Reply to tips for emotional health of 7 yr old with dyslexia/dysgraphia

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Honestly, the best thing you can do for your child's self-esteem is to make sure he is getting frequent weekly instruction in a program geared specifically toward the needs of dyslexic kids.  That means something that has explicit and repetitive phonic instruction -- Wilson, Orton-Gillingham, RAVE-O, etc.

IME, public school systems are largely unprepared to provide such instruction with the 1-1 or small group ratio necessary frequently enough and with enough reinforcement in the general classroom.  So, what naturally happens is that a kid is getting "special" instruction, which is not actually effective instruction, and they come to believe that they are can't learn to read and thus are stupid.

This happened to my DS.  We knew in K that he was likely to have problems given his language disorder and family history of dyslexia.  It was clear in first grade that he wasn't learning to read and by 2nd grade he was already down on himself because he couldn't do what other kids could easily do.  We had been fighting for an IEP since K, and finally got one at the beginning of 3rd grade, but no appropriate instruction was ever provided, just more prompts from the teacher and more intense delivery of mainstream reading approaches.

We pulled our DC from public school at the end of 3rd grade and placed him in a SN school specializing in language learning disabilities like dyslexia and dysgraphia.  Within a year, his reading improved dramatically.

THAT was what protected his self-esteem -- the hard evidence that when provided with a different kind of instruction, he could, in fact, learn.  His self-esteem sky-rocketed, even though he reading still wasn't fast and easy for him.

In retrospect, I dearly wish I hadn't listened to or waited on the public school, which clearly had no expertise in teaching dyslexics.  Intense intervention in 1st and 2nd grade, would have avoided a ripple effect in his learning (or lack thereof) and would have avoided the damage to his self-esteem which had to be repaired.

DC knows he is smart and that sometimes he needs a different explanation or instruction or accommodation, but that he is fully capable of learning at a high level.  [/quote]

I'm not OP but I 100% agree with the above. However, we can't afford the crazy high private school tuition and it infuriates me that this is the only realistic option that works from year to year. I can't even go into details of our IEP and associated "services" because it's so useless that I will suffer yet another spike in blood pressure.  We're having to get by on twice a week private tutors and that's not enough. [/quote]

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