The other dreaded "D" Dyslexia

[lil'Man'sMom]

I am starting to research Dyslexia. Our lil'Man is very bright and articulate but reading is a HUGE challenge and a frustration for him. He does have an I.E.P for "processing speed", so he is getting the extra help at school. Is he getting the right extra help?

Does anyone here have any experience with Dyslexia?

[Lee]

I have Dyslexia - but it wasn't found until I was in college - so I really do not have any good advice for you...but I love to read - however, it is done by word recognition now, and reading out loud is my own special version of he double hockey sticks!

So, is he a lefty? I am curious, becuase when I was diagnosed, I was told that most are lefties, so now I always ask...something about how our brain processes.

[OSUMom]

I'm wondering now if my younger son has had this. All along when not on his ADHD medicine he'll likely use the opposite word of what he is intending - hot for cold, etc... I have no idea if that is part of dyslexia or not - he has always been challenged by reading. I have no resources for this type of thing so it'd be interesting to see if someone chimes in here with more information.

He is not a lefty, but can shoot for a goal in lacrosse left or right. ;)

[Mama2H]

I called our AEA to have Mackenzie tested for this. She transposes letters constantly. She has a lot of the tendencies I have found online. She is VERY smart but is failing most grades even though she can tell you what she is learning orally, she cannot get it onto paper. She has failed every single spelling test this year because she writes everything phonetically and cannot process how to spell the way she is "suppose" to. We study spelling lists every night and then on Thursday before the test we study it for 2 hours :( She will still fail the test because the teacher will count her transposed letters as a misspelling. They have begun asking her to write everything in cursive because she won't transpose that way and she will leave the correct amount of space between words. Printed words run together and have tons of transpositions. Unfortunatly I was not aware that the schools do not like to call a child "dyslexic" (at least not ours) and would rather just give them extra reading help. Mackenzie has been left behind and I have taken it into my own hands to get her the help she needs. The AEA evaluates her every Tuesday but unfortunatly the school year is almost over so they will close her file until the next school year :( Right now for extra help I have her doing http://time4learning.com and http://spellingcity.com and they seem to be helping her. She is definatly a visual learning. It makes me so mad, they gave her a test recently that evaluates what she actually knows and they did it orally. She tested at the 4th grade 11th month level but she is barely passing 3rd grade :( Google dyslexia and you will get A LOT of information. I think I googled dyslexia testing or test and found a lot of information that helped me decide that she is probably dyslexic :(

[lil'Man'sMom]

I am going to call Landmark College in VT, they specialize in students with dyslexia. Hopefully they can lead me in the right direction. I do not want to give him yet another "label" and would be greatly relieved if it is just a age thing, I hate to see him struggle so much. To be honest it is easier to give an injection (he was the kid who passed out at his 5 year vaccinations) then it is to have him sit and read with us.

As I said he is very bright, a TOTAL hands on learner. He will remember minuet things, visually and phonically but then reading is a huge struggle. We will read very repetitive, age appropriate books and he gets stumped page to page, usually with the small words, e.g., in, an, at, as, etc. He also confuses d & b and has called "n" "i", which really floored us because he has 3 n's in his first name.

He writes with his right hand but can bat and holds his lacrosse stick like a lefty.

I am going to research a little more then talk to the special ed teacher at his school. They are talking about retaining him but I don't want to just retain I want to know he will be given the tools necessary to read without so much "pain".

[LizinTX]

Sarah is dyslexic, she is 9 (b-day in March) and she just learned to read this school year. I taught her with the book *Teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons*. We finished the book around Christmas, and I just tested her at the beginning of May, she is right on target.

Before I found that book, we had lots of tears trying to read and write. Oh, and I am teaching her how to spell with AVKO, this is a company that figured out how dyslexics spell and so they teach that way. Believe me if you are not dyslexic this method really makes no sense. After the first 4 or 5 tests, I saw a marked improvement. She even does better when she is just writing things in other subjects too, spelling-wise.

She is also right handed, but she has Cerebral Palsy that affected more her left side than her right, and way more her legs than her arms.

Hope this helps.

[Madisonsmom]

Madison is also dyslexic she was dxd when she was in 2nd grade so we have been at this a while. She scores amazing on oral exams no problem at all. Madison has been in the gifted program here since 1st grade. Most dyslexics are very smart people often above average.

Madison gets extra help at school and is doing very well. This year she has started getting extra books at the library on her own she really enjoys reading now something that a few years ago she hated.

It is work for everyone to help a dyslexic child make sure you push the school to do whats right. I know ours would not label her dyslexic they have some hangup about that label.

[Jacob'sDad]

My oldest boy wasn't exactly diagnosed dyslexic, but he does have slow processing speed. I always say everything has to go into his head and get translated into "Logan" before he can use it.
When he was little he would write with either hand and would write mirror image with his right hand. He now writes left handed even though he does everything else right handed. He can pass a spelling test but can't spell. If that doesn't make sense it's because he can memorize how to spell words by themselves but can't access that info when writing sentences. His writing assignments are usually an unorganized mess where all the info is there, but is all mixed up in no particular order.

I personally have this problem that when I type I transpose letters constantly. I have to go back and correct all my mistakes. I swear I'm typing them in the right order but I make many mistakes.

[Wendy12571]

Man's mom and others,
I have a nephew who is older then me. I forget how much older but he is at least 37. He is dyslexic. He wasn't diagnosed till he was much older. I will tell you though he is NOW a lawyer. He loves his job. They do have some adaptations but he actually says the having to read for his job helps him. I can put you in touch with my sister if you want me to. I know they used books on tape a lot with him. They got them through the recordings for the blind. The mom would also read some of the books to him. PM me and I will ask her if it okay for you to contact her.
Wendy

[lil'Man'sMom]

Man's mom and others,
I have a nephew who is older then me. I forget how much older but he is at least 37. He is dyslexic. He wasn't diagnosed till he was much older. I will tell you though he is NOW a lawyer. He loves his job. They do have some adaptations but he actually says the having to read for his job helps him. I can put you in touch with my sister if you want me to. I know they used books on tape a lot with him. They got them through the recordings for the blind. The mom would also read some of the books to him. PM me and I will ask her if it okay for you to contact her.
Wendy

Wendy,

Thank-you for the offer. I am going to do some more research and gather all my thoughts...So far the things I have read make me nervous because I sense that most publics schools will not jump to test and the medical field passes it back to the educational facility because it is not a medical disability. Plus there are many variations, if you will, with Dyslexia that many test have to be done to get a correct diagnosis. So never the less, I want all my ducks in a row with as much information that I can understand before I ask his school to test. They have been wonderful so far with all the diabetes stuff and his LD.

I just want my son to not be so frustrated with the reading process. It breaks my heart :(

Your cousin was older when dx. Was he in public schools?

[lil'Man'sMom]

Madison is also dyslexic she was dxd when she was in 2nd grade so we have been at this a while. She scores amazing on oral exams no problem at all. Madison has been in the gifted program here since 1st grade. Most dyslexics are very smart people often above average.

Madison gets extra help at school and is doing very well. This year she has started getting extra books at the library on her own she really enjoys reading now something that a few years ago she hated.

It is work for everyone to help a dyslexic child make sure you push the school to do whats right. I know ours would not label her dyslexic they have some hangup about that label.

What specific test did they run to diagnose and who did the testing? I have read that you need to have a physiologist that specializes in dyslexia not just special ed/learning differences.