Help, I think my daughter is dyslexic, her school won't help

Hi, Chris,

I got your message, so here I am! I am a special ed teacher but also have a daughter in second grade with similar issues.

I think if you could only have one test done (which surely would not be the case), I think I’d want the CTOPP (Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing). That test has several subtests and will yield composite scores for phonemic awareness, phonological memory, and rapid naming.

Then, some other tests which would be helpful would be:

Gray Oral Reading Test-4 (GORT-4): rate, accuracy, fluency, comprehension

Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE): sight word efficiency, phonemic decoding efficiency, total word reading efficiency

Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III: receptive vocabulary

These are all tests which my child has been given and that are recommended or given by the best reading specialists (all of these but one were given by Lindamood Bell). There are some others that would work as well, but this gives you a good start.

I think it is good you have decided to homeschool. Schools don’t always have the remedial programs in place to help children with reading disorders. And even when they do, the child often doesn’t get enough one-on-one attention to really make progess.

Comprehension is effected by poor decoding, so it may be that there is not really a separate comprehension problem. So I’d first recommend dealing with the decoding problems.

Get a copy of the book “Reading Reflex” by Carmen and Geoffrey McGuinness (about $12 at amazon.com). It is a specialized reading method that works for many children with this problem. It’s a great place to begin even if you need to go on to another program later. The great thing about it is that a parent can just follow the lessons in the book and you do not have to go through a complicated training or anything like that. There are other good reading programs, but many require training and are much more complicated to do. And if Reading Reflex (also called Phono-Graphix) works as it usually does, then you’re in good shape!

I’d also recommend getting the computer CD-rom called Earobics. The only thing I’m not sure about is whether you should get level 1 or 2. Level 1 is for developmental ages 4-7 and 2 is for developmental ages 7-10. If she is really having trouble discriminating sounds, then you might need to start with level 1. Because of the shipping issues, you might just want to go ahead and order 1 and 2. Go to: www.earobics.com and look under home products. Each CD is about $59.

This is really enough for you to get started. I will be more than happy to help you again after you get some testing done. I’d really wait on other academics except maybe math while you deal with the reading issues. Of course, if she enjoys science or social studies, you can go ahead and read it to her.

Let me know if you ahve further questions!
Janis

Thank you Janis, I have spent countless hours online and have been so overwhelmed with all the books, studies etc. that are out there.

Do you know where I can find out about my daughters legal rights to receive testing and help? If they don’t have someone able to test her on our island do I insist they set something up for her to be tested in the states? I have a friend who carries the Amer. Disa. Act with her when she talks to her son’s school, but since my daughter hasn’t been tested, do I have any power to “make” them do something?

Also, my daughter is very bright, (all parents say that, right?) her kindergarten and 1st grade teachers both said so, which is part of the problem in getting her help. Because her work puts her in the middle of the class, I’ve been told she doesn’t “qualify” for help. So if I do have her tested will she be labeled “disabled”? What are the repercussions of having a bright child labeled disabled? Will this hinder future opportunities? Should I find someone to test her in the states on my own and leave the school out entirely?
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, Chris

Chris,

If you can manage it, private testing is almost always better. I know of no schools that give all those tests I mentioned. All of those were from private testing. I’d leave the schools out of it entirely. The purpose of the testing is to find out her weaknesses so you can be sure to give her the appropriate remediation. Since you won’t in all likelihood get that at school, I’d get the testing done privately and then you control the information and your child avoids a label. If you had her tested at school and she did qualify, then yes, she’s have a learning disabilty label. But as they already told you, she is bright and is compensating to some extent, so she might not qualify for help at school anyway. She’ll make more progress working with you one-on-one.

