric opthamologist. Both told me he had 'good eyes' and better than 20/20 vision. Someone on these boards suggested I visit covd.org and read the signs and symptoms page -which I did and found my son had almost every sign and symptom given for vision problems. I then found a Behavioral Optometrist using their search engine and had him tested further.

 

What we then discovered was that his eyes were not tracking together most of all. The reason the words were jumping on the page is that his brain didn't know which eye to follow and would switch between them trying to take in all the information. He also had depth and additional convergence problems that complicated it all even more. It wasn't an obvious problem either. If you watched him read, you couldn't notice that the eyes were working separately.

 

He began over a year of vision therapy and now is much much better. A different kid really. His reading jumped 3 grade levels (we also hired a specialized tutor who uses the Scottish Rite Program for Dyslexia). While we thought he was severely dyslexic when we began we now think that if he is dyslexic it is very mild. Interestingly many of the sensory issues we struggled with have greatly diminished with vision therapy. All I can assume is that his lack of clear vision kept all of his sensory readings off kilter or at least kept his brain confused.

 

As you work to find answers, :grouphug:

[Misty]

I also didn't mention, more because I've always brushed it off to his severe food allergies - he is OCD about cups and handtowels. He will not drink out of the same cup, he says because someone else might have touched it after eating food he's allergic to. The thing is, he does this at home, there is no food he's allergic to in the house and he even does this when I touch his cup after moving it to wipe the counter for goodness sake. The same with washing his hands, he gets a new towel each time to dry them. These seem minor, but are frustrating to live with the volume of dirty cups and hand towels each day.

 

Yup.. that's VERY similar to my daughter with OCD. She has fear of contamination of other people's food. She will not sit in a chair that someone else has sat in for fear of being contaminated by what they ate.. Has nothing to do with being afraid of allergies though. She is just plain afraid of mushy food and things like hamburgers, hotdogs, etc. She has other OCD issues too, but mostly fear of contamination of germs and food.

 

Did you try to work through one child at a time? Or just read and take notes on all three as you saw info pertaining to them?

No, I did all the children at the same time and the difference was so obvious in all of them.. I just took mental notes. I am continuously amazed at how different they are now so it's something I think about a lot and I'm so thankful for how well they are doing now.

 

My oldest has been taking Flax Seed Oil for about 8 weeks now, it has helped his exzema and he says he can think clearer. I'd like to try it with my other two as well.

 

My girls take a variety of supplements..

Nordic Naturals Children's DHA cod liver oil

Oil of Oregano

Olive leaf extract

Biotin (for gut.. not for skin & hair)

Culturelle dairy-free probiotics for kids

multi-vitamin

zinc

P-5-P (magnesium & B6)

I also put finely ground flax seed in most of my baked goods.

They have been on two rounds of Diflucan to help correct yeast issues

My 7yr old has been on MB12 shots in the past

Melatonin for sleep

Two of my girls also take Zoloft for OCD. My 7yr old has severe OCD and can't be without meds just yet.

 

All of this PLUS GFCF (and soy free) PLUS the brain integration exercises and behavior therapy.. Definitely a great recipe for my girls.. They have improved so much, it's just amazing! We also eat mostly organic and most things they eat are made from scratch here at home. No bad ingredients.

 

Mind if I ask what curriculum you use with each since your situation sounds quite similar? You may PM me if you don't want that many details on the board.

 

All of the curriculum we use is listed in the margin of my blog. Let me know if you have any questions about any of it.

 

Any advice on juggling their different needs?

 

No real advice.. Things can get chaotic here. We stopped going to therapies because it was too far and we were never home.. School wasn't getting done at all. So I decided to focus on biomedical intervention (since it was helping) and forget the therapies except for what we could do at home. But the behavior therapy (interactive metronome, etc.) was extremely helpful and I would get them doing that again in a heartbeat if we had the time and it wasn't such a drive. Anyway, as far as juggling their different needs.. It's hard and sometimes I found myself focusing on my most needy child the most and the others weren't getting the help they needed. It's a constant juggling act that never gets perfected.

[Jan in SC]

I don't think your oldest son sounds dsylexic, or OCD. I have never met him, though, so take that with a pillar of salt. I would take him for an OT evaluation. A lot of lefties form letters in reverse. An OT could help him strengthen his arms and fingers.

 

I think if someone has life threatening allergies, it is normal to be obsessive about the food issues. My child that frequents doctors is more obsessive than my others, too.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

 

2nd.. We did behavior therapy, which included Interactive Metronome, neurofeedback, biofeedback, & Makoto.. This did wonders for working memory, slow processing, fine motor, gross motor, coordination, attention, reading, behavior, aggression, etc. etc. etc. I can't say enough about behavior therapy!

 

3rd.. You HAVE to do some brain integration exercises.. Do you have Diane Craft's brain integration therapy manual? It's a must for these kids! To fix the reading issues, you have to get these exercises done every day and you might also want to look into vision therapy. Another thing to look into is retained primitive reflexes. My 7yr old has a retained Moro reflex.. There are exercises you can do to address this issue.

 

[

 

Where does one get this sort of therapy? Do you have any links? Does private insurance cover this sometimes? Sorry for the aside:).

[Misty]

Where does one get this sort of therapy? Do you have any links? Does private insurance cover this sometimes? Sorry for the aside:).

 

We went through a private psychologist and our insurance paid 100% of it. We have military insurance (Tricare). Do a google search for something like "behavior thearpy + psychologist + your city" and see what comes up. Then call them and ask about insurance and whether or not they do interactive metronome as part of the behavior therapy.

 

Or you can go to the Interactive Metronome website and locate a provider there http://www.interactivemetronome.com

 

Here is Dianne Craft's website to purchase her Brain Integration Therapy manual http://www.diannecraft.org

Edited September 21, 2010 by Misty

[Kates]

I would say dyslexia and dysgraphia are very likely, for at least 2 out of the 3...for the youngest, it's really too early to tell. Have you read The Gift of Dyslexia and The Gift of Learning by Ron Davis? Lots of great ideas. Also, Right Brained Children in a Left Brained World by Jeffrey Freed. (This one says that it's about ADHD...it's about a lot of other "glitches" as well.)

 

My son is 12.5, has dyslexia, dysgraphia, auditory sensory integration, and is on the border of highly to exceptionally gifted. He's also celiac, so we've removed all gluten (not just wheat, but rye, barley, and non-gf oats as well) and this has done wonders. Lactose is also a problem for him, but that's just GI symptoms, and he can avoid that pretty easily. Your oldest sounds almost exactly like him though - especially when he gets small amounts of gluten.

 

I would look into the above books, as well as The Out of Sync Child. You may find just what you're looking for!