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My 14 yo severely dyslexic son had to take standardized testing per state requirements. He has used HOD since first grade. He will be an incoming ninth grader this year. He has to take two reading tests. One is word recognition where he hears a word aloud and then selects from multiple choices which word it is. The second is reading comprehension. He scored 4 grade levels behind in reading recognition. While that makes me sad, I'm not surprised. What was surprising was that he scored over a grade and a half ABOVE where he is in reading comprehension! That is over a 5 1/2 grade spread between those two reading assessments! My first response was amazement at the intelligence of dyslexics to use contextual clues and other coping mechanisms to overcome their huge phonemic issues. Upon further introspection, I realized there was more to it than that. I truly believe that Charlotte Mason's principles as expressed through HOD have power to help children learn with such depth and understanding. Years and years of reading wonderful living books and the retelling through pictures and spoken or written word have strengthened my son's ability to read, listen, synthesize, and communicate ideas. Thank you to Carrie for providing a full and rich and doable curriculum that brings Charlotte Mason's principles to our homes. We are blessed.

Wow what a testament to you, your son, and HOD, for helping your son learn how to accommodate for his dyslexia. The fact that his reading comprehension is that high is amazing. You should be very pleased. I know it is hard to see the other score so low, but the fact that he has to listen and then find the word adds in an auditory processing component that could mess up his word recognition. Obviously when he reads a passage he is able to figure out what words mean by using contextual clues like you said, but also probably by visual recognition. I know how stressful those standardized test can be when you have a student that doesn't fit in a typical box. Congratulations to your son for doing so well.