Dyslexia anyone?

[aripantaloon]

My 3rd grade DD was diagnosed with dyslexia at the end of last year through a pediatric neuropsych exam. Since kindergarten, I've been asking the teachers if her development in reading, writing, and spelling was lagging behind because I noticed differences between her and her older siblings as well as her and her peers. The difference between her and her peers got more noticeable as she moved up in grades.
Teachers would tell me the reading teacher evaluated her and she would just barely pass, so no reading services. They never really commented on her writing, spelling, and decoding, which were horrendous. When I sent an email to her teacher in March of her second grade year to list many concerns we had, including the fact that she couldn't sound out words; even simple ones, she didn't know the vowels (said A, big pause, then said L?), as well as other issues. The teacher dismissed each of our concerns, saying they are still working on vowel sounds (but the kids should be able to name them, no???) and certain letter patterns and pointed me to websites that we could use at home as extra help. She said she recently evaluated her reading and she was not very far behind. Still at second grade level.

Over the summer, I spent time with a cousin whose 14 yo son was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. She told me that his "symptoms" were pretty much identical to my DD's and encouraged me to have her tested. I notified the school and signed a consent to test her (at which time, they did coincidentally start giving her RTI reading services - too little, too late). I was very, very lucky and managed to get her in with a pediatric neuropsych at a major hospital at the end of October. We were flexible and they had a cancellation.

Anyway, the neuropsych testing showed she has dyslexia. The neuropsych wrote a long list of specific suggested services that she should get from the school. We had our initial IEP meeting and they determined that she's of course eligible for one. We ended up partially rejecting their proposed IEP mostly for many omissions. I hired an advocate and we worked with her to draw up proposed revisions and are awaiting the school's response. We were supposed to meet last Friday, but they weren't ready with the new IEP. They want to meet this week, but haven't given me a day or a time, yet. It's very frustrating! The district has a history of not meeting the needs of dyslexic kids. They like to pretend that dyslexia doesn't exist. They didn't even use the word "dyslexia" anywhere in her IEP! The biggest wall that we are hitting with them is that she has memorized so many words that she is able to "pass" their DRA reading assessments and they say she is reading on an end of second grade level. The reading specialist keeps pointing out that there are kids (who may or may not have any IEP or learning disability) who get reading help who are way below my DD's level. As if to say that those are the kids who need the help; not my kid. Yet, she can't properly sound out and spell "mommy." She couldn't spell her full first name at the beginning of the school year. Other kids' issues do not belong in a meeting to discuss my child.

Do you have to go to extreme lengths to get your kids the help that they need through your school district?

 

[lanejudy]

DD doesn’t have dyslexia, but we have certainly had our share of fights to get her some services. For us, OT seems to be a major challenge and I believe it’s because the OT is contracted per-diem rather than a school employee. Kids who are adept enough to come up with their own “strategies” are easily passed over because they are coping - for now; that will eventually be too hard and by then it’s late to catch up.

Trust your instincts and keep advocating for her!

 

[tinkerjo]

Wow, this was actually a topic I was searching for. My youngest DS12 is going to be tested for dyslexia. I have been concerned since he was in grade school but kept being told he would grow out of some of the things he did. Well, he is in 7th grade now and I just see him struggle too much. I insisted he be tested and will travel to Nationwide Children’s hospital to be tested. He reads at grade level but has issues with reading larger books or articles and his comprehension isn’t very good, his handwriting is awful, spelling awful, constantly gets left/right, front/back mixed up, can’t do his times tables, told me our address backwards the other day, and can’t tell me the months in order. Just last week he asked me which way the hump went on a B. He gets strait As in subjects like science and social studies, is well adjusted, and excels in sports. But I know he has this, but your right, the schools don’t want to acknowledge it nor would they test for it. They said he reads fine- he doesn’t need help. I finally had to put my foot down. You know your daughters needs, push to make them do what is right for her. I wish I would have done so sooner, before I saw the struggles.

 

[bookwormde]

As a (volunteer) advocate I have supported quite a few kids with dyslexia.

FIirst, congratulations on getting an IDEA classification and need determination, in many districts/areas this is not easy for dyslexia

Unfortunatly regular neuro psychs (ed ot clinical) typically do not provide the in depth analysis of the preesentation needed to fully meet the needs and high quality individual recomondations (rather tha generic)

I would suggest that you propose that the evaluation is incomplete without an evaluation by a highly qualified dyslexia specialist.

There are a vieriety of root causes, presentations and aproprate supports aligned with them so time is not waisted.

