End goal for dyslexia

[Anonymous]

For my dyslexic in high school it was important to have accommodations, and to learn to type and dictate. Handwriting and spelling became much less important. I wish we’d spent a lot more time listening to audio books when he was younger. He missed out on hearing stories and learning because of our focus on books. When they are older, the ideas are more important then the mechanics in writing (in my opinion). Also, make sure he finds an activity to enjoy and excel at, as school can be hard on confidence.

[Anonymous]

we are about to start HS with a profoundly dyslexic 14 year old. She completed OG, did about 6 months of writing tutoring and she relies on accommodations. It took until 8th grade for her to realize audio books were a good thing. She can read but it is hard, takes longer than everyone else and is not enjoyable.

She loves speak to text- uses it to start any work, communicate with friends on her phone and it has been great. Also, she uses the app Speechify- and some of her non-dyslexic friends have gotten it too so that has made it more acceptable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The end goal is to be a financially independent adult, OP.

This means going to college, since the income gap between non-college educated adults and college-educated adults keeps widening.

This means having solid reading comprehension skills as well as solid writing skills! College admissions get more competitive every year. You can't just walk into your state U anymore. UMD and UVA both require top GPAs and if you submit a standardized test score, they need to be high.

I cannot overstate the importance of working on this! You need to persuade/bribe/crush your middle schooler's opposition to additional tutoring because she does not realize she's sabotaging herself for life. Explain it and say it's non-negotiable.

I'm not an expert on dyslexia. But my son with several learning disabilities, ADHD and HFA needed to work specifically on reading comprehension and a skill called inferencing (understanding unwritten information from context clues). He had a writing tutor that worked on all aspects of written organization and reading comprehension, but mostly on inferencing, for most of middle school, and then he had ACT test prep in high school, as well as occasional tutoring for some of his AP course work. We have spent a small fortune on this, and it's been worth it: he would never have made all the progress he has without one-on-one tutoring.

Please tell your child that families who can afford it pay for tutors to increase their kids' changes of getting into a good college, even if they have good grades to begin with and no learning disability. In my corner of Bethesda, most students will have a tutor for something at some point, whether they're in private or public!

OP: this poster is a bit dramatic. Yes find a writing tutor but dyslexia will not ultimately get ‘fixed’ to match a neurotypical child’s brain. And that is what is known as genetic diversity. My dyslexic brother in law is CRUSHING it in insurance- surpassing your surgeons in terms of net worth. He says his social skills - developed while grinding his way through high school and one year of a trade were the keys to his ultimate success. There is even a book that lists the numerous dyslexic entrepreneurs called I think, ‘The Gift of Dyslexia’

PP you all replied to.

I never mentioned "good" vs, what not "good" colleges? like someone else who replied to my post.
And I never intimated that dyslexia can be "fixed", PP.

The reason I am so forthright - and perhaps you're all reacting to that - is that my son with severe ADHD/HFA/dyscalculia (same as dyslexia but for math)/low processing speed, is a senior in high school and in the nightmare of college applications. I just want to warn all of you parents of bright neurodivergent kids out there, who think your kids do have the skills to make it in college, that college admissions are brutal. You think any kid with solid grades, decent test scores and a few activities can get to college? Not the colleges that you went to. I'm not being "dramatic" for fun, PP. It's just a bit of a let-down, when your kid has survived so many obstacles, is finally functional enough and has the vision to seek higher education, and then you realize they actually needed to be hyper-functional and have a 4.0 gpa, several AP courses, and several achievements in extra-curriculars, to get to what you thought was a mediocre institution. Perhaps you're seeing your kid struggle now, and you're like "yeah, any college will be fine". I guarantee you that you'll get a little bit more ambitious when your kid grows in confidence and ability. Parents of typical high schoolers are realizing this too. But I think for parents for kids with special needs, it's particularly bitter. It's not like college admissions officers give students a pass if they write about overcoming their disabilities. So gird up for further toil and trouble down the road, is what I mean.

In terms of understanding what college is all about, and wanting to go, I wouldn't worry too much about that from a middle schooler. My own neurotypical middle schooler went through a similar phase. Unlike my intellectual senior with LDs, who wants college to learn more, she wants to go to college to "make more money". Ouch. But I guess, that's also a valid reason?

