heartofdakota.com

Hello,
I have an 8 year old daughter that is very dyslexic. She can read CVC words and a few sight words, but struggles with 'silent e' words and vowel combinations. She struggles to write a very short sentence. However she is a bright child that has good auditory understanding of stories and subjects like science and history and is almost at her correct level for math. She is quite good at art. Where would you place her in the HOD levels? I would be happy to use a guide for her age and use a separate LA program instead of HOD to meet her needs. Would love some help placing her. Thanks! Nicole

My son is dyslexic and I would advise running the very upper end of the guides. I think Beyond would be a good start for her. Like you said, you can place her in math wherever she fits and keep working on phonics and early reading. Don't hesitate to start out at 1/2 speed so you can devote time to her language arts without being rushed and allow her to do all of the activities and assignments as written. The guides have so many skills built into them you don't want to have to skip activities because she isn't ready to do them yet. My son will be starting Preparing at almost 11 next year (suggested ages 8-10) and that will be about right for him. I initially had him placed incorrectly due to his dyslexia and had to slow him way down. Now we are at a place where he can succeed.

Thank you countrymom! That is very helpful advice. I will really look at placing her at the level that she will be most comfortable with rather than where I think she should be!