Son's lit. skills like a leaky boat...plug 1 hole another ap

Laura,

At eight these are early days, yet.

I am finally seeing the light at the end of
our tunnel with my 13-yr-old dyslexic son,
and it is a rather dim light but it is there!

Our main goal was and is to keep our son
positive about himself and school, we told
him everything will work out and we don’t
have any worries about him and his future.
I sure helps to keep this in mind when we
have a rough reading day.

hangeth in there!
Anne

Sounds like you did a lot this summer!

My son had the same problem with remembering what letters and numbers looked like. At 14 I still think this is still an issue to a degree. At seven he would write the first letter of his name backwards in his writing. I asked him why he didn’t do it when he wrote his name on his paper. He said because I know to place it so it doesn’t fall of the edges of the paper.

Here are some suggestions. At a teacher supply stores they have strips with the alphabeth that can be bought that can be stuck down on the desk at school. It comes in a roll and each child in the class could have one. Also, if he is in 3rd and hasn’t started learning keyboarding start it this year. My son does most of his writing vis the computer.

Helen

He honestly didnt do too bad with cursive instruction in 2nd grade. First week of 3rd grade the school machinery went awry and teacher did a quick handwritten homework sheet using whatever copier worked

DS was clueless-I jotted down a short easy note in MY cursive-he was a weak reader but this was a big fat zero-he was overwhelmed! Spelling tests came home graded low not because he didnt know the words(by golly we worked our butts off studying)but because he put 2 humps on a M.

I specified he could not be required to use cursive and in 5th, that still stands. I have no intention of changing it. My oldest two are in high school and only print-no LDs, just preference-past the early grades no one really cares!

Honestly, his spelling improved overall when he went back to print-it was just one less thing to deal with in an already stretched brain.

Thanks so much for helping me feel a little better. We’re at a new elementary school which happens to have the highest scores in all the nearby districts and is often referred to jokingly by other parents as “the university.” The other day I received a flyer that said if a student scores below something like the 40th or 50th percentile in any of their SAT9 testing they’ll be retained! I was kind of shocked by that. It seemed like a threat. I threw the letter out, but I should go back and get a copy because I want to double check on that number.

And then, in addition to all of this I received a syllibus for the year and each month my son will have a “major” book report due with the first starting next month. The first one is realistic fiction (would this include “Henry and Mudge” books? Yeah, right!). My son would have a difficult enough time doing this assignment even if I read a book to him. I guess somehow I’m just going to have to figure out a way that he can do this… I’m not yet sure how long or involved this book needs to be, or exactly what’s expected in this report, but that’s the next step.

Thanks again for all the positive words and support!

Laura,

I searched with google and found the following:

Realistic books have plots, characters, and settings that might be found in real life. The characters in the books on this list are dealing with life’s ups and downs.

http://www.monroe.lib.in.us/childrens/realbib.html

Like you were are also like university school and district. When my kids were in elementry school the high stacks testing was not as high stack as it is now. I can understand how your stress level must be going up It brought back some 3rd-5th grade memories of some stressed out times. It is probably a good idea to clarify the SAT-9 retention rule but it might be different for students on IEP’s. My older son read Mr. Henshaw in 3rd grade from the list above. It is a good one. We checkout out both the tape version and hardcover book from the library and he listened to it as he read along. The print in the hardcover was big.

Helen

Helen

I think all “realistic” means is not science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, tall tale (so “Holes” is out) - but who knows what any one teahcer will decide. There’s that English Teacher syndrome that makes them want to traumatize everybody — if nobody dies a horrible death (or at least the dog or the horse) then it can’t be a good book, right? You might think about “My name is Brain/Brian” or “Do Bananas Chew Gum?” which are both about kiddos wihtLDs and they’re not too long — and you could start now…

Wow! Those are great ideas. I love the idea of reading some books about kids with LDs and also the idea of having my son both read and then listen to a book on tape….that’s great!!!!

Over the last two years I’ve been having my son listen to books on tape every night to help with his auditory skills (SID). I do think it may be helping his listening and may even be helping with language skills.

But the idea of incorporating all of this in the book report is wonderful! Thanks so much!!!! :-)

I second the Brian/Brain book. We also use booktapes both for school and for pleasure. I like the website www.bookadventure.com because you can specify both reading level and genre. It has been immensely helpful to hit the library with a list, in hand, of books within my daughter’s interest range and reading level.
Good luck.

You need to write a letter to the school, “remindng” them and quoting what it says in his IEP. I would think that they cannot count off for ill formed letters on a spelling test. I would suggest that you have a “chat” with his teacher. If a child has a documented disability, and cannot write in a certain form, he should not be penalized for it. Of course, I’m a pretty assertive parent.

In Third grade my son had a perfect spelling test except for reversals which were marked wrong. I talked to the regular teacher and she said it was a grade level policy. I talked to the Resource Teacher and she said since it was part of the disability it shouldn’t be marked wrong and she would talk to the teacher. She did and it was straightened out. The one thing that didn’t always happen is that the reverals were not always corrected in his work. Correction is important.

