Would you test this kid?

[FairProspects]

I'm trying to decide if a full neuropsych eval is warranted on this child. I know dh will not want the expense, but we'll do what we need to do. This ds has already had a full COVD eval from a fellow and been cleared as having "perfect" eyes.

 

Concerns:

1. Older brother is dyslexic so it runs in the family.

2. He has been blending since age 4 but no reading click still at 6.2 yrs

3. Had some speech issues, particularly with 'r', but all evals come back late side of normal (15 mo., 3 yrs., & 6 yrs.)

4. Regularly confuses vowel sounds in context of readers, but not in isolation - reads dig instead of dug, says /a/ sound when he sees u in a CVC word, etc.

5. Regularly reads gum as mug and other CVC words backwards

6. Cannot read b or d to save his life, I have to tell him which it is, p he also sometimes reads as b/d

 

 

Strengths:

1. No problem memorizing math facts unlike brother

2. Doesn't skip little words when reading

3. Very strong working memory, can do great narrations and remembers all details heard aurally

4. Processing speed is fast

5. No motor planning issues or dysgraphia

6. Very strong at language in general, very early on, which is why I am concerned - for his other strengths I would have expected reading to take off before now

 

Would you test this child? Wait and suspect reading just hadn't clicked? Do something else?

[Ottakee]

I might give it a few more months but if not doing better by 7 then get a formal evaluation.

 

I suggest checking out the I See Sam books. They are very carefully sequenced to help avoid the b/d/p/q confusion. They use a notched card (just a 3x5 card with a notch cut out of it) as a cursor to help the kids with blending and tracking. The first 2 sets can be found for free to print out as the program is all in the public domain. www.iseesam.com or www.3rsplus.com

 

If some concentrated effort doesn't bring along some progress then an evaluation might be in order in a few months.

 

Are there other symptoms? Any motor issues? attention issues?

[Ariston]

I would personally not spend money to formally test in your situation. In fact for my 8 year old who had more severe struggles than your son I just went ahead and started remediating for it without a formal diagnosis (although I did have a friend who was a reading specialist work with him for an hour and she said she thought he was mildly dyslexic.) If he continues to struggle at age 7, and he is showing signs of dyslexia, and your money is tight, I personally believe your money would be better spent on Barton or another program to help rather than on an expert diagnosis (depending on how much an eval costs I guess). If he needs help with reading, he needs help with reading KWIM? I'm sure many would really disagree, that you want to make sure you are treating the right thing, etc. But I think as he gets older you'll be able to tell what he is struggling with and whether it fits the symptoms of dyslexia or not.

 

FYI, as far as b-d and b-p, have you tried this? http://www.cometoget...l-solution.html

It really helps my son, and my daughter for that matter, who is not dyslexic as far as I can tell but does have a lot of trouble with reversals.

 

Good luck! Elena

[onaclairadeluna]

I would personally not spend money to formally test in your situation. In fact for my 8 year old who had more severe struggles than your son I just went ahead and started remediating for it without a formal diagnosis (although I did have a friend who was a reading specialist work with him for an hour and she said she thought he was mildly dyslexic.) If he continues to struggle at age 7, and he is showing signs of dyslexia, and your money is tight, I personally believe your money would be better spent on Barton

 

Me too. My youngest (8) has all the signs of her brother but way better at coping, better processing, WAY better motor planning, so writing is quite good. She still does funny things like asking me to spell "q". After working with her I am thinking she is more dyslexic than I thought, but my gut feeling is taking her through Barton will deal with 99% of her issues, so I don't think she'll need the paper trail of a formal dx.

[Mukmuk]

You know your son well, and he has an older brother you can compare against. Will the dx give you more information? Will you be sending him to school so that the dx buys him accomodation? I would pay for these 2 reasons.

 

Otherwise, I'd try out various methods to remediate without a formal eval.

[FairProspects]

There are no other attentional or motor planning issues, other than being intense and strong-willed.

