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We started bigger this week, and are really enjoying it.

I have posted previously asking for advice about my dd9 http://www.heartofdakota.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=770.

Last week before we started Bigger I assessed her with the Level 2 readers, and they were all too hard for her. So I found some readers (which I thought) were at her level for her to use this year with bigger. Today (and all week) in her reading aloud, I am noticing that she frequently misreads words (where and there), skips words, reads the wrong line etc etc. Her reading level has not really improved much at all in the past 2 years. She learnt to read, but then seemed to stop progressing.

When she reads silently to herself, she seems to have no trouble with comprehension, she can read a book and narrate it back to me. But reading aloud she makes many errors. In a reader with 4-5 sentences on a page, she will make around 5 mistakes.

I have done some research today and I am suspecting she is dyslexic. She has many of the signs and symptoms of mild dyslexia. Testing for dyslexia is very difficult to get done in Australia, but I am looking into it.

I have made an appointment with a behavioural optometrist to have her assessed for vision tracking problems. I have also spend the day researching some specific reading / spelling programs for dyslexic's, mostly the Orton Gillingham programs.

I am wondering if anyone elses uses HOD with a dyslexic child (I'm sure there must be others out there ). Do you do the regular LA part of HOD? or skip the LA in HOD and use another LA program or do both? Any recommendations or advice?

Thanks in advance

I have 2 with dyslexia.

There are literally hundreds of different learning disabilities out there, and many kids have combinations of many of them. My plest son has dyslexia, dysgraphia, fine motor skill disability, auditory processing disorder, and one or two more I cant remember (just woke up).

I had the hospital that diagnosed my son review HOD and they said it was a good fit for my son, as long as I continued adding other interventions specific to his needs. Every kid is going to have different intervention needs, though. For us, it's an additional phonics, a program used to teach blending and unblending, and a few little things.

For us, the most important thiing is finding different ways to teach him that work for him. It's like finding a back door into the building.

I have a few dyslexia books I'd be happy to loan you, that talk about teachng to their style.

Now, one thing I noted is that you said she has no trouble reading silently, with excellent retention? That's not my kids at all-- but like I said no two kids are alike.

Here's the best list I've found of dyslexia "symptoms" My boys that do have dyslexia had alot of these http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm

Thanks for the response. That is great that HOD suits your boys.

The reason dd9 can silently read (I'm discovering) is that she can read well enough to get the basics of the story line, but she is still making may errors. When she reads silently, if it doesn't make sense to her, she just re-reads that sentence and looks for what she misread the first time. It's just that I'm not hearing how many mistakes she is making.

I also suspect dd6 has dysgraphia, but she is still young so I'll wait and see a little longer on that.

Oh, yes that does sound like my boys, only MY boys are too lazy to go back and read the missed words! They just keep on going! LOL

Do ya'll have a Scottish Rite Hospital there? Here they do free testing to all children. Otherwise we would have had to pay thousands of dollars, as our insurance does not cover it.

No, no Scottish Rite in Australia. And it is very hard to even get educational psychologists to admid dyslexia even exists, let alone get a confirmed diagnosis.

We have the DORE program here, but it cost about $6000, so I'll be looking for other options.

How blessed your dc are to have a mom like you willing to go the extra mile and figure out what's going on! I just remember one trick for working with dc who frequently skipped lines when reading. Just holding a blank index card under the line being read and then moving it down one line and reading on really helped. After awhile, they no longer needed the index card. Just an idea to try now... I have such a hard time waiting to try "something" when I'm feeling like I need a plan. Even trying just a few new "tricks" with my reflux child has helped me keep my sanity - "hope" is a wonderful thing!

Also, I did have many children that I tutored prior to homeschooling that had many of the things you are describing, were tested for dyslexia, and didn't have it - so it's possible the books may just be a little too difficult as of yet. However, joyful heart certainly understands dyslexia much better than I do, and if it sounds like that is a possibility to her, it very well might be. Praying for you!
In Christ,
Juile

Annie,

From your previous post, I am wondering if your daughter just needs a thorough run through a phonics program? In my public school teaching days, we had at least 1/3 of our class of third graders every year that sounded like your daughter. They hadn't had much of a formal phonics program and had been able to read by sight word or the whole word approach until they got to third grade (where the text on each page got longer and the storylines more involved). At that point, they could no longer keep up reading by sight and didn't know how to sound words out, so their reading fell apart.

We went back to close to the beginning phonics wise with these kiddos and systematically spent a year filling in the holes. Now, if your daughter had already been through a thorough phonics program (or sometimes even 2 or more complete phonics programs) and still was having a tough time reading, I'd definitely be concerned about other learning issues.

