Does anyone here have a child with Dyslexia, and if so...

[Guest diana in mi]

Hello all,

 

My name is Diana, and I am looking for other moms who have dyslexic children...I'm really in need of some advice/guidance. I have 3 children: 2 boys, ages 13 and almost 11, and a daughter that is 8. I've always homeschooled, and I would say my oldest boy was a normal learner, my younger boy a very quick learner (he learned to read right along with my oldest when i taught him in kindergarten, etc...he was very easy!), and my daughter has been diagnosed dyslexic. She's always had delays; she was developmentally delayed in about every area until she turned 3 or so; then, she was just speech delayed at that point. With everything I've done with her over the years and all that we've gone over with her and tried to teach her, it seems like she's always about 2 years behind on average (on anything that you would normally 'teach' a child, like colors, counting/math, phonics/reading, etc.). It was like she just couldn't retain anything. At all. Then, eventually, she would start to get it, and it would seem to just click. That's been happening for several years now. So now, we're 8 1/2 (she turned 8 in November), and we're finally getting the basic phonics sounds down and reading 3-letter and 4-letter words and doing basic single digit addition and subtraction. I don't know if anything I've just rattled out makes sense or not, but I sure hope it does. Anyway, I'm wondering if there are any of you out there with a dyslexic child, and if so, what have you found in the way of curriculum (or just ideas, etc.) to work for you and your child? I just feel like I'm dropping the ball, and I don't know what to do. I feel so lost sometimes. I just feel like there has to be something out there that I could get that ahold of that could help us learn, etc. Any ideas? I would really, really appreciate any help you all can give Alyssa and I. Blessings to you and your families!

 

Thank you,

Diana

[Kathy in MD]

Hello all,

 

My name is Diana, and I am looking for other moms who have dyslexic children...I'm really in need of some advice/guidance. I have 3 children: 2 boys, ages 13 and almost 11, and a daughter that is 8. I've always homeschooled, and I would say my oldest boy was a normal learner, my younger boy a very quick learner (he learned to read right along with my oldest when i taught him in kindergarten, etc...he was very easy!), and my daughter has been diagnosed dyslexic. She's always had delays; she was developmentally delayed in about every area until she turned 3 or so; then, she was just speech delayed at that point. With everything I've done with her over the years and all that we've gone over with her and tried to teach her, it seems like she's always about 2 years behind on average (on anything that you would normally 'teach' a child, like colors, counting/math, phonics/reading, etc.). It was like she just couldn't retain anything. At all. Then, eventually, she would start to get it, and it would seem to just click. That's been happening for several years now. So now, we're 8 1/2 (she turned 8 in November), and we're finally getting the basic phonics sounds down and reading 3-letter and 4-letter words and doing basic single digit addition and subtraction. I don't know if anything I've just rattled out makes sense or not, but I sure hope it does. Anyway, I'm wondering if there are any of you out there with a dyslexic child, and if so, what have you found in the way of curriculum (or just ideas, etc.) to work for you and your child? I just feel like I'm dropping the ball, and I don't know what to do. I feel so lost sometimes. I just feel like there has to be something out there that I could get that ahold of that could help us learn, etc. Any ideas? I would really, really appreciate any help you all can give Alyssa and I. Blessings to you and your families!

 

Thank you,

Diana

 

I suggest you post on the Special Needs boards. There's a lot of parents there who can help. When you post, add in any info on physical problems, such a poor balance, poor gross andfine motor control, sensitivity to touch or sound. Even if these were problems in the past, please mention them.

 

Given the general delays, I'm wondering if your dd may have problems besides dislexia. Just what you wanted to hear ;)

[Pongo]

I have been very excited about finding theDianne Craft website. I have found so many wonderful tools to help my 5 yod. In 4 weeks of re-patterning exercises and vision exercises she is reading so well. I am so happy I found out about her so early in the game, good luck!

[Pensguys]

My younger son has been diagnosed with Dyslexia and dysgraphia. I was also told he may have trouble with subtraction.

 

The BEST money I spent this year was doing Vision therapy, using the I See Sam books and ABeCedarian curriculum for his reading. He has been doing OT since Jan too and we've seen good results with that. The ladies on the Special Needs forum have been a God-send for us. I'm contemplating math for next year so I can't guide you there. We have done RightStart for 2 years and it was great for ds as far as addition goes (his addition facts as well as a few other topics that were covered). We started hitting a big wall when it came to subtraction, but it is starting to click for him now just a little.

 

One of the other things that I decided to do this year was to just stick with something and stop jumping around. When I decided to stick with the readers and ABCD, the reading happened. I did add in Apples and pears for spelling a couple months ago and it is going well. I can't say for certain that yes we love it and will always stick with it, but so far I'm willing to stick with it through the summer and into next year to see.

 

I wanted to add....I know how you feel. You feel like you are floundering around and have no plan. The curriculum I chose to use this year was the result of talking with the ladies on the Special Needs board and going through the hoops we needed to as far as testing goes and acquiring materials that they suggested within our monetary means (meaning, we couldn't afford twice/week tutoring and a program like the Lindamood-Bell) but we found good, solid materials that work and are for children with reading problems.

