Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: Barton, dyscalcula, dyslexia, dysnomia, Reading Instruction, reading problems, speech problems, spelling problems, stammering

This topic has 37 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 9 months ago by suzukimom.

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June 29, 2013 at 6:35 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Thanks – yes, that is the type of claim about Dyslexia that I want to believe (and don’t at the same time…) – but how does it explain the dysnomia and dyscalcula that is common of Dyslexics? Those types of symptoms showed up before we started teaching reading….)

I started Delta (and Echo) reading with “Teach Your Child to Read in 10 minutes a Day” by Sydney Ledson. There is information about in the book about how Dyslexia is caused by other methods of reading. Now this method does teach explicetly to a certain point – then the child is expected to be able to continue larning from that point without more instruction. It is supposed to teach up to about a Grade 2 level. Delta did the entire book with me. Then we went on to dong some Dick and Jane readers (maybe that was my mistake?)…. then I did another phonics program with him (from Tanglewood Education or something like that) Then I Buddy Read Harry Potter with him. Recently we did a portion of Reading Bears (which has pointed out to me that yes, he still has issues with basic stuff) – while doing AAAS…. and now someone is sending me Reading Reflex. Oh, we did some “Progressive Phonics” in there somewhere too…..

Echo has done a similar path… “… 10 minutes a day”, then Dick and Jane readers. then some of the Progressive Phonics…. and I’ve just left it where it is. (So I shouldn’t be surprised that she isn’t progressing, I guess….)

Foxtrot, on the other hand, I used “Teach Your Child to read in 100 EZ lessons” – and she seems to be enjoying reading more than the others – choosing to read books on her own more often. She has read to me (with some help) books like “Make Way for Ducklings” etc.
so – is the difference in reading abilities just because I used a different program…? Did Delta get dyslexia because the program I used with him and Echo had issues – or because I then used Dick and Jane readers? Or are the differences just because of their own capabilities?
Oh, and while I was pregnant with Delta, I was on 2 antidepressants that were considered “relatively safe” while pregnant and breastfeeding – and that are now considered not safe…. So – I have to wonder if that has been a factor…..

June 29, 2013 at 6:38 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Oh, and thanks for the spelling journal!
June 29, 2013 at 8:04 pm
kjdevore
Participant
You’re welcome. 🙂 I hope it’s helpful.
[T]hat is the type of claim about Dyslexia that I want to believe (and don’t at the same time…) – but how does it explain the dysnomia and dyscalcula that is common of Dyslexics? Those types of symptoms showed up before we started teaching reading….)
I’m no expert. However, here’s what “logically follows” in my head. It’s obvious that many people learn to read in spite of modern reading instruction. Some have no problems at all, and others have extreme problems, with functional illiteracy and dyslexia being the most extreme of poor results. I would argue that it’s simply how our brains are wired. These days, we all acknowledge that people learn differently. That’s one of the reasons the multi-sensory approach rocks so thoroughly. It not only gives children multiple paths in the brain to the information, it also insures that each child gets the information in the way he’s best wired to learn it.
So. Just like some children are super at math with very little instruction, some children are super at reading even with very little or improper instruction. Others, though, are not wired to pick this information up as easily. For them, improper instruction becomes a stumbling block, and sometimes a road block.
I’m not entirely sure what dysnomia and dyscalcula are. However, I could make the argument that these are symptoms displayed by people who are more likely to become dyslexic with improper reading instruction.
To me, the biggest argument in favor of dyslexia being the result of improper reading instruction is the fact that proper reading instruction tends to reverse it.
Our world has changed so much. In the past hundred years, reading instruction has changed, but so has diet, pollution, light pollution, poisonous chemicals, etc. There’s too much that I can’t control, so I focus on using methods that were known to work in the past, and leaving the rest in the hands of God.
June 29, 2013 at 8:30 pm
kjdevore
Participant
Forgot to mention that while dyslexia was rare when reading was taught differently, my understanding is that it did still exist. I believe that one of the pioneers in teaching the O-G way (can’t find a link right now) mentioned coming across a few genuine dyslexics during her career.
June 29, 2013 at 9:02 pm
Williams Charlotte
Participant
If it helps anybody I know of a lot of children that showed signs of dyslexia that were helped by teaching cursive first. Because the letters are made in the same perpetual motion its seems to pattern their brain right and they stop reversing any and all letters and numbers even. Spell to write and read has had good success with thier cursive first. and it helps with reading because it is a multi sensory approach. I very much like this program but I haven’t known anyone diagnosed with extreme dyslexia either.
June 30, 2013 at 1:56 am
suzukimom
Participant
Yeah, I actually originally started Delta with the Cursive First program. He did fine if he was doing copywork – but anytime he needed to write anything else – he basically printed (without being taught any printing – so horrible)
We switched to the cursive first option of Peterson Directed Handwriting to help him be more fluent – didn’t help for that very much.
Echo couldn’t do a single letter legibly with the cursive first option of Peterson after a YEAR of using it… her writing improved (not perfect) when we switched to italics….

July 17, 2013 at 2:06 pm
greenebalts
Participant
Pangit…I do apologize for the delayed response. I was just looking over past threads and came across your question.

We made it to Lesson 33 in AAR Level 1. Then summer came and unfortunately life took over. Our son recently started tutoring with a local Scottish Rites center so I’m undecided where I will pick up in the fall. It depends on his progress with the tutor over the next couple of months.

In specific regard to AAR, I would recommend it. AAR is the only program that helped our son to make any progress in his reading. The lessons are scripted and I was able to spread them out, review and go at his pace. As with anything, feel free to modify as needed. I jumped in and taught it as presented, but after a bit, needed to make adjustments according to his learning needs. If we had not found/started with the Scottish Rites, I would be continuing AAR. However, after talking with the center director, she suggested just letting it ride for a few months to see how he responds to tutoring. I also think this is best since he’s very defiant when it comes to academics and I really aim to develop his love of learning. For now, I’m content with letting the tutor do their job and we will dig back in this fall.

On a side note, the center director did recommend Wilson over Barton as a compliment to the Scottish Rites program. She suggested Barton being very similiar to the Scottish Rites curriculum and that we should not spend the money to overlap programs. She was not familiar with AAR and couldn’t give feedback.

Again, I apologize but due to time constraints, I have not read all of the above posts so forgive me if I ask a question that was already answered. Have you had your child tested professionally? Our pediatrician made the referral to a neurophsycologist. I’m very thankful for the testing and the diagnosis as it really helped us to find appropriate resources for our son and I’m no longer chasing bunnies…or at least not as frequently

Blessings,
Melissa
http://reflectionsfromdrywoodcreek.blogspot.com/
July 17, 2013 at 5:01 pm
suzukimom
Participant
Have you had your child tested professionally? Our pediatrician made the referral to a neurophsycologist. I’m very thankful for the testing and the diagnosis as it really helped us to find appropriate resources for our son and I’m no longer chasing bunnies…or at least not as frequently

No, he has not been tested professionally. In my province, the school system isn’t required to do anything for homeschoolers. Until a few days ago, we had no insurance. And now that we have no insurance, looking at what coverage we have, I don’t see that we are likely to have coverage still (although there is a pitance amount listed for speech therapy….) The place that specializes in dyslexia charges $1000 for testing (and I have to wonder about objectivity…..) and if I remember correctly it was $60 an hour (55 min) for tutoring there too. It sounded like they use Barton.
We did the free testing at Lexersice online – which only covers a few things – and although he did pretty good at the tests really, it did raise the red flags… And he certainly has enough symptoms!