 

Dx would both give me more info and buy me accommodation, but at this point other than audiobooks, he doesn't seem to need it. Of course, that could all change once he actually gets into writing and spelling more. I just have the same "something is off, kid may be 2E" feeling that I had with his older brother but in different areas. I'm kind of shocked that a language kid like this hasn't broken the reading code, but he is still young, and maybe a I should wait a year or so before making the final decision on having him evaluated.

[wapiti]

Based on your intuition, if finances allow, I would plan on getting an evaluation at some point as a "checkup," probably around 4th grade, unless a pressing need presents itself earlier, such as insufficient progress with reading in the coming year.

 

That's my plan for my current 6.5 y.o., whose reading has improved a lot in the past few months. His older sibs all lean 2e-ish, and he's probably fine, but I'll want to make sure, as one of the siblings was just tested again and scored surprisingly low on a couple of subtests (I think my 9 y.o. twins both may end up with a diagnosis of disorder of written expression eventually, but back when they were six I only suspected that for one of them!). Scores only represent a snapshot in time and often change where LDs are concerned, as the demands for language and writing increase with age, so you might as well wait until there's a reason - though when your gut is that suspicious, almost any reason is sufficient IMO ;).

[Tokyomarie]

I think you are right to watch this son closely, given your other son's history. Like the others suggest, he is still quite young yet. Because you don't seem to see significant weaknesses in motor planning, processing speed, or working memory and you know some basics about working with a dyslexic student, I would recommend holding off on the evaluation. If he is fallng further off the curve after he turns 7, and/or starts to pick up in reading but struggles with spelling and written expression, then it might be time to evaluate.

 

I certainly don't have data, but I have a hunch that even in the same family, children can show a different pattern of strengths and weaknesses yet they are both dyslexic. My middle child's official label, given when she was 9yo, was receptive/expressive language disorder with CAPD. Looking at her mild residual difficulty as an adult, and knowing more about dyslexia now than I did then, I believe she is dyslexic with CAPD but does not have a true oral language disorder. She has exceptional strengths in the visual/spatial and visual/motor coordination areas- gifted in visual and musical arts. Ds, while he has phonemic awareness weaknesses, does not have CAPD. But he has a real mix of strengths and weaknesses in the visual/spatial and visual/motor areas. He is dysgraphic and has visual scanning difficulties, but is strong in spatial awareness.

[Mukmuk]

Your Mommy gut's telling you something. If you get a dx of dyslexia (this is what it's sounding like at this stage), would you do anything differently than what you're doing now?

 

If not, it might be better to wait for things to stabilize to get a more accurate picture. I was told this is around 9 yrs of age. If you can't wait so long, set a time limit, say a year, for which you'd expect improvement to happen if you did x. Some issues may have cleared up then, or not.

[FairProspects]

The only thing I might do differently is to hit hard with Barton or something and otherwise I probably wouldn't spend the money. He likes AAR and he is making progress, but it may move too quickly at some point and I might have to reassess.

[PeterPan]

Have you explored the hearing side of this? Tokyo mentioned CAPD. Sometimes with speech problems you've got issues with how they hear the sounds. Of course, duh, that overlaps with dyslexia. Anyways, our SLP has all the kids go through Earobics before they leave her. It hits a lot of basic stuff. If he can do all the tasks at the phonologicalawareness.org site, he probably doesn't need it. Anyways, that was my first thought as something to explore.

[FairProspects]

I haven't actually thought of the CAPD aspect, because older ds definitely does not have that issue, so that is a good idea. He was late to rhyme, but Pre-AAR really helped with that so I thought it was resolved. He was privately speech tested at an expert facility just last month and passed with flying colors, but I'll try those tasks with him tomorrow and see how they work.

[Crimson Wife]

FWIW, a student can be great at narrations and be an auditory learner but still have CAPD. Most audiologists who specialize in CAPD testing won't test before age 7 or 8, however. Earobics or Hear Builder is what I would try in the interim.