My name is Marirosa… I have a 7 year old son that I think has dyslexia….. I came to this realization last night through one of our battles doing his 1st grade homework…. the constant flipping of letters and numbers….. until he said to me ‘mommy, that’s how I see it’ needless to say I was a mess…. I started doing some research and found myself looking at dyslexia and seeing my son in all of the explanations of this dissability. Just as an overlook, here is what I found:
reading a simple word on one page but not being able to read it on the next
verbally exceeds but doesn’t exceed as well as expected in the classroom
persistent difficulties with reading and spelling
his writing doesn’t stay on the horizontal line and tends to linger above it
lays his head down constantly while writing as to ‘watch’ the pencil
enjoys stories and books as long and he is not obligated to read them out loud
flipping letters and numbers, writing them backwards
takes an extremely long time finishing his written word
leaves letters out of words
uses fingers to do simple calculations
appears careless and not interested
has not been able to learn to tie his shoe laces
I guess my point for posting is to gather some insight on going to the school system and talking to them, what should I ask, what test should he be given etc…. any insight would be greatly appreciated….
thanks, Marirosa
Re: New here....looking for insight.....
THese also sound like there might be visual issues (most often, dyslexia is more an auditory problem of connecting the sounds with the symbols). Does he do better if the print is bigger?
Half of these MAY be symptoms of dyslexia, and any and all of them *may* be (and all too often are) the results of poor teaching and development of bad habits.
In either case, you have to unteach the counterproductive habits and reteach effective approaches, prtetty much the same way (it just takes longer and more backup training for severe dyslexics.)
For the reversals, I actively *teach* handwriting, with a great stress on directionality and order of strokes. It takes time but it really works.
I insist on students sitting in a relaxed normal position, no lying on the desk. To make hand motion and visibility easier, I use whiteboards and markers, plasticized alphabet model sheets and whiteboard markers, and paperwork in pen (*never* pencil), rolling writers or fountain pens to reduce pressure. Changing a physical habit takes tiome and work — and start now becasue the longer the bad habits are ingrained, the harder and even linger they will be to get rid of.
For reading and word recognition, I teach *consistent* left to right scanning and use of all phonics info, not just guessing from the first consonant and general shape but actually sounding across the whole word (vital skill to advance beyond primary.) I do not teach “sight words”; thiat is contradictory to the consistency of scanning which is necessary to get out of confusion and into fluency.
For numbers, I use concrete objects (pennies, abacus) and simple dots on paper; avoid all distractors and focus on the number. It takes a lot of concrete work and intense repetition but yes, you can get over this.
There are many many programs you can buy and use. Some work on perceptual skills, some on actual reading and writing skills, and some are far out there in the hypothetical.
Many other parents say that the perceptual/cognitive skills training helped their children immensely, to get them ready for the rest. Ask parents here for more help and direction.
In reading programs, go for simple, straighforward, step-by-step, and detailed. Promises of quick tricks and overnight miracles never pan out. You can put in a lot of money and get someone to do the work for you as in Lindamood Bell; or you can put in less money and a lot of your own work and develop your own tutoring program.
If you are interested in my how-to-tutor notes/book in progress, feel free to send an email to [email protected]