Kiddos who haven't had a complete run with phonics often exhibit many of the dyslexia-like symptoms. So, I'm not saying your daughter isn't dyslexic, she may be, but I am saying that even if she is.. the answer is the same. She will need a complete phonics program from beginning to end. It doesn't have to be Orton-Gillingham to work. I know Orton-Gillingham is excellent, but also very time consuming for the teacher to learn to use correctly and expensive. If your heart is leading you there, by all means pursue it! But know that other phonics programs will work as well. You'll also find that many of the strategies for spelling that are in "Bigger..." work well with dyslexics too.

Dyslexia is one of the hardest learning concerns to accurately diagnose. The ladies on the board have given you wonderful advice about what to do. I just wanted to chime in and point you toward phonics as a necessary step no matter what you discover about your daughter's learning style.

Blessings,
Carrie

I also did want to post the following link to a website that is very helpful for parents teaching children with dyslexia. The reading and spelling programs do take a bit of time to teach each day, but it is worth it if you aren't having success any other way! Here's the link:
http://www.readingandspelling.org/

Blessings,
Carrie

Just wanted to plug a program I am using that is great for kids with tracking issues - Phonics Pathways. It is very inexpensive and teaches how to track a word from left to right (word chunking and word families do not work for kids with visual tracking issues). It covers K-4th grade phonics and spelling. We are having great success with it.

I agree wholeheartedly with Melanie that if tracking is an issue "Phonics Pathways" the Pyramid book works well to strengthen those eye muscles.

Blessings,
Carrie

Thanks for all the advice ladies.

I will see what the behavioural optometrist says and look into some of the phonics programs mentioned here.

Thanks again

I just ordered Phonics Pathways too!

My son did have a phonics program through the hospital, but they just eliminated the program. Oh, well! We can do this!!

Thanks!

Hey there. I just wanted to add something even though my dd does not have dyslexia, she has cerebral palsy (which you would know if that was the issue with your child), she has some similarities with your dd. One thing that she does have are eye issues. She has lazy eye and tracking is an issue for her. She pulls in words from other sentences or sees different words than are there. Sometimes it is similar in meaning but no where near the same in spelling (I think that comes from the CP). For the lazy eye we are doing patch therapy again. If that does not work this time she will need surgery. And honestly when I look at her it is not visible to me at all. So that is not always something you can see on your own.

Anyway she is doing the Emerging readers, phonics and sometimes I have to switch that because she gets stuck, then I also have her doing R&S reading as well. I have her do the reading to herself first then aloud to me. That helps her with comprehension and skipping lines, inserting words, or just misreading. Then I have her narrate or answer the questions depending on what is there. I have tried all the phonics programs including The Language Tune Up kit that is based on Orton-Gillingham. I have found for us there is no one magic bullet and that practice and lots of it, along with teaching the phonograms, is the only thing that produces continual results for us. And sometimes it takes switching things up when you get stuck. I have a couple of phonics programs that teach similar things that I use with her when she hits a road block.

I have no idea what special ed is like where you live but here I find they pretty much just stick with the same way with them here and expect it to work. I have found for us that you have to be willing to try things and then change them again when they do not work. I don't know if that will be the same for you because obviously we have different learning issues but just wanted to share anyway in case some of it is helpful for some reason. Please let me also assure you that it is worth it! Hsing is the best way to help reading issues like this. It just takes more time than schools can put in and more one on one time than they have available for your child. At least in the US that is the case.

Thank you all for your input, suggestions and advice.

We had our appointment with the behavioural optometrist yesterday and dd does have some major vision issues that were not picked up in her basic eye exam. I won't go into the specifics because I'd be luck to try and repeat all those big words , but I did come home with lots of info to read and show to dh.

The good news is that she is able to do vision therapy to correct these problems over time (6-12 months). We will be getting software for her to use on our home computer to do this with, as well as regualar check ups in the optometrists office. She will also be getting 'training' glasses that she will wear probably for the next year or so.

Also, I have started both my dd's on EFA oils and doing the Focus to Learn exercise program each morning before we start our school day.

I have decided to re-do the emerging readers with dd9 as well as a phonics program with her.

I'm pretty confident that with this combination of therapies and programs we will see some big improvements in dd's reading level over the next year.

Thanks again for all your advice and support.

Ohhhh....I just have to know.... what are EFA oils and Focus to Learn?? It sounds great! Starting the day with excercising sounds fun. Is this something anyone can do?
Mel