When Child Is Too Dyslexic for Dyslexia School?!? Help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Sorry.

They just can’t retain language and are still having a lot of trouble with letter reversals in very simple words like “bid”/“did” and “was/saw” “on/no”. They can *NOT* read those words consistently *EVEN* when they are in the same sentence.

Like “the dog was glad he saw a log.”

The child is now 10 and would have trouble reading that sentence. After YEARS of IEP support in public, special private school for two years, tutoring, and interventions.

I’m the dyslexic pp above. Things like dog/log, bid/did, 5/3 are even harder to distinguish for us when they are in the same sentence. When they are next to each other I often can’t see the difference, even though I can when they aren’t in the same sentence.

I’m just saying this to help you hold on to how normal it is for dyslexic kids to struggle, and to get stuck, and even to retain dyslexic characteristics long term, and still thrive. It is frightening and frustrating and expensive, but keep at it and your child will make progress.

[Anonymous]

Has child been tested for auditory processing disorder?

Jay R. Lucker, Ed.D., CCC-A/SLP has done a ton of research on this and still sees patients in the area. You can email him at [e-mail]. He was very helpful to us.

[Anonymous]

I have a profoundly dyslexic child and she went to a private dyslexic school with ok results. When Covid hit, she was at the end of 5th grade, we took her out of dyslexic school and did ASDEC 4 days a week. It really helped her, including her spelling which I wasn’t sure would ever improve. If cost isn’t a barrier ( and time, logistics) then I would really look at non traditional options for a bit instead and just focus on the reading. My child is now in high school and school is still awful for her because of dyslexia/ dyscalculia but she can read, write, spell and can function perfectly fine with technology. Her path through school has been a nightmare but her ASDEC tutor and that program was incredibly helpful. I really hate that it is like this for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Have you checked his vision? Our dyslexic daughter was having vision issues on top of her dyslexia. It made things infinitely more difficult. She was eventually diagnosed with eye muscle weakness and focus issues. She went through 6 months of vision therapy to resolve those issues.

Dyslexia wise we went with an online tutor, Dyslexia Connect. She did 5 days of 25min/day virtual therapy. It really helped her a ton. We did that April of 2020 through August of 2021. She improved so much!

Working memory wise it took a while until that "started" working. Last year (5th grade) it started working a bit, and this year it's working well.

[Anonymous]

At 10, we moved child from public t private but not a dyslexia school. instead, the school let us bring in a private, very well trained, tutor during the school day.
They went from 3rd grade in 6th to 7th in 9th for spelling. However, reading speed and comprehension are at grade level. It's just writing/spelling that still lags. Also, the school has taught them all the assistive tech and when something doesn't work, tried something else.

Sounds like your child may need the type of intensity that some of us have described. It can't be done ooover a summer.

Also, have you looked at Fusion? It's expensive too but 1:1 education.

https://learn.fusionacademy.com/summer-programs-bravado/?Utm_source=google&Utm_medium=cpc&Utm_term=&Utm_campaign=FA_SEM_google_PMAX_AllProg_Multi_DefaultBuxton&Utm_adgroup=&piCId=80145&Utm_campaignid=20423890948&Utm_adgroupid=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAt5euBhB9EiwAdkXWOz7pdMCsqHKtIGCiLyNcixEFmXC-MlxaFeXCjRX4OvqYCWa10RPWQBoC3NwQAvD_BwE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to enroll you child in LMB.

I do not have personal experience, but heard that this is best program money can buy, but at ~$20K it was not in the cards for us.

I would reach to ASDEC and see if they have any tutors available and do 2 hours of tutoring a day during the summer.

If you have not done a full educational testing, I would recommend getting that done first. Second, have you ruled out any hearing or eyesight problems?

In our case, the issue was partially due to hearing loss. Did not get diagnosed until I requested a hearing test. Child passed newborn hearing test, no concerns about hearing from school. I noticed child could not distinguish certain sounds.

OP here. Thank you. We have not explored LMB or ASDEC yet. Yes DC has been tested by a pediatric opthamologist (all good) and a pediatric audiologist (also fine) bc they also had severe articulation delays. speech therapy has helped tremendously and DC has nearly normal speech now but it’s taken 6 years of speech therapy since age 3-4 via Child Find in prek to get there. But the reading just isn’t clicking. They just can’t retain language and are still having a lot of trouble with letter reversals in very simple words like “bid”/“did” and “was/saw” “on/no”. They can read those words consistently when when they are in the same sentence. Like “the dog was glad he saw a log.” The child is now 10 and would have trouble reading that sentence. After YEARS of IEP support, special private school, tutoring, and interventions.

Keep up the good work, OP. All is not lost. My DS at 14 still can mix up those words and he's now at a college reading level. He does very well with longer, complicated words but those little three letter words can trip him up easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ASDEC’s Sounds In Syllables is a 2-3 year program, and it’s sorta the last resort. Very structured. It’s a major commitment but it does work.

We ultimately did this and wish we started here. Very comprehensive. Ideally, do 1 hr x 4 days/week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to enroll you child in LMB.

I do not have personal experience, but heard that this is best program money can buy, but at ~$20K it was not in the cards for us.

