Orthographic dyslexia???

Could you list the specific recommendations? I’d be very interested, as my dd now reads fluently above grade level (thanks to interventions) but is many grades behind in spelling. I have done about 3 months worth of intensive investigation of spelling programs, and am now just waiting for some support materials for the approach I decided would work best for us.

Orthography is spelling. I’ve never heard of the term “orthographic dyslexia” before, but it must refer to someone like my daughter who can read but can’t spell. It would have to be just a descriptive term — not a medical diagnosis.

The book “Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills” contains an excellent chapter on how best to teach spelling to dyslexics. I tried the recommendations in this chapter, and they worked very well for dd — bringing her spelling level up from K-1 to grade 2/3 in about 2 months. However, it is not a full spelling program. After collecting 6 or 8 different spelling programs to examine, I have finally settled on Wanda Sanseri’s “WISE Guide to Spelling” (in conjunction with her book “Teaching Reading at Home and School”, and her phonogram and spelling cards). It is a highly structured approach to spelling that emphasizes word analysis skills. (My 10yo dd has good word analysis skills for reading, but not for spelling, and is very insensitive to spelling patterns. She needed explicit instruction in decoding to learn to read, and now I think she needs explicit instruction in spelling in order to spell.)

In short, I think “orthographic dyslexia” just means poor spelling. After all of the research I have done, I am simply amazed at how many poor spelling programs are on the market, and how schools seem not to have a clue about how to teach spelling. Poor spelling can be caused by “dysteachia” as well as by just an inborn insensitivity to picking up spelling patterns from reading.

Mary

Hi Mary,
It does seem to have to do with spelling and with understanding patterns in the language. After what seems like a millionth re-read of the report they say that he needs more testing to determine whether there is a secon deficit with phonological processing. …”profile of a student with Dyslexia, which is primarily orthographic in nature. This is substantiated by his difficulty with visual memory for rules and patterns and is related specifically to grapheme configurations… This is misinterpreted as phonological problems, because the child has problems retaining sound/symbol patterns within his visual memory.”
It also says that it is not a visual-spatial disability based on other tests.
My daughter does have a visual-spatial disability, and she cannot spell well at all, although she can read very well, and that has never been an issue.
My son, however, cannot read, write, spell or do math.
Can your daughter copy from the board?
The reccommendations I got address spelling in several ways: to create a sound dictionary. Also, and the main suggestion about spelling specifically, learn rule and non-rule governed words targeted in reading. Non rule governed words practiced using a modified Orton-Gillingham approach. With daily pretest, post test, and data gathering. Sequence:
1. words written on the left side of the page;
2. D reads the word, spells the word, traces the word;
3. D reads the word, spells the word, writes the word with a visual cue;
4. D reads the word, spells the word and writes the word with no visual cue.

Develop sentences with the word being focused on.
Most of the suggestions are for reading, and the sriting/spelling fall into that context. If you want more send your address privately and I can mail them to you, because the recommendations are quite extensive (5 pages.)
Karen

That’s really interesting.

My dd was not reading at all at age 8-1/2yo (how old is your son?). After about 30 hours of one-on-one tutoring with me using Reading Reflex, she could decode words at a 2nd/3rd grade level (given unlimited time), but her reading was extremely dysfunctional — skipped words, substituted words, skipped lines, no awareness of punctuation or inflection, etc.

I took her to a developmental optometrist and she was diagnosed with severe developmental vision delays involving focusing speed, tracking, field-of-vision, binocularity, etc. At the end of 6 months of vision therapy she tested as age-appropriate in all of the visual efficiency skills, but we hadn’t seen much improvement in her reading fluency. I asked that she be tested for dyslexia and I was told she was “dyseidetic” — no visual memory for words. By sitting in on the tests, I immediately realized that she would have also tested as “dysphonesic” had I not worked with her using Reading Reflex, so I figured there must be something that could help her dyseidesia.

After the dyseidesia diagnosis, I took her to a speech and language pathologist for a complete speech and language eval. Her score on the LAC (Lindamood Bell test) was abysmal — kindergarten level, and she had extreme difficulty manipulating phonemes. The SLP said she had “impressive receptive language skills” and diagnosed her with “extremely disordered phonological awareness”.

We then did PACE (http://www.learninginfo.com), which seemed to develop all of her visual processing skills, and greatly improved her phonological processing. Dd’s reading fluency was completely normal by the end of PACE — speed, inflection, phrasing, etc.

We followed up on PACE with a Phono-Graphix intensive (http://www.readamerica.net), which gave her advanced decoding skills. Now, at age 10-1/2, she reads at a 5th/6th grade level with excellent comprehension. Howver, up until two months ago — when I started her on the strategies in the “Multisensory” book — her spelling was K-1st grade level. Now it’s about 2nd/3rd grade level.

The recommendations you are quoting have been pretty standard for the last 20 years. The spelling program I have found that best meets these requirements (and my additional requirements, such as ease of use) is Wanda Sanseri’s. She provides everything — assessment tests, frequency of sound, rules, their exceptions and why they’re exceptions, hierachy of rule application, etc. She doesn’t assume the child can read. In fact, the approach is used to teach reading as well as spelling. (I don’t actually advocate this use of the program, because I think the Reading Reflex approach is much better for reading. However, in your situation it might be useful.)

My daughter had been able to copy from the board in school — better than some of the other kids. On the developmental vision tests, her visual closure score was very high. However, she had very poor control of her printing and seems to be mildly dysgraphic (I say mildly, because some dysgraphics can’t write at all).

