Please help

What is the TAAS? If it is the Test of Auditory Analysis Skills, I would say that it doesn’t correspond with the CTOPP scores. Can you list the achievement test scores?

Has his vision been checked? Some people would advise you to have an evaluation by a developmental optometrist. I am not 100% sure about recommending that unless I know a lot more about a child. Has he had a speech-language evaluation or has he ever had those services? That low rapid naming score would be a slight concern in relation to oral reading speed, but it is not significantly low.

What I am going to tell you is that little remediation for reading and spelling is ever done in a school. People try hard to get a child placed, but the reality is that they rarely get what they need when they are placed in a group for instruction. If there is any possible way, you need to hire a private tutor who uses one of the good decoding programs such as Phono-Graphix or Lindamood-Bell. Or you could try to tutor him yourself using ABeCeDarian which is similar to those but easier to use (www.abcdrp.com). I primarily use ABeCeDarian in my own teaching and tutoring.

Lindamood-Bell (www.lblp.com) offers services through their clinics in select cities, and they offer a summer intensive (which is very expensive, but you get a lot done in a short time). You can look at the Read America site to try to locate a Phono-Graphix tutor. There are other Orton-Gillingham programs as well that are effective (like Wilson), but they often take longer.

Yes, the TAAS is Rosner’s Test of Auditory Analysis Skills. When it came up that it was so low they said they would defer to the CTOPP. Which achievement scores should I list? The CTOPP subtests? He has had his vision checked by a regular optometrist not a developmental one. The TAAS test was done as part of the speech-language evaluation. He does have diffuculty with fluency and reading aloud. He was referred for remedial reading but didn’t meet the criteria for services there either because his comprehension was too high. At the TEAM meeting the suggestion was made that I purchase the Wilson program and work with him on it myself. It is not an inexpensive thing and, more importantly I don’t know that I would get the same results as if it was done in the school. At home he has homework, chores, sports and needs time to be a kid. He’s not as cooperative at home as in school. Does that make sense? His teacher seems to agree with me on this point and she is concerned that he is overcompensating for his weaknesses right now and it will only get worse if we let it go. I have been doing reading & some phonics instruction at home trying to help and in the end I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help him succeed (I refuse to “give up” at 9 years old and be comfortable in the knowledge that he can use spell check in high school and college as I was told in the meeting.)

Janis - Maybe you meant I should post the Woodcock Johnson Achievement Test scores. Here they are in case that will help…

[u]Oral Language [/u] (SS118)
Subtests:
Story Recall (SS119)
Understanding Directions (SS111)
[u]
Broad Written Language[/u] (SS 113)
Subtests:
Spelling (SS96)
Writing Fluency (SS127)
Writing Sample (SS113)

[u]Broad Math[/u] (SS112)
Subtests:
Calculations (SS101)
Math Fluency (SS101)
Applied Problems (SS121)

[u]Broad Reading[/u] (SS98)
Subtests:
Letter Word Identification (SS94)
Reading Fluency (SS102)
Passage Comprehension (SS101)

Second what Janis said.
I work as a tutor with kids like this. Most of the time, roughly nine times out of ten, what is missing is the fundamental decoding skill. Great comprehension is no use to you if you cannot figure out what the words *are* to comprehend them. If you work hard on the phonics/decoding, and work on the fluency *with* stress on accurate decoding and avoiding guesing, most of the time the rest falls into place.
Also, I have been seeing recently absolutely dire gaps in handwriting. Kids who write in any random direction, right or left or top or bottom, seem to also have tracking confusion in reading and mixed up spelling (does make sense, doesn’ it?) I re-teach handwriting traditionally, using pens never pencils — for a light touch, fluent motion, fatigue reduction, and stopping the erasing addiction that makes writing five times slower — and with great stress on *consistent directionality*.
The combination of phonics, **oral** reading with feedback and correction and decoding modelling, and consistently directed handwriting and scanning leads to huge improvements, often in a short time. I have had reports from kids’ schools of visible improvements after only four hours. NOT that I promise this, but it is often amazing what getting rid of these roadblocks will do.
You do not need a fancy expensive program. Wilson probably has more bells and whistles than you need and costs more than you need to pay. Janis recommends ABCeDarian and I respect her judgement. I have personally had great success with a series of traditional workbooks.
If you would like my how-to-tutor outlines, now a fairly large book-in-progress, please email me at [email protected]

Yes, the Woodcock Johnson achievement scores are what I meant.

