Dyslexic Teen

[Guest]

I removed my unrelated post and put it in a new thread. Apologies to the OP.

M.

[caedmyn]

I have a 12 yo who is probably mildly dyslexic.  She reads above grade level and fast but really struggled with unknown multi-syllabic words.  We did Abecedarian short B first.  It was pretty challenging for her but didn't seem to help her reading much.  Then we did Sopris Rewards.  That definitely helped but she still struggled.  Then I started Barton with her younger brother and decided to have her do it too.  Level 4 is the one where it teaches multi-syllable reading and that helped quite a bit, but she still had to slow way down for multi-syllabic words and often stumbled over them.  I felt like she had the tools to decode them but was so used to guessing and moving on that she couldn't apply those tools well.  Finally this spring I printed out some of the nonsense word fluency drills from either Don Potter or ElizabethB's site (can't remember) and also some 9th and 10th grade vocabulary words (so there would be a good portion that she didn't know by sight and she'd have to decode them).  We did a few mins of fluency drills with those every day for 5 or 6 weeks.  It helped a lot and it was clearly easier for her to read those longer words afterwards.  

I think you could potentially use any of those with a teen.  Barton is expensive and time consuming but I'm glad we did it, but I don't think it helped her as much as it should have because so many of the multi-syllabic words were ones she knew so she didn't have to decode them.  

Anyway, just sharing our story in case there's anything that might be helpful for your DD.

[caedmyn]

Oh, and if you decide to try Rewards, check Amazon for an older edition teacher's guide and workbook.  I got both for under $15 total, including shipping, with a brand new workbook, and they were around $100 on Sopris' website.

[Storygirl]

I agree that getting some testing, so that she has the option of accommodations on standardized testing and in college, sounds like a good idea, and that starting with the public school can give you at least some of the information for free. One of the NPs we used said that we could bring the school's testing results in, and it would reduce their fees, because they would not repeat those tests. So it's a place to start.

One thing I wanted to mention is that if she is reading on grade level, the school may or may not find that she would qualify for accommodations. You won't know until you try, of course. But reading at grade level is not the only thing they should test for. DD13, who has dyslexia, can read at grade level and has improved her decoding enough that her phonological disability may test as remediated. At her IEP meeting this spring, I asked if there was a possibility she could lose her IEP (which would be bad for her, because having an IEP allows her to attend her private dyslexia school), and they told me it was not likely, because the rate of her reading is low. Instead of reading something like 120 words per minute, she reads 60 (I am not looking at the report, but remembering from months ago, so my numbers may be off, but basically, her reading speed is half that of peers without dyslexia).

So if your daughter can read at grade level, but finds it tedious and slow, that may still qualify her for accommodations, depending on the test scoring.

Also, if you started with school testing, and they don't qualify her for accommodations, you could, as I referred to already, take the results to a NP or ed psych for another opinion or further testing and use the private report to request accommodations. Hopefully a school report would be sufficient, since it is free, but if need be, it can just be a starting point.

[Guest2]

Edited to add:  I am sharing my family's strategies for navating college.  I think some of them might work even if you DD is not recommended for acomodations.  My feeling is that it is a bit of a game and there are things you can do that are not official ( you are probably already doing at home) that can be quite effective.

I have two teens who are dyslexic.  I had DD2(16) evaluated, and not her older sister DD1(19).  DD1 knew where she wanted to go to school and I knew that there was a clear path to transferring in from community college.  She took only 2 classes at a time at community college knocking out her most difficult subjects while at home with tutoring.  This enabled her to be able to apply to a program at the 4 year school that gives her priority registration.  That gives her access to choose the classes and professors she wants.  Her strategy for success is to take only 9-12 hours a semester, balancing the gpa boosting core classes from the professors that have great reps. with her more difficult reading intense coursework.  Because she transferred in with a year of credit, she can graduate in four years with this minimum amount ot hours.  Choosing profs that have you write papers is much preferable to those who do in class essays. Her school doesn't do a great job of providing notetakers (they are unpaid), and she hasn't needed extended time on tests. She also has her own room  in an apartment which is necessary because she needs to rest after a period of time of intense study or she will not get rid of her headache.  Studying is extremely fatiguing for her. Friends in the engineering school do not put in quite as much time in as she does.  These strategies are working well for DD1.

