(another) could this be dyslexia? (spelling)

[Lucy the Valiant]

Kid is 10, fluent and avid reader, scores very high in reading & comprehension, 4th percentile in spelling. Cannot spell (even basic words) to save his life.

 

I've always just assumed he's a bad speller, but a friend told me it may be a form of dyslexia? If it is, should I address it? We started Sequential Spelling 2 years ago; kid likes it, and it seems to help (AKA the words that he's had on the list, he now knows how to spell).

 

 

[PeterPan]

Could just have visual memory problems.  Have you had him screened for ADHD?  

 

You can get his eyes checked by a developmental optometrist (COVD) and ask them to screen for the developmental stuff.  My dd was similar, like rocket high reading (you should see the ACT score!) and abysmal spelling.  We were doing 3 programs a day, working on it 1+ hours a day.  She had really poor visual memory because of convergence problems.  Got her a few months of VT and that reversed.  

 

That's great that SS is working for him.  Definitely keep going.  I'd get his eyes screened, just to be sure.  ADHD is your other wicked common explanation for that mix.

[Lucy the Valiant]

How do I find a developmental optometrist? Just google one locally? (It's not the same as a regular optometrist, right?)

 

I think SS is working because he is just memorizing - at some point, he'll hit a ceiling for that, right? He also has perfectionist tendencies in that he gets frustrated that he spells a word wrong (we have not shared his test scores with him, either the high or the low ones).

 

Is screening for ADHD done at public school? or pediatrician?

 

(Wow, I sound amazingly clueless. We have never done anything like this before, and honestly - I'm not 100% sure it's a road we want / need to go down. (?) He has an astounding ability to recall facts (history / science / fiction). )

[PeterPan]

I think, and this is just me, that when there's enough going on that you're asking the question, it's enough that it's something that isn't going away.  So if you don't answer the question now, it just hangs there and comes up again later.  Might as well get it sorted out and have the right words.

 

Yes, a ped or the ps can do an ADHD screening.  Actually, the reason that is really interesting is because technically those are EF (executive function) surveys.  Noticing the bits of things (spelling, life, social skills, whatever) is all under EF, and EF can be an issue with or without labels and across a variety of labels.  It's something you can identify and target without a psych label, kwim?  MANY bright kids have EF issues.  

 

COVD.org  is where you look for a dev. optom.  

[americastamps]

This brought up some questions about my son and his spelling. He has great reading skills and has always read above level, so I have always thought that to mean that he couldn't have dyslexia, but then I thought I had read somewhere that there are different types of dyslexia and you can still have it even if you can read well. Is this true, false? His spelling is really awful and he will even copy a correctly written sentence with incorrect spelling. He hates writing and will choose vocabulary that is very simple to avoid having to spell the kind of vocabulary he typically uses, which is quite advanced. Mine used to get good spelling grades on the test but after a week or two he wouldn't be able to spell most of the words that were on the test.

 

He *did* have vision therapy and his doctor expressed that he had improved, but I didn't see huge changes  other than not getting carsick as much(perhaps because his issues were fairly minor to begin with, as in he already was reading,)we stopped going before the year was over as it was very far away (and expensive!) and his issues were not dramatic enough for me to see a clear benefit or connection. I have been reading some folks discussing vision therapy and retained reflexes etc..and I may have to look into it again in the future. (we will likely move this summer)

 

My son is in eighth grade and his writing looks like a second grader. A messy second grader :-). He also has ADHD and Aspergers.

I get the feeling dealing with the public school that it just doesn't matter if he can't spell/write because he is passing his classes etc. He was homeschooled for a few years, but has been in public school for two years now. Just getting them to identify him was a nightmare, but that is another story.

 

Should I just look at the spelling/writing issue as minor in the scheme of things, or could they be a form of dyslexia, auditory processing issue or something else that warrants attention etc... I am so confused. He doe so well most of the time that I wonder if he really does have the correct diagnosis, and then other times when he is being super inflexible and rigid in his thinking I think his diagnosis is 100% accurate. It's just hard as a parent with no expertise to understand what is really going on, especially when the school system blows everything off because they simply don't want to provide help unless a child is clearly drowning. Even then it's hard to get them to throw a lifesaver! He did a bunch of testing four years ago, and again last year, and there are lots of discrepancies in lows/highs so I know there are issues but it is hard for me to understand what is a problem that I should address at home, or let go. 

 

I could pull out his testing and put out some numbers if someone is willing to go over them with me :-)

 

 

 

[PeterPan]

Hey Americastamps, I pulled this to a new thread for you.  That way more people will see it.  :)

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/600296-new-thread-for-americastamps-on-asdadhd-and-severe-issues-with-spellingwriting/

[READ Learning]

I have a lot of experience teaching students with all sorts of learning differences.  I am a licensed special education teacher and dyslexia specialist.  In my experience, when a student is reading great but really struggles with spelling and writing it's usually due to dysgraphia.  Dysgraphia is a writing disability that can also affect spelling skills.  Kids with dyslexia almost always have trouble with spelling, but generally also show poor fluency while reading and difficulty reading words in isolation - sounding out unknown words without relying on context clues, picture clues, or other work around strategies.  Dysgraphia in a nutshell is spelling and writing trouble without the reading problems.

 

As far as spelling sight words, this learning process will be different from learning how to spell "normal" words.  You'll probably want to use a mulit-sensory component for this.  I teach spelling by rule so it makes a lot of sense why we spell the way we spell.  If you want to see an example of spelling by rule you can visit my website at: http://readlearningservices.com/products/silver-moon-introduction/

 

I hope this helps clarify things for you.

 

Kelly