You’ve gotten a lot of good suggestions. I agree that it is overwhelming when trying to sort through a child’s learning struggles. We ended up getting some testing done through a school district, but they only tested certain areas and I’m debating if I should pursue finding more answers with a specialist or just let it go for now. A few books that I didn’t see mentioned above that may be helpful to you as you sort this out are the following:
– The Mislabeled Child by Brock and Fernette Eide – This book addresses a wide variety of various areas that impact learning, how certain symptoms can look like something else in certain situations, and also emphasizes finding your child’s strengths to help them overcome (or accomodate for) their weaknesses. It is the type of book where you can just read different topics at a time and you don’t have to read cover to cover if you are pressed for time.
– Bright Kids Who Can’t Keep Up by Ellen Braaten PhD and Brian Willoughby PhD – This book is just about kids with low processing speeds.
– When the Brain Can’t Hear by Ph.d. Teri James Bellis – This book addresses auditory processing disorder
Depending upon how low a person’s processing speed is, I have been told that Interactive Metronome (or a home version of it) can be helpful. I have heard positive things about Earobics and Fastforward, but don’t remember if that was for auditory processing or phonological processing or something else.
I know others mentioned the books, The Dyslexic Advantage, Overcoming Dyslexia, and Dyslexia Empowerment Plan. They are all good reads (dyslexic advantage being my favorite) as well for understanding dyslexia better.
If you suspect ADHD (very common with dyslexia), there are a variety of books that can give helps and understanding in that area. Susan Barton at bartonreading .com or dys-add .com will email you a list of warning signs of both ADHD and dyslexia if you request it on her website. As others said, she is also helpful over the phone related to dyslexia and ADHD. She’s not just about selling her product either. She actually recommended that I NOT purchase her product at one point in time as she didn’t think it was the right fit for my child at that point in time (that said, we are now using Barton Reading and it is going well).
Some dyslexics also have working memory struggles. There are a variety of games you can plan to build working memory if that is an issue.
Best wishes and I hope you find the right solution for your family soon! It is overwhelming to sort through it all.