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Dyslexia
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Ok – so here is where I’m at in OUR dyslexia journey.
I suspected that Delta (9) and Echo (7) had stealth dyslexia (mainly due to Delta’s extreme spelling difficulty – I found a list of dyslexia on All about Spelling – and although he reads “ok”, the checkmarks on the symptoms list was amazing.)
I contacted our homeschool office and they suggested the dynaread test. Although Delta and Echo tested as reading ok, the test definitely showed red flags.
So, I gave the symptom list and test results for Delta (he is the one with the most symptoms etc) to his doctor. After reviewing it, he agress that there is likely a problem, and will write a prescription for help.
Here is the problem though… There is NOTHING available through the school system here if you homeschool. NOTHING. (unless I want to put my child in school.) And, at the moment we don’t have any medical insurance – so there is no way we can afford anything.
So I’m sitting here doing “All about Spelling”, hoping that it will help. But Delta also needs speach help….
I just don’t know what to do…
Dianne Craft’s materials help with connections in the brain – connecting right to left. This will help with speach as well as tracking, spelling, reading and math. The book is $60 and requires a lot of individual attention with the child each day. It is working well for us and is worth the price, but only if you have the time and dedication to stick to it. We found the book locally used, but if I couldn’t I definitely would not hesitate to buy it at full price. Perhaps you can call her office and explain your financial situation and see if there’s anyway they can offer you a discount. It’s worth a shot.
Suzuki mom…where are you located? The public schools often drag their feet about helping homeschoolers. I know some families who have had to push a bit to get services for their kids. If you pay taxes for the schools…you are entitled to the help. That being said, the public schools by me are in very bad shape and have no clue on how to help students with dyslexia.
The one thing I will say for people worried about the cost of Barton….the program resells for almost the price you pay for it new. I have been able to buy a new level for $300 and resell for $285-290 (& free shipping) when done. 🙂
I’m in Canada. Talking to the homeschool office – there is nothing, and the local schools don’t have to help, and generally have a long waiting list of their own kids to see the help that is there….
I’m sorry to hear of your struggle suzuikimom. I certainly hear your frustration with the school system and you are right, unless you enroll full time, they are not under obligation to assist you. I talked about this in the blog post I did yesterday on dyslexia. http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2013/02/dyslexia-101.html
Do you have access to the Sally Shaywitz book, Overcoming Dyslexia? This is a wonderful resouce that gives ways to help your struggling students. You may be able to Google You Tube videos for assistance as well. Games are beneficial. Our dd likes Bananagrams. http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/2012/12/bananagrams.html
You mentioned being in Canada. I’m not sure how close you are to the US border or if there is a Scottish Rites Dyslexia Center in that area but, maybe that’s an option. Their services are free.
One of the things I’m learning in my research is that although people with dyslexia may learn to read, they rarely become strong spellers. I don’t know where God will lead us on our journey as our son is still young and this is fairly new to us, but I’m gaining confidence in His provisions and the plan He has set for him. Technology is wonderful these days and maybe it will be that he needs to get assistance from a spellchecker device when writing.
One other thought is that 9 is still fairly young. Things may start clicking for him as he ages, developmentally. We are seeing small gains in our son’s reading with the All About Reading program. We have not started spelling yet….well, just informally….sometimes he will just spell a short vowel word out loud as he encounters them in conversation. I am thinking that CM didn’t start formal spelling until a little older, maybe someone with more experience will expand on this.
Hang in there and lean heavily on the Lord. I believe your answer will come when you least expect it.
Blessings,Melissa
greenebalts – I was wondering how things are going with All About Reading for you? Are you still making progress? Do you still like it? Does you son like it? Would you recommend it? Will you continue to use it?
