dyslexic?

[Guest mahabharat]

hi all, i'm new here and looking for good info on how to get my 8 yo son evaluated, i am concerned that he might be dyslexic.  the public school and our pediatrician both say there is nothing wrong.  there is something wrong.  we are new secular homeschoolers in northern virginia.  thanks for any help.

 

ralph

mom to 5

[OneStepAtATime]

What types of issues are you seeing?

[Timberly]

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[Heathermomster]

For testing, maybe call your local dyslexia school and discover if and how much they charge for a dyslexia screening. If they don't screen, ask for a referral for someone who does test. You could also google your local Scottish Rite Learning Center and discover whether they screen for dyslexia and ask about costs.

[Guest mahabharat]

we're seeing a lot of frustration with trying to read.  he skips words, makes up words, guess at words but doesn't sound them out.  can't seem to do that.  background:  he had three years of special needs pre-k (he is adopted from chinese orphanage and came home very weak and malnourished), public kindergarten and first grade, unschooled second grade, back to public third grade (at his request) for half a year and homeschooled from now on.  so he had a lot of basic reading/spelling/phonics in public, very structured, blah, blah, blah...  he struggled TERRIBLY in school.  teachers told us he could read, they evaluated him at our request because we insisted that he couldn't read.  they say there is nothing wrong with him.

 

he can't spell consistently.  can't seem to remember how to spell from one day to the next.  his hand writing is atrocious.  coordination is poor.  he's loud, fast, rough, hypersensitive to touch, emotional, i could go on and on.  and smart.  SMART!  but he seems to be locked in frustration and can't get his creativity out...  he's blocked or something.

 

it would be so FABULOUS to be able to help him but we have no idea where or how to start.  pediatrician also says there is nothing wrong with him... 

[PeterPan]

Start with his eyes.  COVD has provider lists for developmental optometrists.  Get his eyes checked by one and ask them to *screen* him for the extra stuff (tracking, convergence, etc.)  It's the simplest thing that could be causing your symptoms, and it's actually a possibility, given his previous deprivations.  In a full developmental vision eval they will screen for OT issues like bilateral problems, retained primitive reflexes, sensory integration, etc.  That's the next thing I'd be wondering, whether he'd benefit from an OT eval.  But just start somewhere simple and start eliminating things.  Eyes are where I'd start, because they're the cheapest thing to check and may be part of the problem.

[OneStepAtATime]

:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:

 

I know you are frustrated, OP, and since your pediatrician is no help apparently (BTDT), it makes it doubly frustrating.  I agree with OhElizabeth, start with an eye exam through a Developmental Optometrist.  A normal eye doctor probably won't cut it.  DS10 has 20/15+ vision. He has always passed eye exams with flying colors, whether it be through an Opthalmologist or a normal Optometrist.  But when I finally insisted on a Developmental eye exam based on recommendations here on the LC board we found out he has heterophoria (left eye tracks out of alignment) and that was just a few months ago....See if anyone in your area appears on the list you can get with the link below.  If not, there may still be an eye doctor that does this type of exam somewhere near you.  Call and ask around.  Check with your insurance.  Some will cover a normal eye exam, even those that include a developmental screening.

 

http://www.covd.org/

 

After that also get an evaluation to determine if he needs Occupational therapy.

 

And as Timberly mentioned you might want to go ahead and give him the Barton student screening.  You would need to give yourself the tutor screening first.  Both are free and readily available on the Barton website (linked below).  Make certain you are both well rested and in a good mood and there is no danger of interruption or distraction.  Susan Barton herself is really good about answering questions as well....

 

http://www.bartonreading.com/tutors.html#screen

 

In the meantime, I would urge you to scribe for him and not worry about spelling or handwriting much right now.  Whatever output he can manage, separate it from the areas that he is really struggling so that his mind has a chance to work unencumbered if that makes any sense.  Until you have answers for what the issues are you may just be spinning your wheels and his and causing a lot of unnecessary stress with little gain.

 

For example, DD13 was in a brick and mortar school through 5th grade (and repeated 4k so she was in school for 7 years).  We studied all the time.  7 days a week.  All through every summer.  And her spelling and her reading barely improved.  Once we had an accurate diagnosis for what was happening and I finally started her on a program that actually targeted her weak areas in an effective way she turned her spelling and reading around in just a few months.  

 

And I would also urge you to focus on areas he has a strong interest and encourage those interests.  Provide whatever scaffolding is necessary for him to learn in those areas without getting bogged down in the issues.

 

Do a lot of read alouds with material that is more advanced than he can read on his own.  Expose him to more advanced vocabulary and concepts.  Does he do alright with books on CD?  Let him listen to books.  Do you have a Kindle Fire?  If so, and you can afford it, let him read books of interest to him on the Kindle Fire with the Audio Immmersion feature so he is hearing and seeing the words, and seeing them highlighted without having to worry about the decoding and fluency.

 

Play games.  Math games.  Literacy games.  etc.  See the thread below for some interesting math ideas:

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/499692-looking-to-do-some-relaxed-math-here-want-to-share-ideas/

 

Is he involved in any extracurricular activities that hold his interest?  

[ElizabethB]

Those types of guessing and skipping issues can also be caused by the way the schools teach with sight words and Accelerated Reader and Guided Reading and other whole language practices.

 

I have some assessments and reading grade level tests you can give:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/readinggradeleve.html

 

If you take a few months and do only spelling, nonsense words, syllables, and reading only words lists, no outside reading or reading of sentences and stories, you should see a grade level or two of progress if it is from whole word guessing problems and not dyslexia. You can work through the things on my how to tutor page to do this. There are readings from Hebrews 12 but they are optional.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/howtotutor.html

 

If you do not see progress with this after a few months, I would investigate underlying vision or speech/phonemic awareness/language processing problems.

 

If he doesn't know the basic consonant and short vowel sounds, I like Leapfrog's Talking. Letters Factory DVD and these charts to use during phonics work:

 

https://www.phonovisual.com/products.php?c=1

[Guest mahabharat]

THANK YOU.  you all are ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT.  i am going to reread this all and once we are settled (we have to move soon), i will get his eyes checked out properly!!

 

thanks very very much.

 

ralph (its a nickname)

mom to hayden, sofia, grant, olivia and ben.

[PeterPan]

Ralph as in from Green Acres?  :)