Dyslexia

[Nightfly]

Hello,

We have a 5 year old girl who is not coming around at all in writing at all. Her teacher thought she would grow out of it and she said today that it is something we should look into. Does anyone have any experience in helping their children? Our son has taken so much of our time and money to deal with him improve emotionally. I do not want to get on the never ending cycle of trying all the help that is out there. My son has gone to counseling, vision therapy, not covered by insurance, occupational therapy, psychiatrists just to name a few. Our daughter is so happy and I want to spare her the pain of feeling dumb and ashamed. Any advice is appreciated as well as prayers.

God Bless

 

[mellowcalico]

My daughter is 7 and still struggles with writing (this despite me working with her more, tutors, and specialized attention at school). While the teacher is concerned and wants me to keep working on it, she also said that even at 7-years-old, doing things like scrambling letters and writing some letter backwards still might be something she grows out of (and is still common). My daughter is slowly getting “better” at writing.

I’ve also talked to a speech and language professional who told me that my daughter is “too young” to test for dyslexia because what she is doing is still acceptable at her age and that all kids are different and develop at different stages.

So don’t lose hope and don’t panic, at age 5, your child might just still be developing writing skills. This might be especially true if she’s really good at another subject (my daughter is a Wiz at math).

But I wouldn’t just rest on my laurels. Read to her and let her read to you nightly and have her keep a journal. My daughter likes to “write” and illustrate books as well. During Mass, have her read with you (the songs are great to read as well while singing–my daughter loves that the most). Also look into tutors or reading programs (Hooked on Phonics helped my daughter a little). I also bought a book entitled, “How to Teach Your Dyslexic Child to Read.” I am not finished with it yet though. My daughter loves an online game called “Reading Eggs” (and they have a free trial going on right now).

 

[PaulinVA]

My high-school-aged daughter has dyslexia and other issues.

She is an A/B student and this year is edging out of her IEP (Individualized Education Plan). She is a true success story of the LD system in my county.

She was identified as having problems at 2, and has been in the county system ever since. She, my saintly wife, and various dedicated LD teachers have spend countless hours (thousands?) helping her. She is the hardest-working kid I know. And an absolute delight.

Dyslexia and other types of learning issues are very individualized to treat. The goal is to help this individual person find ways to cope with how they see the world. Getting intervention as early as possible is important. You daughter may have dyslexia, may just be delayed, or could have some other problem.

Ask her teacher what resources are available in your area and see where that leads.

 

[mamaslo]

to add to that, it may be a good idea to do the occupational therapy…maybe when your son is there you can ask about different ideas.

These children may not fit into the “norm” but they have talents and innate skills that the “norm” doesn’t address. Being normal has nothing to do with fullfilling God’s purpose in their lives. There is a reason why they learn the way they do and you will probably be amazed when you see what it is.

 

[MomaMary8]

I have two children diagnosed as dyslexic and 3 possible (just need to get them to the dr for an official diagnosis, but I already see the signs) and 2 that are just fine and 3 that we are waiting to see…

I have found that “vision therapy” to be an absolute crock! I had it recommended early on and it was a joke. I’m sorry you have been through the ringer on all the possible help out there. The thing that I have found to be the best help is the [Wilson](http://www.wilsonlanguage.com/FS_ABOUT_Ma(name removed by moderator)age.htm) reading program and heavy doses of phonics in the early grades (K5-3rd.) Whole language is a nightmare for kids with dyslexia, and they need the constant drilling in the phonics rules (more than a normal child.) Does your school teach phonics based reading (not just supplemental?) My current 5 yr old who shows signs of dyslexia is reading things such as “sat, cat” “pill”, etc along with a few sight words. Eventually she will be introduced to phonics rules to help her decode and read when words get larger. My 3rd grader is what is called a “phonetic” speller and spells things out as they sound. I need to do more outside work to re-teach the phonetic rules to help increase his reading speed and spelling.

I’ll probably find a tutor that uses the Wilson Reading program. I love it! It helped my oldest tremendously! He is now in college and was on the dean’s list last semester. Reading is still slower for him, but it has increased tremendously. Before WR, every word was a sight word for him, and larger or new words were hard to read if they were not locked into his long term memory (he has very little short term memory and makes math and reading difficult.)

Each dyslexic is different and faces their own challenges. I recommend a medical doctor that specializes in learning disabilities and skip the special ed testing…often times they get it wrong. A right diagnosis will help you see the strengths and weakness of your child and help them excel in school.

 

[Cat]

She’s only five. That’s awfully young to be concerned about writing.

