Dyslexia, poetry and BLHFHG

[Tracee]

I was looking at my Beyond Guide for next year, and I love it, but I was getting a little worried about ds having dyslexia and struggling through the poetry portion. Look at some info that I found. Honesty, I don't know how scientific the research was, but it gave me some encouragement.


Many dyslexic children do find it very hard to memorize poetry and other prose .If your child has to learn something try to break into manageable chunks and practice for a short length of time over a regular basis.

A team of researchers got a group of six-year-olds with dyslexia to memorize a lengthy poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." It was found that the children made progress in both reading comprehension and fluency after reciting the poem daily for several weeks. You can read more about this research project in an article in the Additude Magazine ( July 2007 )Headed Update on Dyslexia.


Maybe we will have to go a little slower than the guide, but that's alright.

Tracy

[lmercon]

My ds was recently diagnosed with borderline severe dyslexia. I didn't know of the problem back when he was doing Beyond, but I did sense a problem brewing. Honestly, I never made him memorize the poem. It was enough to have him memorize the Scripture passage. As far as copywork, I still would have had him copy the poem for handwriting practice, but not for other copywork benefits. Dyslexic children don't benefit at all from copywork, unfortunately. He never read words and copied them as words. He just copied one letter at a time, which turned out to be a waste of time, except for the handwriting practice. You may want to reconsider how much copywork you give him. If I had to do it over again, I would also pass on the dictation, because again, dyslexics don't learn to read with dictation. They will only attempt to memorize, which is really hard to undo later on - trust me, I know! That's just my experience, though. I will say that the HOD programs are wonderful for dyslexic children. I am so glad that my ds's education wasn't confined to what he was able to read! He is a very bright child who loves to learn. I shudder to think what his experience and attitude would be if he was in ps!
hth,
Laura

[Tracee]

Laura,

Could you tell me a little more about dictation and what that entails and how it relates to our school work in Beyond? Our reading and spelling program is very structured and it's imperative that we don't use anything else in addition to it, so I wouldn't be doing the Language Arts portion of Beyond. Also, the only memory work I would do would be the scripture verses.


How did your ds do with comprehension of the poems being read aloud? I'm wondering if my ds will even get it, because he has an issue processing auditory information. I'm struggling a little in that area, because I don't want to make it torturous for him, but I do want to at least expose him to it.


Thanks,
Tracy

[lmercon]

Well, when we were doing Beyond, we just did the spelling lists. I'm not sure Beyond even has dictation, come to think of it. I think it begins in Bigger. I have the same type of program for his reading and spelling. I don't use anything else so as not to confuse him. The grammar in Beyond is very light - maybe one day per week. You could do that without conflict with your program. It is very basic and covers everyday kinds of things. I still do use the grammar program, but we do everything orally. I will wait to use dictation when he is up to where his reading level should be.

As far auditory issues, my ds has none. He is very good at listening to things being read aloud to him - Thank Goodness! He loves the poetry portion. It is still and always has been one of his favorites. The program is light and fun. Learning to listen and narrate well are skills all children must learn. While it may be tougher for your ds, I think he will be able to do well over time. The reading passages are short and really entertaining. Have him narrate short sections at first. Then move to longer passages.

Beyond is a wonderful, fabulous, amazing program! I can't say enough good things about it. It was a wonderful way to start off with HOD. I'm looking forward to using it again with my dd in a couple of years.
Laura

[Heart_Mom]

I might be completely off base here, so if I am feel free to let me know...

We are currently doing Beyond and while we go over the poems as it says in the guide, I've not made any effort to have my children memorize them. They do become very familiar with them, but they certainly not be able to recite them.

My son has learning issues as well, and Beyond has been really great for him!

[my3sons]

As these wonderful ladies already said, Beyond is an excellent program! Just to clarify - dictation doesn't begin until BHFHG, and dc are not asked to memorize poetry in the Beyond plans. There are many dyslexic dc enjoying HOD with good success. I think your ds will too!
In Christ,
Julie