OT: 7yr old DS needs a tutor --Huntington? Sylvan?

[Mickeyorbust]

We looked into Sylvan for DD13 a few years ago. I thought it was way too expensive for what you get or rather don't get. Our schools have a list of tutors, made up mostly of retired teachers. The one we had for DD13 was great. I couldn't have asked for a better tutor. She lives two blocks away, DD13 tutoring sessions were all one-on-one time. She caught up in her math skills in just a few months.

 

[LoriNSC]

We spent $2,400 on Sylvan last year for my then 10th grader. He passed barely. He was having trouble w/ english. We really didn't see much inprovement other than he tried harder. I really don't think they did a lot for him. So far this year-we're off to a good start. I'd suggest a private tutor. Here- there's Club Z. You pay like $40 an hour, they come to your house as many days as you want for 1-2 hrs. at a time. My friend at work used them & had a great experience. Wish I had known before Sylvan. I felt we wasted our money! He was also supposed to get a gas card for his efforts-which we still have yet to get!

 

[greg-n-jen]

Wow! I really appreciate all the advice! I looked at the website on signs of dyslexia and some of those things seem to fit, but I'm not sure if all of them do. But it's something I'm certainly going to look into. I think I will start with calling his teacher and see what she has to say. I definitely think he needs some one on one help. He also writes a lot of letters and numbers backwards, does that mean anything? My husband has wondered for awhile if our son was dyslexic but I said no way. Now I'm wondering if he is... His first grade teacher said it is common for kids to write some letters backwards so I just kept hoping it would all eventually click with him.

jen

 

[HelloChum]

Just my 2 cents again...

keep in mind that "all" of the symptoms do not need to fit each individual child...there are varying degrees of how everyone is affected by dyslexia or other learning differences.

We have had to come up to speed on this very quickly this past year with our 7 year old and we've done much reading and research. One thing that struck us as interesting (from reading and hearing from many friends) was that many times teachers take the wait and see approach...oh, he'll outgrow it or he's just immature for his age...fortunately, our son's was detected before he started to "fail" or get too far behind compared to his classmates. My number one concern is that my child "feel successful". Grades 1-3 are key for learning to read, after that, it is essentially "reading to learn"...science, social studies, etc. Many times by taking the wait and see approach, it won't be picked up until 3rd or 4th grade...by then, kids can be way behind and feel terrible about themselves.

Dyslexics are just "wired" differently and need more intensive instruction on phonemic awareness...breaking down words...recognizing sight words...and so on. You need a highly qualified tutor...spec. ed degree and trained in reading instruction.

Also, keep in mind that there are many great teachers...unfortunately, they cannot be experts on everything and may not know much about dyslexia or its symptoms.

You may want to compare what testing was already conducted by your school for your son to tests recommended for picking up on dyslexia...SchwabLearning and Sally Shaywitz's book would probably have the info. In our case, he seemed fine on initial testing...by the grace of god, the tester picked up on subtle things and tested further....bingo! Then seeing all the results, we could connect many dots.

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox...just something I am passionate about and we have been fortuntate so far....you are doing the right thing looking into this further as you are his number one advocate!

 

[luv2mickey]

Have you ever heard of Vision Therapy?

My DD was having problems reading and flip flopping numbers so we asked the school to test her for dyslexia. But still my gut was telling me that this was not her problem. While walking one day with my neighbor who is an occupational therapist she asked me to have her tested by someone who does vision therapy. We did and her diagnosis is convergence insufficiency disorder this is where her eye muscles are not working together so she was seeing double vision at 10-12 in from her face and had trouble with depth perception. Her eyes were working so hard to focus that she could not comprehend what she was reading.

The good news is it is totally fixable with muscle exercises. It is not cheap but would not be more then special tutoring and your insurance may cover it.
Please google Vision Therapy I am determined to get the word out because it has helped my daughter so much and you will find it is not a well known treatment option.

 

[GJM]

My DS also did that for awhile with certain letters and numbers with writing them backwards. His teacher also said that is normal in K and lst. grade. He doesn't do it anymore.

We had such great success with a tutor one on one. We did pay $35 per hour.

 

[chb]

Have you ever heard of Vision Therapy?

My DD was having problems reading and flip flopping numbers so we asked the school to test her for dyslexia. But still my gut was telling me that this was not her problem. While walking one day with my neighbor who is an occupational therapist she asked me to have her tested by someone who does vision therapy. We did and her diagnosis is convergence insufficiency disorder this is where her eye muscles are not working together so she was seeing double vision at 10-12 in from her face and had trouble with depth perception. Her eyes were working so hard to focus that she could not comprehend what she was reading.

The good news is it is totally fixable with muscle exercises. It is not cheap but would not be more then special tutoring and your insurance may cover it.
Please google Vision Therapy I am determined to get the word out because it has helped my daughter so much and you will find it is not a well known treatment option.

You bring up a very good point. Part of the dyslexic testing we had done for my daughter included making sure that she had been given a recent eye and ear exam to rule out any other troubles. Has your son had any eye and ear trouble ruled out OP?

I totally also agree with the previous poster about not taking a "wait and see" stance. If he is a bright child who has not picked up reading easily by this point, there is a reason.

 

[janette]

I agree with those that have given you the links with information on Dyslexia. My 13yo DD is Dyslexic, she also qualifies as learning disabled since it is pretty severe but this is the exception rather than the rule. Most kids with Dyslexia don't qualify as learning disabled.

I found that the school's tend to test for learning disabilities but not further. Our school district has a dyslexia program and I wasn't having success getting her in the program (she already received services from Special Ed) and I had her tested at our local Scottish Rite and they included the extra tests specifically for Dyslexia. Once I had the diagnosis I was able to get her into the dyslexia program. She's still in but probably in her last year, she also still qualifies for services with Special Ed but we don't use many of those.

You have to be an advocate for your child, find out what the problems are so you can address them. The issue of knowing if they are dyslexic is really about getting the right help, there are specific tutoring programs designed for dyslexia. Kids with dyslexia are usually smart they just need to learn to read / write differently. It is really important to use a program designed for them.

The school is also required to provide modifications and other help under a 504 for kids with Dyslexia. This is different than Special Ed and can help your child succeed.

 

[rantnnravin]

I see lots of posters have given great advice about tutoring options
my question is this: Have you had your son's eyes checked by a licensed optometrist?
when i was in second grade, i came home with many of the frustrations your son is struggling with-- seems i needed glasses BADLY!!

oh, and the vision therapy luv2mickey describes in her post: I had to have that in 3rd grade! Thank goodness my mom was a TA in a special ed classroom or no one would have ever caught it!

 

[sk8jdgca]

check and see if you have a learning disabilty association in your area that has a tutoring program. My daughter got one on one assistance for 30 hours over a 2 week period in the summer. It only cost me $240. Around $8 per hour-She enjoyed it and is progressing now. I have her enrolled for the fall 2 nights a week