Phonological Processing Disorder - any experience?

[Anonymous]

My DS has been going through a series of evaluations and tests for a few years now for something that seems dyslexia-like but isn't exactly dyslexia (or at least isn't what is classically considered dyslexia). At our most recent IEP meeting, the school raised the possibility of a phonological processing disorder and recommended services for that.

Out of all the various language-related issues I've encountered so far (and it's been a few because of the way my DS presents), this feels like it's getting closer: if you ask him, for instance, to break a word down into its component parts, he can't. If you ask him to pull a letter out of a word and say the remainder, he can't do it. ("Take the word 'tree' and remove the 'r' -- what word sound is left?"). He is a terrible speller. Mostly he can't seem to hear or individuate individual letter sounds.

What I've seen online about this is mostly associated with speech, though. DS doesn't have speech problems, but struggles enormously with reading and writing. Does anybody have a child here with this diagnosis? Did getting support for phonological processing disorder help with reading and writing issues, not only speech?

It doesn't feel off, but when I've tried to read more about this online, I am finding all the resources associated with speech therapy, but DS's issues are not speech (everybody agrees his speech is fine). So, I would love to learn more about this in the written word context.

TIA.

[Anonymous]

Has he been tested for speech? It could be receptive issues? How old is he? Remember schools don't teach spelling anymore so you may need to do it at home. I would get a full private evaluation - Neuropsych Mom will be by soon and she can give you recommendations and how to do it. (there are probably a few neuropsych mom's). Also, get a hearing test if you have not or one isn't recent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has he been tested for speech? It could be receptive issues? How old is he? Remember schools don't teach spelling anymore so you may need to do it at home. I would get a full private evaluation - Neuropsych Mom will be by soon and she can give you recommendations and how to do it. (there are probably a few neuropsych mom's). Also, get a hearing test if you have not or one isn't recent.

Of course more than one parent recommended neuropsychological evaluations. That's how you identify speech/language disorders. Speech therapy is just one remedy. You 'd know that if your kid had one.

[Anonymous]

How old is he?

[Anonymous]

Op, this is a short article on phonology awareness and how it relates to reading:
https://www.labschool.org/page/outreach/scientific-review-group/srg-reading

I wouldn't rely on the public school to remediate this.

[Anonymous]

OP here. DS is 8. I think that what the school has done so far has actually been pretty good, FWIW; between us working with DS at home and the services he's already getting, he's been making a lot of progress. However, it's increasingly clear there is something that isn't connecting (school sees it too) on the reading/writing aspects.

He was tested for speech. Speech (and spoken vocabulary) are actually far above grade.

He hasn't had a private neuropsych evaluation. The school he is in (public) has been pretty proactive in working with him and so up to now we haven't felt it was necessary. But it sounds like maybe we should look into it?

[Anonymous]

OP. One more thing, his pediatrician recommended against private neuropsych testing last we talked with her (at that point in time, she suggested we revisit in about a year).

[Anonymous]

Phonological processing weakness IS dyslexia! Your child has the most common and the most easily diagnosable type of dyslexia. Your child needs a researched based reading and spelling program, like Wilson or Lindamoid Bell Seeing Stars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Phonological processing weakness IS dyslexia! Your child has the most common and the most easily diagnosable type of dyslexia. Your child needs a researched based reading and spelling program, like Wilson or Lindamoid Bell Seeing Stars.

This! Public schools refuse to use the term dyslexia and will give you any other diagnosis/name. If you haven't already had DC tested privately, I recommend doing so to ensure an accurate diagnosis. Don't trust the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Phonological processing weakness IS dyslexia! Your child has the most common and the most easily diagnosable type of dyslexia. Your child needs a researched based reading and spelling program, like Wilson or Lindamoid Bell Seeing Stars.

This! Public schools refuse to use the term dyslexia and will give you any other diagnosis/name. If you haven't already had DC tested privately, I recommend doing so to ensure an accurate diagnosis. Don't trust the school.

Sorry, but this was our experience too -- that school wouldn't recognize dyslexia. You are ahead of us at least in that it sounds like the school is acknoweldging that there is a problem and suggesting a diagnosis, even if they aren't calling it dyslexia. FWIW, refusing to call a reading problem dyslexia is a common problem and doesn't always mean that the refusal equates to a lack of acknowledgement that there is a problem. The DSM doesn't use the term "dyslexia" as a diagnostic category, preferring "specific learning disorder" with specific descriptors as a sub-categorization.