Thanks
Suzukimom, I have a friend who loves Speechercize. I think it’s a Twin Sisters product. I will try to find out for sure. Her son was receiving speech therapy through the school district for about three years with no real improvement. She decided to drop it and attempt it at home, found this program (fairly inexpensive I think,) and it’s made a huge difference. The district really didn’t have a huge vested interest in her son. Yes, they lost $ by him withdrawing from that service, but as an homeschooler, they didn’t really appreciate the accountability his parents were trying to implement on their end…if you understand my meaning. Hope this helps. Becca<><
Here’s the product:
http://www.twinsisters.com/onlinecatalog/productsforhomeschoolers/speechdevelopment/2320.htm
Here’s a forum discussion about it that may, or may not be helpful.
http://simplycharlottemason.com/scmforum/topic/speechercise
My friend and her son love it, but their family is highly active and doesnt mind using a silly, fast paced resource as long as it works for him. ;0)
Hm – it looks like it deals with problems pronouncing words. This really isn’t Delta’s problems – He just can’t seem to find the right word in his head (which causes him to stammer while he tries to figure out what he is trying to say….)
suzukimom – You have described what my son (6 years old) experiences quite frequently when he speaks. The thoughts are just “stuck” somewhere in his head and he’s working hard to get those thoughts to come together. He also struggles with pronouncing many word that we’ve sounded out for him repeatedly. It’s almost like it goes in his ears one way, but comes out his mouth another way. Sometimes he’ll get part of the word correct, though. I hate placing a label on my kids but it’s nice to find resources that will help him express himself freely. We’ve done some preliminary observations/evaluations and the signs are pointing to dyslexia, as well. God’s grace is sufficient for all of this. We will be using All About Reading and All About Spelling to complement the reading instruction provided with our Living Books Curriculum guides.
All the best to you and your precious kiddos. 🙂
Since I posted on this thread four months ago, we have met with an educational consultant, at the recommendation of Susan Barton. She didn’t officially diagnose my daughter, but said she shows strong signs of dyslexia. Hence, we are using the Barton System. Yes, it is pricey, but the return on the resale is very good. Hopefully that will continue.
As my daughter’s situation is complex, we are dealing with more than dyslexia. She was born with hemiplegia, a one-sided CP. Her one eye was turned in badly at birth. There are definitely sensory issues. Also, it is common for those with dyslexia to have some attention problems, as in the case of my daughter. She is 10 and is just now gaining number sense. Our consultant has given us a special math program to help in this much needed area. It has helped. She also recommended we take Angie to a pediatric ophthalmologist instead of an optometrist. We are now looking at surgery in August to help aline her eyes. Hers is more than a tracking problem. She is very smart in a lot of ways. She just has these particular areas that need some special help.
So, I feel we are on a road to making some progress.
WilsonFrostAcademy – What you described is a lot like my daughter. She would read a word correctly on one page, but on the next page she wouldn’t know the same word. Those with dyslexia will read by shape. They may know a word because of the context and the shape of the word, but not because they actually know how to break it apart to know how it is pronounced. I am finding with my daughter that using this OG system and taking it in steps, will benefit her. Before I started Barton, I was using Phonics Pathways. That is a good program as well if you can’t go to OG. As I said, my daughter is very complex, so I felt I needed to take the OG route.
I know dyslexics can learn without OG, but after trying so many things and always ending in frustration, I believe the Lord led me to our consultant at just the right time, so I am following her advice. Each child has different needs. I just wanted to share my experience to maybe help direct someone else in their journey.
WilsonFrostAcademy – yes, the trying to figure out the words to say thing is kind of frustrating. He has improved a lot as he got older, and it doesn’t exactly sound like stammering anymore – but it is still painful trying to hear him tell me something at times. It used to be more like he got stuck on the first word or two – repeating those…. now it is like he will start to say something, pause, rephrase it, pause, try to rephrase it again – and often give up.
So before it sounded more like “Mom, can, can, can, mom, can, can I play outside?” Now it is more like “Mom, do you think I could………… Would it be possible to……….., never mind”
Now my examples are more from memory – and I think I should probably tape him sometime – but I can’t know when it is going to happen – because it doesn’t happen quite as often as it did.
I think this is called either Aphasia or Disnomia – and is often seen with Dyslexics – but isn’t one of the more common symptoms.
Delta also has Dyscalcula – also common to Dyslexics – in that he seems to understand math concepts pretty well – but can’t seem to master those facts at all.
We recently experienced the getting to a point in his math…. hitting a wall…. and then suddenly it was almost like he had forgotten everything we ever did in math….
