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[Paisley Hedgehog]

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[LizzyBee]

Shari, Just want to let you know I've read your post, but I won't be able to reply until late this evening.

 

:lurk5:

[Shay]

1. Do homeschoolers have an advantage over other parents/educators working with dyslexic children?

 

By and large, YES! A hs'er who is educated and honest about what is going on (head not in the sand) can do better. And, that is the beauty of this board, as I see folks helping others along and prodding them to take charge and understand and act on the situation.

 

I am not homeschooling any longer, but am a certified special education teacher who does volunteer tutoring in the ps. However, I'd be homeschooling if I had a child with special needs...no doubt about it.

 

I've become very close to a couple of my students, but even that isn't enough. I feel I understand their weaknesses and strengths, but even that isn't enough. These children have to try to fit withing a mainstream curriculum and it does. not. work. Period. Parents can keep the instruction child-centered ('child centered' having a positive connotation in this situation) and keep confusing elements away while the child is learning/mastering. At other times in the day, you can revisit something you worked on.

 

I *think* (based solely on reading these boards for so long) that *some* homeschoolers may ignore a reading problem for too long. From what I've seen, the school does not do this and by the end of first grade, a kid can be in deep trouble. The 'reading problem' is recognized, at least, but do the teachers know what to do? That will be all over the board....some will, but most won't. Many times, the intervention used by the school runs counter to what good OG instruction is supposed to be. I've seen this.

 

2. OG is approach, not method, program, system, or technique.

I'm with you, as I see approach and technique as similar. I'm glad it is not a method, program or system, though. I tutor lots of kids and each has a different "hang up." I have to use gestural mnemonics with one, one needs this, one needs that. They are all so very different, so if I were teaching a program, they'd all have to do the same things, and they don't all need it. This individualization with the OG approach is what I'm eager to become skilled at.

 

2. Dyslexia having an "educational solution"

Yes, I agree. Dys (difficulty) + lexia (language). Therefore, we are to help them overcome the difficulty with language. There are gazillions of products that aim to help kids overcome this, but what is best?

 

Can/Will it be overcome? I think there are countless stories out there that show reading disabilities can be overcome and all children taught to read. As to the other things that "go with" dyslexia (directional confusion), I don't know. Surely this can all get better, but it seems that there will always be remnants. But on the positive, the great strengths these individuals have need to be accentuated and allowed to blossom. THIS is definitely what the hs'er is more equipped to do than the ps.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

nm

[merry gardens]

...

Here are some topics to kick start our discussion:

1. Do you think as homeschoolers, we have an advantage over other parents / educators working with dyslexic children?

2. How would you explain the idea that O-G is "an approach, not a method, program, system, or technique" ?

3. Do you agree or disagree that dyslexia has an "educational solution"? If a person born with dyslexia will always have dyslexia, IS there even a solution?

 

I'm anxious to get the ball rolling. :bigear:

1. Generally, I'd say homeschooling provides an advantage. Many classroom teachers fail to recognize dyslexia, especially in students who compensate in other ways. My husband went through public schools and graduated college without anyone catching onto his dyslexia. When our son had problems learning to read and I started sharing my research about dyslexia, and only then did my husband recognized himself in the descriptions.

 

However, one of the drawbacks to homeschooling a dyslexic child is homeschooling parent may not recognize dyslexia either. It may be that the parent waits too long for reading to "click" or she may think the reading struggles reflect on her teaching abilities and blame herself or she may dismiss the subtle signs of dyslexia that may run through the family. But even with those, I'd say that homeschoolers have the advantage. Once we recognize dyslexia, we can learn more about it and create individualized learning plans our children specifically designed to find a solution to the problem.