[Anonymous]

Dyslexia, I have a daughter now 24 . It's a journey of navigating the demands of school and as a parent advocating for the child to be seen for his / her strengths vs difficulties.

To have the difficult conversations r/t ACT/SAT's and long term career planning.

We opted not to go the 4 year college route, decided to focus adulthood on strengths and not continue to focus on what was difficult.

Did chemistry, math , at community college, then went to the beauty industry .

Reading for pleasure will always be a challenge , but, working in a creative field = a happy contented adult who makes more money than me, a masters graduate .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced that being able to spell correctly is a critical skill. My experience has been that dyslexic adults in the professional workforce can use technology to compensate in most situations. Similarly, unless handwriting is actively interfering with other skills (such as higher level math classes), I'm unconvinced that focusing on remediating handwriting is worth the investment. On the other hand, reading comprehension and the ability to write effectively are much more important.

Respectfully, I suspect you're seeing successful compensation because you are dealing with those who "made it" to the professional workforce. They likely reached some level of proficiency in spelling to get there. A lot of dyslexics remain poor spellers and don't make it to/through college or trade school.

Spelling affects grammar (there/their/they're) and usage even if you know grammar in spoken language. Grammar can also be "too much" for someone who can't spell, so they never learn it.

I didn't even get into the amount of judgment that happens to those who can't spell. I've watched it, and it's heartbreaking.

Agree with the other poster who mentioned spelling being a sign of poor orthographic mapping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still young (9 yo), and they will finish the ASDEC curriculum this spring. The second half was much more focused on spelling than the first half, which was more reading and comprehension.

I’m not sure what is next. Would love to hear from other parents. Is DC really done?

PP, if your 9 year old is finishing ASDEC curriculum this spring, do you mind sharing how long they have been doing it? Did you find that it really helped your child? My almost 8 year old just started the sounds in syllable program last month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still young (9 yo), and they will finish the ASDEC curriculum this spring. The second half was much more focused on spelling than the first half, which was more reading and comprehension.

I’m not sure what is next. Would love to hear from other parents. Is DC really done?

PP, if your 9 year old is finishing ASDEC curriculum this spring, do you mind sharing how long they have been doing it? Did you find that it really helped your child? My almost 8 year old just started the sounds in syllable program last month.

Nevermind! I see you already answered further upthread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not convinced that being able to spell correctly is a critical skill. My experience has been that dyslexic adults in the professional workforce can use technology to compensate in most situations. Similarly, unless handwriting is actively interfering with other skills (such as higher level math classes), I'm unconvinced that focusing on remediating handwriting is worth the investment. On the other hand, reading comprehension and the ability to write effectively are much more important.

Respectfully, I suspect you're seeing successful compensation because you are dealing with those who "made it" to the professional workforce. They likely reached some level of proficiency in spelling to get there. A lot of dyslexics remain poor spellers and don't make it to/through college or trade school.

Spelling affects grammar (there/their/they're) and usage even if you know grammar in spoken language. Grammar can also be "too much" for someone who can't spell, so they never learn it.

I didn't even get into the amount of judgment that happens to those who can't spell. I've watched it, and it's heartbreaking.

Agree with the other poster who mentioned spelling being a sign of poor orthographic mapping.

Is that remediated in OG?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do think ASDEC will require you to start at the beginning level. Which will be a tough sell for your child.

In terms of writing/ spelling, our experience is writing content is limited because child is not confident in ability to spell and use higher level vocabulary. Mechanics have improved a lot in middle school but content is somewhat lower level due to difficulties with spelling. While speech to text sounds like a good accommodation, we have noticed since most writing occurs in school that is not used willingly.

We have decided to look at a specialized school for high school because I believe that is the difference in my child attending college or not. The focus is on all of these skills and support through the college testing/ application and essay process.

My child was similar in that by 7th grade thought the reading was remediated and doesn’t need to work on it any longer. So we aren’t pushing it but as I said, we hope to get continued remediation at a specialized school.

Yes, it sounds like kid will need to start at the beginning level, but hopefully can zip through the first part.

We are going to try to find a sounds in syllables tutor and see what we can get done - kid begrudgingly said they will try it (with big reward). They did acknowledge that they could improve spelling.

OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once my kid got to OG-3, the focus switched to less direct dyslexia 'tutoring' and more on the reading comprehension and writing/output. But my kid does now fairly ok with spelling and is getting more used to spell check and some speech to text (but s-t-t is a little slow going, we keep being told it often takes til HS for kids to embrace using it, but how knows). Kid did Lindamood Bell intensive over a summer a while ago which was enormously helpful in both reading acquisition and fluency. While it's 'different' it's still fundamentally multisensory reading and teachers/tutors who did OG felt it had clearly been instrumental in getting kid reading and based on the same things that it wasn't in any way conflicting and totally complementary.
BTW - I have dyslexia and am a self sufficient adult with a professional job.
There's such a wide scope of dyslexia and its impacts, my kid's is more significant than mine is/was - and kid also has dysgraphia and ADD issues which compound learning...
Think the biggest things are keeping kid engaged and also confident that they are capable.

Thanks - this is what we are hoping to get by "finishing" OG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The end goal is to be a financially independent adult, OP.

This means going to college, since the income gap between non-college educated adults and college-educated adults keeps widening.

This means having solid reading comprehension skills as well as solid writing skills! College admissions get more competitive every year. You can't just walk into your state U anymore. UMD and UVA both require top GPAs and if you submit a standardized test score, they need to be high.

I cannot overstate the importance of working on this! You need to persuade/bribe/crush your middle schooler's opposition to additional tutoring because she does not realize she's sabotaging herself for life. Explain it and say it's non-negotiable.

I'm not an expert on dyslexia. But my son with several learning disabilities, ADHD and HFA needed to work specifically on reading comprehension and a skill called inferencing (understanding unwritten information from context clues). He had a writing tutor that worked on all aspects of written organization and reading comprehension, but mostly on inferencing, for most of middle school, and then he had ACT test prep in high school, as well as occasional tutoring for some of his AP course work. We have spent a small fortune on this, and it's been worth it: he would never have made all the progress he has without one-on-one tutoring.

Please tell your child that families who can afford it pay for tutors to increase their kids' changes of getting into a good college, even if they have good grades to begin with and no learning disability. In my corner of Bethesda, most students will have a tutor for something at some point, whether they're in private or public!

OP: this poster is a bit dramatic. Yes find a writing tutor but dyslexia will not ultimately get ‘fixed’ to match a neurotypical child’s brain. And that is what is known as genetic diversity. My dyslexic brother in law is CRUSHING it in insurance- surpassing your surgeons in terms of net worth. He says his social skills - developed while grinding his way through high school and one year of a trade were the keys to his ultimate success. There is even a book that lists the numerous dyslexic entrepreneurs called I think, ‘The Gift of Dyslexia’

We are trying to expand our understanding of "success" and life goals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC is still young (9 yo), and they will finish the ASDEC curriculum this spring. The second half was much more focused on spelling than the first half, which was more reading and comprehension.

I’m not sure what is next. Would love to hear from other parents. Is DC really done?

Approx how long did it take for first half and second half?

How is your DC’s spelling now - even just basic simple words?

DC will have gotten through the curriculum in about 15 months doing tutoring 4 times per week and hardly missing any weeks. DC has a good memory to retain all the information, which apparently helps a lot.

DC’s spelling on words that follow the “rules” is pretty good. Of course the English language has lots of words that are exceptions, but it’s a huge improvement over when DC started, where I had a hard time figuring out what they had written.

Thanks - that is shorter than I expected. Our kid did Wilson for about a year and was still only on level 3. But we had some scheduling/other issues during that time. Hoping we can get 3-4 days/wk to make progress quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my dyslexic in high school it was important to have accommodations, and to learn to type and dictate. Handwriting and spelling became much less important. I wish we’d spent a lot more time listening to audio books when he was younger. He missed out on hearing stories and learning because of our focus on books. When they are older, the ideas are more important then the mechanics in writing (in my opinion). Also, make sure he finds an activity to enjoy and excel at, as school can be hard on confidence.

Yes, this is so important!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we are about to start HS with a profoundly dyslexic 14 year old. She completed OG, did about 6 months of writing tutoring and she relies on accommodations. It took until 8th grade for her to realize audio books were a good thing. She can read but it is hard, takes longer than everyone else and is not enjoyable.