Years ago, children weren’t expected to write at the age of five. At five, I could write my name in an illegible scrawl. That’s it.

Encourage her to play with blocks or any toys, e.g., sewing cards, that develop fine hand and finger muscles and hand-eye coordination.

I would recommend books by Raymond and Dorothy Moore, if you can still find them. They are probably available online in various out-of-print markets. These educators were reading specialists who followed several thousand children from infancy through adulthood. Their big “thing” was “readiness,” and they suggested that many children are not ready to read until they are 10 years old. What they said is that if parents will simply wait it out, many children will learn to read spontaneously, without any struggle.

I don’t know if writing is the same, but I suspect it is. Perhaps your child is simply not ready to write yet, and perhaps you should just be patient and wait it out. In the meantime, make sure that she does activities like I suggested above that develop the fine muscles in her hands, and hand-eye coordination.

You could also try her out with piano lessons. Many communities offer some kind of group lessons in Suzuki settings. Piano is a great way to strengthen hands and fingers, and develop hand-eye coordination.

Also consider that more and more, children are using the computer to “write,” rather than writing with pencils or pens. I’m all for that! I hated handwriting as a child and teenager, and once I learned to type, tried to do as much as possible on the old manual typewriter!

 

[chevalier]

Five years is an early age to read writing. When I was a kid myself, at least where I lived, most kids would begin at 6-7 and being competent at age 5 would have been the mark of a particularly quick child.

I had dyslexia problems as a child myself (I was so “messed up”, I confused right and left, east and west, and never learnt to tie my shoe-laces properly, heck, I still can’t) and they were eventually overcome, most of them (except for poor hand-writing due to impaired fine motorics). As in, I still make “typos” in hand-writing and don’t have consistent letter shapes and it isn’t particularly legible, but spelling etc. is not a problem. It has long stopped being, I believe due to reading a great lot (I think that reading a lot in childhood is a necessary step in preparing people to write competently; without this not even an MA degree will help much at later stages in life) and not being punished by my family and teachers but treated with understanding and love (any child with this kind of problems is guaranteed to go through a lot of stress as it is, if my own experience can be any indication). There were no financial expenses in my case and only very limited contact with a psychologist, if any. Maybe two or three visits in my lifetime as I recall, one of which to get a nice certification excusing me of any hand-writing penalties. On the other hand, some people had to go through a lot of visits with psychologists, although those were free of charge, which I presume is not the case where you live.

Maybe I’m focusing on a minor issue but I think it would be important to get, in time, this kind of certification that I mentioned a while ago in order to make absolutely sure that no teacher is capable of inflicting penalties on the child’s written assignments even if he wants to (which shouldn’t be the case but sometimes you run into uncooperative people). It’s hard to get a good GPA if they give you an F for illegility or some such.

 

[BlindManWalking]

Our daughter is so happy and I want to spare her the pain of feeling dumb and ashamed. Any advice is appreciated as well as prayers.

God Bless

Hi!

One of my best friends growing up was dyslexic. He now has a Master’s Degree and is pursuing work with Fish and Game, his lifelong dream.

Here’s a list of famous people with dyslexia: dyslexia.com/famous.htm

I see quite a few famous thinkers on there (and some people who are just famous for reasons I don’t understand. lol)

Kids can be cruel, but, your daughter has no reason at all to feel dumb based on that list.

Hope the list helps her feel OK and that she is in good company.

 

[Sarabande]

I have a brother who is dyslexic. They found out around the same age as you daughter. He was originally being tested for hearing because he just wasn’t learning as quickly as the other children. Both he and I did have hearing problems due to multiple ear infections, so we did have problems speaking and hearing. (Thus many years of speech therapy to correct it, including ear tubes and surgery on my brother’s ears… lots of money spent through the years.) It turned out that not only was his lack of hearing a detriment, but also he was dyslexic which explained why he could read simple sentences or learn his ABC’s or numbers quickly. Once that was discovered and was given therapy to learn how to get past this LD, he did fine. In high school he actually wrote his entire journal backwards so that you could only read it if it was reflected in a mirror. Of course, he got in trouble for that by his English teacher, but he didn’t realize it would be read since he was told it was a journal. He is now an architect and has always been very creative and intelligent.

I don’t see the harm in having your daughter tested just so you can rule it out or seek help for her. I think the earlier you get it nipped in the bud, the better. If she does truly have dyslexia, it seems to me, that the longer you wait to find out, the harder it will be on her and it could stigmatise her. It happened to my uncle, who didn’t find out that he was dyslexic until he was an adult. He spent his entire young life thinking he was stupid, especially after being sent away from Catholic school to the public school which was a sign to his peers at the time that he wasn’t smart enough to handle the academics in a Catholic school. But unfortunately, it wasn’t a time where people tested for that.

