Symbol mastery & Orientation Counciling

Davis seems to help dyslexic children who have high visual-spatial IQ’s, usually accompanied by disorientation. These are children who are able to visualize in three dimensions easily, but who have not developed any fixed orientation. To a child like this, “b” and “d” look like the same letter — because a “b” is just a “d” flipped over, and the child doesn’t take into account the left-right orientation of the letter.

I have seen a lot of posts from parents who have put children through the Davis program. A few are adamant that it was a turning point in their child’s life and very rewarding. Most say the child experienced an upswing in morale and self-esteem. Many say they were disappointed in the long-term effects, and that there was no long-lasting improvement in reading ability.

My bet is that the variability in results is because the children went into the program with different problems. Those who suffer from spatial disorientation problems get dramatic improvements, but other types of dyslexics get basically a morale boost for awhile (it is a very upbeat program) and nothing more, because their particular problems are not addressed.

What programs has your daughter done, and how is her reading now? Many dyslexics get substantial improvements in decoding ability from the Phono-Graphix approach, which can be done at home or through a certified tutor. Audiblox and PACE are cognitive training programs that tend to help dyslexics pretty dramatically. Some children have developmental vision delays that can be helped by vision therapy, and some have auditory processing problems that benefit from sound therapies such as FastForWord. I would say all of these programs have a better track record among parents than Davis, based on the posts and emails from parents that I have seen over the last two years.

Mary

Rachels visual-spatial abilities are superior in general. Her language based ability is poor, she processes slowly and has a difficult time with holding information in mind while mentally manipulating it, especially meaningful information. She has some word finding problems which are evident in her spontaneous speech as well as in testing. She is slow to access facts that she has successfully learned and weak in retrieval of information, dates, math facts etc. She meets criteria for Expressive Language Disorder and Mixed Expressive- Language Disorder. It appears that she is reading at or below a sixth grade level, she will be a Freshman this September. She adamantly dislikes reading and I would really like to get her into some other kind of program in addition to school or if possible, would like to send her to a school that will address her learning issues and actually teach her. I am terribly disappointed with the public school systems way of “helping my daughter” which has been to put her in special-ed classes and teach her nothing. I feel that she will be a High School drop out before she reaches 11th grade. I wouldn’t blame her, I see her struggle and suffer. I want to help her, I am not qualified, the school system is not qualified. I’m tired of fighting with them and asking them and I don’t feel I have any more time to waste. They lump all those kids together and help them get the homework done. My child is giving up and missing out on an education. Do you know of any schools in the massachusetts, New Hampshire area that specialize in the disorder of Dyslexia? Thank you for everything. Kathleen

Sorry, I’m not familiar with the schools in that area.

Your best bet in terms of private therapy at this point would probably be PACE, which likely would provide your daughter with an overall academic boost and concurrent boost in self-esteem. It’s a program that older children usually do well with and like. It is, however, expensive — where we are it is about $2400 for a 12-week program. Website is http://www.learninginfo.com

Depending on the cause of her reading difficulties (i.e., if they are primarily auditory in origin), then FastForWord could be helpful. Website is http://www.scilearn.com

NeuroNet is the only therapy I know of that actually addresses some retrieval issues, but I don’t know if it’s useful for a teen. Website is http://www.neuroacoustics.com

Mary

Hi,

Are you close to a university that has a speech and language program? This would be one of the most inexpensive ways that you can get your daughter help. Also has she ever had any testing for ADD-Inattentive? What you are describing sounds very familiar to me as I work with many kids very similar to your daughter’s profile, slow processors, have to re-read things to get the meaning, lose their focus easily and have a hard time remembering math facts etc..they are all ADD.

I am familiar with Davis’ program but it doesn’t address the language issues that your daughter has. It helps them to understand the shapes of letters and their orientation with the use of Clay and staying on point to keep the letters from moving on the page, I used it at a clinic where I used to work.

I understand your frustration, I have been there with my own child and her dyslexia and severe language problems. She is hearing impaired, has CAPD and also is ADD-Inattentive. I have been working like mad these past 3 years to make up for what the district didn’t do. If I can help further let me know. I went back to school to become a speech and language pathologist and most of what I learned I have learned from my own school of hard knocks and this board..

Patti

The Landmark School in Massachusetts might be what you are looking for. Thay are excellent- but may be difficult to get into. They have a website at www.landmarkschool.org

I know there are several others but the ones that spring to my mind are for boys. If I think of some more I will post them. In the meantime, you could try Patti’s idea of a speech and language dept affiliated with a university.

Robin

http://www.napsec.com/members.html

Thank you to everybody for all the suggestions and information.