dyslexia question

[Anonymous]

DD, age 7, has dyslexia. At the end of the school year, she was officially assessed to be about 1 year behind in reading. She reads to me for 5-10 minutes each evening. Some evenings she reads wonderfully -- fluently reading most of the words in the easy reader, even words I didn't expect her to know, and sounding out and blending the words she does not. Other evenings she stumbles over easy words she's known for ages and can't sound out even CVC words. There's no correlation to her tiredness or anything else I can think of.

On the days when she's struggling, do we just cut our losses and stop reading early? Keep pushing through? Is there something I can do to remind her that she really does know the words she's struggling with?

And, for those of you who know more about dyslexia, why does this happen?

[Anonymous]

On the days when she's struggling, do we just cut our losses and stop reading early?

Yes, don't push her if she's having an off day. Finish the book by reading it to her and every so often point to a word she can sound out and ask her to read it.

Is there something I can do to remind her that she really does know the words she's struggling with?

Try to sound out the words together with her. For example if she's stuck on the word clap say "ok lets sound this out together c-l-a-p" even if you're saying most of the sounds and she is just echoing you she'll be learning a good strategy to help her read unknown words.

And, for those of you who know more about dyslexia, why does this happen?

There is no easy answer to this. It could be for a variety of reasons, but it is very common for kids with dyslexia to struggle with common sight words that they "know". Are you getting help from a professional (tutor/teacher/therapist) that specializes in dyslexia? It's not something that is easily remedied without help from a dyslexia expert. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:\

And, for those of you who know more about dyslexia, why does this happen?

There is no easy answer to this. It could be for a variety of reasons, but it is very common for kids with dyslexia to struggle with common sight words that they "know". Are you getting help from a professional (tutor/teacher/therapist) that specializes in dyslexia? It's not something that is easily remedied without help from a dyslexia expert. Good luck!

Thanks! Yes, during the school year she goes to a school with SpEd trained teachers (I don't know if they are specifically trained in dyslexia though), and this summer we just started working with a SLP who specializes in dyslexia. Because of her camp schedule, it's not as frequent as it ideally should be.

There are some evenings where she's reading wonderfully and I think she could totally be mainstreamed. And other evenings when I wonder if she'll ever learn to read easily enough to enjoy it. She also has ADHD (unmedicated), and the evenings where she has the most difficulty reading to me are often the evenings when she also has trouble listening to me read to her -- so I wonder to what extent attention plays a role.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD, age 7, has dyslexia. At the end of the school year, she was officially assessed to be about 1 year behind in reading. She reads to me for 5-10 minutes each evening. Some evenings she reads wonderfully -- fluently reading most of the words in the easy reader, even words I didn't expect her to know, and sounding out and blending the words she does not. Other evenings she stumbles over easy words she's known for ages and can't sound out even CVC words. There's no correlation to her tiredness or anything else I can think of.

On the days when she's struggling, do we just cut our losses and stop reading early? Keep pushing through? Is there something I can do to remind her that she really does know the words she's struggling with?

And, for those of you who know more about dyslexia, why does this happen?

My DC was the same. For him, it meant it was really a sight word yet and he was a very good guesser on some days. If you can, increase her reading with you to at least 30 minutes a day, 5-10 is not going to be enough. How often each week will your daughter be seeing the SLP? I would ask the SLP for things to work on at home. Another thing that worked well was at least an additional 30 minutes a day of being read to or listening to audio books. This way your DD can listen to book she is cognitively ready for but cannot yet read. It helps increase vocabulary and understanding of language and complex stories. It also helps makes "reading" more fun when they can listen to stories they like. Public libraries have audio books on CD or are downloadable. We found that Arlington Central Library had the best collection, but any library has plenty when you start. Sign her up for Learning Ally (it used to be called Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic) and she will be able to download the audio version of any book.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD, age 7, has dyslexia. At the end of the school year, she was officially assessed to be about 1 year behind in reading. She reads to me for 5-10 minutes each evening. Some evenings she reads wonderfully -- fluently reading most of the words in the easy reader, even words I didn't expect her to know, and sounding out and blending the words she does not. Other evenings she stumbles over easy words she's known for ages and can't sound out even CVC words. There's no correlation to her tiredness or anything else I can think of.

On the days when she's struggling, do we just cut our losses and stop reading early? Keep pushing through? Is there something I can do to remind her that she really does know the words she's struggling with?

And, for those of you who know more about dyslexia, why does this happen?

My DC was the same. For him, it meant it was NOT really a sight word yet and he was a very good guesser on some days. If you can, increase her reading with you to at least 30 minutes a day, 5-10 is not going to be enough. How often each week will your daughter be seeing the SLP? I would ask the SLP for things to work on at home. Another thing that worked well was at least an additional 30 minutes a day of being read to or listening to audio books. This way your DD can listen to book she is cognitively ready for but cannot yet read. It helps increase vocabulary and understanding of language and complex stories. It also helps makes "reading" more fun when they can listen to stories they like. Public libraries have audio books on CD or are downloadable. We found that Arlington Central Library had the best collection, but any library has plenty when you start. Sign her up for Learning Ally (it used to be called Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic) and she will be able to download the audio version of any book.

Good luck!

Oops, left off the NOT.

[Anonymous]

Even if she doesn't appear tired, I would try earlier in the day - I learned from my friends, that was their biggest redo if they had to do it over again. After a long school day, we often underestimate how mentally tired they are - especially if processing takes more work than a normal kid. Summer maybe a time that you can switch when you do that. Weekends are great. Agree that you need far more then 5 to 10 minutes a day, so you may need to chunk it up during the day.