She loves speak to text- uses it to start any work, communicate with friends on her phone and it has been great. Also, she uses the app Speechify- and some of her non-dyslexic friends have gotten it too so that has made it more acceptable.

Thanks. Hoping our kid can get to a similar place next year. Will try Speechify - haven't heard of that before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The end goal is to be a financially independent adult, OP.

This means going to college, since the income gap between non-college educated adults and college-educated adults keeps widening.

This means having solid reading comprehension skills as well as solid writing skills! College admissions get more competitive every year. You can't just walk into your state U anymore. UMD and UVA both require top GPAs and if you submit a standardized test score, they need to be high.

I cannot overstate the importance of working on this! You need to persuade/bribe/crush your middle schooler's opposition to additional tutoring because she does not realize she's sabotaging herself for life. Explain it and say it's non-negotiable.

I'm not an expert on dyslexia. But my son with several learning disabilities, ADHD and HFA needed to work specifically on reading comprehension and a skill called inferencing (understanding unwritten information from context clues). He had a writing tutor that worked on all aspects of written organization and reading comprehension, but mostly on inferencing, for most of middle school, and then he had ACT test prep in high school, as well as occasional tutoring for some of his AP course work. We have spent a small fortune on this, and it's been worth it: he would never have made all the progress he has without one-on-one tutoring.

Please tell your child that families who can afford it pay for tutors to increase their kids' changes of getting into a good college, even if they have good grades to begin with and no learning disability. In my corner of Bethesda, most students will have a tutor for something at some point, whether they're in private or public!

OP: this poster is a bit dramatic. Yes find a writing tutor but dyslexia will not ultimately get ‘fixed’ to match a neurotypical child’s brain. And that is what is known as genetic diversity. My dyslexic brother in law is CRUSHING it in insurance- surpassing your surgeons in terms of net worth. He says his social skills - developed while grinding his way through high school and one year of a trade were the keys to his ultimate success. There is even a book that lists the numerous dyslexic entrepreneurs called I think, ‘The Gift of Dyslexia’

PP you all replied to.

I never mentioned "good" vs, what not "good" colleges? like someone else who replied to my post.
And I never intimated that dyslexia can be "fixed", PP.

The reason I am so forthright - and perhaps you're all reacting to that - is that my son with severe ADHD/HFA/dyscalculia (same as dyslexia but for math)/low processing speed, is a senior in high school and in the nightmare of college applications. I just want to warn all of you parents of bright neurodivergent kids out there, who think your kids do have the skills to make it in college, that college admissions are brutal. You think any kid with solid grades, decent test scores and a few activities can get to college? Not the colleges that you went to. I'm not being "dramatic" for fun, PP. It's just a bit of a let-down, when your kid has survived so many obstacles, is finally functional enough and has the vision to seek higher education, and then you realize they actually needed to be hyper-functional and have a 4.0 gpa, several AP courses, and several achievements in extra-curriculars, to get to what you thought was a mediocre institution. Perhaps you're seeing your kid struggle now, and you're like "yeah, any college will be fine". I guarantee you that you'll get a little bit more ambitious when your kid grows in confidence and ability. Parents of typical high schoolers are realizing this too. But I think for parents for kids with special needs, it's particularly bitter. It's not like college admissions officers give students a pass if they write about overcoming their disabilities. So gird up for further toil and trouble down the road, is what I mean.

In terms of understanding what college is all about, and wanting to go, I wouldn't worry too much about that from a middle schooler. My own neurotypical middle schooler went through a similar phase. Unlike my intellectual senior with LDs, who wants college to learn more, she wants to go to college to "make more money". Ouch. But I guess, that's also a valid reason?

OP here. Our older NT kid is in HS and we are beginning to realize that college admissions is brutal now. It's totally different than it was 30 years ago. We are trying to lower expectations - A LOT.

We are hoping our younger kid finds some/any value in school - for college or whatever down the line - so that they will put more effort into it. Right now, they are totally disinterested and can't even quite get the bare minimum completed. That said, we are in a better place than we were a few years ago when kid was totally miserable, couldn't read/write, and just refused to do everything, even to go to school. So making progress...slowly.