Dd2 doesn't know what she wants to do or where she wants to go.  The official diagnosis would give her priority registration at some schools.  She may need to take the ACT and apply as a freshman and will need extended time.    Her spelling is not at grade level, and it is very evident. She will need the accomodations that deal with this.  She completed the Barton program but couldn't  spell pilot the other day.  Until she gets a better idea of what she wants to do, DD2 needs to keep her options open.  Dd1 graduated early so her CC classes would transfer, DD2 is keeping everything dual credit when she takes them.  She plans on knocking out her Maths and exploring some science courses for dual credit.  

Both girls are hard workers and organized. That will take them far.  I hope there are some strategies in here that are helpful to somebody.

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by SilverBrook
Added a bit with edited to ...make it more on topic

[Pen]

On 6/16/2018 at 4:55 PM, Pen said:

https://www.amazon.com/Power-Tools-Literacy-Accelerated-Syllables/dp/0979092507

I mentioned this above— it might be enough and not terribly expensive as dyslexia materials go. 

 

I was thinking as compared to Rewards at a hundred dollars. If you can get Rewards for just $15 as someone above wrote, then I’d tend to try Rewards first. And the one above if Rewards doesn’t seem to be a good fit or if you need more than one approach. 

[Ggg]

On 6/17/2018 at 8:57 PM, caedmyn said:

I have a 12 yo who is probably mildly dyslexic.  She reads above grade level and fast but really struggled with unknown multi-syllabic words.  We did Abecedarian short B first.  It was pretty challenging for her but didn't seem to help her reading much.  Then we did Sopris Rewards.  That definitely helped but she still struggled.  Then I started Barton with her younger brother and decided to have her do it too.  Level 4 is the one where it teaches multi-syllable reading and that helped quite a bit, but she still had to slow way down for multi-syllabic words and often stumbled over them.  I felt like she had the tools to decode them but was so used to guessing and moving on that she couldn't apply those tools well.  Finally this spring I printed out some of the nonsense word fluency drills from either Don Potter or site (can't remember) and also some 9th and 10th grade vocabulary words (so there would be a good portion that she didn't know by sight and she'd have to decode them).  We did a few mins of fluency drills with those every day for 5 or 6 weeks.  It helped a lot and it was clearly easier for her to read those longer words afterwards.  

I think you could potentially use any of those with a teen.  Barton is expensive and time consuming but I'm glad we did it, but I don't think it helped her as much as it should have because so many of the multi-syllabic words were ones she knew so she didn't have to decode them.  

Anyway, just sharing our story in case there's anything that might be helpful for your DD.

Is this the Don Potter site --http://www.donpotter.net/reading_clinic.html

Thank you

[eeyore]

Hi Jean! 

I teach at a university part-time. If your DD would benefit from accommodations (longer testing time, audio materials, taking exam in a separate, quiet room, typing her responses, etc.) and she is likely college-bound - then yes, figure out a reasonable, low cost way to get those for the entrance-exam (ACT/SAT) and have it in place when she starts taking classes.  You might just check out the website, call/tour a likely college/university and find out the procedures for their 'disabilty resource center' or whatever they call it.  Such centers also often offer all kinds of tutoring/monitoring/study skills type stuff and it'd be great to have her lined up with that before she gets started. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

36 minutes ago, eeyore said:

Hi Jean! 

I teach at a university part-time. If your DD would benefit from accommodations (longer testing time, audio materials, taking exam in a separate, quiet room, typing her responses, etc.) and she is likely college-bound - then yes, figure out a reasonable, low cost way to get those for the entrance-exam (ACT/SAT) and have it in place when she starts taking classes.  You might just check out the website, call/tour a likely college/university and find out the procedures for their 'disabilty resource center' or whatever they call it.  Such centers also often offer all kinds of tutoring/monitoring/study skills type stuff and it'd be great to have her lined up with that before she gets started. 

Thanks. She is on the schedule for evaluations by a local neuropsych. Fortunately I have had experience getting accommodations for my 2E son at cc and now at university and it looks like some things are fairly standard. It sure helps to have done this before !