Jump to content

Menu

Ds and Reading issues


Recommended Posts

I don't know if anyone remembers but before Christmas I posted about youngest DS and possible dyslexia issues. He was language delayed, spent 5 years in speech therapy and though he graduated out just before his 6th birthday, they expected him to need to return to speech within a year or two. He had dysphagia with silent aspiration and on honey thick liquids until he was 3yo. He was diagnosed with childhood apraxia of speech also at 3 years old. He was 3.5yo before he really started talking in comprehensible sentences on the level that an 18 month old might produce. He caught up quickly, more quickly than anyone expected, but he has lingering speech issues. I know speech affects the ability to read, BTDT with my oldest son who also had speech issues. But oldest ds just made normal mistakes on a delayed timeline. Youngest ds makes some of the strangest mistakes I've seen after having taught all 5 of my other kids to read. He also progresses in fits and jags and sometimes regresses before progressing in his ability to read. 

I was working on getting ds signed back up for speech and services at the schools when COVID-19 hit so now everything is kinda on hold until everyone decides how to proceed. In the meantime, we went back to pretty much basic Spalding methods and he is doing really well with it and possibly even enjoying this method of instruction.

So, here is my question... I try as much as I possibly can to prevent ds from guessing at words but when he does guess he guesses a synonym of the word he is trying to read. For example, if he was reading the sentence "The dog was too frightened". He might read it , "The dog was too scared." Even if he has never seen the sentence before and there are no pictures for clues. If I tell him to try again and read the words that are there. He might say "The dog was too f-r-igh... it says scared." What the heck? If I force him to sound out and blend the whole word. He will get "The dog was too frightened." but he wants to know why scared is wrong when it means the same thing. I explain that he needs to read the words that are on the page and not substitute words that mean the same thing but he still does this on a pretty consistent basis. He understands shades of meaning and that frightened is the word the author chose to use because it creates a specific mental picture even if there are other words that could convey a similar meaning. But he still does this, over and over again.

So, is this something typical of dyslexia? Has anyone else's kid done something similar? Do I just keep correcting and explaining until I'm blue in the face and he will stop eventually or is there something I could do differently. Getting professional help for him is on the table, it's just on hold right now due to COVID-19.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does he use the word "frightened" in normal conversation? 

I am going to guess that he is subbing words that are easier for him to say due to his apraxia. Even if his speech is normally pretty good, trying to form words while also trying to decode might too much to be comfortable at once. 

Even without pictures, some books give a lot of context that kids can guess.

It could be dyslexia even if my guess is correct. 

How is he with syllabication? I don't know the Spalding progression, but additional syllables might also prompt guessing. 

He sounds like he's an "optimal responder" to therapy and that he's bringing some self-awareness to the problem--that's fantastic! 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hadn't thought about subbing words that are easier to say. That is very possible. Yes he uses big words like frightened in his normal speech and he is age appropriate, maybe even leaning toward slightly advanced, with working with syllables. He caught on quick when I taught him about syllables and could apply the ideas to any word without additional instruction. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would switch to just words and word list and you read stories and sentences to him for a few months.  Sentences promote guessing. Work through my syllables program to teach all the patterns and how to divide multi syllable words.  The schwa accent pattern was helpful for my student with apraxia.  He also guessed a bit on harder words until he had over learned the phonics patterns, breaking up the sounds and putting them back together brought back up some of his apraxia problems that were only apparent in reading, not spelling.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have any answers for you only commiseration as my dyslexic kiddo does this .... even on word lists!!   You are right - it's immensely frustrating.  It's like their brain is in a rut, a deep rut, and can't get out once they have their initial idea of the word.  

Something that has helped a bit is the tap-and-say that we've learned from using ABeCeDarian .... and he has to physically use his finger to sound out each letter to get out of the rut.  Most of the time he can sound out words, letter by letter, without using his finger, but when he's stuck in a rut and saying the wrong word even after sounding out each phoneme, I have to ask him to truly tap his finger on the page or table.  It's happened enough times that I've started calling it his "magic finger".  shrug.       Oh, also, I think Don Potter was the one that suggested when they get stuck in a rut, have them sound it out end-to-beginning then beginning-to-end then blend.  so for example for the word cat, if they get in a pickle, have them do /t/, /a/, /c/, /c/, /a/, /t/, /cat/.     That works sometimes too.   These techniques, though, are not magical enough to cure the kiddo's frustration or whining - unfortunately; it just gets you to the next word.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...