I would reach to ASDEC and see if they have any tutors available and do 2 hours of tutoring a day during the summer.

If you have not done a full educational testing, I would recommend getting that done first. Second, have you ruled out any hearing or eyesight problems?

In our case, the issue was partially due to hearing loss. Did not get diagnosed until I requested a hearing test. Child passed newborn hearing test, no concerns about hearing from school. I noticed child could not distinguish certain sounds.

OP here. Thank you. We have not explored LMB or ASDEC yet. Yes DC has been tested by a pediatric opthamologist (all good) and a pediatric audiologist (also fine) bc they also had severe articulation delays. speech therapy has helped tremendously and DC has nearly normal speech now but it’s taken 6 years of speech therapy since age 3-4 via Child Find in prek to get there. But the reading just isn’t clicking. They just can’t retain language and are still having a lot of trouble with letter reversals in very simple words like “bid”/“did” and “was/saw” “on/no”. They can read those words consistently when when they are in the same sentence. Like “the dog was glad he saw a log.” The child is now 10 and would have trouble reading that sentence. After YEARS of IEP support, special private school, tutoring, and interventions.

You may want to check out SRA Corrective Reading. It’s a direct instruction program designed for older students that didn’t quite catch on during the younger years. I’ve used with great success with several students in 1:1 settings grades 3-9 both in school and at home. You could probably learn the program yourself and do it with them at home with some research and training. There’s a learning curve for teaching but it’s not too bad because everything is scripted, you just have to learn the cuing. You’ll need to research what program is best and test for level placement before purchasing materials though. You can find most placement tests online or contact the company for assistance. It’s the kind of program that needs daily practice to work but I’ve never seen it not work when implemented correctly. I like that the content of the reading passages for corrective reading are geared towards older children rather than very young like most reading programs. Once you learn to teach it then teaching other SRA programs (spelling, math, etc) is fairly easy because they all have similar layouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At that cost, it may be worth fighting with the school district to get them to agree that private school is the proper placement, which means they would pay for it. There are kids at these schools whose districts pay for them.

How could they show that a non public is the proper placement if the private school is saying it isn’t working and the child isn’t making progress. I think you’d have to enroll in public first then say they aren’t making progress

[Anonymous]

Corrective reading info

Check out “resources” for examples and placement tests.

https://www.nifdi.org/programs/reading/corrective-reading

[Anonymous]

I would consider calling Lab's admissions office, explaining the issue and seeing if they think they would be able to help your child more than the current school helping.

If you switch schools and are able to drop private tutoring during the school year, would that allow you to cope with the difference in tuition between your current school and Lab?

Do you think your current school is trying to push you out?

FWIW, the impressions I've gotten have been that Lab and Chelsea (in Hyattsville so probably not great for you) don't consider students "too" dyslexic and Siena won't take students who are too far behind. I think Oakwood was the school we didn't look at because it's too far away from us.

[Anonymous]

What is his IQ, OP? You need to do asdec. If his IQ is below normal it could take years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is his IQ, OP? You need to do asdec. If his IQ is below normal it could take years.

It has taken my kid with about an 80 IQ 3 years to approximate grade level with asdec. You need to start with it.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Reading through all the posts and suggestions and really appreciate all the input and advice/ideas. DH and I both work full time so these non-traditional programs are logistically challenging for us. Otherwise we can’t pay for the tutors and programs DC needs!

DC needs to be in school socially and emotionally. We also have two other kids with varying levels of disabilities/needs. But none is as profound as the DC who is the subject of this message. Our two other kids are in public and doing okay with supports.

DC’s Current private special Ed school says they can support DC for one more year but by repeating the same grade for a THIRD TIME. which isn’t good for them developmentally or socially to be with 7-8 year olds at age 10-11.

DC started in public in k-2 pretty much all of which happened during Covid. It was a disaster. Even just testing them was a disaster bc there was limited in-person testing so the IEP is based on a hybrid of virtual, in person and testing through a plexiglass screen. We started in public in NoVA and it was a fail even despite a strong IEP with significant hours and interventions. We switched to a special Ed private mentioned in this thread and that is also apparently not working to help DC progress. I get the sense they want “easy” cases of dyslexia and adhd. Not profound cases that take up resources. Which is odd considering the schools mission.

I will look into AESDC and LMB. I also have reached out to Katherine Thomas as someone suggested. But again the logistics are difficult. We don’t know the best strategy here and whether we have a case for funding if DC couldn’t progress in public or current private.

I’m so overwhelmed and feel blindsided by private where we thought DC was “home.” If That makes sense. I’m also frustrated bc I’m getting very little support from my husband (also dyslexic and with some executive function weaknesses) who just sort of stares blankly and freezes when it comes to taking action to help or coming up with solutions. He won’t even send an email to a school for info when I ask. Or request retesting bc of the Covid situation originally. Just doesn’t do it.

I’m very alone trying to manage the needs of three special Ed kids and my own job which I am failing at.

So thank you DCUM for being there and problem solving with me.

[Anonymous]

Op you sound BUSY. I’m so sorry. So asdec tutors can come to your home or meet your kid at a library etc. Some schools will allow them to come in and work there. You can be really creative. It was life changing for us. My son couldn’t read at 9 and is now almost at grade level three years later.