One thing I can recommend is a developmental vision exam. It’s a specialty area — regular optometrists and opthalmologists don’t have the training — but you can find certified developmental optometrists by geographic area at http://www.covd.org. Medical insurance often covers it, or at least the part that is a standard vision exam. A developmental exam involves about 20 additional tests of visual functioning. If your son can’t copy from the board, he probably has a visual/motor integration problem. Although a developmental vision exam will test integration to some extent, you would probably want an OT evaluation of visual/motor integration also.

The other thing I recommend is a CAPD eval. Auditory processing disorders can have wide-ranging effects on the ability to learn, and I think they can affect math as well as reading. (My dd has problems with math facts, but not math concepts.) Again, this is a specialty area and regular audiologists don’t have the training. You can find CAPD specialists at http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/ (click on links and scroll almost to bottom of page). A CAPD eval is often covered by medical insurance, and the audiologist’s office should be able to tell you what you need to do to get coverage.

After my last post, I realized that orthography refers to more than just spelling. It really encompasses all the rules governing language — so I suppose it includes grammar?

I have concluded that my daughter’s problems have stemmed primarily from a combination of vision deprivation in her early years combined with a phonological processing weakness not related to auditory processing. (Her CAPD tests were fine.) It may be that your son has a combination of problems also — probably not exactly the same. It would be helpful to get at the root of what is causing the “orthographic dyslexia” in case there are possibilities of reducing the actual deficits instead of just working around them. (That’s what vision therapy and PACE did for dd.)

Sorry to rattle on so long. It isn’t often I run across something so similar to our experience!

Mary

Hi Mary,
The similarities are interesting. D is almost 9. I started with Reading Reflex a couple of years ago and it worked well. However, he went back to school and started with Wilson and Orton Gillingham, so I didn’t continue with RR. He is just too tired when he gets home from school.
I am actually planning to go back to RR with him, because it seemed to be more effective than the other programs (which are hardly effective at all).
Thanks for the info on PACE and the optomotrist (sp?). A friend of mine went for one of those exams with her son and really liked the person, so I think we’ll check it out. I am not sure why but CAPD has been ruled out, but I am not convinced.
I asked about the copying from the board because this is something my NVLD (visual/spatial) daughter has serious difficulty with in addition to spelling. She is 14, and a school program that really helped was Cast-a-spell. She was taught with that in small group/1 on 1 for a couple of years. Her most common errors were corrected (brid for bird, for example). She began using a Franklin Speller in school in 7th grade, but continues to use a correctly spelled word—there when she means their—that is incorrect with some frequency. This is more difficult to remediate because spellers don’t get it.
She also was very good at spelling tests, but contextual spelling was a disaster.
I am glad your daughter finally caught up with reading! This can be very discouraging and it gives me hope for D.
If you want more info on my daughter’s accomodations I can look for them. I think there may be more on spelling, but the Cast a Spell was, as I said, very effective, as was a word book of her most frequently misspelled words.
Karen

CAPD may have been ruled out on the basis of tests done by the school. Although schools don’t have the equipment and training to do a full-scale CAPD eval, they do have some screening instruments. When a child passes the screenings, it usually means CAPD can be ruled out.

In the original Phono-Graphix research study the children who did not make progress as expected were referred for vision therapy. All of those children went through vision therapy and returned to the Phono-Graphix program, made progress as expected, and completed the program.

What really helped us with writing was Handwriting Without Tears (http://www.hwtears.com). A lot of OT’s and homeschoolers use it. We did cursive at home and it worked really well.

Developmentally, spelling is the last piece to fall into place. I didn’t start worrying about spelling until the reading hurdle had been fully cleared.

Does your son have trouble with math concepts, math facts, or both? My dd was fine with concepts but couldn’t memorize basic addition facts. PACE improved this a lot. A good interim way to teach math facts is Math Facts the Fun Way (http://www.citycreek.com). Once the facts are learned, we have used QuarterMile Math software to improve speed. Math-U-See and Singapore Math have been working well for us too.

If the problem is math concepts, then you still might want to get a CAPD eval done by an audiologist. I am working with a 13yo who can read but who can’t get to square one on math concepts, and I think it has something to do with his auditory processing disorder.

Mary

There are many definitions of orthography but it basically is the written symbols we use to represent the sounds we use in oral langauge. What the crux of your son’s problem appears to be that he doesn’t understand the sound/symbol relationship in language. He hasn’t made the “connection” between the orthographic symbols that are used to represent the phonological sounds in oral and written language. It sounds like you have some good suggestions. I would look into reading things written by Joseph Torgeson, Katts and Camhi to understand more about orthography. A Speech and Language pathologist would be of great assistance in teaching your son the skills he needs to read.

The LIPS program by Lindamood-Bell would be of great benefit to him as well. Good luck..

It seems to me there are 2 versions of such a problem. One is that the child can say the letters out loud, but can’t match their sounds with their knowledge of the letter. (Example: the child can recite the alphabet, and say the letter “A,” but if you ask him what the sounds for “A” are, he doesn’t know.) The other is that, while they can say the letters out loud (as with the above example), and they know the sounds orally, they can’t match their knowledge of the letter names and sounds with their written counterparts. (Example, the child can recite the alphabet; he can say the letter “A”; he knows its sounds are “ay” and “ah”; but when asked to identify a written “A” or its sound, he can’t do it.) It seems to me that in determining just what the child’s problem is, it would be necessary to gauge his oral knowledge as well as his ability to identify what’s in print.

By the same token, in finding out the nature of a spelling disability, it would be needful to find out if he can spell orally. Some kids with spelling disabilities can’t spell out loud or on paper. Others can spell words out loud, but when they try to write the words down, they find it impossible to do it correctly because they don’t know how the letters are supposed to look.

Anyway, that’s my 2 cents worth.

Yours truly,
Kathy G.