how do I fix this?

[cagirlintexas]

My son is making weird mistakes. When I read about dyslexia I think thats what it might be but he is young and hasn't been at this for a long time. We have been doing reading for about 4 months. But when I read about reading errors that kids make with dyslexia it sounds about right. I had it and so did my dad so he has a family history. Had him read a list of random words and these were the errors.

 

word on paper/ word he read

 

ball/bill

dig/big

met/mitt

jam/jim

beg/big

lit/list

 

he also reverses saw/was and on/no

 

has b/d confusion

 

switches little words around like the, and, a, to, ect

 

delayed hand dominance

 

was late to get rhyming but has it now

 

So anyway how do I help him??

[sweetpea3829]

I know a bit about dyslexia. DH is a pretty severe dyslexic and we are closely monitoring my oldest.

 

The reading errors you mentioned are VERY common at your child's age. I wouldn't worry too much just yet. Keep an eye on him.

 

You can assess him with Linda Mood Bell's Lips as well as with the Barton program's assessment tool to see if he has a grasp of phonological awareness, etc.

 

I am a member of two Yahoo groups that have lots of great info. HSDyslexickids and LearningAbledKids. I would suggest you join and then sit back and read for awhile.

 

I have found a big reluctance regarding assessment of my DD who is one year older than your son. They keep saying she is too young for a dyslexia dx because many dyslexia symptoms can also be completely normal at this age.

 

Oine last suggestion. Have an OT eval and also, have a comprehensive vision eval (NOT with an opthalmologist, but with a Developmental Optometrist). There is reason to believe that dyslexia may actually be a symptom of vision problems that a regular vision screening won't pick up. Things like convergence issues. *SOME* families have seen significant improvement in their children after awhile of Vision Therapy. It's controversial though. Regular eye doctors call vision therapy "quack medicine."

 

HTH!

[EmmaNZ]

My little girl, 5, does not have dyslexia but makes all those mistakes commonly. We have been reading for nearly a year. My older boy is reading quite difficult chapter books now but will still make mistakes like this every so often.

 

I would say not to panic yet, take it slow and give him lots more time to practice. At a later date you might find he has no issues, or that you need to think again about dyslexia.

[Tanikit]

These are common mistakes though I would probably first check his phonemic awareness as he is mixing up a lot of vowels that are "middle sounds" - first check that he can hear the beginning and end sounds and then work on the vowels themselves and check that he can blend them correctly if you say the correct sound for him - you say b-e-g and he should give you beg back. I wouldn't worry about the b-d switches right yet

 

I wouldn't worry too much about switching the little words around - "a" and "the" are pretty replaceable - I didn't correct my DD if she said the wrong one as long as she could understand what she had read and it made sense else I landed up slowing her down too much. She does know which is which when given the word out of context.

[Lecka]

I agree.

 

Something I think might help with the vowels sounds in the middle of words: have letters (on a card, or magnet letters, or letter tiles, but something easy to work with) and make a spelling chain: you make words like map, then change the vowel to o and it is mop, or cap/cop/cup, or nap/nip, etc. You can do pretend words if you want, or only real words (so you could have map, mep, mip, mop, mup if you did pretend words also).

 

Sometimes he reads the word and sometimes you say the word and he changes the vowel to make the new word.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Lecka

[SkateLeft]

The reading errors you mentioned are VERY common at your child's age. I wouldn't worry too much just yet. Keep an eye on him.

 

:iagree:

 

Those are developmentally appropriate errors for your child's age. Just so you know, reversals in letters and numbers can persist for a couple of years and are totally normal.

[sweetpea3829]

Along with what Lecka suggested, I made flash cards with the medial and various ending sounds. So, for example... -at, -it, -ot, -et

 

I would drill them on those and then also ask them to tell me what word I would have if I added a beginning letter.

 

I think it really helped them with medial sound confusion.

[cagirlintexas]

Thanks everyone! We are working on word families and some phonemic activities. I have also joined the dyslexia groups. I also am reading Overcoming Dyslexia which has been extremely helpful. Amazing book to read if you even think your child has dyslexia or actually have it yourself. I am not done yet but I have a much better idea of what Dyslexia really is. I also realize that having a family history of it which my son does is a huge risk factor so we will be watching him very closely. Reading it has also helped me realize the areas my son is doing really well in too though which is helpful.

[desertmum]

My son is making weird mistakes. When I read about dyslexia I think thats what it might be but he is young and hasn't been at this for a long time. We have been doing reading for about 4 months.

 

My ds is 5yo. We have been doing reading for about 4 months too and he does many of the things you say your son is doing. I was told by another mum that this is fairly common at this age. Also I notice that ds tends to make these mistakes if the reading lesson gets a bit long, or when he struggles with a word and we overdrill -in other words when he is growing a bit tired, or a bit bored.

[attabren]

My youngest of four (who is adopted) has dyslexia, which I didn't catch until she was 8. If I were you, I would watch the free videos on Susan Barton's websites which tell you so much! Even if it's not dyslexia, I am loving her curriculum, which is so very specific, multisensory, and systematic. I would highly recommend that you try the level one, which is phonemic awareness, broken into very manageable, specific pieces. It can only help, and can't possibly hurt. We finished it within 3 weeks. It provides a phenomenal foundation for "not-so-natural" readers. Try buying it used to save $$.