Please help me find dyslexia resources for 2nd grader

[Anonymous]

We're new to the world of dyslexia. DS is in 2nd grade. He's made great strides with ADHD ... which then uncovered his dyslexia. Right now he's in a homeschool-like private school that is an extremely supportive environment for him in everything related to ADHD, but his teacher has no background or resources with dyslexia. We're planning to start him with an O-G tutor, but I would like to identify other resources for him as well.

Specifically, I'm looking for recommendations for text-to-speech software and I'm hoping to learn more about Learning Ally for audiobooks. I would like him to get familiarity with basic text-to-speech capabilities. Obviously he doesn't have a lot of homework, but I would like to start him on the technology before the homework starts so I'm looking for recommendations software and/or tutorials good for kids. For Learning Ally, is the $115/yr also for people with an official dyslexia diagnosis? And do they have audiobooks appropriate for a 2nd grader? He has great comprehension but some adventure related themes popular with younger boys might be too scary for him.

Please also chime in if there are other topic areas that I haven't even thought of yet. As I said, we're new to this ...

[Anonymous]

Try searching ASDEC: http://www.asdec.org

I wouldn't start a 2nd grader on speech to text software at this point. That would be more for a 5th grader on up.

Try story nory or libriovox for audio books.

[Anonymous]

Learning Ally and Bookshare are great resources. BOth are for people with dyslexia. Leaning Ally changed its name from Recoding for the Blind and Dyslexic a few years ago. So are the local libraries. We found the the Arlington Central library had the best slection of audio books on CD in the children's section. We listened to books as we drove up and down the Eat coast and to the mid-west on family trips- in addition to istening at home. At this point, I can recite all 7 Harry Potter books.

Barton and Wilson are good Orton-Gillingham based programs.

Work on keyboarding with word prediction software first. Speech to text software doesn't work until end of Middle school or HS because it take patience (they are very frustrating inthe editing process), word enunciation and the ability to think in your head in paragraphs as they work better with long streams of input rather than a word at a time. My DC used Co-writer at that age. Look at the Don Johnston webiste for other products that may help. As your DC ages, Kurzweil is fabulous. It can read scanned material in PDF and Word form. You can scan in a handout and then type on it and fill it out on the keyboard and print it out. We also read and scribed quite a bit until DC"s keyboarding and computer voice listening ability increased (this wnet on through ES and into MS- trailing off slowly). Even in HS, he scribes some when technology starts acting up and the frustation level rises. This is a slow ebb and I can see the end now.

DC's dyslexia was discovered in 2nd grade, he is now in 11th. He also has dysgraphia and ADHD in addition to a few other things. The main thing is to remember it is a long haul and small steps add up over time. You can't solve everything at once and if you try it will overload your child. It is a balancing act. Find places where your DC can be successful and support her assets too.

[Anonymous]

OP - I don't know if this is do-able for you, but Commonwealth Academy starts in 3rd grade. It's a college-prep school for ADHD kids but also handles some kids with dyslexia. North Alexandria

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I wasn't looking for speech-to-text just yet .. as you said, that would be at least 3rd grade or higher when he's expected to start producing written materials for content.

I did want to start him on software for text-to-speech for digital text, though. I understand Kurzweil is very powerful, but it's also too expensive for us for home use and not exactly what we're looking for right now. He already uses the computer but has problems navigating because basic information is usually textual. I would like him to be able to access digital text on the computer with minimal help. It's not critical right now, but I would like to introduce him to the capability sometime this school year. I don't know if the best avenue is the built in Windows software or if I should look somewhere else. I also don't really know how to use the built in Windows text-to-speech, though I guess I could find that out via youtube.

I've been planning to renew my library card but for some reason didn't think about access to children's audiobooks there. I'll have to go look. And I'll check out libriovox and bookshare as well. I have an Audible membership since I listen to a lot of audiobooks while driving, but I don't know what the best would be for kids' books. I did buy a couple of kids' classics that were super cheap on Audible and so far he's listened to Riki Tiki Tavi about 4 times on my old ipod .. LOL

[Anonymous]

Some of the audio books my DC liked in the second grade were:

Mixed Up FIies of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
The Trumpet and the Swan (loved loved loved it Charlotte's Web was too sad for him)
Captain Underpants (you need to read to him as there are many graphics)
Geronimo Stilton books
Love, Ruby Lavendar

[Anonymous]

I always refer people to specialists at Children's because they worked so well for my SN kid.

Here's a link: http://childrensnational.org/departments/neuropsychology-outpatient-evaluation-program

[Anonymous]

Co-Writer is more appropriate than Kurzweil at this time. It is not as expensive. Our DC uses both. Started Co-Writer in 2nd grade and started Kurzweil in 7th grade. Both are provided by the school. A decent graphic organizer worked well in the 2nd-5th grade. They are easily found for free on the internet and you can take your pick of which one works best for your DC- changing to a more complex one as she ages. Natural Readers was good for an inexpensive text to speech program, but at some point it ceased working on DC's computer. Sometimes you get software build up on your computer and they do not play well together. Kurzweil does not play well but it is so good, we put up with it (again DC is in HS).

The cost of Kurzweil ($1400) is much cheaper than private school and, for us, about a third of our annual tutoring costs from 2nd through 7th grade( which was also cheaper than private school). When DC graduates from HS and needs it for college, we will be paying for it ourselves and have built it into our expected college costs.

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to say good luck, OP! My DS has dyslexia and he is now in 3rd grade, diagnosed in 1st. He has refused to use any of the adaptive technologies, so I can't recommend them. Just wanted to throw that out there...sometimes kids just don't want to use tools that are different than their friends. What I have been able to do for him is read to him...a lot. And I scribe for him.

[Anonymous]

the International Dyslexia Association has some good resources: http://eida.org/