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Can you all please tell me where to start - dyslexia


EmmaNZ
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A couple of weeks ago I had confirmation that my ds8 has dyslexia (something I have suspected for a while). He was tested by a teacher, who was only looking for dyslexia traits, so I do not know if he has any other 'diagnoses' (I am wondering about dysgraphia, but that only surfaced in my brain after the dyslexia test). To quote the letter she said, "his levels of attainment in literacy tasks, particularly his spelling, do not reflect his verbal abilities. This discrepancy, together with his uneven profile of cognitive processing skills, notably his speed when processing meaningful information, is consistent with the presence of dyslexia."

 

On the tests he was given, he scored high or extremely high on the vast majority (for example verbal ability was 97th percentile, visual ability was 73rd percentile). He scored low on spelling on the WIAT-II test (I think this is a UK test?) where he placed in the 13th percentile, and he had low scores on parts of the TOMAL-2 tests (between 9th and 23rd percentiles). Interestingly, his phonological awareness composite (elision, blending, phoneme awareness) was in the 95th percentile.

 

In school work, he really struggles to spell. His handwriting is messy and painfully slow. He enjoys reading books, and has good comprehension, although he does tend to guess a bit (a recent example would be reading Charlie instead of Charles). He will also add in, or take out little words at times.

 

So where would you start with him? Does he need Barton to help him spell? Does he need All About Spelling? Something else? Do I need more tests? If I test him, will it really make much difference e.g. I already know we need to work on his handwriting, so what difference does it make if he has a dysgraphia diagnosis? I know I need to start some typing for him, but when?

 

Clearly I'm in a muddle! I would appreciate, if anybody has managed to get to the end of this mammoth post, if you could just tell me where to start! Many, many thanks in advance.

Edited by EmmaNZ
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:grouphug:  :grouphug:  :grouphug:   Hang in there!  Lots of great people here who can help you through.

 

First, I would not rush out to buy anything right now.  Sit a few days and process through this, read up on dyslexia and other learning challenges that might be comorbid, reread the report, do some research on-line, maybe check out some books from the library, THEN consider your options.  Otherwise you might end up spending a fortune without necessarily needing any of it.

 

Books you might look at:

 

Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz (old but still useful)

The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide

The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide (older but most is still useful)

 

 

Now, you say he was tested through the school.  Is he homeschooling or attending the school?  If he is in school there may be different things you should be doing.

 

As for additional testing, it might be needed, it might not.  Don't leap in yet or dump the idea altogether.  Do some research.  Since they only screened for dyslexia, you may be missing key pieces, such as low processing speed, low working memory, auditory processing issues (can have perfect hearing but not neurologically process certain sounds accurately), ADD/ADHD, developmental vision issues (can have perfect visual acuity but have developmental vision issues that do not show up in a normal eye test), dysgraphia (which can be caused by any number of things), etc.  It might make sense to preliminarily start research for additional testing without actually scheduling anything yet.  

 

For instance, you might consider evaluations through an occupational therapist for the dysgraphia (sometimes a child needs a lot more than just additional handwriting practice and an OT can frequently help), a developmental eye screening through a COVD recommended Developmental Optometrist, an evaluation through an audiologist for CAPD, an exam through a neuropsychologist for a whole host of other things, including processing speed, working memory, etc. etc.  You could do all of those things and might find additional answers that would be very helpful.  I would not rush out and get testing immediately, though, and I certainly wouldn't try doing all of those things at once.  I would do some research first.  Then pick which additional assessments (if any) seem to make some sense.  Don't jump on the assessment treadmill without doing your research.  Again, though, don't dismiss the idea of additional testing out of hand, either.  You may find that you NEED additional answers once you start trying to actively remediate.

 

As for whether he needs Barton, maybe.  Barton is a very solid program.  Instead of rushing to buy the program, I strongly urge you to take the tutor screening, then give him the student screening.  It does not test for dyslexia or for content knowledge but the screening will help you determine if 1. you can tutor him yourself successfully using an OG based program and 2.  If HE can go through an OG based program successfully without some additional help first.

 

Make sure, when you are doing the screenings, that you are both rested, you will not be interrupted, there are no distractions, you are not tight on time and trying to rush out the door, and the place you are doing the screening does not have a lot of ambient noise.  It is paramount that you both be able to accurately hear the sounds.  The screenings are not that long and are not hard to do, by the way.  

 

FWIW, my DD passed the Barton screening with flying colors.  She still found Barton hard at times but she could hear all the sounds and has done well.  My son failed Part C of the screening and needed LiPS first before he could process the sounds well enough to move into Barton.  His hearing is fine.  He glitches neurologically on processing certain sounds and sound blends even though he is incredibly articulate.  Who knew?  We certainly didn't.  Not at first.

 

Finally, typing will be something important to start but at 8 you could wait a bit if you feel you need to.  I recommend, when you do start typing, that you use a program that does NOT penalize for time or emphasize speed.  Accuracy may take a lot of time to get down and if he has dysgraphia he needs to focus on building up muscle memory and procedural memory.  That can take a lot of time.  However slow he is going, make sure he is working on proper finger placement and posture.  Speed will come once accuracy is more solid.  

 

Practicing every day with very short lessons is IMHO better than spending an extended period trying to type but only once or twice or even three times  a week.  I started having the kids do a short TTRS lesson every morning before we started academics and it is so much a part of the routine now that the kids like doing a lesson as a warm up and refocus for the day even though they don't really need it anymore.

