Homeschooling and dyslexia?

[Neesy228]

I know that quite a few people on the boards homeschool, so I thought it would be a good place to ask. I didn't want to it to get lost on the Homeschool Chat thread though, so thanks for humoring me.

My DS7 is dyslexic - just recently verified by his school, although we suspected for about a year. He's at or above grade level in everything, except reading/spelling, but he tries so hard and has really improved this year. Right now, he's about 3 months behind the rest of his class in those areas, more in spelling - which is admittedly horrible.

We've been seriously considering homeschooling, but now I feel like I'm completely out of my league. I was intimidated by the task already, but when you throw in dyslexia, I'm terrified. I don't want to have him fall further behind because I don't have the right tools. Part of me believes that I can work with him better than the school, especially if he's got different learning needs than the other 20+ kids in his class.

Does any current HS'er teach a child with dyslexia? I'm looking for any helpful tools, information, websites, been there/done that experience....

I appreciate it. Thanks so much

 

[bumbershoot]

"Part of me believes that I can work with him better than the school, especially if he's got different learning needs than the other 20+ kids in his class."

I think your instincts are right on.

 

[carj]

Have you investigated what options are available from your school and community if you homeschool him?

In our area, the local children's hospital has an excellent dyslexia program. Also, you may be elligible to receive some dyslexia services from your school. You need to speak to the diagnostician and then the special education director to find out if that is available. (Services for homeschool and private school children are available for special education.) I know that dyslexia is not special education but since they both fall under the same 504 "umbrella" it would be worth checking into.

If you are considering homeschooling because of your personal convictions, I certainly wouldn't try to change your mind. If you are considering it because of the struggles that he has been having, you might give the dyslexia teacher time to work through the program with him. I believe that our dyslexia teacher says that she needs to work with a child for 6 months to teach them the skills. (I may be wrong about that)

Good luck with your decision.

 

[Taja]

Definitely explore the options available at school before home schooling--unless you're really dedicated to home schooling in general.

I tutored my dyslexic cousin for five years--we didn't know anything about dyslexia at that time (I'm about the same age as Disneyland!), so everything was trial and error. We just knew he had difficulty reading and writing at times. Fortunately, he had several teachers who were willing to work with him.

Oddly enough, some of the things we discovered through trial and error were things that were taught to him as an adult. He learned many more things, but it is a specialized area and many advances have been made since we were children--thank goodness!

BTW, he has been able to read at a normal level for 25+ years, but he has learned to stop if he has difficulty. The more he stresses, the more difficulty he has with letters/words/pages blurring or letters/numbers reversing. After he takes a break, he's good to go again!

 

[mikymouse]

Orton-Gillingham is a method of teaching that will help your son either at school or at home with you. Here are some good web sites. The summer is a great time to close the gap and get ready for next year. Remember he will have gifts in other areas even if he struggles in this area. The school described my son as having the classic "Weakness in a Sea of Strengths" that is typical for a learning disability but I prefer to call it learning differently.. it is not necessarily a bad thing to break the mold.

http://www.dyslexia-parent.com/hints.html
http://www.ldaamerica.org/aboutld/teachers/understanding/ld.asp
http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html#sum
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/units/fluency.htm

I am not a teacher but I am dedicated to helping my son in addition to his instruction at school. Think of multi-sensory ways to teach spelling ... writing words in the air, in the sand, in a cookie sheet covered with rice, there is something with actually feeling the words that makes it click.

 

[bookgirl]

Okay before the flaming starts I'll admit I was a special ed teacher, and I don't believe in homeschooling, in 90 percent of situations, but that said:

Even if you homeschool, your child is still eligable for special services in his public school system. Honestly I would use those services. Homeschool him, but take him in for services then coordinate with the teacher on how to adapt your curriculum for his needs. I would not try it on your own because there are some specialized treatments/adaptations/ for teaching students with special needs, but there is no reason you couldn't adapt for him with the help of a special education teacher. That way he gets to have the one on one of homeschooling, you get the control of his curriculum and environment, but he still gets the specialized assesment and remediation that is needed to get him past his difficulties. It also lets you have a chance to meet his needs, while still giviing you a backup incase his disability is more than can be dealt with in a homeschool situation.

It's a win win situation.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

Before I was a stay at home mom, I taught elementary. I am going to agree with bookgirl that you will need some help or you need to get trained. There are some very specific methods for teaching dyslexic kids with good proven results.

I took an Orton Gillingham class through a university when I was working on my masters. I see you are close to Penn State. I don't know if they have an education degree or not, but they may have some classes if they do.

You also could look into an Orton Gillingham tutor. They are expensive though.

Do you have any sort of feeling if your school's special ed department is good? I taught with an excellent resource teacher who helped me tremendously. That said, after taking O-G towards the end of my teaching career, I think some of my kids could have used more one-on-one.

Good luck!