 

2. Aha! I knew this could tie in with what I'm learning in my other training books. ;) Vocabulary is a crucial part of reading comprehension and the subtle differences between words are sometimes hard to capture in a dictionary. I understand the word "approach" to be a broader term than words like "method"--and I think the term "technique" is narrower than the term "method". For example, Orton-Gillingham recommends that learning involve multi-sensory methods. Sky-writing is a specific technique involving the senses (in this case the large muscles), but the O-G approach does not insist that on that particular technique. While O-G recommends multi-sensory methods, it recommends more than just that.

 

I think of the words "program" or "system" as more specific that the word "approach" too; however, they're more specific in a different way. Programs or systems are more likely to gives step-by-step instructions, first you do a (in this very specific way), then b )in a specific way), then c, etc. Barton is an Orton-Gillingham based reading program--and it is very step by step, yet there are other O-G based programs that work from the O-G approach while involving a different order and different techniques.

 

Anyway, that's how I understand those words, but I could be wrong.

 

3. I don't know. I have read that many times,"Once dyslexic, always dyslexic." That seems to be the conventional wisdom. Howver, I hope that dyslexia can be overcome if the right neurological connections for reading are made and the wrong ones prevented. In a typical classroom environment, dyslexic children are often encouraged to guess at words and expected to read words that they have not yet learned to decode accurately. Those types of things promote the wrong brain connections. My child is not exposed to that. He's in a carefully controlled environment, with controlled reading and instruction specifically developed for dyslexia. I hope that I really have found the educational solution to this.

[LizzyBee]

Here are some topics to kick start our discussion:

1. Do you think as homeschoolers, we have an advantage over other parents / educators working with dyslexic children?

2. How would you explain the idea that O-G is "an approach, not a method, program, system, or technique" ?

3. Do you agree or disagree that dyslexia has an "educational solution"? If a person born with dyslexia will always have dyslexia, IS there even a solution?

 

I'm anxious to get the ball rolling. :bigear:

 

1. I think we do have an advantage by homeschooling. We can give our kids one on one tutoring on a daily basis. We can be flexible and adjust our methods and curriculum to fit the child. We don't have to stick to an arbitrary schedule of what must be learned when.

 

I believe that if my youngest dd had gone to public school, she might have been one of those students whose parents were told that she would never learn to read. That has happened to several parents I know in this area - same county but different schools. Even with homeschooling, I have had those moments when I wondered whether she would ever read well, but after seeing the breakthrough she made recently, I don't think I will ever again worry about what she can't do. I believe she will do everything that other kids do and it doesn't matter that she's on her own timeline.

 

2. I think the word "approach" implies the flexibility to adjust to the specific student's needs. Within that framework, a variety of methods or techniques could be used. At the NC dyslexia conference, someone commented that Anna Gillingham was once asked about the order in which the phonograms are taught. She replied that they can be taught in a different order as long as the revised order is logical. To me, that's an example of OG as an approach rather than a system.

 

3. A dyslexic person will always be dyslexic, and I don't think that's a bad thing. One of the nicknames for dyslexia is MIT disease, a reminder that the weaknesses of dyslexia are often accompanied by strengths in other areas. But can the learning disabilities that accompany dyslexia be overcome? I certainly hope so! Just on the reading issue, studies show that OG is effective for 90% of dyslexics. Those are good odds! I tell my dyslexic kids all the time that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Being dyslexic means there are certain things at which they will always have to work harder than many other people, but that's true of everyone, not just dyslexics.

 

Here is a quote from Carol Greider, 2009 Nobel prize winner for her work on telomeres: "School was not easy for me. I was put in remedial spelling classes because I could not sound words out. I remember a special teacher coming into the classroom every week to take me out for special spelling lessons. I was very embarrassed to be singled out and removed from class. As a kid, I thought of myself as "stupid" because I needed remedial help. It was not until much later that I figured out that I was dyslexic and that my trouble with spelling and sounding out words did not mean I was stupid, but early impressions stuck with me and colored my world for a time."

 

Not all dyslexics have such profound gifts as Carol Greider, but I think as parents, it's so important that we help our kids discover their strengths.