Advice/recommendations for dyslexic 9 yr old.

From what I understand, the best reading method is using a Multi-sensory approach. All other reading programs are considered to be “enrichment” programs if it is not a multi-sensory approach. The best reading method is Ortan-Gillingham and Wilson. My son was tutored last summer using the Ortan-Gillingham approach. It cost $1060. My son will be tutored again this summer. The school uses the SRA reading program which I am not impressed with. It’s almost impossible to change the reading program the school chooses to use. There is no other option but private tutoring.

My son also had vision therapy. He had a detailed vision processing exam which cost me $150 out of pocket. He has convergence insufficiency and eye teaming problems. An excellant book to read is “When a child struggles; the myth of 20/20 vision by Dr. David Cook. It cost me $1100 out of pocket. It was the best and worthwhile expense and my son is doing well in school and he is reading a little better.

Unfortunately, when your child has a disability, you have to spend the money. Just spend it. Work extra hours or take a loan from your parents. This is really important. Let us know what reading program you choose.

I understand I have to spend the money - I just don’t want to spend almost $5,000 on a program I’m not sure of. I am looking for some specific programs to look into both here at home and at school. My child does not go to a public school and so, in some ways, I have some flexibility there - we just need to convince someone there to invest in a program. There is nothing in place currently for dyslexic children and I’d bet there are quite a few children who could benefit from such a program - not just my child. Thanks for your input.

Hmm what about Orton Guillingham Method. Have you tried that? It takes some time, anything you try will. Learning to read is not easy business for a dyslexic. Unfortunately this isn’t ancient egypt where hieroglyphs constitute writing and can be written in any direction. As a girl who is dyslexic and couldn’t read or write my own first name till i was 10, i will never be able to talk up good old orton Guillingham enough. Had i not met that method, i would probably not hold a degree in archaeology and be working towards another in egyptology. Instead i would be completely illiterate rather than fluent in 6 languages plus the ancient egyptian.

Dyslexia is a drag for a couple of years. It seriously bites. It complicates everything reading is a nightmare. And you know in our society you can get by without reading. But once you can read a door opens and the whole world is full of light and you can just fill yourself with whatever you wish all courtesy of the written word.

Then theres a year or so of practice once the “click” happens in the head of someone dyslexic like me and the light turns on. And if we practice hard it shouldn’t take us more than a yearish to catch up on how fast we read. Atleast that is how it was for me. 2 years after i had learned to read i was reading 6 grade levels above my own. Orton guillingham however it is spelled (I am dyslexic i will always spell some things phonetically for that reason.) is the best thing in the world to ever happen in the history of written language which is very very very old and i would argue it starts with the paleolithic cave drawings… But that is because i have a bone to pick with some of my peers…. Anyway thagt is a loooong time. A year or 2 with Orton Guillingham and if your child still can’t read after that, i would start looking into other diagnosies because she can’t be dyslexic. But if she is, (which is what it sounds like) This method will save her. Trust me i know i have been there.

Dyslexia is a general term for a wide range of difficulties, that basically come under Visual and Auditory difficulties.
You would better off by finding out more precisely where the difficulty actually is? So that you can look for programs that are more appropriate.

thank you - it seems like her weakness might be more in the auditory processing. her reading is coming along pretty well - fluency and decoding are the biggest issues there but she’s pretty close to reading on grade level. having said that…she’s struggling with all other subjects - math facts…social studies…spanish….piano lessons….she just doesn’t absorb and retain or process and understand anything. she’ll bring home her social studies work and it’s like they didn’t review it at all in school. once i sit down with her and we go over it, it seems to click but at school when they go over it and she has to do a worksheet on it, she’s blank. does that help better define her “type” of weakness?

When *you* sit down with her and explain it “it clicks” and she gets it. But at school she doesn’t so you think maybe auditory processing issues.

I suspect you are wrong. And here is why. Schools, do not take the time to “explain” things. They give you visual worksheets and teach in a very visually based style the vast majority of the time. Because when you sit and really discuss the issue with her, she gets it. My guess is she is an auditory learner like me. Decoding words was hard for me too. It was a break down between the visual and the auditory. I understood and remember what was said to me. But i could never decode words, and i still read and spell for the most part phonetically. Which means by sound. Each letter represents a sound. And then, based on that you can decode words. Social studies is also extremely visual. They point to some random picture on the map and they say say “This is the capital of Norway! Up here.” But then bringing back the picture in memory and connecting it to the name of the capital of Norway is hard until someone sits down with her and goes over it over and over and over. I would look at visual recall not auditory processing.