While it is just a guess from your limited description, it wound be likely there my be spacial sequencing and discrimination deficit. In simple terms may not discriminate left right and may see the big picture rather t han the individual elements. I mention this since an Assistive Technonogy evaluatioin to see if any of the computer masking/forced sequencing visaul reading programs might help.

Dyslexia characteristics extend beyond reading so in this case I would expect to see some ambidexerios tendencies or even an inability to inherently refernce left/right. There is also often an undderlying prefence for non linear processing over typical linear processing.

.

 

[Simba's Mom]

My 3rd grade DD was diagnosed with dyslexia at the end of last year through a pediatric neuropsych exam. Since kindergarten, I've been asking the teachers if her development in reading, writing, and spelling was lagging behind because I noticed differences between her and her older siblings as well as her and her peers. The difference between her and her peers got more noticeable as she moved up in grades.
Teachers would tell me the reading teacher evaluated her and she would just barely pass, so no reading services. They never really commented on her writing, spelling, and decoding, which were horrendous. When I sent an email to her teacher in March of her second grade year to list many concerns we had, including the fact that she couldn't sound out words; even simple ones, she didn't know the vowels (said A, big pause, then said L?), as well as other issues. The teacher dismissed each of our concerns, saying they are still working on vowel sounds (but the kids should be able to name them, no???) and certain letter patterns and pointed me to websites that we could use at home as extra help. She said she recently evaluated her reading and she was not very far behind. Still at second grade level.

Over the summer, I spent time with a cousin whose 14 yo son was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. She told me that his "symptoms" were pretty much identical to my DD's and encouraged me to have her tested. I notified the school and signed a consent to test her (at which time, they did coincidentally start giving her RTI reading services - too little, too late). I was very, very lucky and managed to get her in with a pediatric neuropsych at a major hospital at the end of October. We were flexible and they had a cancellation.

Anyway, the neuropsych testing showed she has dyslexia. The neuropsych wrote a long list of specific suggested services that she should get from the school. We had our initial IEP meeting and they determined that she's of course eligible for one. We ended up partially rejecting their proposed IEP mostly for many omissions. I hired an advocate and we worked with her to draw up proposed revisions and are awaiting the school's response. We were supposed to meet last Friday, but they weren't ready with the new IEP. They want to meet this week, but haven't given me a day or a time, yet. It's very frustrating! The district has a history of not meeting the needs of dyslexic kids. They like to pretend that dyslexia doesn't exist. They didn't even use the word "dyslexia" anywhere in her IEP! The biggest wall that we are hitting with them is that she has memorized so many words that she is able to "pass" their DRA reading assessments and they say she is reading on an end of second grade level. The reading specialist keeps pointing out that there are kids (who may or may not have any IEP or learning disability) who get reading help who are way below my DD's level. As if to say that those are the kids who need the help; not my kid. Yet, she can't properly sound out and spell "mommy." She couldn't spell her full first name at the beginning of the school year. Other kids' issues do not belong in a meeting to discuss my child.

Do you have to go to extreme lengths to get your kids the help that they need through your school district?

Our DGD, also in the 3rd Grade, was also recently diagnosed with dyslexia. My biggest concern is how best to help her. DS says she struggles in math, and since I used to be a math teacher he figures I can help. But I used to teach high school geometry and adult GED, so I have virtually no experience with dyslexia and math. The biggest problem for my poor DGD is that her sister is very smart and lets everyone know it (but isn't that what siblings do?).

 

[galaxygirl76]

My daughter, now in 2nd grade, was diagnosed at the end of last school year. Our school has been nothing but helpful with giving her the help she needs, before and after the official diagnosis. She was already getting extra help before they came to the conclusion that she is in fact dyslexic and now going into the new school year she'll be seeing a special teacher pretty much one on one to help her getting caught up while not missing out on regular class room work, they are very adamant about that. They are giving her extra help in class with subjects that require reading like math. I have nothing but good things to say about how her school has handled it.

 

[ladyjubilee]

I actually have dyslexia, and over all am labelled as "severely" learning disabled. To this day, I can't tell time on a analog clock. While in a PhD program (ran out of $$ before I finished) of course I got called on to read the time in Scots Gaelic in front of a class. So embarrassing to have to admit in front of a class of undergrads that I couldn't tell what time it was. I also couldn't use rotary phones, so happy that's not a problem anymore. Mixed with it, I'm face blind. As a child I used to panic if I got separated from my mother and couldn't remember what she was wearing. If I didn't know what she was wearing, I could walk right by until she spoke (still true today. I've even failed to recognize my child.) I was not diagnosed officially until high school, even though my mother was a special education teacher whose emphasis was LD. At the time of testing, I read at the 4 year college level....but barely got by.

