Jump to content

Menu

Help!


Recommended Posts

I have third grade dd that is still not reading well. We've been really intensive on phonics since K and yet she seems not to retain things at times. She's like this with other things too. I have to remind her how to write numbers, etc. I don't know what to do or who to turn to for help. I'm thinking I'd really love to have an evaluation but don't know how to go about that. She is a very smart girl! She just isn't reading well and seems to need reminders on letters and numbers. Could it be dyslexia?

 

Any ideas or help would be appreciated!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would definitely get an evaluation at this point.

 

Labels aren't necessarily a bad thing. The types of labels your dd might choose to apply to herself are likely to be far worse than what she might get from testing. My dd was convinced that she was stupid and would never be able to learn to read. She was relieved to find out that she was dyslexic. Having a name for it helped a lot.

 

Once I found out what her actual issues were, I was able to find programs that actually worked for her. My dd had to sound out every word before she could read it at 7.5yo, even her own name. She couldn't recognize any word on sight and could only sound out short vowel words.

 

Now, at 9.5yo, she is reading at grade level. She is still dyslexic and will always be dyslexic. We still work on reading every schoolday. But she CAN read now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are two major areas where reading can fall apart - auditory processing and visual efficiency. There are other things also, such as working memory and miscellaneous cognitive skills. So was your dd a late talker, does she seem to misunderstand questions and comments? Does she speak in stock phrases?

 

Efficiency in vision is not checked in the standard eye exam. The basic eye exam doesn't cover if the eyes can track across a line of type for a period of time. It doesn't cover if the eyes converge easily. It doesn't cover.....

Check out this site for symptoms of developmental vision problems: http://www.childrensvision.com/symptoms.htm

 

There are a variety of places to get evaluations. An inexpensive place to start evaluating your child is the public school system. They often can do a speech evaluation and ed. psych eval, saving you over $1000. Do check what the speech eval covers in detail. You need to send them a written letter requesting services. A dvelopmental optometrist can check for vision efficiency.

 

If your dc needs therapy in either vision or language, it won't guarenttee an instant reader. Often cognitive training is needed to train the brain to use the new imput from the senses or there may be additional problems that weren't initially discovered. However it is possible to get a non-reader to read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Given that she was a late talker and is having trouble with reading, dyslexia seems very likely. You can get an eval from the school, as you indicate, for starters. That will keep your testing $$ down and will, at minimum, get you an IQ test, an achievement test, and possibly some others.

 

You will want to write a letter to the person in charge of special needs (or it may be called exceptional children or something similar) and indicate that you think your child may have a learning disability and in what areas. I would mention all three areas: reading, written language, and math. Specify that you think she has problems with visual motor skills (that would be the written stuff) as well. That should get you a Beery VMI thrown in.

 

Once the school is done, you can take those results to other private professionals and see if there are other tests that could help tease things out.

 

Be sure to read Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz. It's a really good compilation of the latest research that is written in a way that is accessible for lay people. (She does say to leave teaching reading to the professionals, but you can skip that part!)

 

One thing that is important to understand, is that the basis for most dyslexia is difficulty with phonemic awareness. That is a level deeper than phonics, and phonics won't "take" if phonemic awareness is weak. Phonemic awareness is the brain's ability to perceive that words are composed of individual sounds, to hear those sounds separately, and to blend a string of sounds into a word. If the brain isn't doing tho se things effeciently, and you bring phonics along, which says, "This sound is symbolized by this letter...or this one...or these two.." you can see where things break down.

 

Reading Reflex is good at working on phonemic awareness. I tutor using the Wilson program, which has some wonderful methods for developing phonemic awareness as well. It's a little more complicated to learn, but I think do-able.

 

In addition to the school eval, I would check out an occupational therapy evaluation for the difficulty in writing/making numbers, etc. Before making the appointment, read the book, The Out of Sync Child to see if you think your child might have sensory integration issues. They are common when the child has other issues, and resolving them can help tremendously with the other issues. If you think your child does have sensory processing issues, ask for an evaluation of that as well from the OT.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let's face it--all moms need a break, and our kids are more frustrated and frustrating than your run of the mill kid.