And also, as Victoria said, we generally agree and use a similar method for remediation, just different materials!

So I’ll just restate what Victoria said, he lacks decoding skills. His achievement scores show a strong listening comprehension component which is likely how he has been getting along so well combined with being a very bright child. This is typical of a dyslexic profile, or at the very least, it can be a child who was never taught phonics properly. I am sure he must really be frustrated to be so bright but struggling to read and spell.

I also completely agree with Victoria that Wilson is NOT a program for a parent to purchase and just start using. It requires training to use properly and I am pretty shocked that the school would suggest such a thing (well, to be truthful I hear strange recommendations from schools frequently).

I do agree with you that some kids do not work well with a parent. My own child who has excellent behavior at school will become a little whiny when I am trying to work with her. But finding tutors who know what they are doing can be difficult. Where do you live?

Thanks for the input Victoria. It may be helpful for me to know how to help my son if it turns out that I end up being the one to tutor him. Is your how-to-tutor outline something you offer for a fee?

Does anyone know if I can get the school to provide a tutor for my son? It was suggested to me that it was a possibility. They told me in the TEAM meeting that he is a child who would benefit from something like Wilson Reading but that the group instruction they could offer wouldn’t help him. Can I push them to get him one-on-one instruction or a tutor? I live in MA.

Janis, I too was a bit surprised that they suggested I purchase the program. When I researched it after the meeting I did see that it takes a good amount of training to become certified. I have spoken to someone at Wilson and they do offer parental support but I’m sure a trained professional would be better…

The more I have been researching the more I keep comng up with dyslexia as a possibility. I never realized there were different types. I just alway thought that it invlolved letter reversals. Is there specific testing that can be done to determine if that may be an issue for him?

I was also told at the meeting that he is having trouble because the school doesn’t have a specific spelling/phonics program and that he is probably a kid who would have benefitted from that.

I live in MA

It is very rare for a child to get one-on-one tutoring through a school even when they qualify for special education. Since he did not qualify, you will be on your own to find the help. But as I said, few children with dyslexia are helped at school anyway. People want to believe that they will, but it is rare. It is hard for children to make a lot of progress in a group since they are rarely perfectly matched as far as skills go.

You have already had most of the testing required to diagnose dyslexia. It generally involves some deficit in phonological processing, and the rapid naming was a relative weakness for your son as compared to other scores. He has a high listening comprehension score with low spelling and word reading skills. I’d be interested to see a Gray Oral Reading Test fluency score, but it would likely be along the lines of the spelling, word recognition, and rapid naming scores. I don’t see anything to be gained by getting a formal diagnosis due to the fact that Victoria and I are telling you what to do as if he were diagnosed dyslexic. Unfortunately there is the myth about dyslexia primarily being a letter reversal problem, and that is not correct. The majority of children with dyslexia have a problem in phonological processing, although there are other areas of weakness such as visual memory that can have an impact as well. You can read more on this site under LD In Depth Reading, or go to the International Dyslexia Association site (www.interdys.org) and read some of the fact sheets, and by all means get a copy of the book Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz.

I don’t know a lot about Mass., but one of the top reading experts in the country is Maryanne Wolf at Tufts University, and they have a reading clinic there. You’d have to call to see what services they offer. But I see on their website that they’ll have a 4 week summer program:

http://ase.tufts.edu/crlr/index.html

You can also email Read America and see if there are any Phono-Graphix tutors in your area, and the International Dyslexia Association also has a tutor referral list.

http://www.readamerica.net/page19alink.asp

My personjal opinion is that ALL children benefit from a directed phonics and spelling program — even if you are smart enough to guess most of the rules and achieve 80th percentile, with actual teaching you could be at the 99th percentile. Undirected programs waste a lot of talent at all ranges of ability. Some kids just Need the teaching more than others.

Sorry, but I am starting to cringe when I hear the word “dyslexia”. A lot of other people in the reading field seem to feel the same. It is a perfectly good word and used to describe a certain set of characteristics it is useful. However as research has developed, people who really work and study in this field tend to use more specific vocabulary. Meanwhile, a certain group of people has picked up on the word “dyslexia” and uses it as a political weapon. You will get better, more professional responses — at least in North America — if you speak of a (specific) learning disability. Heaven only knows what they are doing in England becasue they have a very high-pressure “dyslexia” group and others have coopted “learning disability” there to mean MR, so there is no term left for bright kids with a specific problem in reading.