There is also something called an interpersonal learning style. For example, If i think a teacher is an ass, i simply can not learn from them because my ligical mind says to me, what can i learn from an ass? Uhhh they are an ass… likely nothing…” Which may be a piece of the problem as well. She needs to feel cared about to learn. Like someone cares about her success. She may need someone to need her to learn as well and she may need to care about that person to care about their need for her to learn. And that can also color this perhaps? Which means a smaller class size and a teacher that can really focus more on her and take a little time every day to be one on one with her may help significantly. Without that i never would have learned to read. And i wouldn’t be able to make this post today.

Again, math is also visual. In that you have to look at 3 pieces of pie on the sheet and 2 are colored in is it thirds or halfs? Obviously anyone who can decode the picture sees thirds. But someone who can’t can’t decode that. Far too frequently they use alot of pictures and they leave out what those who are more tactile need or more auditory need. She may have to see a pie made up of blocks. She may have to build the pie from 3 blocks that she can actually touch and put together and take apart and literally count as she does it atleast at first for a while. I know a dyslexic woman. She is 36. She can do every form of math there is except for long division.; No matter how hard her brain tries to wrap around it it simply can’t. If you leave out the division from any type of mathematics fractions decimals etc… She can do it just fine… But when asked to divide forget it. Her brain just can not process it.

They probably didn’t review it particularly in a fashion an auditory learned can get the most of it. That is my guess. But i could be entirely really really wrong. Have you had her tested? An idea to see this may be to “test” her without a map…. “what is the capital of Canada?” See if without the picture confusing her, if she does better. Then if she does i would guess you have an answer. It is a a break down between pictures and auditory learning and it then would appear clear that her learning style is auditory and that the school and class she is in is geared towards visual learners. Which i know for a fact is the standard in nearly all classes in the usa.

I might suggest that you do some reading into Auditory Processing Disorders, to see if this is relevant? Where APD is made of various sub-types.
If you can get a more precise idea of what the underlying difficulty actually is. Then you will have a better idea of what you are looking for in a program, and hopefully avoid the merry-go-round of programs?
Also to identify her strengths, so that she can make full use them.

thank you both for your replies - i’ll continue to pick your brains, if you don’t mind. yes, we’ve had her tested and tested and tested. but i cannot makes sense out of much of it except for the fact that she’s been diagnosed dyslexic. if i need to dig them up to give you specifics, i can. i’d appreciate any help deciphering these scores/resutls. the evaluation we had done through the public school here suggested a “language based learning disability” - and reading up on that, that seems to hit the nail on the head. thoughts there?

ok, i have found a lindamood-bell based program offered at our local community college. it is a one-on-one program. and it’s something we can afford! i’m excited but hesitant until i get some feedback on the program. our daughter will have “qualify” for the class based on some evaluations but that certainly shouldn’t be a problem. any feedback on lindamood-bell?

Lindamood-Bell is a very good program and has worked successfully for many kids.

In terms of how you can help at home there’s a UK based educational psychologists called Valerie Muter who provides some really useful tips on what parents can do. dysTalk provides a pretty good (and free!) video entitled “How Parents Can Help Their Child With Dyslexia” in which Dr Muter summarizes her ideas [url=http://www.dystalk.com/talks/44-how-parents-can-help-their-child-with-dyslexia](here’s the link)[/url]. She has a good book as well which gives more detail.

For evaluating alternative approaches for managing dyslexia I found this [url=http://www.dystalk.com/talks/60-evaluating-alternative-solutions-for-dyslexia]talk[/url] by Dorothy Bishop very helpful.

From what I’ve seen of LindaMood they have an impressive track record.

[Modified by: Carol on May 05, 2009 10:49 AM]

looks interesting, how do you think that would apply to my situation?

Take a look at the following web site which will proivde additional credible information:

www.brightsolutions.us

For additional resources you may find this PSA useful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHGo-64dXJc

I agree with the rest of the replies. Need an eye doctor that can diagnose things like using both eyes working well, together - strabismus (spell?) Not all eye dr.s are qualified to do this.

If not sure of program, keep researching until you’re satisfied.

third grade seems to be great awareness grade……