Not sure what to do with 8yod...

[kidsnbooks8]

not reading very well. I am having a really hard time with my (just turned) 8yod, and I am not sure what to do to help her. She is struggling her way through the 1st grade unit 3 of Rod and Staff. Phonics lessons are even worse than her trying to read from this reader. For phonics I am using Explode the Code. She knows the letter sounds, but when she is trying to read it is like torture, she just starts spouting off all kinds of words and sounds. Like she is trying to guess what it is going to say? She is also still writing quite a few of her letters backwards.

I am just not sure how to handle this. My other children pretty much just learned to read and write without too much intervention. I gave them the basics and they were off. So I am at a loss as to what this little one needs.

 

Any suggestions? I also need to keep it as simple as possible.(my other thread about what are you using with your 5th grader, tells of my insanity):confused:

[hsmamainva]

Perhaps she could benefit from a reading curriculum that isn't phonics-based?

 

I have two children on the autism spectrum (my son, who is 14, and and my daughter, who is 6).

 

Alpha Phonics was great for my son because it doesn't look 'baby-ish' (he was also 8 when we used it and he didn't want anything that looked like it was written for a Kindergartener or 1st grader)

 

My son couldn't tell the difference between the short-vowel sounds (ba, be, bi, bo, bu, etc.). Alpha Phonics uses a word-ladder approach (ball, call, hall, tall, wall, etc.) He loved it!! And he learned to read very well. I used Alpha Phonics and the 1st grade Pathway Readers for the first year (that was 3rd grade, I believe) and then we moved into Sonlight Core 2 in 4th grade (which uses books like Frog and Toad, Dr. Seuss, etc.)

 

With my 6 year old, I'm using Pathway Readers and workbooks. Pathway Readers use alot of sight words, and my daughter, who went to public school for Kindergarten and learned how to read some simple words (like 'come', 'go', 'see', etc.) can already read a few of the sentences. When I tried to work with her using Explode the Code, she didn't have a clue how to blend, even though she knew the individual letters and their sounds.

 

So I ordered a new set of workbooks for the 1st grade Pathway Readers, and a set of the flashcards that you can order to go with it and it's working well so far!!

 

I hope this helps a little!!

[LisaKinVA]

You mentioned still writing some letters backwards... at 8yo. This would be a huge point of concern for me (even apart from the reading). Personally, I would have her evaluated, as most children (as long as they are doing work on penmanship) have outgrown the backwards writing by this age.

 

A different reading program may help with the situation. But, I still feel you need to have her evaluated -- because if there are underlying issues it's really good to know that now. It may change a lot more than your approach to reading.

[kidsnbooks8]

Thank you for replying Kelly and Lisa, now I am a lot concerned. How do I go about getting her tested and what am I looking for?Do I just ask the pediatrician? Can you tell I am clueless?? I have had my concerns with this little one because she is so different from my others, but I did not realize there could be something really wrong. I just thought that she was slower than my other children, but was trying not to compare and take things at her pace. She is also very slow with her math concepts. And she recently was very upset that a boy in our neighborhood could read and she cannot.(he is younger than she is)

Kelly thank you for taking the time to type out what has worked for your children. I have most of the materials you mentioned, I will pull them out and see if they will help her.

[Ellie]

R&S's 1st grade Bible Nurture and Reader series has a significant sight-reading element, a negative in my world. If you are using ETC simultaneously, there could be even more room for some confusion, as well.

 

I say quit R&S, continue with ETC.

 

Or consider something altogether different, such as Spalding (Writing Road to Reading). It's a complete English course: spelling, reading, penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, and basic writing; it can also be a comprehensive grammar and writing, but that's optional.

 

If Spalding isn't your cup of tea, I'm thinking that AlphaPhonics would be more comprehensive than ETC.

[Kathleen in VA]

Have you ever had her vision tested? That is where I would start. Your pediatrician should be able to recommend someone to evaluate her beyond that. My ds12 is farsighted and needs reading glasses - the kind most folks don't get until they're in their 40s. It could be something as simple as that.

[hsmamainva]

If you have health insurance, start with your primary care provider (that way, any referrals to specialists are covered).

 

You would likely be referred to a neurodevelopmental psychologist (that's who diagnosed our oldest son). He was 5 at the time. It took months to get an appointment, so be prepared for that! Anyway...they talked to us for a good 30-45 minutes, taking a case history and all that (so write down all developmental milestones and when they were achieved because they'll ask you all of that). Write down any concerns you have about her and be sure to mention those.

