New Diagnosis of Dyslexia

[Anonymous]

At a neuropsych evaluation, our son was diagnosed with dyslexia. They recommended a structured remediation program (Phono-Graphix, Orton-Gillingham, The Wilson Reading Program, Lindamood-Bell, Read Naturally, etc). He's in 5th grade and doesn't pass the assessments at school but hasn't failed badly enough to receive any extra reading instruction. We currently have an outside tutor weekly.

We asked our current tutor, and she was willing to increase his hours to two or three hours a week over the summer. We looked into Lindamood Bell, and it looks like it will be at least $20,000 and 20 hours a week. Is there something in-between? Do other centers/programs exist? Or is it all private tutoring?

Is there any hope of getting help through the school? We're in public schools (APS).

[Anonymous]

Start here. Good luck mama.

https://www.decodingdyslexiavirginia.org/

[Anonymous]

We found a tutor experienced in with dyslexia and trained (Level II) in Wilson. Our child went to them 2-3 times a week and the tutor gave us things to work on during the non-tutoring days.

[Anonymous]

What program is the tutor using? Is it an o-g program like Wilson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What program is the tutor using? Is it an o-g program like Wilson?

Our current tutor isn’t using a specific program. She had been focusing more on writing than reading. The dyslexia diagnosis is new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Is there any hope of getting help through the school? We're in public schools (APS).

You may be able to but it will cost a fortune and involve a LOT of advocating/fighting for what your kid needs. You will have to do all remediation outside of school on your dime. Assuming APS even agrees to the diagnosis and gives you an IEP you will not get anywhere close to the hours the kid needs to catch up with the school based specialist (if they're even OG certified). APS is absolutely abysmal with dyslexia. Some schools are better than others but none of them are great. We were at McKinley and it was abysmal.

As background, our kid was diagnosed in 5th grade. During distance learning we saw him trying to learn and realized how far behind he was. He was always barely making it by. Failed the last SOL he took and even that didn't register as an issue with the school. We came to learn he never learned basic phonics-things you should learn by 2nd grade and no one ever noticed.

We pulled him out for private school. We also knew he would never be successful in an APS middle school. I have two older kids so I know the amount of teacher involvement/help there is and what is expected of them and knew there was no way he could be successful.

You absolutely need a dyslexia centered program. We had an OG tutor and it's done wonders. It is by no means cheap but we really had no other options. I can't really help with tutor recommendations as we no longer live in the area. Check out the Lab School's website. They have a list of tutors and they may have other resources. We did not go to The Lab School-I just used the tutor list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What program is the tutor using? Is it an o-g program like Wilson?

Our current tutor isn’t using a specific program. She had been focusing more on writing than reading. The dyslexia diagnosis is new.

Is your kid dysgraphic as well? I'm the PP right above and in addition to dyslexia he's dysgraphic. Sometimes they go hand in hand.

[Anonymous]

Go to an SLP. Dyslexia is a language-based learning disorder. They specialize is all aspects of language involved in dyslexia (syntax, phonology, semantics, morphology) in both expressive and receptive contexts. A structured "program" is really not the best idea as they are not individualized to your child A structured approach is appropriate.

[Anonymous]

You need an experienced orton-gillingham tutor for 4 one-hour sessions per week, it will cost & $75-125/ hour and is worth every penny.

[Anonymous]

There is an APS specific dyslexia online group. I don’t have the link but if you post on AEM on Facebook someone will direct you to it.

[Anonymous]

Learn all you can about Dyslexia. Look into the Science of Reading. To be your kid’s advocate you need the knowledge.

I decided to study a program myself, reduce my work hours and work with my own kid. The specialized schools were beyond my budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need an experienced orton-gillingham tutor for 4 one-hour sessions per week, it will cost & $75-125/ hour and is worth every penny.

I agree. We also have/had a tutor use Phono-Graphix which helped my child make a good deal of progress.

For ACPS, we fought the school (hiring a lawyer) and did end up getting language on the IEP to provide appropriate instruction. The actual school instruction itself still would not have been sufficient without the tutoring so in the end, it may be worth using the money you have on tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You need an experienced orton-gillingham tutor for 4 one-hour sessions per week, it will cost & $75-125/ hour and is worth every penny.

+1. Generally speaking the order of intervention is:

1. All About Reading at home.

2. An Orton-Gillingham trained tutor - and there are multiple reputable O-G influenced programs.

3. Take out another mortgage and try Lindamood-Bell. LB is *incredibly* expensive, extremely time-consuming, and should be regarded as a last ditch option for the profoundly dyslexic, for whom, incredibly, it can work.

A kid who is failing tests, but the school doesn't regard as failing badly enough to justify intervention, sounds like someone at step 1 or step 2 to me.

[Anonymous]

Read ‘Overcoming Dyslexia’ by Sally Shaywietz.

[Anonymous]

We used an OG tutor 3 times a week for 2 years. It was $100 per session.

We had zero luck in FCPS and I actually think the "help" our daughter was getting was actually causing confusion and doing damage so I would just opt out of the school program.