Like your daughter, I sight read. I see what the word looks like, but often don't see the components of the word and often don't have a clue what it actually sounds like. I just attach that symbol to the concept. I also skip parts of sentences, even though I think I have written the whole sentence. I can't read phonetically at all in English, French or Scots Gaelic. I read a little more phonetically in Spanish, Manx and Japanese.

Things that help me: Not taking standardized test on the test sheet. I just can't. I end up on the wrong column every time. I've literally missed the answer to every question on a standardized test. When we changed from using standard forms to having tests read to me and making on the question sheet, I was able to succeed.

Extra time. I think the extra time helps me with anxiety. I also have to force myself to use that time and touch all of the answers to be sure I did answer.

Touching. I find if I touch my question, and touch each possible response or each point in an essay answer, I do better.

I missed out on a promotion once when I really was the most qualified candidate for because I missed answering 4 questions on a 5 page test. I just didn't perceive the because I was nervous and skipped right over them. Underling important concepts in the sentence also helps.​

I've never tried the films that kids use to color text, but I do use different colors on my laptop and ereader.

I found if I took notes in my books, in context, I did better. Even now, I prefer to buy a book/ebook instead of borrow, because I want to have it look the way I want.

For some people reading out loud helps....it doesn't really work for me. I find it distracts me, and I can't remember what I just read.

I also do better typing than handwriting. Working on tablet definitely helps me.

Anyway.....yeah, I do dyslexia well

 

[DisneyOma]

My 3rd grade DD was diagnosed with dyslexia at the end of last year through a pediatric neuropsych exam. Since kindergarten, I've been asking the teachers if her development in reading, writing, and spelling was lagging behind because I noticed differences between her and her older siblings as well as her and her peers. The difference between her and her peers got more noticeable as she moved up in grades.
Teachers would tell me the reading teacher evaluated her and she would just barely pass, so no reading services. They never really commented on her writing, spelling, and decoding, which were horrendous. When I sent an email to her teacher in March of her second grade year to list many concerns we had, including the fact that she couldn't sound out words; even simple ones, she didn't know the vowels (said A, big pause, then said L?), as well as other issues. The teacher dismissed each of our concerns, saying they are still working on vowel sounds (but the kids should be able to name them, no???) and certain letter patterns and pointed me to websites that we could use at home as extra help. She said she recently evaluated her reading and she was not very far behind. Still at second grade level.

Over the summer, I spent time with a cousin whose 14 yo son was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. She told me that his "symptoms" were pretty much identical to my DD's and encouraged me to have her tested. I notified the school and signed a consent to test her (at which time, they did coincidentally start giving her RTI reading services - too little, too late). I was very, very lucky and managed to get her in with a pediatric neuropsych at a major hospital at the end of October. We were flexible and they had a cancellation.

Anyway, the neuropsych testing showed she has dyslexia. The neuropsych wrote a long list of specific suggested services that she should get from the school. We had our initial IEP meeting and they determined that she's of course eligible for one. We ended up partially rejecting their proposed IEP mostly for many omissions. I hired an advocate and we worked with her to draw up proposed revisions and are awaiting the school's response. We were supposed to meet last Friday, but they weren't ready with the new IEP. They want to meet this week, but haven't given me a day or a time, yet. It's very frustrating! The district has a history of not meeting the needs of dyslexic kids. They like to pretend that dyslexia doesn't exist. They didn't even use the word "dyslexia" anywhere in her IEP! The biggest wall that we are hitting with them is that she has memorized so many words that she is able to "pass" their DRA reading assessments and they say she is reading on an end of second grade level. The reading specialist keeps pointing out that there are kids (who may or may not have any IEP or learning disability) who get reading help who are way below my DD's level. As if to say that those are the kids who need the help; not my kid. Yet, she can't properly sound out and spell "mommy." She couldn't spell her full first name at the beginning of the school year. Other kids' issues do not belong in a meeting to discuss my child.

Do you have to go to extreme lengths to get your kids the help that they need through your school district?

When she was little, what worked for you when you taught her the alphabet, etc? Those could be some suggestions you make at the meeting - I've found that parents that come with some solutions to their child's learning disabilities get much more input into IEPs. If you know what works for your daughter, you need to let them know. Have you tried Open Dyslexic as a font, for instance?