 

Then, after talking to us, we left to go into the waiting room and she did some testing with my son, which he loved, btw!! Things like puzzles and other things like that, engaging him in conversation to check for language delays and so forth.

 

And then, we were notified in the mail that he was autistic (no 'warm and fuzzy phone call' I'm afraid...just boom, he has autism).

 

With my daughter, we went through ChildFind because she was younger (2 1/2) and it was free and run by the local county health department. With your daughter being 8, your only options are the public school system (don't go that route if you can afford to do otherwise!!!) or the medical field.

 

I hope this helps!!

[hsmamainva]

Have you ever had her vision tested? That is where I would start. Your pediatrician should be able to recommend someone to evaluate her beyond that. My ds12 is farsighted and needs reading glasses - the kind most folks don't get until they're in their 40s. It could be something as simple as that.

 

This is something else to consider as well!!!!

 

After my son was diagnosed with autism, I assumed that any and all learning problems were due to his autism -- which can be the case! But, with my son, he was still having trouble reading. I noticed it when he started reading books on a 4th grade level (real, true chapter books, if you understand me...the kind without a giant space between each sentence).

 

So I asked him one day, "Do you have trouble reading?" He said, "Well...I do okay until the words fall off the paper and onto my lap."

 

Yikes!!!!!

 

So I found a developmental optometrist and took him in for an evaluation. He needed something called vision therapy. He had the tracking skills of a 4 year old (and he was 13!!). He was also found to be severely nearsighted, so he needed reading glass and bifocals (the bifocals help with the visual tracking).

 

He completed 10 weeks of vision therapy and his reading improved 2-3 grade levels in 10 weeks (from a barely 4th grade to 6th / 7th grade).

 

You'd have to see if your insurance would cover it...some do, some don't. If it isn't covered, it's expensive!! $2000 for 10 weeks.

 

(But...you can always start with an evaluation by a developmental optometrist and see if she even needs it -- and the regular vision exam they do is always a good thing to do).

[Pensguys]

I agree with this. If you go for an eval, ask about the computer programs you can do at home. We are doing those vs. the inoffice therapy. Our insurance covers the exams/follow ups but not the therapy. We had to pay out of pocket for the computer programs, but it was only like $350. It does take longer than going through the therapy but we felt it was better for us to do that (we didn't have an dev. OD closer than 1.5 hrs away.).

 

I agree with the others. I would start there and then make my way to a neuropsychologist (ask around) for testing. We've been doing OT with my youngest who sounds EXACTLY like your dd. We started the Interactive Metronome this summer and he has LEAPED years in spelling and reading ability.

 

(But...you can always start with an evaluation by a developmental optometrist and see if she even needs it -- and the regular vision exam they do is always a good thing to do).

[kidsnbooks8]

Thank you ladies.:grouphug: I will be on the phone first thing Monday morning with my pediatricians office. And for sure from there for a good eye exam. I mentioned this(vision) to my husband just a few minutes ago and we both agree this could very well be part of the problem. I am so glad that I posted this.

[Pensguys]

Just be aware that a developmental optometrist is different than a regular optometrist/opthomologist. We started with check ups, speech/auditory processing testing and opthomologist. Nothing came back wrong until we went to the dev. optometrist. They do different testing is the reason they pick up different things.

[jamnkats]

You mentioned still writing some letters backwards... at 8yo. This would be a huge point of concern for me (even apart from the reading). Personally, I would have her evaluated, as most children (as long as they are doing work on penmanship) have outgrown the backwards writing by this age.

 

A different reading program may help with the situation. But, I still feel you need to have her evaluated -- because if there are underlying issues it's really good to know that now. It may change a lot more than your approach to reading.

 

Not necessarily. My 14yo wrote "s" and "J" backwards until he started wanting to improve his handwriting and his numbers were unreadable until he started doing formal math. If she doesn't get a lot of writing practice, it could simply be an issue of practice. After a couple weeks of copywork, my 14yo has lovely writing and no problem with backwards letters.

[Peri]

Could be dyslexia?