My DS was diagnosed with phonological processing disorder and Mixed Expressive Receptive Language Disorder as well as a mild developmentally inappropriate lisp around age 5. School refused to recognize reading and writing problems as they developed. We finally pulled him and put him at Siena, where he received specific dyslexia-appropriate reading instruction, which included explicit instruction about syllabification, sounding out works and breaking them apart and associating sounds with spelling patterns. The instruction was extremely helpful, even though he was never diagnosed with a reading disorder or dyslexia (probably because we never allowed him to fall far enough behind to be so diagnosed).

The phonological disorder was apparent very early when DS couldn't rhyme or break apart sounds. He also had difficulty with multi-syllable words, sometimes mixing up the syllables or dropping a syllable when speaking (psghetti for sphagetti, etc.)

Becuase there is a wide range for the development of reading, kids can exhibit weaknesses in the specific sub-skills of reading at an age when they are really not expected to be able to read yet. Thus another reason why a school might recognize phonological disorder but not call it dyslexia. If the kid is 6 y.o. and can't rhyme, that's developmentally inappropriate and a clear weakness. If a kid is 6 y.o. and can't read, that is still within the realm of "developmentally appropriate" and you wouldn't necessarily "label" a kid as dyslexic yet from a school system perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP. One more thing, his pediatrician recommended against private neuropsych testing last we talked with her (at that point in time, she suggested we revisit in about a year).

Your kid is 8 and struggling with phonological awareness—there is no reason to delay a neuropsch evaluation. Your pediatrician is not well informed. Neurologically speaking, the phonological awareness will not suddenly grow in like an adult tooth.

[Anonymous]

I also think you should have the neuropsych eval. The earlier that brain has therapy, the better. Two things I learned from my child's LD experiences:

> The notion that all kids who need speech therapy have speaking problems is incorrect (and outdated). Sometimes they can talk and hear perfectly fine but have problems decoding the words they are hearing. My DC has a higher order language processing disorder, which makes it hard for her to "get" subtle/nuanced language: which abounds at higher levels of education.

> Your child may also have dyslexia, which again, has to do with phonemic awareness and decoding. A good neuropsych evaluator will help recommend logical next steps.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't spend the money on a neuropsych evaluation and waste time getting an appt. Between scheduling and the testing and waiting for results, you could waste 6 months. You need to immediately look for someone trained in Barton, Wilson, or Seeing Stars to tutor your son. I bought Wilson reading (it was less than 500) and pay my son to do a lesson a day. His phonological processing scores were so low when we started- he had trouble rhyming and blending. A year later and he is doing great. He still can't rhyme well but his oral blending is fantastic and he has made so much progress in reading. He was behind in reading last year in second and getting intervention at school. They tested him and he qualified (so you know it wasn't good if the schools were willing to test without a fight). I didn't want special Ed because the special education teacher was new and knew nothing about dyslexia. I used to be a teacher so I decided to tutor my son, but really anyone with patience and a bribeable kid can teach Wilson if you do some research first. My son went from the lowest reading group to a middle of the pack reading group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't spend the money on a neuropsych evaluation and waste time getting an appt. Between scheduling and the testing and waiting for results, you could waste 6 months. You need to immediately look for someone trained in Barton, Wilson, or Seeing Stars to tutor your son. I bought Wilson reading (it was less than 500) and pay my son to do a lesson a day. His phonological processing scores were so low when we started- he had trouble rhyming and blending. A year later and he is doing great. He still can't rhyme well but his oral blending is fantastic and he has made so much progress in reading. He was behind in reading last year in second and getting intervention at school. They tested him and he qualified (so you know it wasn't good if the schools were willing to test without a fight). I didn't want special Ed because the special education teacher was new and knew nothing about dyslexia. I used to be a teacher so I decided to tutor my son, but really anyone with patience and a bribeable kid can teach Wilson if you do some research first. My son went from the lowest reading group to a middle of the pack reading group.

You can get outside tutoring but yes spend the time and money on a neuropsch evaluation because language based LDs aren’t limited to reading.

[Anonymous]

My DD is 8 and has this exact same issue. Her teachers at school insist she isn’t dyslexic bc she is on grade level in make ways except decoding, phonemic processing and spelling. We went to children’s for neuropsychological testing and the tester said she is a clear cut case of dyslexia.

What you are describing is DYSLEXIA to a T. The schools refuse to use the name for whatever reason.

We took the children’s report and advocated for an IEP and DD qualified.

Even her own teacher voted against the IEP bc she is technically on grade level in reading.

There are many forms of dyslexia. You are doing your child a disservice by not getting a fulsome private evaluation by someone who has no prejudices or motives unlike the schools.