 

Some things I do:

 

Exercise. It's the best mood stabilizer there is. It's been shown in study after study to be as good as anti-depressant medication. (And I just read a news article this past weekend saying that studies that show that meds are NOT effective are hugely less likely to be published in journals than those that say that they ARE effective. This is an effect at the level of journals, not just an effect of the drug companies doing the research.) In addition to being as good as meds for depression, it's good for anger, anxiety, hormonal stuff, etc.

 

I have found that the only way for me to consistently exercise is to do it with the kids. We take a "family walk" or hike in nice weather, and have been swimming now that it's winter.

 

Support group: our church has a support group for moms of kids with special needs. Sharing with other moms is so helpful. We've found that even though our dc have widely varying diagnoses, our experience as moms with special needs kids is more similar than different.

 

I struggle to get alone time because I homeschool multiple kids and work part-time. I probably need more R&R. I tend to use the computer to relax a bit, but I'm not sure that it's really rest or more like pseudo-rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the advice. I will be contacting our local school for help. I know my daughter is very bright. I've felt for a long time that something wasn't quite right with her, as far as school. But I thought that perhaps it was just because she was our "baby" and she has been a little spoiled by her sisters and my dh and me.

 

The exercising is great advise. I know I need it. I have just starting doing the Leslie Sansone walking videos. I do feel very good after completing a walk.

 

Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://iseesam.com/index.htm Here is a program that is very effective with kids that are struggling with reading. It is an older program from the early 1970s but is coming back. It is MUCH cheaper than most therapy/tutoring programs (about $250 for K-3rd grade levels) and you can buy it as you need it. I even have the first 2 sets in PDF that I could email you.

 

It has gotten both of my daughters reading when NOTHING else was----and I am a certified special ed. teacher.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://iseesam.com/index.htm Here is a program that is very effective with kids that are struggling with reading. It is an older program from the early 1970s but is coming back. It is MUCH cheaper than most therapy/tutoring programs (about $250 for K-3rd grade levels) and you can buy it as you need it. I even have the first 2 sets in PDF that I could email you.

 

It has gotten both of my daughters reading when NOTHING else was----and I am a certified special ed. teacher.

 

 

I looked at this site and I am unsure what is needed for the program. Would the program consist of all these? the Phonemic Awareness, little books, fluencey builders, and decorders ?

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://www.roadstoeverywhere.com/3RsPlusRead.html This is another site with the books. They also have a link for a yahoo group that is wonderful. They have free files, lots of tips, messages from reading specialists and other homeschooling parents.

 

For the program, all you need at first are the Little Books. That is all I have used. The program is very easy to use. Basically you teach the child to "say the sounds, read the words". It is phonics based but different than most programs. They teach I and ee in the first book. They keep b and d and p and q far apart from each other. Each word is used over and over again in the stories to really cement it for the child. Later they use names like Nan and Nat to make sure the child is not just looking at the first letter or 2 and guessing. There are pictures as well but you can't "read" the pictures to guess the words.

 

We use a notched 3x5 card, called a cursor to help the child get the left to right direction of reading. Then you can go right back to the sound they missed and have them focus on it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
Guest malcarsky

I have a 9yo dd she also read poorly---all language milestones where reached late---We had an eval done with our school district which stated MILDLY MR at 66 IQ--We didnt like that result and had a private eval done--Was her IQ low yes but not because she was MR but she is now diagnosed with Auditory Processing Dysfunction (the ears hear but the brain doesnt fully process the information) and Cortical Vision Impairment (eyes see but the brain doesnt fully process).

Remember when looking for an eval most school districts can not spend the time with your child as a private practice will----the school spent 30-45 min with my child and then took 3-4 weeks to get the information back to us the Private office spent 3 diffenrent sessions lasting over 3 hours with my child, they looked at education, social skills, and actually took her out into the facility lunch area to pick food and to see how she was in pubilc socail situations---they were great!

We now home school her and she recieves therapies to help her learn to adapt to the problems so she can learn and function

 

BEST OF LUCK it is hard and it hurts inside a mother's heart

malcarsky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you tried supplementing with fish oil? If not, a book that may be helpful is The LCP Solution:The Remarkable Nutritional Treatment for ADHD, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia . Here's the link to it at Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/LCP-SOLUTION-Remarkable-Nutritional-Treatment/dp/0345438728

 

Good luck!

 

Iris

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...