Helen

In response to the SAT9, when my dau picked up her schedule for 7th grade this past week, I was given a letter about her being placed into Directed Math and the Literacy Zone (both extra classes for math and reading respectively) because her SAT 9 were so low! I spoke with her co-taught teacher who tutored her over the summer and both decided to remove her from the math and the reading is on a trial basis. What really gets me is that is too little WAY TOO LATE!…We battle the district from 1st gr til end of 4th gr just to get her services and NOW in 7th they are finally realizing she can’t pass their tests! Also if she did take both of these extra classes she must give up classes she really enjoys-Home Ec, Tech Ed, Art and Keyboarding! I would really check into their SAT 9 criteria and begin now to take a stand!

Hi Laura
I am a dyslexia college senior. I don’t use handwriting,I don’t need handwriting. I agree learning how to type would be a good idea for your son, but I personally gave that one up and switch to a dictator.

They other thing you might consider is getting books on tape through RFB&D(Recording for Blind and Dyslexia) and National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped . RFB&D are mainly textbooks and National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is mainly regular types of books from fiction to nonfiction and they probably have a bigger selection of books for children.

Just give your son positive support. He will make it. Most of all don’t get down on yourself because your son will see that he needs you to be his biggest support .

Sincerely,
See
PS~I still have days when I can write letters backwards ,switch around and too many other thing. Don’t worry about that.

Royce,

You should find out what the consequences are for you child if she does not do well the next year on the SAT-9. Will low scores effect graduation from 8th grade? You don’t want any more surprises. Some of the papers they send home on this are not very clear. Our districts written policy in middle school states that if a child fails any class they are required to make it up or they will not graduate from 8th grade.

Helen

I know that I forgot how to make a capital K in cursive some time in the summer before Grade 5 or Grade 6. It’s just not a common letter and you get little practice with it. I remember looking at my paper and saying “how does this thing work again?” I also wasn’t too sure about capital Q, G, and a few others. So I just added an entering line and leaving line to my printing and made the letters sloped and curvy, and they worked just fine. In fact people seemed to like my writing because it was nice and clear — still terribly large at that point (I have eye-hand coordination problems) but Mrs. Ross in Grade 3 had given me an excellent foundation and it got better over the years (Unlike students who bloom early and fade early — good strong roots are much better.) I still prefer my own K and Q to the standard taught. Mrs. Ross also taught us a print-like lower-case r, and I like it better and teach it; the standard r has bad rhythm and turns all too easily into a bump on a log. I’ve seen this kind of r coming back into use by other people too. Also I’ve made my cursive p and b more print-like (takes a day of self-retraining the new form and a few weeks of reminding yourself); people also like these for the readability, and I’ve seen them coming into common use,
My daughter never really learned capital cursive letters. She had really bad hand coordination problems and a couple of really awful teachers in Grades 2 and 3, and the capitals were hardly taught at all by the incompetent substitute. So she kept using print capitals into Grade 5, and then followed my lead into making them look more cursive. People now compliment her on her handwriting.

So if a kid forgets how to form a few letters, especially less common ones and especially cursive less-common capitals, it’s nothing out of the way and is an easily-solved problem. Most schools no longer have a formal writing program, some none at all, and most none after Grade 3, so as long as the letter is recognizable and appropriately placed you usually don’t get any grief past the writing teaching stage. (In the writing teaching stage, Grades 2-3, I’m afraid I side with the teacher who is trying to teach one subject — if you let everyone invent their own style with no boundaries, you get some pretty horrendous messes — I’ve seen and attempted to correct some of these.)

I teach kids to print using strong directionality — important to avoid those reversals — and as few pen lifts as physically possible. This is the easiest form of printing and it’s rhythmic and fairly fast once you are used to it. (Unfortunately hard to reteach old habits, but worth doing to get rid of reversals and unreadability.) This kid of printing turns immediately intop cursive by adding lead-in and lead-out strokes. No, it doesn’t look exactly like Miss Smith’s model cursive book, but whose real everyday writing does?
Email me if you’d like details on how this works.

Thanks for sharing this! It’s very positive and encouraging to hear from a college senior like yourself. You give me a lot of hope and your advise about being strong, positive and supportive makes a lot of sense.

Your family must be very proud of you. :-)

How interesting. You post has made me think a lot about both my
daughter’s writing development and my own. For example, I’ve always prefered printing and only sign my name in handwriting (or cursive..in my earlier post I used the term incorrectly) Even non-LD kids often have their own little idiosyncrasies. And I certainly have plenty (or at least I’m noticing them more!)

I’ll have to email you regarding a description of the cursive writing you teach. Thanks for sharing this information!

Last year they considered putting the “no cursive” provision in my daughter’s IEP. The problem is that her printing is about as illegible as her cursive. Also, she didn’t want to be seen “different” and print. But she also often missed spelling words more because of her difficulty with cursive than with spelling (although her spelling is abysmal).

I am considering talking with my daughter and her teachers about it for this year. Thanks for bringing it up.

Margo

P.S. - whenever she writes anything at home she automatically prints.

According to Jerome Rosner. Apparently it is easier because they don’t have to stop and think about the spacing between each letter.