[AngieW in Texas]

My youngest is dyslexic, but she has dyseidetic dyslexia, so she has different challenges from most dyslexics.

 

She needed vision therapy first to correct her visual efficiency issues. She had 20/20 vision, but she also had double vision, eye suppression, limited depth perception, and tracking/sweeping/focusing issues. VT fixed all of that, but didn't do anything for the dyslexia.

 

In my dd's case, I did Reading Reflex first for several years, but she couldn't get beyond basic code. She also couldn't recognize any words on sight - not even her own name.

 

I found I See Sam when she was 7yo, about 3 months after she finished vision therapy. The I See Sam books were wonderful, because they were the only books that she could actually read (even though she still had to sound her way through every book, even on the 3rd or 4th repetition of it).

 

At 7.5yo, I had her tested and that confirmed that she was gifted with learning disabilities. I posted her scores on all the dyslexia email loops and support boards that I could find and got recommendations to try Headsprout with her. It was expensive, but it was well worth it. HS had some visual processing exercises that finally got her to a point where she could remember whole words. By the 20th lesson, her reading speed had doubled from about 10wpm to about 20wpm. By the end of HS, she was reading around 30wpm and could actually read at 1st grade level.

 

At that point, I didn't know what to do. My dd clearly needed a lot more instruction. I posted everywhere again and got recommendations to try Funnix level 2. That program started right where HS stopped. My dd was reading at a late 1st/early 2nd grade level when she finished Funnix level 2. I also started my dd on Phonics for Reading from Curriculum Associates at that point. It was wonderful for teaching how to deal with multisyllable words.

 

I considered using Abecedarian when we finished Funnix 2, but my dd didn't place at the beginning of any of the levels. She needed to start 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through a level and I didn't want to buy a level of the program when we were going to skip so much of it. I'd already spent a lot of money with all the different programs that we had used. I was going to try getting my dd to the point where she could start the next level, but my dd had a sudden leap in her ability, so I decided not to get it at all.

 

My dd is reading at grade level now (end of 4th). She can read books that are above her grade level if she reads them out loud to me. Sometimes she reads all the words correctly, but phrases the sentence incorrectly (especially parenthetical phrases) so that it doesn't make any sense to her. She'll go back and re-read it, but usually re-reads it exactly the same way and can't figure out why it doesn't make sense when she's reading all the words correctly. In those cases, I read it to her out loud with the correct phrasing and then have her repeat it.

[home4fun]

Diannecraft.org transformed our schooling and my sons reading!

 

Blessings

 

Angie (home4fun)

[Peela]

My son is dyslexic, probably with other learning disabilities, but he was only diagnosed this year, and he is 12.

The woman who tested him praised me strongly and said in school he would never get the sort of care he has received from me. So, just by homeschooling you are doing her a huge favour, because you can work with where she is, not where someone else thinks she should be.

The lady who diagnosed him talked to me a lot about the inability of dysexics to visualise words and pictures in their mind. That's where I think our years and years now of copywork, dictation and narration- oral, and now written- have been of huge benefit.we have worked on an area naturally weak in dyslexics. He is still "behind" but he keeps moving forward, and he can spell, and he reads, really well now. He was 9.5 before his reading clicked in though, and I spent a couple of years pretty anxious about it.

I recommend Kinesiology, Brain Gym. I was very sceptical, but each session he has come away a different kid from the one who walked in- more confident, happy. And the session before last, the kinesiologist worked on his writing specifically, and a couple of days later, he wrote a 2 page story- when asked to write a half page. That was a first and a big milestone because he has been a reluctant writer.

There are many more experienced mums that me, but I would just encourage you to hang in there and keep her away from people who will make her feel bad about herself. The 2 years my son spent in school destroyed his self esteem and he still hasn't recovered 5 years later, although he is much better.

[prairiegirl]

I don't have an official diagnosis but I think my ds is dyslexic. He sounds very similar to your dd. He had some develeopmental delays as well as speech. He would reach a certain age and then he would be able to overcome some of his difficulties. This is why I have had some mental blocks when it comes to his reading. I keep thinking that he will get older and then things will just click for him. But I have looked at lists of characteristics of dyslexics and my ds has many of these characteristics.

 

I totally understand the feeling of being overwhelmed. I feel like I have hit a wall and I don't know exactly what to do next.

 

Many people have recommended Bright Solutions I think this is what I would go with but it is horribly expenxive. I haven't looked at Dianne Craft but I have heard good things about her as well.

[asnerreb]

Check out the Barton reading and spelling website...bartonreading.com. They have a 30 minute demo you can watch. It was designed for the dyslexic child. It truly is amazing. It is expensive but people have said it's well worth the price.

 

Amy

[siloam]

Diana,

 

For phonics I use Spell to Write and Read along with dictation. My dd really needed the drill in SWR, because otherwise she second guess herself so much she would sound out the same word several times over.

 

For math Right Start has been key. The math games made learning her math facts fun and easy. It is base 10, so they don't have to memorize 18+7. Instead they learn to change the numbers: 10+5+3+5+2 (break down the 8 and the 7, now you can see a 10, and two 5's, which equals 20)= 20+3+2=25. It might seem more complicated at first, but when you get used to moving number around, it is easy and fast to do.

 

Heather