 

Touch Type Read Spell is pretty boring but it is a solid typing program that does not emphasize or penalize for speed and is helpful for spelling.  It is dyslexic friendly and pairs well with Barton.  You can usually get it through Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op for a reasonable price.  We actually started out with Type to Learn 4, which the kids found fun and was more little kid friendly.  Unfortunately there are certain things that severely penalize for lack of speed, and the final test at the end of each level was very unforgiving of any mistake.  It was demoralizing to use at times and we had to modify how they did the program.  Switching to TTRS worked much better.  

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Hi EmmaNZ,

Given his test results, I would suggest that his issue is Dysgraphia and handwriting difficulties effecting his spelling.

In another post, you wrote that he scored low on 'Processing Speed', which is basically a test of fine motor abilities.

Perhaps you could give him an Oral spelling test, where he might do much better when he doesn't have to write the words?

Where you really need to define whether handwriting is causing the spelling problems, so that his time isn't wasted on doing spelling programs. When he can in fact spell.

With a composite score of 95% for phonological awareness.  This contradicts Dyslexia.

 

Dysgraphia isn't the official term.  Where he would be diagnosed with a 'Written Expression Disorder', with fine motor difficulties.

The main difference with this diagnosis, is that he would be allowed to do schoolwork and tests using a keyboard.  

As well as  'speech to text' programs.

Where you want the test for a handwriting disorder, done through your local school district.  So that his use of a keyboard, is on his school record for the future.

 

In regard to when to start him learning to type?  It would be best to start straight away.   

So that his learning isn't held back, because of his handwriting difficulties.

You can also get smaller keyboards, which are more suited to smaller hands.

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I agree with geodob 100%.

 

Handwriting is a huge deal because it affects all of your son's written output. The accommodations for dysgraphia are typing, having a scribe, and speech to text software.

 

I am a firm supporter of ruling out any OT issues first. An OT can take about an hour and look at developmental motor, visual perception, core/pincer strength, handedness, motor planning, and static/dynamic balance. According to our OT, 50% of kiddos with motor issues will have some sort of attention issue.

 

My DS started typing when he was 11yo. We set up his workstation so that it was ergonomic, and he selected the most comfortable keyboard. We used a basic typing program with any timers turned off. DS spent the first 20 min of school performing typing practice and it took half a school year. Son now types everything but math.

 

I have not taught my DD to type yet. Her hands are too small for the keyboard, so I scribe for her. She sits at a desk with the table top adjusted to her height. I recently purchased a small bluetooth keyboard that should work for her but we have not tried it yet. I haven't had DD tested yet as we have a ton of other expenses right not and it is easy enough to accommodate her for now. Dysgraphia is a total pain in the rear because no one seems to understand that it is a brain processing issue. I just accept, accommodate, and move on.

 

OP, I congratulate you for taking an active role with this and getting it sorted. Just remember to take handwriting out of the equation. Your boy sounds very smart. Prior to read alouds, remind your DS to slow down and be clear about how he needs to read: no skipping words. I have to make my girl slow down, and she does it now because she hates rereading.

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That sounds like my ds's profile. I think of dyslexia as more to do with phonemic awareness so I attribute his issues now more to dysgraphia and slow processing. Dyslexia and slow processing do occur together a lot and it could just be remediated really well but since it is the focus does not have to be on fixing reading. Since so much work goes into writing with dysgraphia I find that the conventional wisdom of copying by hand helps you learn does not apply at all and it actually can get in the way of learning. In reading on the processing end I find it also affects the ability to multi task and to deal with directions even simple ones. It takes much longer to get automatic in routines too. Things with lots of directions if left to himself especially do not work well. I do not think Barton is neccasary when your ds's decoding is so high. Unfortunately these issues are often not really understood. I have tried to explain it to have it be chalked up to laziness and poor self control.

Edited by MistyMountain
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Sorry it has taken me a few days to get back on here. I really appreciate the responses (and the calming influences!)

 

I have already read Dyslexic Advantage, and am currently reading Bright Kids who can't keep up. Will read a few more before jumping in to anything costing money.

 

OneStepAtATime - thanks for all your suggestions. He is homeschooling - the teacher was working at a dyslexia charity. I have made a number of changes for him in the past year or so, compared to what I have done with my older two. It looks like a few of the things we have been doing would benefit from tweaking, although thankfully I think I have been moving in the right direction with him. I already scribe a lot, he reads books whilst listening at the same time, we have tried the odd dictation on the computer etc. Just need to decide what to focus on first, which direction might help him most?

 

Geodob - I will start looking into typing programs I think. I did wonder about his ability to decode words along with a dyslexia diagnosis as well. I wonder if the answer is twofold?? (Mostly thinking out loud here) Firstly, the assessor said that he has clearly memorised a vast lexicon of words in his brain (significantly more than an average 8 year old), so that when he hears them, he knows them. However, the second part is that his brain is unable to encode the word again, despite the fact that he knows it, and he hears it correctly. He cannot spell orally or on paper, so this isn't only a writing issue (well at least I don't think it is), although writing words is significantly slower for him.

 

Heather monster - another helpful post from you, thank you! My sister is an OT and it never even occurred to me to ask her! She doesn't do paediatric stuff now, but I think she will know more than me!

 

Mistymountain - you mention about not needing to remediate reading. My gut feeling is that something like Barton might not hit the right spot for him. That is something that is worrying me - it seems like if he has dyslexia, then he must need to read better, right? But with ds, it seems to be all about the encoding rather than the decoding. Can I ask what strategies you have used with your son to help him?

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