I have been teaching my son cursive this summer with handwriting without tears and it does seem easier for him. Although he has a way to go……..

You do what is habitual to you. Whatever you learn first especially at a young age is “easy”. In Europe cursive is taught from age 5, so Europeans think cursive is “easy” and they blank when they are told to print. My Chinese students think Chinese is easy and English is hard — and for *them* it is. When I was a kid, we learned swimming with resting strokes such as breast and elementary back first, and “harder” fast strokes such as crawl later; my daughter’s generation was rushed into racing on the swim team as soon as they could walk and was taught crawl first and breast later, so they think crawl is “easy” and breast stroke is “hard”. Moral of the story — don’t get too involved in students’ complaints of easy or hard, because anything is easy once you know how and anything is hard the first time you try it. Be very patient with beginners because what is easy to you is very hard to them, but lead them through it until they too have mastered it.

I’ve wondered if enrolling my son in an art class would help with this. But from what I’ve read writing and art are driven by different parts of the brain. And yet, I still wonder if it might be helpful. Lettering is just so labourous for my son it would be nice if he had an easier time with it.

Victoria, what might be the best remediation for this? Lots of practice maybe?

Hello Laura:

Does your son want to take ART classes? What is your son’s strong in ? Help your son finds his GIFT and TALENTS. That is what going to make the difference in his life not knowing handwriting.

Good luck.

See

There are various kinds of art classes. The splash paint around and express yourself sort won’t do much for him. Neither will the sort that insist everybody imitate a certain style. However, skill-type classes such as controlled watercolour painting, and crafts classes especailly pottery classes, and if he is up for it, calligraphy classes, can be absolutely wonderful. In a good class you get to make something you want to, with a fair degree of choice; you are *taught* the skill (very important — same as school, you don’t pick it up from thin air); and you develop coordination through practice doing something you want to do. My daughter benefited very much from classes in woodworking and calligraphy.

As far as writing itself, controlled practice with an organized and systematic and simple printing or basic cursive pattern; writing tools that require NO pressure (markers are good, or fountain pens); and writing large on a white board or very large paper, to develop smooth movements and not cramped wrist-twisting which causes both fatigue and uinreadable scratches.

Well…actually, he hasn’t expressed an interest in art, and he doesn’t seem to have a talent in it. But I have noticed he’s much better at it than his sister had been (which isn’t saying a whole lot! She hated drawing!!!).

And yet, seeing that it’s something he’s not “terrible” at makes me wonder if just trying an art class might be worthwhile.

Sort of like, wanting a child to just try various things, just in case there’s an undiscovered talent hidden in there. I think my son has a creative mind.

Great ideas!!!! I hadn’t thought of pottery, but that seems like an excellent idea for someone like my son. Also, a friend recently mentioned a woodworking class for kids that was being offered at the local parks and rec. I’m going to look for that catalog!

Laura,

Try having him walk a letter and then draw it. My son’s ot explained that they learn with the large muscles first then can integrate with the smaller muscles. My son had trouble with the script f and when he did this he immediately got it. This seems to be something similar to what Victoria said. Larger arm muscles then moving down to the smaller muscles.

My son’s OT can explain this much better. It was a very interesting concept.

My son has done much better with script. He finds himself writing in script even though he is intending to print even though he just started with the script.
I think different kids with different issues find different things easier.

Hi Laura:

I posted the following question on the LD adults bulletin board:

A quick question to all of you out there with LD.

Do you print or use handwriting?

The reason I asked this is because there’s a huge discussion on the discussion board for Parent of LD Children.

I personally don’t use handwriting and don’t like it.

The responses have been really interesting go check it out at http://forums.weta.org/ldonline/phorum/read.php?f=16&i=856&t=853.
if you have trouble with the directly it under the adults LD bulletin board and I entitled it “Do you print or use handwriting?”

Sincerely,
See

Hi Laura:
I was sitting around the table today talking to bunch of my friends all of them are LD and in college . The thing we were talking about first was printing vs. curses. But that conversation did not fly for long .the one thing came up with we all had learned to cook at very young age. Because you can learn many skills without reading or very little reading. From fine motor to putting things in order. I thought you would find it interesting.

Sincerely,
See

PS~I am pretty sure SAT-9 is only given California. I was wondering if you live in California and what city?

How interesting….I’ll give that a try. I also like the idea of having a huge piece of paper or dry erase and having him start with big arm movements.

Hi See,
I’m in Los Angeles. Are you in California? That’s interesting about the cooking. I have two friends locally whose children have learning differences. I’ll have to ask them if they’ve taught their children to cook (or if their kids have learned it on their own). My son is not the most independent kid. He can pour a glass of milk (and half the time he no longer spills it!).

Hello Laura :

Yes I live in Huntington Beach , California.

Have you look in to getting your son books on tapes from The Recordings for Blind and Dyslexia and in California the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped is ran by Braille Institute? Those two things totally made a different in my life and I probably would not have gone to college without those assistants.

Is your son on traditional schedule or year-round?

Help your son become more independent. Do I really need to say that. Seriously teaching him how to cook and do other stuff around the house. The independent living skills are just as important as learning how to read , write and math.

Sincerely,
See