He also forgets things quickly (especially instructions….)
There are times that I read an article or something that says that Dyslexia isn’t real exactly, but is a product of faulty reading instruction. (Usually recommending that intense phonics should be used.) There is a part of me that wants to believe that (a part that doesn’t because then it is my fault – even though we started reading with a phonics program that is one that says that!) – but if dyslexia is caused by faulty reading instruction…. why would my son have all these dyslexia related symptoms (like the dysnomia) even before being taught to read at all?
Oh, and I know what you mean about not liking to label the child – yet it is kind of a relief to have a name for all these symptoms because it means that it really does exist, and it isn’t the child being lazy, or all in my head or something like that.
Although I did call my homeschool office to find out about testing, resources, etc (and there are none here provided for homeschoolers) – my home phone number is blocked, and I didn’t give my name – so he isn’t “labelled”. But if he had to return to PS for any reason, I’d almost assuredly have to have him labelled because – well – he is going into “5th grade” but reads at about an early 3rd grade level, spells at about a 1st grade level, Doesn’t have good handwriting unless he is doing copywork (ie, if he has to think about the words, forget the good andwriting happening) – Balks at writing more than a sentence or two – and doesn’t know most of his addition or subtraction facts, has been introduced to the concept of muliplication but hasn’t been taught it past skip counting, and hasn’t done any division except in daily life. If I had to put him in PS, they would know in a day that something is up (and would probably think something like “Stupid homeschooler”.) They wouldn’t care that he knows all sorts of history things (not much Canadian History – so he’d probably even be considered behind on that) and has been exposed to things like Shakespeare and Pilgrim’s Progress.
Anyway that is an essay! Oh, and it was his spelling that tipped me off to it – and the list of symptoms from “All About Spelling” that made me realize it – he has almost all the symptoms. The fact that he could read almost (but not quite) to grade level (at that point) had me fooled…. but even then his reading was just “not quite right” somehow….
Oh, just thought I’d add that I’m not sure about Echo having stealth dyslexia… a lot of her symptoms were more with writing (she is reading above grade level – although not really progressing at it… she tested as an early 3rd grade in reading – but she has been at that level for about 2 years…..)
Anyway – somewhere else I heard about “Mixed Brain Dominance” – and there was a simple home-test – and she definitely has Mixed Brain Dominance. She is Left Handed and Right Eyed. The symptoms of this fits all her writing problems (this is where the letter reversals is common, missing spaces when writing, I forget what else.
Anyway, I started “Figure-8, alphabet” exercises. Now, we only did them for a few weeks, then took a break. I’m going to restart them during the summer, and then continue them when school starts – it is supposed to make a big difference in writing after about 6 months or so.
I’ll confess that I’ve come round to believing that O-G is the only way to teach reading. Some believe that dyslexia is the result of modern methods of teaching reading, and I can see the logic of that. Dyslexia is a growing problem, but it used to be very rare. And while Orton’s phonogram’s are new, the methods employed in O-G programs are still closer to old methods, like the syllabary in Daniel Webster’s spelling book. I’ve also read that he didn’t approve of children reading words before they’d learned to write them.
We have always used programs that teach phonics. None of my children has ever learned a “sight word;” in fact, I rather consider the phrase “sight word” to be a dirty word. But even with phonics programs, what I call “partial phonics,” children are eventually left to sink or swim on their own. Years later, we discovered reading and spelling issues with some of my children–2 out of 3 of them. So, we’re using O-G methods to correct the problems, and teaching with O-G methods from the beginning now.
I have a free spelling journal for download if anyone is interested, and soon I’m going to put up some phonogram worksheets, which are just handwriting pages with instructions for teaching the phonogram sounds while the child learns to write them through copying them. The spelling journal includes a page that has 74 phonograms and 30 spelling rules on it, and the journal is made to analyze words according to spelling rules and phonograms.When we do Spelling Wisdom, we choose a couple of words to analyze from the passage, and they write them in the spelling journal according to rule or phonogram.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/kathy-jo-devore/spelling-journal/ebook/product-21046769.html
FTR, I have noticed a couple of typos in the journal that I haven’t gotten around to fixing yet.
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