Dyslexia- overwhelmed with where to go next

[Kathy G]

Hi

 

DD 8 was just diagnosed with dyslexia. Her reading comprehension is high- so more of a stealth dyslexia picture, Difficulties with writing and spelling. I have read Overcoming Dyslexia, Dyslexic Advantage and the Gift of Dyslexia. I think I have read too much. Now I am confused about what to do. Are there two camps on how to deal with this? Are there more? The Davis program seems very different than the Orton Gillingham. I feel like Davis treats it with building up strengths and Orton Gillingham treats it by building up weaknesses. My DD is very smart visual spatially and I would love to use that if possible.

 

I think I am lost in the details. Can someone give me quick and dirty overview of the dyslexia world of treatment?

 

Thanks

[Lecka]

I think you have to reject the things that don't apply and look for things that will help wherever they come from.

 

She is still an individual and some things will not be appropriate for her.

 

I think if you leave out some philosophical differences and have a lens of "what does this mean for my child" that can make it easier.

 

As far as OG -- if her sounding-out of single words is weak, I personally would make an effort with OG. But I would try not to go overboard on that and neglect other areas.

 

My son is pretty different but I still just have to ignore some things and also find "conflicting" advice to work -- like having some things work that people on the opposite side don't like, even while liking what people on "my" side like overall.

 

A lot is up to you and her. You can decide how much to remediate and how much to accomodate and how much to personalize and how much to move ahead in areas of gifts.

 

If you choose to focus on moving ahead in gifts and looking for resources in the visual - spatial area ----- you can do that and still like all the books you mentioned, just with your own philosophy behind it.

[Lecka]

/serial I think you decide if you want to use a reading program, and targeting what, and then the same for spelling, typing, and writing.

 

Then I think you look at specials.

 

Then decide what proportion of time is appropriate between them.

 

To me specials is everything else -- I want specials to be a lot and I want the reading to be "enough" in a reasonable way.

 

For her better areas you can ask here and on the accelerated board.

 

I do "buy into" the argument that for poor decoding/high comprehension reading remediation is needed so kids don't hit a wall when they can't figure out so much with context and general intelligence. But what that means in practice -- could be a lot of things.

[myboyluvsdinos]

Yes -- there are many different opinions.

 

Fortunately, dyslexia has been studied for a long time at centers all across the country (like Yale), and the most scientifically proven method is Orton-Gillingham based. Here's a fact sheet from the International Dyslexia Association:

 

http://www.interdys....LApproaches.pdf

 

It tells what you should look for in a program. Hopefully that will help you weed through it all.

 

Good luck!

[Julie of KY]

What do you need to work on? As far as reading, can she decode the words accurately? Is she reading all the words? How is her fluency? Does she comprehend accurately? Dyslexia doesn't automatically mean needing reding intervention. She'll always be dyslexic, even when reading on level.

 

Dysgraphia often goes with dyslexia and is often the bigger problem. For just spelling, many people like All About Spelling in dyslexic kids. If writing is a problem, typing needs to be taught to help circumvent some of the writing issues. Typing can be difficult for some to learn.

 

Figure out what YOUR child needs and then meet her there.