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momto2Cs
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My dd10 (dyslexic) is still working on reading. She seems to be making good progress (we're using Reading Pathways right now for fluency, after using about half, so far, of Reading Horizons, an online Orton-Gillingham program aimed at people with reading issues), but I have noticed something over the past year that really confuses/frustrates me.

 

She can read. And she says she can't. What I mean is that she'll tell me what something says without really thinking about it, and then she'll say "I was just guessing." It is like she wants to deny being able to read. And I am not the only one that has noticed this. Even her brother has commented on it ("Mom, do you think she really looked at that paragraph, and picked out the word bicycle by guessing it?"). She also searches for things on my sister's iPad, meaning she's spelling out words she claims she cannot read. And she'll sit for an hour looking intently at a book, tell me what it is about (which would indicate comprehension, right?), and then say "I was just looking at the pictures."

 

WHY is she telling everyone she can't do it if she can? Nerves/uncertainty maybe? (And no, I do not have money for more testing, or tutors right now).

 

Thanks for letting me vent!

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My youngest does this too. He has somehow gotten it into his head that if he automatically recognizes a word by some combination of fluency and natural decoding that he is "cheating" because he didn't stop and sound it out slowly. I think sometimes that kids who have worked with OG programs can fall into this trap because OG emphasizes no guessing. It doesn't really mean that a kid isn't supposed to use their verbal reasoning to decode language though by morphemes or other fluency methods. Anyway, I'm not sure that is much help other than to say that I go out of my way to point out that he IS reading and it is not cheating to decode language this way, that is how fluent readers read as well.

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My DS says this.  He does still have difficulties with reading, but he is reading far better than he was and far better than he gives himself credit for.  It is frustrating as a parent to see a child undercut themselves that way.  Still working slowly on helping him gain confidence.  When he reads something out loud off the TV screen or from a piece of paper, etc.  I point out that he read it very well and sometimes he believes me, sometimes he doesn't.  I agree with FairProspects that maybe, at least in part, it is because he has been doing OG so it seems to him that you are supposed to sound out each word to "read".  Still working on changing that perception as we also continue to try to improve reading decoding and fluency skills over all.

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Maybe she really is guessing. Some kids really struggle to focus on and read every word. They tend to employ word-guessing strategies based on first or last letter, shape of a word, or by context--they can read some of the words and they get really good at guessing what some of the other words are and filling in the gaps for themselves. Words that are more unusual like "bicycle" are much easier to guess with this method--not many words look like "bicycle," unlike words like house and horse, which have the same shape, same beginning letters, same ending letters, etc... So yes, I could believe she picked out that word and guessed.

 

It's really not a solid, reliable strategy, though it can work for some things. You can really see that a child is doing this if you ask her to read a list of unrelated words (no discernible phonetic pattern, no topical relation etc...). Kids who "read" by using guessing strategies will really struggle with lists like this, and it can cause melt-downs. 

 

In addition to using dyslexia remediation, have you ever looked into vision-processing issues, tracking issues etc...? These don't show up on a regular eye exam--you have to go to a developmental optometrist. You might check out www.covd.org and see if some of the symptoms sound like your daughter and her struggles. 

 

Merry :-)

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Merry makes a good point too, and I think you just have to look at her instruction and see if you think she is guessing or not. My ds's pseudo word decoding was very high in his testing and he has been tested, so I know that when he is reading he is not actually guessing but is decoding by morphemes and cracking the code from the top down. It feels like guessing to him because he is not slowly blending, but in reality he is reading by phonemes, it is just an automatic process instead of a slow one. How does she do with a list of words with nonsense ones mixed in?

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This reminds me of some research that I read.  Which had looked at children with a learning difficulty that had been effectively addressed.

But in practice, the difficulty would re-emerge?

Despite having been resolved.

Where they identified that the problem is that their history of the difficulty, which has become a part of their self image and self belief.

Doesn't simply disappear when the difficulty is resolved.

So that it involves forming a new self image, that puts the difficulty in the past.

 

 

 

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My son does not specifically do this, but he has done things similar.

 

I think there are two things.

 

One, he is afraid.  If he "can" do it, then he will be "expected" to do it.  He is afraid he will be expected to do it and then not be able to do it.

 

Two, I have three kids, and his nighty readaloud has been his guaranteed, surefire one-on-one time with me.  It is extremely rare that we miss it and also extremely rare that I don't read quite a bit.  I made a mistake in the past of trying to bring reading instruction into this time too much, and he really did not like it, it was supposed to be just fun.  Now he takes turn when I rest my throat or sip some tea -- but it is extremely low pressure and I had made a mistake of being too pushy in the past.  Also ---- I think he knows that other kids read quietly in bed before they go to bed.  I think he is afraid once he can read, I will not read to him anymore.  We have split up the times he does reading or is asked to do independent reading, and that helps.  But I think that was part of it for a long time.  It is hard to know -- he wants to pretend like he doesn't really care, but he shows he cares in some things he does.  

 

But I think a big part of it is fear.  He is afraid he won't be able to do good enough in the future.  He has a lot better feeling than he used to, and his feeling is getting better.  But he still can have a reflexive fear.  It is very strange -- b/c he has a really good self-esteem about reading in a lot of ways.  He is very proud and he compares himself favorably to kids he thinks are good readers.  He still has that reflex, though. 

 

It makes a lot of sense with what Geodob said. 

 

He has a pattern of not wanting to try something when he is afraid it will be too hard, and of procrastinating with a fear of things being too hard.  I think this is from not being able to finish his work because of his handwriting.  It is much, much better since his handwriting has been addressed, but that feeling lingers a little.  He actually saw a counselor at school about this and she helped him a huge amount, also understanding about his handwriting from his classroom teacher, who had thought he was just not trying, when he was trying really hard.  A year down the road -- this is much improved. 

 

I think overall, it takes some time, his feeling does not change with his ability.  But it has gotten a lot better. 

 

I agree with others, too, to make sure there might not be other underlying things. 

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