10 y.o. ld son (very long)

You may be able to find a phonographix tutor through the readamerica.net website. (I just ran a quick check for New York City and it came up blank. This may be a web problem. Perhaps you could call the clinic in Orlando for a name in your area—they are quite helpful.) The other thing is that CAPD evaluations normally are covered by insurance and are actually pretty cheap, relative to, for example, a neuropsych evaluation. Also don’t hesitate to call up the neuropsych for referrals for good CAPD testing places or tutors. (I’ve been down this route before—to get an SLP for my ds I had to contact 20 places before I found a therapist who wasn’t booked. Some places said they’d put me on a waiting list—I’m still waiting to hear from them seven years later. Just keep digging for referrals and calling—with diligence you will locate someone eventually.)

Gosh you know your story is so close to mine. It was almost painful to read. We even took a turn at reading recovery.

Phonographix worked to get my son reading. He reads at or above grade level. My son still has difficulty with writing and spelling but if you only knew how far he has come. We moved him from sped this year and he does really well in class mostly because he has an open minded, flexible teacher. She is a real gem and exactly what he needed.

I have honestly considered puting an ad in my local paper to find a tutor who can do lindamood bell seeing stars with him. I think I know enough from these boards to do a pretty good job at ascertaining what they know. I wouldn’t get into seeing stars unless he had the phonemic awareness piece figured out first.

Thanks for the info. Will check insurance for CAPD eval. coverage. I also checked Brooklyn for a PG tutor and came up blank

Even if you can’t get a tutor you can do the Reading Reflex book yourself with your son. The good thing is that the beginning of the book will be a piece of cake for him so it builds some confidence. It will also help you see what he doesn’t understand.

Try getting a college student or even a teeanager to work with him. Many times another person does better than mom to hold the interest. It is a huge plus that he wants to read make sure you explain that it is not his fault that he just needs some help reading.

I also have a 10 yr. old extremely atheletic son who was being bored to death with the reading books he had last year. This year he has a great teacher and his books are mysteries and boy stuff. It is no longer a fight to read and he is doing much much better.

Good luck and don’t give up.

I think from all the posts, and yours, RR will be good for him.He has no idea of phonics, phenomes, syllables, blending. Last night “fled” came out “feld”, “erected” was “”created”, “bulging” was “building”. He had no idea for “permanent” or “threaded”-that’s a hard one! However, he got “hostile” with no problem!?! I think that he is relieved to know that his brain works differently, I try to keep it positive, and our battles are much fewer and less intense ( a lot of this is my understanding of his problem.) Now I don’t mind that I read a paragraph and he reads the next, and I don’t mind being his scribe (hand writing is usually atrocious.)

Math is generally not a problem. He had the times tables down pretty well last year, forgot them over the summer, but they came back. Fractions so far are going ok. Word problems are a different thing altogether-last night (not a good night), we encountered stuff like this: Add 7 to the difference of 347 and 324. What to do first? What is this difference of two numbers separated by “and?” I really have no idea how to explain this to him, but I said that this is the first time that we’d seen this type of problem, and we’ll practice them. J has some problems with “executive functioning”—I’m not quite sure what that is, although I’m sure the neuro-psych told me.

Get the parent supplement that goes along with Reading Reflex. Since your son already reads on a 3rd grade level, most of your time will be spent working on advanced code. The parent supplement makes that a lot easier. Call the company to make sure you order the right one.

I am confused about why your school system is not considering your son for Special Education services. He looks as though he would qualify. You should contact the Special Education Director and ask for an Eligibility Meeting to determine if your son would qualify for services as a student with a learning disability in the area of reading. My son began receiving these types of services in fourth grade. We were lucky in that he was never actually pulled from class, but was included in small spelling and reading groups with the ld teacher, who went into the classroom. Although, reading is no longer an issue, spelling and writing continue to be and the accomodations at the High School level are imperative to keep a kid on track and to keep his self esteem in tact! Homework is still an issue!!!

Schools prefer not to provide expensive services. So parents have to demonstrate some degree of forcefulness — anything from minor to supreme court.

From what I understand from other parents, you need to request a *full* evaluation *in writing*. Once you deliver this (registered of course, amnd keep a cdated copy) the school has to respond in a timely manner — usually 560 to 90 days. Now, that puts you at the end of the school year, but you may be able to get somewhere for the next one.

Your son should be able to get some sort of special ed reading help aimed at dyslexia/CAPD (hoping and praying that your school does have a knowledgeable teacher, but hey, worth a try). He can also get extended time on tests and adapted homework, which may be useful. On the other hand, since even with no good teaching he has reached a Grade 3 reading level, he can definitely learn to read. Many people use readers and scribes and computer voice generation and books on tape but all of this is complex and slow and best reserved for after nothing else works.

I have a list of places to look for tutors, some in person and some online. Start with ISER.com
Please email me by clicking on my name above and I’ll send you a copy of the full list.

Reading Reflex has a good reputation here. You need some kind of decoding-based program, absolutely; your son’s case is absolutely typical of a the disaster of memorize and guess programs. The name of the program is less important than the professionalism of the person delivering it, yourself or otherwise. I can direct you to other materials that would be helpful, if you wnat to work woth him yourself.
The present tutoring may actually be making the situation worse by feeding into his weaknesses (guessing) rather than building them up. This is common, especially at his level.

When he starts a good decoding program, he is going to have to do some unlearning and changing habits. There will be a few bumps on the road, and he may have to take several steps back before he can move forward in the right direction. Be prepared for this and be patient. My tutoring students often show results within the first ten hours or even less, but I won’t guarantee anything.

I have been trying to get communicate with his regular teacher. Yesterday I faxed him a request for a meeting within the week. Spoke with him at the a.m.lineup for about 2 minutes expressing my concern that J cannot transcribe 10 verbal questions for lit. homework. Neither J nor I can decipher what he wrote. Teacher said that a lot of kids are having similar problems, and he is teaching them a skill that is essential in public school!! This teacher is supposed to be one of the better teachers at this school, but is apparently having a lot of trouble with the class this year…I’m wondering if he has a bunch of ld students this year, that he doesn’t recognize that he needs to change his teaching style.I can see that the teacher just doesn’t get it and will have to go the formal route.

I think that J will easily learn to read, but will also have writing/spelling problems as you point out, nikerikmom-he only wants to do the bare minimum (3 sentences in a paragraph,etc), can’t seem to get things out of his head. Lots of, “Mom, where’s my thingamajingy?”, even when the thingamajingy is his GameBoy!

Well, it’s a *good* thing that the teacher has high expectations and thinks the kids can learn and work in the regular school.

Unfortunately, like far too many teachers whose preparation is lacking, he has never learned the difference between teaching, drilling, and testing. First you teach bit by bit, then you drill and practice for mastery and speed, and finally at the end you expect full mastery and test. Like far too many teachers, he has jumped right into the testing phase without actually teaching first.

If he wants to *teach* students to transcribe oral questions, he needs to start with only one or two, not ten; he needs to dictate them very slowly in short phrases of three or four words; and he needs to go around the class after each phrase and see that the students with difficulties have them at least reasonably correct. Try to find a tactful way to suggest this approach to him.

to look at his work. This was a solution he proposed 2 months ago. I have a H.W. dictated entry “why was we are runnin N asout moic lornt adout loo mals out” Who knows what this is?? I think the teacher has no idea what. is going on. He said that whatever my son’s disability is, he’s compensating very well. And he is! And could do so much better, with the proper instruction. IEP next.