Anyway, other people can direct you to neurologists and neuropsychologists who can diagnose reading disabilities. But my take on the matter is this:
(A) eight or nine out of ten students who get referred to me as “dyslexic” are not really, or at least have only minor problems. In the great majority of cases, a short period of direct teaching gets them over the hump, reading and writing adequately for their classes.
(B) If the class has not been actually teaching phonics and spelling, that is a red flag. These are exactly the missing skills that make a student *appear* dyslexic. First you teach the skills, and then see if the student has trouble learning them after really being taught. You are not disabled if you don’t know a subject you have never seen.
(C) Even if your child is one of the few more serious cases, what are you going to do? You are going to teach him reading and spelling and writing step by step, using the best, most scientifically based methods possible. Since in *either* case you are going to teach him the same thing in the same way, the testing is mostly for informational purposes. Yes, it is worth knowing and the information can guide your decisions on what to stress and how fast in teaching, but it is not vital. So don’t stress over testing.

I send out the (now very large) packet of tutoring info, aka book-in-progress, for free with no strings attached. I do ask you to respect copyright and it is nice to get feedback now and then.

Is he reading on at least a 2nd grade level? If so, I would try Rewards Intermediate with him. Website is http://www.rewardsreading.com. This program is scripted, so it is easy for a parent to do. Over the summer would be the best time, so your son isn’t overloaded. Cost is about $100, but if you purchase two workbooks it is easy to re-sell on homeschooling swap boards or eBay for about half price.

A good supplemental program for any child not yet reading on a mid-3rd grade level is the Sound Reading computer CD from http://www.soundreading.com. You would probably want to get the teen version of this CD. Content is the same as elementary, but it omits some of the cutesie graphics that appeal to younger children. Cost is about $60. Again, this has good re-sale value on homeschooling swap boards.

I would recommend getting a developmental vision evaluation. Regular eye exams check only for diseases and acuity. A child can have 20/20 vision and still have severe visual efficiency deficits in the areas of binocularity (ability to see a single image at reading distance), accommodation (focusing speed), tracking, etc. For more information, see http://www.childrensvision.com. You can find board-certified developmental optometrists in your area at http://www.covd.org. Cost for this type of eval is about $175 where I live, but can cost more in other areas. This eval is not usually covered by medical insurance. If money for therapy is a real issue, check out http://www.homevisiontherapy.com. Cost for pre-testing, the software, and post-testing usually runs under $300 total.

If developmental vision skills are okay, I would recommend doing a cognitive skills training program over the summer. PACE (http://www.processingskills.com) is excellent but provider-based and therefore very expensive. The home version of this program is BrainSkills (http://www.brainskills.com). Another good program is Audiblox (http://www.audiblox2000.com). Audiblox does not include the auditory processing exercises of BrainSkills, so my preference would be for BrainSkills.

You are unlikely to get anything of value from the school. Your best bet is to remediate at home and/or through a private tutor.

A good email support group is dyslexiasupport2 at http://groups.yahoo.com. Members of this group are parents who often have experience with different programs.

Nancy

I have a feeling he’s been compensating a lot with his intelligence, so a program that starts from the ground up like Wilson would be my leaning. We tend to recommend what’s worked for us, of course :-) My intensive Orton_Gillingham training really emphasized building the foundation from the ground up, and so we’d move through everything, tho’ sometimes quickly! (HOWEVER, I learned that a very bright kiddo who was very dyslexic simply *had* to move slowly, even though it was counterintuitive. I discovered it was far more frustrating for *me* than for them; they wanted to learn the stuff!)
If he’s using his visual strengths then you can take steps right now to at least get him thinking in the sound-symbol direction. http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba has a section called “letterbox lesson” that describes learning to build words from tiles (they’re called Elkonin Boxes in the literature). I’d suggest that you want to play a game to help him figure out words, and be prepared to make it EASY because it could be a very frustrating task at first if he’s not used to “listening” to words for their sounds.

Sue Barton has an excellent program, too, which has the training built in. ( http://www.dys-add.com/ is her website). Marcia Henry also has a good book that could get you started… my favorite place for multisensory resources is www.rlac.com .