 

[Z1Z2]

I would investigate a nueropsych exam for your daughter. There are many things that have similar symptoms, but should be dealt with in different ways. It takes an expert to tease out the details, sometimes. When we thought that DD had a learning disability, we got her a nueropsych exam. DH and I were right in that DD had an issue, but we were totally off in what that issue was. Now DD is receiving the appropriate treatment. So, based on our experience, my advice is - find out what the real issue is before trying to address it.

 

[chevalier]

Out of curiosity, what can neuropsych issues be that look like dyslexia?

 

[Z1Z2]

That’s just it - we don’t know the issue is dyslexia. The OP titled the post that way, but then mentions writing issues. That’s dysgrahia. Difficulty writing could also be due to things like ADD or processing issues. That’s why it’s crucial to do the professional testing.

 

[TheRealJuliane]

Hello,

We have a 5 year old girl who is not coming around at all in writing at all. Her teacher thought she would grow out of it and she said today that it is something we should look into. Does anyone have any experience in helping their children? Our son has taken so much of our time and money to deal with him improve emotionally. I do not want to get on the never ending cycle of trying all the help that is out there. My son has gone to counseling, vision therapy, not covered by insurance, occupational therapy, psychiatrists just to name a few. Our daughter is so happy and I want to spare her the pain of feeling dumb and ashamed. Any advice is appreciated as well as prayers.

God Bless

5 year olds barely have the hand-eye coordination and fine motor control to hold a pencil properly, let alone be proficient in writing! Gosh, a lot is expected from kids these days! That is Kindergarten! When I was 5, we had half-days and all we did was play and have a snack, and take a nap! 1st grade was when we finally sat down at desks and started learning to print in block letters. And with those BIG pencils! LOL

My advice would be to take her out of school and let her play for at least another year. I think schools these days are so focused on diagnosing perfectly normal kids with some syndrome or other! The teachers seem to be so focused on a narrow band of capabilities, when kids come in an endless variety and all are “normal.”

You have seen the trap of getting too caught up in a diagnosis. If the teacher is so caught up in this “dyslexia” thing, it may be hard for your daughter to get out of that…Don’t YOU go down the rabbit hole, though!

5 is still so young.

 

[SilverLight]

I’m in college and I’m dyslexic it was hard to get here but I did it and math is hard for me also.

I’m also happy to answer any questions also.

 

[chazk728]

Hello,

We have a 5 year old girl who is not coming around at all in writing at all. Her teacher thought she would grow out of it and she said today that it is something we should look into. Does anyone have any experience in helping their children? Our son has taken so much of our time and money to deal with him improve emotionally. I do not want to get on the never ending cycle of trying all the help that is out there. My son has gone to counseling, vision therapy, not covered by insurance, occupational therapy, psychiatrists just to name a few. Our daughter is so happy and I want to spare her the pain of feeling dumb and ashamed. Any advice is appreciated as well as prayers.

God Bless

It sounds like you definitely have your hands full, and may God bless you for taking care of both your children. I’ve seen some kids in a developmental and behavioral clinic that have multi-disciplinary troubles. Remember that just because your daughter has some trouble with writing does not necessarily mean that she’ll have struggles in a lot of different domains. One thought would be to simply have her comprehensively evaluated. It doesn’t commit you to seeing a lot of specialists, it just lets you know where she’s at. You could either have her formally evaluated at a pediatrics clinic, or even easier (and free) you could ask the school to perform a comprehensive assessment. Every school district is required to assess a children’s gross motor, fine motor, language, and academic skills - but they only do it if the parents ask. Take it one step at a time, and you’ll be able to help her.

 

[Nightfly]

We have not given our 5 year old daughter an IEP. We have a son that has ADHD in 3rd grade and struggles even though he is brilliant. Would that make it better for him?

UOTE=PaulinVA;9046781]My high-school-aged daughter has dyslexia and other issues.

She is an A/B student and this year is edging out of her IEP (Individualized Education Plan). She is a true success story of the LD system in my county.

She was identified as having problems at 2, and has been in the county system ever since. She, my saintly wife, and various dedicated LD teachers have spend countless hours (thousands?) helping her. She is the hardest-working kid I know. And an absolute delight.

Dyslexia and other types of learning issues are very individualized to treat. The goal is to help this individual person find ways to cope with how they see the world. Getting intervention as early as possible is important. You daughter may have dyslexia, may just be delayed, or could have some other problem.

Ask her teacher what resources are available in your area and see where that leads.