7 yr old son- dyslexia

Amy,

I would suggest posting your son’s complete test scores. There are some very knowledgeable people here who will be able to give you some advice. I have found that our school will not use the term “dsylexic”. The term you will hear is specific learning disability. I’m sure your school has children who are labled sp.ed. just not being referred to as dsylexic

There has been a discussion recently on the DyslexiaSupport list about how exactly dyslexia is defined. You can join the group at http://www.groups.yahoo.com. There is a search feature in the messages section of the list, which is very helpful for finding specific information.

I would suggest getting the book “Reading Reflex”, from a bookstore or the library.

Schools often won’t do anything about reading and phonemic awareness until 3rd grade. I wouldn’t wait that long, or waste energy trying to get ineffective services from the school. It is often more effective (and easier) to remediate at home.

Nancy

I will also confirm that the term “dyslexia” is not used in schools. The law does call it a specific learning disability. This is rarely effectively remediated in school. I like Phono-Graphix (Reading Reflex) very much, but if your child has written langauge problems, you may need a more comprehensive program. If it were me, I’d now go somewhere for a private evaluation to get some specific recommendations for remediation in your area. Do not wait…this needs attention immediately.

Janis

He sounds just like my son and they never use the word dyslexia. He needs a good tutor who will do direct teaching with him. My son fell apart in 2nd grade and like a dummy, I believed the higher ups that any tutoring to be done for my son was soley my responsiblity. Let me tell you right now that is not the case. I fought and they ended up paying $50 a week for him to be tutored. I don’t have a lot of money and went to a law disabilities clinic and was represented for free. Do not ever take no for an answer, if you push enough, you will suceed. You may have to go to due process but I can almost guarentee before you get to that point you will have the tutor of your choice paid for. Forget the programs and start out with a good tutor who specializes in teaching dyslexics first. Then you can implement the reading programs later but he needs a good one on one now. I wish you luck. Liz

Frankly, I have never understood the insistence to call a child dyslexic. Dyslexia is a reading disability. When I attended college one professor used to tell us there were 32 (some huge number) of definitions of dyslexia, to which one are you referring. Today we seem to have more or less agreed that it is a reading disability at the word reading level. Most reading disabilities could be called dyslexia. It is a bit like arguing over whether to use the term “epilepsy” or “seizure disorder.”

The legal term as defined in the law is learning disability. Under LD, dyslexia is mentioned as an LD. It makes no difference whatsoever whether we call a child dyslexic or LD, except that to classify a child under the current law we must use the term LD. The psycho-educational assessment should have (did) pinpointed some specific issues that are related to low reading scores: phonological processing and rapid naming (may or may not be a phonological issue). Beyond this, the child is LD and probably qualified for an IEP. The IEP should address his deficits, it does not matter what you call them.

Refusing to label a child “dyslexic” should be moot and having nothing to do with the services. The services are based on need.

Email me and I will send you an outline of effective tutoring methods for your son. These are research-based approaches, tried and true. No miracles, but with time and hard work you can get this straightened out. Don’t wait until he has more and more problems, but start an effective tutoring program right away.

Hi Amy,
If your son scored very poorly in phonological processing (phonemic awareness) that would be a good indication to the school that your son may be dyslexic. Yet, I get the feeling many schools are hesitant to make that diagnosis. In addition, low RAN can be an accurate indicator of a reading disability. (My “dyslexic” son has strong PA, but very poor RAN).

From the research I’ve there are three “types” of dyslexics.
1) Phonological difficulties (single deficit)
2) RAN deficit (single deficit)
3) Phonological difficulties with RAN deficit (double deficit)

Children with double deficit dyslexia will probably need more intensive remediation (i.e. strong phonics, orthographic drilling, repeated reading, etc…).

I’m going to guess there are probably other dyslexic children at your school who are not diagnosed or recognized as “dyslexic.” Some kids figure out ways to compensate, work below ability or hide their disability with behaviorial problems.

The main thing you need to do is begin working on these deficits NOW. Possible programs that might be helpful would be PG, Seeing Stars, Orthographic Speed Drills, repeated decodable reading, vision therapy — You will most likely need a daily combination of a few different programs. Don’t wait for the school to give you a diagnosis. Good luck and don’t get discouraged! Progress sometimes takes A LOT of time.

It has nothing to do with getting services or not - that’s a separate issue.

We gave my son that word because its widely known out in the regular word, and doesn’t have as negative connotation as many other related disorders. (What I mean is its not as negative to all those people that don’t understand this stuff - its all the same to me…)

He likes it too - more than “reading problem” which is what he used to call it.

You are on top of this early. With proper, intensive remediation you may be very pleased with the progress he can make. There are many methods that are tried and tested and if you read these boards you’ll learn about them. Reading Reflex, a good Orton Gillingham tutor or Lindamood Bell are at the top of the list. If you can swing it, we found Lindamood bell (www.lindamoodbell.com) to be very effective in a short period of time.

Make the sacrifices now and they will be worth it in the long run. The longer you wait to intervene the harder it is on him.

Welcome!

Good for you, Karen, for sharing the up side of the “problem”. Remediation is possible and the sooner it begins, the better the outcome.