Janis

Janis,
Thanks so much for your help, I really do appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Chris

Hi Chris,
i spent a total of 6 years on Oki, most recently 2 years ago when I had a child in sped. and completed my Master’s in counseling with a practicum in the elementary school. I do believe that you can get adequate testing done on the island. Since DODDS does not fall under the dept. of education the regs. are slightly different, but if you put a request in writing that you want your daughter tested they should do it. My child was tested by the school psychologist and the resource teacher but had additional testing done through EDIS (Educational and Developmental Intervention Services) at the hospital. You might get a referral from a pediatrician if the school is less than cooperative. They definitely can do the tests that were mentioned in another post— but you may have to work to get what you think your child needs (and ethically, one doesn’t do a bunch of unecessary testing on anyone, child or adult). I wish I had asked for the psych. at EDIS to do the WISC vs. the school psych. b/c my child had “an attitude” about being tested (age 12) and I think the psych. at EDIS had better rapport w/her and was able to spend more time looking at the “whole child”. She was sceptical about the school’s results. The school cannot place her in special education or develop an IEP without your consent. OBTW, there were private psychs. on the island who could do testing- call the area director of UMUC Dr. Alan Berg to see if he can refer you to someone. I don’t give out my e-mail but will answer if you post here.

Don’t let them make you feel guilty for taking those trips! When are you ever going to have such an opportunity again? Military personnel can’t always take leave in the summer- and we’re talking kindergarten here!

Rover, thank you for the information, it is certainly helpful/comforting to hear from someone who is familiar with the resources over here. I had heard of EDIS before but completely forgot about them. What exactly is the WISC?
Thanks again,
Chris

Weschler Intelligence Scales for Children. Must be given individually and has two parts– performance and verbal, each with individual subtest. Performance has tests like copy a block design, put a group of pictures together to make a story, put together a puzzle. Verbal has digit span (repeat nos.); vocabulary; similarities (how is __like ___). A good tester doesn’t just look for the scores but how the kid approaches the tasks, etc.
A big difference between Performance and Verbal is significant as is a big difference in subtests (ie low digit span).

—des

yes to what des said. The WISC III is probably the most commonly used IQ test (by schools). The school people probably discouraged you from testing because they know she is smart but she is probably not far enough behind yet to quailfy easily for special education (sad, but kids usually need to fall 2 years behind before they get help). That being said, my child qualified because her struggles were affecting her emotionally and the psych. and I pushed for it— the resource teacher said “it’s a team decision” and qualified her.
Are you in touch with the homeschooling groups on the island?

Dear Chris,
Have a look at www.theharrisontest.com. It is free but you will need a reasonably fast computer. It will investigate a wide range of the most common literacy problems, provide a summary sheet and a Written Report which explains new reading theory.
It may show you where the gaps in skills lie and thereby show you what you need to start teaching.
Byron

The above post, promoting something called the Harrison test

(a) promotes a reading-as-guessing strategy which has been disproved over and over — see the articles on LD In Depth, especially the National Reading Panel.

(b) requires you to log in and asks for a email address and a phone number. I do not know this site and so did not give out my information. They may be sincere and honest, or they may let you in for a lot of unwanted email — you can only find out the hard way.

My daughter is also in the second grade and dyslexic. Just like your daughter, she is very bright, but, can hardly read. We have been through all of the testing and she scored to well to be called LD. Her private school was not really equipped to help her and she tested to well to qualify for a “special school”. So now I am homeschooling her. This year has been soooooo much better. We are using a curriculum called K12. It is a multisensory program and comes with lots of manipulatives for hands on learning. In the subject work, they try to bring in as many of the senses as possible. This is what a dyslexic needs. They are more visual and schools are set up for the auditory learner.

K12 is also idiot proof. It is a computer based system that walks you through everything step by step. It was started by William Bennett and a group he put together based on the CORE Knowledge concept. It has been wonderful.

In addition, we are having our daughter tutored using the Orten-Gillingham Method. This was the method mentioned in the TIME magazine article. It is multisensory and has been wonderful. It is a mastery system, which means that they do not move on until the child has mastered the sound or blends they are working on. Also, all of the books they give the children to read,are phonetically controlled. In other words, whatever they are given to read for homework, they have already mastered in class. This builds up their confidence. I can’t say enough about it.

If you can’t find Orten-Gillingham, there is the Linda Mood Bell Method, mentioned in another post, as well as, the Wilson Method. It is my understanding that the Wilson Method is an easier version of the Linda Mood Bell Program.