I'm a huge fan of whisper sync on Kindle - though my DC is older. Its audio but highlights each wordand you can adjust font to be bigger. The school and I saw a huge improvement in DC's reading - as well as comprehension and vocabulary. For the kindle time, we had her read at least one grade level above, sometimes 2 grade levels. DC was proud to "read" the books that other kids were into and would "read" hours. It was a real confidence boost and brought back the love of reading. It can get pricey, especially if you are doing a lot of shorter books. You can buy the previous Fire Kindle version which amazon often runs on sale. I don't think it works on the print only kindle or iPad.

Other things to try to "extend time", in slightly harder books, you read one page, she reads the next (with your help). Or in a early chapter book, you pick out the easy pages for her to read in a chapter (shorter pages/ pages with dialougue), and you read the harder ones. Magic tree house (thru book 28) is a good series for that and also is a series, where the author repeats the same words over and over and over. (tedious to listen to , but works).

good luck

[Anonymous]

Have you looked into the Davis program?

[Anonymous]

Thanks, PP. There is no way DD would have the attention or stamina to read to me for 30 minutes. By the end of 10 minutes she's noticeably flagging. Maybe it's the ADHD again? We're only working with the SLP once a week -- we got the diagnosis after we had already made camp plans, and that's all we could fit in. We can be much more intensive when school starts.

Thanks for the recommendation for Learning Ally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, PP. There is no way DD would have the attention or stamina to read to me for 30 minutes. By the end of 10 minutes she's noticeably flagging. Maybe it's the ADHD again? We're only working with the SLP once a week -- we got the diagnosis after we had already made camp plans, and that's all we could fit in. We can be much more intensive when school starts.

Thanks for the recommendation for Learning Ally.

You can work up to the 30 minutes. Meet her where she is, if she can only handle 10 minutes, then do ten minutes 3 times a day. Add a minute or two every once in a while. Put he books on CD on when you drive around- that is how we hooked the kids. Anytime you will be in the car for 15+ minutes is enough. You need to keep it up in the summer so that she doesn't regress. Hopefully, the SLP will have some suggestions for things to do at home.

[Anonymous]

Reading can be tiring for some with dyslexia(there is alarge diffences b/t people). Some time changing the background color or text type helps. There was a good website, if I find it I will post it.

[Anonymous]

http://www.dyslexic.org/
Lots of good info.

[Anonymous]

You could also try listening to audio books while following along with a written version. Kindle does "active immersion audio" which highlights the text while it is being read.

My kid with dyslexia really enjoyed doing that and I think it helped a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You could also try listening to audio books while following along with a written version. Kindle does "active immersion audio" which highlights the text while it is being read.

My kid with dyslexia really enjoyed doing that and I think it helped a lot.

I thought the new Kindle (Fire) did away with that and it was only available on the older versions.

[Anonymous]

Dyslexia is actually a genetic disorder caused by a difference in their brains. I read somewhere that there is less grey matter in part of their brain and more in another part to compensate, so there are strengths associated with it too and you should focus on those in addition to worrying about the reading. I don't know if the grey matter thing is true, but the brain difference is. I am not really 100% sure "what" of the exact difference, but I know it's actually physical. My SIL is dyslexic and my FIL also has symptoms, but isn't actually dyslexic (he is in his 70s, so clearly he wasn't diagnosed as a child, but reads slow and was apparently reversing letters all the way through his PhD program.....he's an Engineer, which is a common career field for dyslexics because it plays to their strengths).

My daughter has not been formally assessed, but she is supposed to be next year. For now she is getting a lot of support, but she also has issues with math facts so it makes that difficult also. It's insane. She'll pick up one topic almost immediately, and then others will be extremely difficult. I'll help her all night and then she'll get it. The next night we're back at square one. She's awful with names, doesn't know right from left, doesn't totally understand the days of the week.

But then she will start to build something and it will be super creative and complex. Just off the top of her head.

Good luck! My daughter is also 7, so I don't have a lot of advice, but I guess I'm more writing to commiserate!

[Anonymous]

My 7 year old DS is also dyslexic, also diagnosed this past school year, and can also only read for 5 to 10 minutes. And he does not have ADHD, so I think it is part and parcel of the dyslexia, and reading being so hard. My son can sustain longer periods of work and concentration with his tutor, but they mix up what they do, it isn't just reading a book out loud the whole time, and that probably is part of why. When my son is having a day when he simply isn't recognizing words - the old name for dyslexia was word blindness, and sometimes that feels like what it is, though it has nothing to do with the eyes - we do just cut the reading short. I add on to my normal reading out loud to him time. Some other things that seem to be working are: have DS video himself reading something he knows and likes and replay it to himself. He thinks its cool. Re-read books again and again. Elephant and Piggie books are a big hit for that, since they are easy but still funny enough for a 7 year old. So are poems - some Shel Silverstein poems are easy enough, once read through a few times. If you haven't already, you might read some books on dyslexia. Overcoming Dyslexia is, I think, the best book for parents. And, I hate to say it, but I'd cut camp short for tutoring if need be. I guess that is only true if your daughter is suffering because of the problems with reading. My son was miserable for most of last year because he felt stupid and ashamed, even though he is clearly very very bright. His pain about it was coloring everything in his life, so making addressing the dyslexia the first priority has helped him feel better pretty quickly. Good luck, OP!