Twice exceptional kid: ADHD and dyslexia

[Anonymous]

DD7 was just diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD (hyperactivity type). She also tested at a FSIQ of 136, with visual spatial reasoning as a particular strength (144).

She’s in private school and we have sent them her neuropsych report.

Thé neuropsych thinks her current private school can likely accommodate her, and doesn’t think she needs to apply to a specialized school like McLean School or Lab School.

Neuropsych said we might consider a low dose of medication for the ADHD.

Anyone else have experience with kids like this?

[Anonymous]

Dyslexia and ADHD are a very common combo—anecdotally, every kid I know with dyslexia also has an ADHD dx.

[Anonymous]

Mine was sort of like this, although perhaps not quite as gifted. Also ADHD and dyslexia. Definitely did the meds, which really helped. DC was accepted at the Lab School but the private school DC was at was sure they could accommodate her so we kept her where she was. It all turned out fine but was definitely a hard road and required annual meetings and frequent reminders with the teachers about accommodations. DC was very motivated to keep up with her peers. DC finished college in 4 years (with some summer work) and got a masters degree, so it worked out in the end and I think it was the right decision to keep her at the mainstream school.

[Anonymous]

Just know that you will need to do outside tutoring. What the school provides will not be enough. They will not use the correct programs. Your DC should be getting tutoring 5 days a week. That is the advantage of Siena School or Lab.
Also, dyslexia deficits tend to get more pronounced as you get to middle school because the work is harder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just know that you will need to do outside tutoring. What the school provides will not be enough. They will not use the correct programs. Your DC should be getting tutoring 5 days a week. That is the advantage of Siena School or Lab.
Also, dyslexia deficits tend to get more pronounced as you get to middle school because the work is harder.

19:55 here. Agree with the tutoring. DC had 2x/week tutoring for years, as well as summer school at Lab.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just know that you will need to do outside tutoring. What the school provides will not be enough. They will not use the correct programs. Your DC should be getting tutoring 5 days a week. That is the advantage of Siena School or Lab.
Also, dyslexia deficits tend to get more pronounced as you get to middle school because the work is harder.

19:55 here. Agree with the tutoring. DC had 2x/week tutoring for years, as well as summer school at Lab.

OP here. Thank you! She already meets with an OG tutor once a week and is in a phonics intervention group at school. The neuropsych recommended increasing the tutoring frequency, so we will be asking the school for that.

Thanks for the rec about summer school at Lab — I will definitely look into that!

[Anonymous]

Yes, my DS has dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD. We went the public school route and hired a private tutor several times a week as worked at home with them daily.

Reading to them and Audio books at their cognitive level were instrumental in keeping their language, background knowledge, vocabulary…. Up to that.

Reading Sally Shaywitz, ‘Overcoming Dyslexia’ is very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dyslexia and ADHD are a very common combo—anecdotally, every kid I know with dyslexia also has an ADHD dx.

My kid has dyslexia but not adhd. I think op was wrong to share the report. Not school will want that kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine was sort of like this, although perhaps not quite as gifted. Also ADHD and dyslexia. Definitely did the meds, which really helped. DC was accepted at the Lab School but the private school DC was at was sure they could accommodate her so we kept her where she was. It all turned out fine but was definitely a hard road and required annual meetings and frequent reminders with the teachers about accommodations. DC was very motivated to keep up with her peers. DC finished college in 4 years (with some summer work) and got a masters degree, so it worked out in the end and I think it was the right decision to keep her at the mainstream school.

DC has a friend with a similar experience so far but still in high school. Highly gifted with dyslexia and doing great at a mainstream private with a lot of hard work and some outside tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Same profile for my high schooler but got diagnosed with dyscalculia in middle school. The math reasoning skills were so high that it was accommodating the calculation errors.

Keep an eye on issues with writing and math to come out later. Keep on top of tutoring. Keep on top of the school because 2e kids often struggle because they are so capable of doing the work but get hindered by some of the mechanics that are impacted by the dyslexia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dyslexia and ADHD are a very common combo—anecdotally, every kid I know with dyslexia also has an ADHD dx.

My kid has dyslexia but not adhd. I think op was wrong to share the report. Not school will want that kid.

This is a horrible comment that is directly contradicted by comments on this very thread.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Anonymous]

Op, same diagnosis and similar profile for my DD, also at age 7.

We kept her in her mainstream private school and did OG tutoring 4x per week for 2 years. She has good working memory so made tremendous progress with her tutor and is doing well academically, now 3 years later. The quality of tutors does vary, so be aware of that. I also had the tutor visit her at school and she got pulled out of her language to do it - huge benefit of not having to come home and do more tutoring.

DD is medicated for ADHD, and also sees a therapist to work on some skills like emotional regulation.

I think her private school did a great job in general with supporting her, and we didn’t want to put her in a specialized private school if she did well with the tutoring. I have a close friend whose DC did the tutoring and wasn’t able to make significant progress who then moved to a specialized private.

My biggest concern is that she is bright but managing frustration when she isn’t interested in a topic but needs to learn it for school is challenging. Luckily she picks things up quickly, but getting her to sit down and focus once the meds have worn off (for homework) can be hard.

Hoping she builds good habits so she is more motivated to do homework and do well at school because she is smart and I want her to feel like she is smart. 2nd and 3rd grade were hard because she didn’t feel very smart due to the dyslexia. That is much better now, but the negative self-talk is one of the things that pushed us to get her back in therapy again recently.

GL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just know that you will need to do outside tutoring. What the school provides will not be enough. They will not use the correct programs. Your DC should be getting tutoring 5 days a week. That is the advantage of Siena School or Lab.
Also, dyslexia deficits tend to get more pronounced as you get to middle school because the work is harder.

19:55 here. Agree with the tutoring. DC had 2x/week tutoring for years, as well as summer school at Lab.

OP here. Thank you! She already meets with an OG tutor once a week and is in a phonics intervention group at school. The neuropsych recommended increasing the tutoring frequency, so we will be asking the school for that.

Thanks for the rec about summer school at Lab — I will definitely look into that!

You should do four one hour OG sessions per week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just know that you will need to do outside tutoring. What the school provides will not be enough. They will not use the correct programs. Your DC should be getting tutoring 5 days a week. That is the advantage of Siena School or Lab.
Also, dyslexia deficits tend to get more pronounced as you get to middle school because the work is harder.

19:55 here. Agree with the tutoring. DC had 2x/week tutoring for years, as well as summer school at Lab.

OP here. Thank you! She already meets with an OG tutor once a week and is in a phonics intervention group at school. The neuropsych recommended increasing the tutoring frequency, so we will be asking the school for that.

Thanks for the rec about summer school at Lab — I will definitely look into that!

You should do four one hour OG sessions per week.

Thanks — we are pushing for every day, as that’s what the neuropsych asked for.

[Anonymous]

DS is 2E but just has dyslexia. Private was great because they allowed him to drop Spanish in 3rd-8th grade and let our OG tutor come in. So 2-3 times a week for all those years. Made a huge difference. By 8th grade it was also executive function skills and guided studying, which helped him get ready for high school.
I didn’t find a lot teachers at the private to really get him or for accommodations to happen smoothly. High school was much better. But make your goal to have as much remediation as possible and build strong advocacy skills before high school.
Also, the nice part of 2E is that it’s easier to find academic wins and things DC is good at. Makes the self esteem part a little easier. Really try to protect their self esteem!