My 8 y/o right brain kiddo is crying about reading and writing

[momsuz123]

How do I know if my struggling 8 y/o, who is my right brain kiddo, is just on a different time line and will read in "her" time or if she really has a learning disability? She is my music and art loving kiddo. Reading, spelling, and writing are very hard for her. That being said, she is reading at a 2nd grade+ level, so she is not really "behind" much. Although, her reading stamina is very low, and she has to work very hard at it. Spelling, well that is much harder. Writing is really hard (more like a 1st grade level).

 

I have read some resources on right brain kids/learning. From what I understand, they do learn to read later. Well, maybe that is her.

 

I need to play to her strengths too, like music and art. She has done 2 years of piano, and has no intentions of stopping. I am signing her up for an art class this year too. But, I need to be sneaky, I feel, and sneak in language arts. For science she picked a nature study. I ordered a cute nature journal for her to "write" into. She will also be doing some "reading" in her nature books I ordered. Where else and/or how else can I play to her strengths?

 

Thanks.

[Lecka]

If sneaking works that is great.

 

My son would not like it. He would just hate the new thing also. That is a reason to try to separate out reading and writing, here. Especially writing. His writing is just not good and his motor coordination score is just low -- he has to practice some, but right now his handwriting is just so low it is not worth pretending he has functional handwriting. His OT also says he gets by partly by condensing what he is able to say, into what he is able to write. She says it takes intelligence to do this, but how is it a worthwhile thing for him?

 

For reading, is she at a point in decoding that she can work on fluency? If she can read some things, with practice, and then sound good, that might help her confidence. If she can read something very simple but have an easy time, that might help. This is what helped my son with his confidence. But he had to make a lot of progress to reach that point. But I would look at fluency. Basically just pre-reading to her, reading around a theme where she will learn a lot of the associated words, repeated reading, and reading things at an easy level. We have done this and done this, and it has really helped.

 

I am also seeing that even though my son can read at grade level, reading is not the best for him. He still does not read smoothly. I work with him, and he can read, but he does so much better with listening and watching. That may always be his learning style. So I think embracing a learning style can mean not being hung up on reading as the best way to learn.

 

My son does express negative emotions also. It is better than it used to be, fluency helped a lot. I have not moved on past 2nd-grade decoding yet -- which is okay. It is so hard. Fluency is kinder to him. But at a certain point I have to accept that he has negative emotions and try to be supportive. I can't make him not have negative emotions about reading and writing. Some of this is expressing frustration also, which I think is legitimate.

 

I do try to emphasize character traits I like about my son. Also he is funny and I think it is important for me to take joy in him. It means a lot to him.

 

It is really hard though.

 

I think if you can embrace her learning style where possible that might be good, though.

 

I try to sneak in reading by picking some Lsvel 2 readers for my son from cartoons he likes. But I also require him to read for reading practice. Besides that I try to present to him in the best way for him.

 

I do just after school though.

 

Reading a lot about dyslexia and watching videos has really helped me though. It helps with how I react to his negative feelings I think. I get Facebook updates for the documentary with Robert Redford's son and grandson (blanking on the name) and I really like that, I can feel like there is a community of amazing people and that my son is part of it in a cool way. I also love Henry Winkler (the Fonz) and he had a horrible time in school. Steven Spielberg had hard times in elementary school. This all means a lot to me and makes me be sympathetic but also not too worried.

[HS Mom in NC]

Look up Dianne Craft for right brained teaching resources and teaching techniques if you haven't already.

[PeterPan]

Have you had her eyes checked?  Doesn't have to be a learning disability.  Could be a physical problem.  COVD is where you find a developmental optometrist.  I'd get her checked, just to eliminate vision as part of the problem.

[1shortmomto4]

I am a mom to a 10 year ds that is VSL/RB - I have found, thus far, that these kiddos are on their own time frame for development.  They don't fit in the academic box so to speak so it can be more challenging on finding what works for them.  My ds could read when he was in 2/3rd grades but really was overwhelmed with chapter books.  I backed off for the most part requiring only that he read for enjoyment 30 mins a day - books of his choice.  He selected all sorts of books from the library - military, police nonfiction books, and a lot of comic style books.  I didn't stress over the choices being too easy as I wanted him to enjoy reading, not find it a chore.  I didn't require much in writing other than a day's assignment from a reason for handwriting workbook and called it a day.  This past year I stepped it up a wee bit by working through LLATL yellow.  Yes, a grade below but it worked great without overwhelming him.  He started working on copywork - slow and steady.  He's a natural speller so the spelling lessons were just what he needed (had been using AAS but it was too broken down and slow for him).  There were days in which I didn't require him to do all the copywork as it was just too much for him.  The result - I found him writing letters to his big brother who is working away at camp this summer, notes left on the door to dad, and other little notes found around the house - embellished with art, of course.

 

VSL/RB kids are so creative and if your dd is loving the music go with it.  I have also found that when working on history (we used MFW CTG last year) that he stayed tuned in if, while I was reading, he had something to either look at (picture Bible) or a coloring page.  I've also played music in the background while he works on his LA, handwriting or math sheet.  I've had a horrible time finding a science curriculum because he wants to do lots and lots of experiments but I decided on a whim to try reading the Burgess Bird book to him and that sent us into a long rabbit trail of bird study - books from the library, binoculars, bird books, coloring sheets, nationwide backyard bird count - he just learned and learned and learned - all this on his own.  You just never know what will inspire them.  We were recently in an arts and crafts store and he was totally enamored with all the arts and crafts kits and I could just see the wheels turning in his brain - I've got to work on more art this year.  This summer we read through the animal one and checked out lots of books on each animal - great book and cheap to do.

