Dyslexia or just development?

[specialkmom]

My son turned 6 about a month ago. Last year was his K year and now we're moving into 1st. After a discussion last week with my mom about his reading/writing troubles, she felt strongly that he could be dyslexic. My older brother is dyslexic and we suspect my older sister might be mildly dyslexic. So, the problems I've noticed are:

 

Writing: His fine motor skills are still coming along. I started him on cursive instead of print. He prefers to write print when writing by himself. He forms his print oddly (no surprise since I haven't explicitly taught it), but seems to do ok in cursive though he forgets from time to time how to form some letters. His cursive isnt pretty, but its legible. He prefers to write numbers instead of words when he writes on his own. Numbers are usually formed correctly, though 8 is almost always halfway on its side and 5s and 2 can be pretty sloppy. (Side note: he excels in math, has no problems with number recognition, though he tends to forget to put +,=, and - in his equations.) When he does print letters he will form some bottom to top, right to left, and sometimes confuses b,d and p. However, he rarely has this problem with cursive. I just figured this was an issue because I hadn't explicitly taught print. He also has a pencil grip I'm always trying to correct. Holds very tightly, often breaking lead, and with a three finger grip. His thumb likes to creep up almost on top of the pencil, but not crossing any other fingers.

 

Reading: He has a very short attention span for reading. We do short segments interspersed because he gets worn out. It seems to help. I've used Phonics Pathways and A Beka Handbook for Reading. He prefers the A Beka because the pages are smaller and shorter. We've also used the K5 readers from A Beka, they seem to flow well with PP too. When he reads short stories, he reads quickly and not too shabbily. However, he will occasionally read a word wrong (grase instead of grass) or flat out replace the word with something that has similar letters (Bryan instead of Brad) or nothing close at all (the instead of a). This becomes more pronounced when reading words by themselves, like in a list. His reading speed also slows down dramatically. From my view he is looking at a couple letters or word shape and guessing at the word. When we slow down to sound out, he often wants to use a different vowel sound (i instead of e) or add in a letter (blees instead of bees), and occasionally use a different consonant (p instead of b, or vice versa). We go over the sounds and blends and after one or two more tries he gets it right. This isn't every word in a list, but maybe a third, sometimes more or less. Yesterday I did write some words (maybe 6 or 7) in cursive and he surprised me by only missing one. He had no issues learning his letters and sounds. We struggled a little with blending CVC but not what I thought was anything too unusual. An area he has seemed to improve on is replacing the beginning of a word with the ending of the previous word. He used to do this a lot, but hasn't been lately. I try to have him read in his math book (Singapore) and he surprises me. But, I wonder if he is guessing or figuring it out because of the picture and previous questions which tend to be the same with one or two words different.

 

Speaking: He does still have trouble with r and l, though we've been working on it a lot. For the most part he does speak well, but has a slight accent (for lack of a better word) when he pronounces various words.

 

Anyway, I'm not sure whether to seek an evaluation or just slow way down in our reading and maybe backtrack a bit and do some various blending and phonemic exercises with him.

[FairProspects]

There are enough red flags here for me to seek an evaluation. Both my boys are dyslexic, one officially diagnosed and one on the waitlist for an eval., and both do exactly as you've described (adding additional sounds, substituting small words, putting in a word with the same meaning, etc.). Dyslexia definitely has a genetic component too (my FIL is also dyslexic) so especially with the family history, I would want an eval.

[City Mouse]

I agree that it sounds like there could be a problem, and with the family history I would not wait to see if he gets better on his own.

[PeterPan]

You might give him the Barton pre-test and see how he's hearing sounds.  Given his speech problem, he might have had a touch of something going on. (That would be one outcome of untreated apraxia, perhaps mild, that he begins to speak but sounds like he has an accent.  And there's a STRONG correlation between apraxia and dyslexia and reading problems.)  Our speech therapist has everyone go through Earobics to make sure they're hearing everything correctly.  Although I'm all for evals, at this point you're not using any of the recommended programs for dyslexics,etc. etc.  Has he had speech therapy?

[sbgrace]

I, too, would do the Barton screening with him. I think you do have flags.

[geodob]

The fast reading was interesting, as I wonder if this is related to 'eye tracking' and the smooth movement of the eyes across the line?

Where perhaps he has a difficulty with moving his eyes 'slowly' across the line?

 

Maybe you could try a simple exercise with him?  Where you simply hold up a finger in front of him. Then have him focus on your finger as you 'slowly' move it from one side to the other.

Turning his eyes, not his head to follow it.

Also observe his eyes as he does this, and see whether they stay fixed on your finger tip?  Or if they are jumping ahead of your finger?

 

 

[Heathermomster]

Agree with everything written above. Clamp down on writing. Watch his pencil grip and start deliberately working on proper letter formation. Make the exercises fun with rice, shaving creme, play doh, sidewalk chalk, whiteboard....whatever works for your child. I like the method of HWT, smiley face in the starting corner type directions. but not the font.

[specialkmom]

Thanks. Is the Barton pre-test the student screening? 

 

At the University here there is a neuropsychologist whose research focuses on ADHD and Dyslexia. I looked her up yesterday and thought about contacting her for an evaluation. I have no idea the cost. But looking at the Barton program makes me think none of this will be cheap. :o)

 

I don't think he has apraxia. At least not from the little I've read this morning from ASHA. He did have ear tubes at 2 because his speech was almost nill and his hearing tests confirmed a significant amount of fluid in the ears. Since then he has been a different kid. He is the talker in our family; we call it "diarrhea of the mouth." He hasn't had speech therapy. To be honest I'm more concerned about his younger siblings speech than his. His main trouble with speech seems to be mispronouncing r and l like a w sound. We practice the mechanics of forming the right sounds. It has improved. 

 

I did buy the Pencil Grip Crossover from Amazon yesterday. So, we'll see if that helps. I used a special fountain pen with his older brother to help with loosening his grip and right tilt. I might pull that out again.