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Curriculum for a Dyslexic 9 year old


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I thought this might garner more attention here than in the special needs forum.

 

My 9 year old has Dyslexia and he has struggled for the last 2 years we've been schooling. In January, I found the Logic of English and started using it for him and his 7 year old brother. His brother doesn't appear to have Dyslexia. My 9 year old has progressed very rapidly using LOE!! We use a Charter School for homeschooling, and the reading specialist, who does not believe in using the term 'Dyslexia', is astounded by his progress. He still struggles though and it's especially apparent in math, even though he was accepted into the EPGY math program at Stanford (we won't be doing that because of the cost, mainly). I would say he is a 2E child.

 

We are halfway through LoE and I'm having to add a writing program to that. Any suggestion for a writing program? I have 2 programs I'm looking at: Writing Strands and Step-up to Writing.

 

And what happens after LoE is done? I have no clue what grammar/spelling program to turn to after that. What do other parents use with their Dyslexic kids after LoE or other such program? My son loves audio books and I have had to ask him to take a break from his iPod (he has Learning Ally and Audible), so that he starts to read books. Books are like air to him and necessary for sustaining life, but he'd rather listen to them rather than read them at this point. ;)

 

As far as math, I've decided to do Teaching Textbooks 5 with him, with supplements from BA and LOF and SM EP. I was thinking of MUS, but it seems too compartmentalized, although maybe he needs the drill? I suspect his reading and writing will fall into line and he will excel in those areas, and that math will become his real struggle even though he is conceptually gifted at it. I think this because his much older sister struggled to read and write and then one day it all clicked, and she was way ahead of her peers, but her math suffers to this day. She can't even get through basic college classes in math. I don't want this for him. I see it happening, and he is getting frustrated with some basic stuff, and still uses dashes on paper and fingers to count.

 

TIA!

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I have a dyslexic 9 year old son too. It would really bother me that his reading specialist doesn't believe in the term dyslexia. That's like saying you don't believe in using the term "gifted". They're both documented learning differences. But to your questions, for reading I'm using Barton and will finish through level 8 around Christmastime. After that my plan is to use the spelling lists with what he's learned and randomly choosing 10 words per week. I figure this will keep the rules fresh for him.

 

For grammar, we've used GWG last year and this year. It's pretty simple and has given him the terms to go along with what he's learning in reading. For example, in Barton he learns to identify a "where" phrase. In grammar, he has learned that the "where" word is a preposition. Next year we're going to be using Sentence family along with extra worksheets (my son loves worksheets) to go through the parts of speech. He learns great when he has a story to remember facts by and I think this will help him better remember what a noun or a verb is.

 

This year for writing we've worked behind grade level for a year and have used WWE2 and will be going into WWE3 next year. I'll likely still read the passages to him for a while since he still struggles with his reading. I like the WWE pohilosophy of not asking students to write until they have been exposed to hearing and copying good writing. Susan Barton recommends IEW for writing and I'm planning on going to that in 5th grade after a couple of years with WWE.

 

As far as reading, I let him pick out books that he wants to read. I don't care really what they are at this point if he actually reads. I did just order him some High Noon spy books that I think he'll like. Next year I'm going to have him read some for history. We are going to be studying US history and I have a series of short books about famous people or times. They're probably about a second grade reading level, so the reading should be easy enough for him to do while he can still learn from the content. Depending on how that goes, I might introduce some more advanced books (e.g., third grade reading level). He doesn't like audio books, but loves for me or his father to read to him.

 

We use Singapore Math and it's been great for him. Luckily, like it sounds like for your child, math is easy for my son. He's done 3A and 3B this year and he's done wonderfully with it.

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It's great that you are finding things that work for him. I have two diagnosed 2E dyslexics and I'm sure my little guy is one also. As far as what works for "dyslexics", I think it is so hard to say as each person is so different.

 

I've had good luck with starting writing with IEW. This is also something Susan Barton suggests. My oldest's problems are most significantly his dysgraphia at this point. The dyslexia interferes with reading, but not so much.

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I didn't realize that IEW was recommended by Susan Barton. Good to know!!

 

He is good at math, but it's still a slow,painful process. Memorizing the times tables is becoming painful. Dividing leaves him in tears.

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I didn't realize that IEW was recommended by Susan Barton. Good to know!!

 

He is good at math, but it's still a slow,painful process. Memorizing the times tables is becoming painful. Dividing leaves him in tears.

 

 

I used the Times Tales DVD for multiplication and division. It worked wonderfully!!!!! He recall is slow at times (like it is with word retreival as well), but he knows his multiplication and division facts.