 

I just wouldn't stress so much - they really do read on their own time.  I think you'll find that during periods of what seem like the doldrums of summer and you being to worry that something must be wrong because they are showing little to no progress and then all at once your little one exhibits some big skills and they all seem to present at once -- just in time.

[herekittykitty]

I do think it can be hard to tell what is a later natural development and what is a learning problem.  I don't agree with all of the really rigid timelines for kids' academic skills, but I try to use them as loose guidelines.  The other most important thing IMO is to follow your gut.  If your instincts tell you something is really off, get some evaluations and don't rationalize it by saying - oh, she's just right-brained so she will be different.  

 

In your specific situation, your child doesn't sound too behind.  That doesn't necessarily mean there isn't a learning disability though.  The concept of discrepancy has helped me think through some things.  Is her academic performance a good reflection of her intelligence?  If you feel like she is super bright but just struggling in school, that can be a sign of a learning disability.  Sometimes the level of academics is really not that low either - but you know it is still really discrepant from their intellectual potential.

 

Some ideas for using her strengths would be to structure her reading and writing around her interest in art and music.  Can her reading, handwriting practice/copywork and writing composition be about famous composers or artists?  If you can't find suitable reading for her, you could have her do some copywork that is related to music, then have her identify the nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.  I would try to keep the topics about what she likes as much as possible.

[Heathermomster]

When DS was younger, he could always detect when I was slipping in some extra practice and really resented that...Does she enjoy audio books?  If so, maybe add SWB's SotW, the Narnia series, or James Herriot audio in the car.  

 

Is this the same child that used an O-G tutor last fall?  Have the eyes been checked yet?  

 

Doesn't Barton provide a free screening?  If you are not going to test right away, at the very least, start saving now for testing later.  If you feel the O-G was a bust, maybe look at the Davis method.

[momsuz123]

OMG - thanks so much all. Okay, so yes she has seen a COVD. We went the whole nine months. She in fact just had another recheck last week. Here is what is found: when she read a paragraph the first time she never got past the first word. The second time she did read the paragraph in 70 seconds with 30 mistakes. The third time she read it 40 seconds with 22 mistakes. Last week she read in 48 seconds (so slower), but with ONLY 6 mistakes!! What he told me is that she is in the stage right now working really hard at being more accurate, so fluency is taking a back seat.

 

I am looking more into Meet the Masters right now, and my composer study from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Like Herekittykitty said, I could have her do the writing during those studies. She picked a nature study for science, so of course I found a neat nature journal (writing again).

 

So, I am thinking of not really having assigned reading or writing anymore, but still the phonics. Well, quiet reading during the day, and of course her audio books at night. This is the kiddo that was doing OG method, still is. We took a break on FastForword - it did help, but it seems like a certain frequency is killing her ears or something.

 

Any more ideas, keep them coming. I love getting input from people who "get it".

[PeterPan]

Sounds like your eye doc has the pulse on this.  We got radical improvements in the 6 months after VT.  Some things really do just take time, like he's saying.  Keep doing what you're doing, because it's clearly working!  :)

[Lecka]

She is making amazing gains in her reading!

 

Those are great numbers.

[momsuz123]

Yes, thanks girls for the reality wake up call. She is making good progress. I have to remind myself this. I was so glad the timing of her VT eval was when it was. Today when she wanted to make cinnamon rolls, she read all the directions, perfectly. WOW! Sure, she can't read a chapter book yet, nor does she want to. But, she can read. I think when you couple a hearing problem with a vision problem, you get trouble. But slowly it is coming. I just need to be more careful to not push, and keep making it fun.

[momsuz123]

Yes, thanks girls for the reality wake up call. She is making good progress. I have to remind myself this. I was so glad the timing of her VT eval was when it was. Today when she wanted to make cinnamon rolls, she read all the directions, perfectly. WOW! Sure, she can't read a chapter book yet, nor does she want to. But, she can read. I think when you couple a hearing problem with a vision problem, you get trouble. But slowly it is coming. I just need to be more careful to not push, and keep making it fun.

[Lecka]

Yay!

 

Good for her!

[herekittykitty]

My 8 year old does not read chapter books either.  He could, he just doesn't.  Have you tried enlarging the font when she reads?  One thing that was a confidence builder for my son was - I had him read a passage from a chapter book on the ereader - with font enlarged and a nice amount of space between the lines.  He read it very well.  Then I showed him the hard copy of the chapter book that he was actually reading - the same thing, just in the regular paper format.  He couldn't believe it.

[Lecka]

My 8-year-old is not reading chapter books either.

 

Since he is reading in other formats, I don't mind so much. It js partly the length and partly so many words. Also he is not motivated by chapter-book content. He is motivated by reading stuff like Pokemon cards and captions in non-fiction-style books.

 

I don't mind if he listens instead of reading so much, now that he is able to read.

[PeterPan]

Have you looked at good comic books like Calvin & Hobbes?  She might like some high interest things like that with shorter segments of reading.  My dd LOVED comics, oh my goodness.  Like you say, she started by reading my notes and emails over my shoulder, read Calvin & Hobbes, then went into Magic Treehouse.  Don't be afraid to back up like that.  MTH will have a larger font that might be AWESOME for her.  The Littles are cute for that age and would have nice large print.  Reading easier stuff will give her more practice and get her faster.  

 

We even had a Bible called the Read N Grow Picture Bible by Zondervan.  It has cells of pictures with single sentence captions underneath, very nicely done.  Or there's the NIrV which is the Bible at a 3rd grade reading level.  But try that Read N Grow.  If she's reading short things, go short with high quality like that.  Comic versions of Shakespeare.  VP sells some comic versions of Shakespeare my dd enjoyed around that age.  

 

And man, since she's enjoying reading while she cooks, I think more cooking is in her future!  :)