[LizzyBee]

Like your dd, my 7 yo dd knows the letter sounds but has a hard time with blending and she tries to guess words rather than sounding them out. We have a 12 yo who has mild auditory processing disorder (APD), so I have a head start with doing tons of reading and research to figure out what's going on. With my 7 yo, I suspect dyslexia because she has lots of the classic signs of it. Problems with auditory processing (not visual problems) are the underlying cause of something like 70% of dyslexia cases. I agree with having your dd's vision tested, but her difficulty with blending sounds would tend to signal an auditory problem to me.

 

If you suspect dyslexia, this is the best site I've found for understanding what it is (and isn't), as well as the signs to look for: http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html

 

This is another great site: http://mislabeledchild.com/html/Library/index.html Read some of the articles, and if they resonate with you, buy the book. I think it's cheapest on Amazon.

 

My dd has an appt this coming week with a dual certified audiologist/SLP to evaluate for APD. (You just need an audiologist who is trained to do the testing, but I like that ours is dual certified because dd had articulation issues and 3 years of speech therapy.) In the meantime, we switched phonics curriculum to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons ($16.50 on Amazon, eligible for free shipping). She is making better progress with this curriculum than with anything else we've tried. It moves very slowly, introducing one new sound every few days; the way it teaches blending has been effective for her; and it includes phonemic awareness exercises in every lesson.

 

Kids who don't catch on to phonics usually have poor phonemic awareness, which again goes back to auditory processing problems. Some things that can be done to improve phonemic awareness include: read aloud a lot, read poetry and nursery rhymes, have your dd memorize poetry and nursery rhymes (make it fun!), count words in sentences, practice making rhyming words, say a word and have dd tell you the beginning sound, say a word and have dd tell you the end sound, count syllables in words, remove syllables from words and say the part that remains, say the part of a word that remains if you remove the beginning sound. I try to enlist dd's older sisters to read to her as much as possible.

 

There is a book available that has phonemic awareness exercises you can use for 5-10 min/day - Literacy Leaders, $31.95 from eps books. You can download the first chapter and see if it's helpful before you spend money on the whole book. http://www.epsbooks.com/dynamic/catalog/series.asp?subject=63S&subjectdesc=Phonics+%26+Word+Study&series=2699M

 

I have heard some people say that Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons worked for a while with their dyslexic child, but they hit a wall at some point. My back up plan if this happens to us, or if dd stops progressing after we finish the book, is Barton Reading and Spelling. It is an Orton-Gillingham program that includes DVD training as part of the curriculum. It is pricier than many other OG programs, but the DVD training makes it very doable for homeschool parents. Also, it's available in levels, so I don't have to buy the entire program at one time. A student who successfully completes the program will be reading on a 9th grade level. The woman who developed the program has a nephew who is dyslexic and was failed by the school system. She left a successful career in IT to help him and others like him.

 

If you're not familiar with Orton-Gillingham reading programs - they were researchers who developed a way to teach reading that works for most dyslexics. OG curriculum is multi-sensory (see, say, hear, and touch the concept simultaneously), sytematic, explicit (every detail is taught, it is not assumed that the student knows or can intuitively discover the information), and cumulative.

 

My dd took the screening test for Barton Reading and she failed all 3 sections of it, meaning that she is not ready to begin the program. Presumably, this means that she has auditory memory problems that must be addressed first. The premier program for remediating auditory memory deficits is Lindamood-Bell LiPS. At my dd's appt with the audiologist/SLP this week, I plan to ask whether she is trained or knows anyone in my area who is trained to administer this program, and whether she has ever seen an insurance company pay for it. It is very expensive, and I don't think there is any way we can afford to pay out of pocket for it. If insurance won't cover it, my options are to buy the clinical kit and do the therapy myself ($323.95, comes with DVD and manual, but it's an intense program with a steep learning curve from what I've been told), or find a less expensive remediation.

 

I hope something in this long post helps.

[hsmamainva]

I'm glad we were able to help!!

 

Btw....here's a link to a web search. You fill out the form and check the appropriate boxes and it will tell you of any optometrists in your area who are developmental optometrists, as well as ones who do vision therapy (not all optometrists do this ... we had to drive 30 minutes to find one for our son)

 

But you can click the boxes for 'reading problems' and 'developmental delays', and be sure to check 'yes' in the box that reads 'does this provider offer vision therapy?'

 

http://www.optometrists.org/eye_doctors.html

 

Please keep us posted!!!