Does this sound like dyslexia?

[ssmeest]

My first DD (now 11) is as sharp as they come. In fact, she taught herself to read and was reading at a 3rd grade level by the end of Kindergarten.

 

But my second DD (now 7) is a horse of a different color. She HATES to read and write. I've tried SO many different curriculum and approaches and we're struggling along.

 

But in 2nd grade she still continues to write her letters (big and little) backwards. Her spelling is almost unreadable even from a phonetic approach. Even simple words like "pig" she'll spell it pig one time and peg the next. She was writing her numbers backwards too, but is doing much better.

 

Any suggestions before I pull my hair out? I already feel like the world's worse homechooling mom.

 

Thanks a bunch for your help.

Sandra

[ShelleyW]

You need to start working on her phonemic awareness. That is why she is confusing pig with peg and other similar mistakes. Barton level 1 does a great job of this but it is pricey. Totally worth it imo. Without PA, she will always struggle with reading. She sounds like my ds who is dx dyslexic. He is doing well now. Rhythmic handwriting has helped w/his reversals. Once your dd masters PA, there are lots of great reading programs out there. Barton, Wilson, Recipe for Reading, Go Phonics are a few I am familiar with. We are using Recipe for Reading and it has really helped my ds. It is very reasonably priced too.

 

I think we all feel like we have failed out kids when they aren't reading and they are *supposed* to be. It is not your fault if your child struggles, you haven't done anything to fail her. There is lots of help out there if you know where to look though. Best of luck to you. I was in your spot 18 months ago and things are so much brighter now for my ds and myself. My 10 yo dd is also dyslexic and in 18 months she went from reading at a 2nd grade level to reading on a 5th grade level. I use Recipe for Reading with her too.

[simplyme99]

I agree with using Barton. There is a test you can give your DD to see if you need to do some remedial work before you start her program.

[RamonaQ]

Reading Reflex (book on Amazon) has some really neat phonemic awareness instruction. (I bought 2 of those books when ds was little so I could cut one up to make the letter tile and bingo games)

[merry gardens]

First suggestion: don't pull your hair out. I tried that and it doesn't help.

 

Yes, what you described sounds like symptoms for dyslexia-type reading problems. "Pig" vs. "peg" sounds like vowel confusion and phonemic awareness problems. We used LiPS then Barton for that. There's a simple student screen on the Barton website that I'd suggest you give her. http://bartonreading.com/students_long.html (You need to take the tutor screen first to make sure you hear those sounds correctly before giving her the screen.)

 

As to the upside-down, backwards letters and numbers, there are various things that can help with that. Barton covers b-d-p-q confusion in level 2 and 3. Involving a multi-sensory approach to learning can help. Besides the letter tiles with Barton and LiPS, we worked on making the alphabet in clay or with play dough for about a year or longer. When the letter was backwards, he could then easily flip it around and I made a big point of reminding him that unlike 3-d objects, letters are only 2-d. Unlike 3-d objects letters turn into something different when they're flipped. I would sometimes flip my children upside down to help make that point that they didn't change but letters did. That always brought giggles.

 

Try to have fun with this. Since your older child taught herself to read, this is your big chance to teach a child to read! It's a special time. And that special time can be very pro-longed process for some people.

[eoffg1]

Sandra, perhaps you could try something simple?

Have her write some words or a sentence.

But have her write all of the letters backwards, and also write from the right to the left side of page, instead of left to right.

Then check it in a mirror, and see if her spelling is now more readable?

 

Also hold a page of text next to a mirror, and have her read the text in the mirror?

To see whether she can read it more fluently in the mirror?

 

Then a further thing, is to simply turn a page of text upside down, and see how she goes with reading it?

[rafiki]

nt

[wapiti]

I agree w/Michele and don't forget to rule out developmental vision issues, as they certainly can present as reversals and resistance to reading/writing.

[merry gardens]

I really caution against self-diagnosing. There is no way someone on this board can accurately diagnose another child from a post as it's difficult enough for a parent who knows their child inside and out to read and come up with an accurate diagnosis.

 

Honestly, I thought if it walked and looked like a duck, it was a duck. Although my kids share MANY symptoms of dyslexia and those "symptom" lists felt like they were customized to my child, each of the three ended up with different labels and none were dyslexic. So many of the symptoms different learners present overlap.

 

It's very difficult to treat something that you haven't identify. Get a full neuropsychological evaluation so you know what you are treating and can treat the root cause instead of symptoms resulting from it.

You are right. There are a whole host of assessments we could recommend and I thought about throwing that suggestion out--except another poster last week made the comment about how frequently we refer people to evaluations, so I didn't. Can't please everyone, can we? :lol:

 

I still say that the Barton screen is a good place to start. If her dd fails the screen, then see a speech therapist evaluation is in order. (My son had already had seen two slp for evaluations before he failed that screen and I'd been told he didn't qualify for help.) Other evaluations like vision and hearing may be in order too.

 

The op asked if it sounded "like dyslexia"--and various reading and learning problems that may not be dyslexia sound "like dyslexia." The diagnostic criteria for dyslexia change. Sometimes people going for evaluations with a younger child have problems finding a good evaluator and getting an accurate diagnosis. I did. One of my children eventually got a diagnosis of dyslexia and another now has a diagnosis of mild auditory processing problems. Guess what?--the recommendations for his auditory processing problems included suggestions that sounded a whole lot like the recommendations for the one with dyslexia. And I'd already done many of those thing before any professional suggested it because despite my efforts to get help, I had a hard time finding good help.

 

Her child is having problems learning to read. A diagnosis can be helpful, but with or without a diagnosis, she can work on teaching her child to read using methods appropriate for people with dyslexia.

[ssmeest]

The problem isn't so much reading as writing. She keeps writing her letters backwards and is not spelling words anywhere close to correct when writing her own stories. Her verbal vocabulary is awesome, but she can't spell the simplest words correctly.

 

Thanks for all your suggestions.

[TippyCanoe]

nm