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I thought this might garner more attention here than in the special needs forum.

 

My 9 year old has Dyslexia and he has struggled for the last 2 years we've been schooling. In January, I found the Logic of English and started using it for him and his 7 year old brother. His brother doesn't appear to have Dyslexia. My 9 year old has progressed very rapidly using LOE!! We use a Charter School for homeschooling, and the reading specialist, who does not believe in using the term 'Dyslexia', is astounded by his progress. He still struggles though and it's especially apparent in math, even though he was accepted into the EPGY math program at Stanford (we won't be doing that because of the cost, mainly). I would say he is a 2E child.

 

We are halfway through LoE and I'm having to add a writing program to that. Any suggestion for a writing program? I have 2 programs I'm looking at: Writing Strands and Step-up to Writing.

 

And what happens after LoE is done? I have no clue what grammar/spelling program to turn to after that. What do other parents use with their Dyslexic kids after LoE or other such program? My son loves audio books and I have had to ask him to take a break from his iPod (he has Learning Ally and Audible), so that he starts to read books. Books are like air to him and necessary for sustaining life, but he'd rather listen to them rather than read them at this point. ;)

 

As far as math, I've decided to do Teaching Textbooks 5 with him, with supplements from BA and LOF and SM EP. I was thinking of MUS, but it seems too compartmentalized, although maybe he needs the drill? I suspect his reading and writing will fall into line and he will excel in those areas, and that math will become his real struggle even though he is conceptually gifted at it. I think this because his much older sister struggled to read and write and then one day it all clicked, and she was way ahead of her peers, but her math suffers to this day. She can't even get through basic college classes in math. I don't want this for him. I see it happening, and he is getting frustrated with some basic stuff, and still uses dashes on paper and fingers to count.

 

TIA!

 

 

 

  • What is his actual reading level? Could you name some books that he can read now? I cannot speak to what after LOE, because I do not know what that means in terms of what he will then know. (We used HighNoonBooks.)

 

 

  • I let my son get a lot of information via audiobooks for nonfiction, but withheld much fiction that I thought he would like, so that he would have to read real books in order to enjoy Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, etc., so as to encourage actual reading, but without falling very behind in all subjects due to reading troubles.

 

 

  • My ds detested Writing Strands. Step up to Writing is considered to be good for people who have struggles in that area, but we did not try it, if it is available through your Charter it would probably be worth trying it. My ds seemed to do pretty well with Brave Writer approach to writing. It allowed the composition to be separated from the mechanics. Others with dyslexia seem to do well with IEW or Verticy type programs.

 

 

  • MUS worked well for a while because the page lay out was so clean, but we moved on from there to other things. BA was fun and the comics gave some reading practice, it is only for grade 3 though, so far. LOF was fun, but he did not get much math from it. TT when we tried the online demo, he spent his time manipulating graphics and psyching out the computer program so it did not do much for math for him, but I know people who love it. I think SM is a good program, but somewhat reading heavy, I think, for dyslexia. You might want to also look at Mathematical Reasoning and some other materials from Critical Thinking Co, such as balance math, so as to work on math reasoning without so much need for reading. My son has been doing a computer game called Sumdog.com (I think) as guest only, since we cannot access it from home I have not wanted to pay for limited use when we rarely have highspeed access, but anyway it seems to be a fun way to work on computation. If you have Windows, there is also a computer game called something like Quartermile where doing math makes horses or cars go faster, but we have MAC and it doesn't come available for MAC.

 

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Depending on his reading level, you might consider Sopris REWARDS Intermediate after LOE, or Megawords, or fluency practice with One Minute Readers or something similar.

 

For writing, Step Up to Writing, Verticy, and IEW usually get high praise from dyslexia experts. I personally found Step Up to Writing too hard to implement at home, so we are now working slowly on Verticy, but it is a struggle. :tongue_smilie:

 

You will probably need to continue with spelling also, AAS and Apples & Pears are popular choices.

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FWIW, my son (who I would be shocked if he is not dyslexic) hates Writing Strands. I just started it with him a few months ago and it's his absolute least favorite subject (maybe even more than Spelling, which is saying a lot). Could be a personality thing, but FYI.

 

That's interesting that Susan Barton recommends IEW! I was planning on moving to IEW TWSS / SWI-A next year. I think my son would LOVE to write if the mechanics weren't so difficult for him since he, too, loves books and loves audio books... especially fiction. He's also very creative. I've heard Andrew Pudewa is funny/entertaining to the kids on the DVD. My son is also very visual so I'm hoping he will like learning from a dynamic teacher on DVD and then trying out the writing assignments himself. I would look into it...

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