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[quote=Anonymous]There are several different ways that children have trouble reading.  Some researchers combine some and others separate them into different types.  It is important to figure out what type your DD has and then pick a reading program that best fits that type.  O-G programs use multi-sensory things to help the brain recognize words.  For example, Wilson has the student "tap" words.  Orton-Gillingham and the Orton-Gillingham types of reading programs are the Gold Standard.  Program like Wilson, Barton and Orton Gillingham have been proven to be effective.  Wilson has been generally aimed toward teachers and has a certification program.  Barton has been aimed toward parents and you can buy the program to use at home.

Your daughter may have trouble decoding.  Phoneme awareness (how the words sound) and  orthographic ability (what they look like) play into the decoding issues.  All of the above programs work well with decoding.

Your daughter may also have trouble with Rapid Automized Naming (RAN).  This is the ability to pull out the correct word from her brain.  The only program I know that tries to address this is RAV-O by Maryanne Wolf at Tufts.  This has shown to be somewhat successful prior to grade 3, not so much afterwards.

If your daughter has both problems, decoding and RAN issues, then that is sometimes called "dual type".  My DC is dual type.

Other issues that impact reading ability are ADHD, background knowledge (vocabulary and general knowledge), and comprehension issues.  There are some programs that address Comprehension.  I believe Read123 or 123Read tries to address comprehension.  Other posters may know other programs.  Sally Shaywitz at Yale is currently studying Strattera  and dyslexia -I do not know if she has posted any results from that.  I do know, anecdotally, my DC's reading ability didi take a leap forward when he started taking Strattera for his ADHD.

fMRI's have shown that in NT brains there are three locations that are active when reading.  The fMRI in a dyslexic brain has shown that there are active spots all over.

Depending on the severity of your DC's dyslexia, it will be a long slow slog.  It isn't something that can be addressed and cured.  It is there to stay.  Here the tortoise wins the race.

In addition to bookshare.org and Learning Ally, I recommend wrightslaw.com.  It is a website that will explain  the IEP and 504 process and what is within your rights and what isn't.

Two books I recommend reading are Sally Shaywitz's "Overcoming Dyslexia" and Maryanne Wolf's "Proust and the Squid".  "Overcoming Dyslexia" is an easier read.  "Proust and the Squid" is denser but I learned quite a bit from it.  I didn't like "The Gift of Dyslexia", it was too sunshiny, rainbow and unicorns for me.

My DC is now in HS and this spring we were able to secure accommodations for his PSATs, SATs, AP... anything from the College Board taken in HS.  He also has dysgraphia- so he will get a scribe, reader and extra time.  We were told to expect it to take 6 months, but we heard within 2 weeks.  It is important to have the IEP/504 accommodations in school for several years to get the accommodations with the standardized tests.

Again, and I can't stress this enough audio books audio books audio books.  They will increase background knowledge, love of "reading", put the fun back into it, reduce stress.  There are reading games to play that are not just reading a book.

Good luck![/quote]

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