A child with dyslexia is a very visual learner. They think more in pictures than in words. Because of this, I try to incorporate as many visuals as I can find. For instance, if we are studying history, I try to find movies about that event. For math, we use flash cards. If you make flashcards, use red ink. The brain locks in on red, more that any other color. Graphic organizers are good. You can find some on-line that will help.

Another recommendation would be to get some books on dyslexia. Many famous and brilliant people are dyslexic: Albert Einstein, Thomas Eddison, one of the Wright Brothers, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and John F. Kennedy, just to name a few. I let my daughter know how special she is every day. Dyslexics are very creative and they have an ability to think outside the box. That is why they have solved so many problems. It may be hard right now, but when they get older, they will blow other people away! Hang in there, your daughter will be ok!

I hope this helps, I know your post was written a long time ago. This is the first time I have been on this site.

Good Luck
Dana

>In addition, we are having our daughter tutored using the Orten-Gillingham Method. This was the method mentioned in the TIME magazine article. It is multisensory and has been wonderful. It is a mastery system,

>If you can’t find Orten-Gillingham, there is the Linda Mood Bell Method, mentioned in another post, as well as, the Wilson Method. It is my understanding that the Wilson Method is an easier version of the Linda Mood Bell Program.

I’m not really trying to set you straight here but there is so much confusion so here goes:

This isn’t quite true. It does get kind of confusing but years ago there were two doctors (I think?) and they devised the Orton Gillingham method or OG. It is as you say highly multisensory, teaches things til they are mastered, etc etc.

It is pretty well time tested. Several people went to study with Orton and one was Barbara Wilson (there were quite a number of others). They did make some changes in OG. But basically it is OG. Wilson for example tends to deal with older kids; some emphasize handwriting as well as reading. There are also some newer OG devised methods (Barton, Sonday, Language! etc). You will see the similarities and some differences
as well. But down to the basics it is the same.

As for Lindamood Bell (mostly talking about the LiPs program) is a much more intensive program involving the kid learning to feel/see where the teeth, tongue, etc are placed. These are given names, etc. It is even more highly multisensory. And it is based on speech language therapy work.
I would not think all dyslexic kids would need the LiPs program.

The commonalities of all of them are the multisensory nature and the building on the at the phoneme level.

>A child with dyslexia is a very visual learner. They think more in pictures than in words. Because of this, I try to incorporate as many visuals as I can find. For instance, if we are studying history, I try to find movies about that event. For math, we use flash cards. If you make flashcards,

Yes, dyslexic kids do much better if they can see and better do than just hear.

Dana[/quote]

—des

Dr. Orton was, I believe, a psychologist working with reading problems in the 1920’s and 1930’s. I believe it was he who coined the term dyslexia (now sadly much misused.)
Miss Gillingham was an experienced elementary teacher who teamed up with Dr. Orton to apply his work to the real world of the school and classroom. I do not know her exact qualifications, but most teachers of the time had just two years of college and then on-the-job training.
I believe one of the things that makes OG so effective is that it is designed by an experienced teacher based on sound pedagogical principles. Yes, to the new teacher it may seem boring and slow; so do very many good programs. But the program is not there to excite the teacher, it’s there to give the student a good strong foundation. Miss Gillingham knew this and made up things that work.
One of the other nice things about this is that Dr. Orton recognized Miss Gillingham’s work as having great value and put her name on the program equal to his own, even though she was a woman and not an academic.
Compare this to many modern programs which are promoted by academics with little or no real classroom experience and not tested in real classrooms …

Thanks Victoria for the info. I have a little tale on that as well. A certain very good school district in a more well modern state than this was faced with my nephew with dyslexia. Mom wanted them to teach using OG. The school (please note this was NOT teachers, but administrators that have nothign to do with teaching) said well they couldn’t do that because it was “old”!? Then I mentioned well there are updated versions (Wilson, etc.), oh no, no one knows them. LMB neither. Consequently he has had about two
years of effective reading instruction and that was at a private school.

His comments on it were interesting, this was on Spaulding. One of Orton’s early students, btw. He told me it was neat. Well I’ll say that is an interesting comment coming from a teenager yet. And I have the Spaulding manual and it has a lovely archaic feel. But I guess it was neat to be learning something!

—des