OUr DD always loved books (being read to and pretending to read), she could rhyme because her vocabulary was really large and she new lots of words that went together in songs (we played lots of rhyming song games). She had a great memory so she could “read” books by retelling the story from memory based on the pictures. We didn't really notice that some of the words didn’t match. She could also tell you the sounds the letters made that she memorized from a book. I share these examples because we took them as signs she was well-prepared to learn to read when she reached school.

PK4 Montessori teacher noted that she didn’t want to do her letter work and that she didn’t put forth her best effort during that work when she did it.

K teacher said that reading just hadn’t clicked and that if she would just try she would get it since she was so bright in the other subjects. Meanwhile she was crying for hours each night as she tried to do her reading homework. DD cried herself to sleep many nights saying she was stupid.

Summer after K did intensive reading tutoring OG style to make up for any instructional deficits but realized we needed an assessment.

1 did assessment found dyslexia and adhd and started interventions.

our DD got an official diagnosis in 3rd grade as dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. It was mild at first but we noticed her unable to write legibly in K,1, 2. mixing letters, unable to decipher phonetics, even having problems saying "all". Adding letters that weren't there, jumping all over the page with words, guessing words, horrible handwriting (both print and cursive), even with extensive tutoring 1x a week, still reading a grade behind. We alerted the K teacher that we think there's a problem, but were always placated by "oh she'll read later", "she's a late bloomer", "don't worry about it", etc. (aka kick the can down the road) Finally we said enough of the @(#$*#@ and got her tested.

Anonymous wrote:Obviously bright, talkative kid, could not identify letters from one moment to the next. This is the letter A, what is it? The letter A. Ok, now I'm mixing up these three wooden letter blocks. Which one has the A on it? Random guessing ensues.

We noted this by age 4, but even up through first grade, teacher just said she wasn't very bright. Boy, were they wrong.

^^^Be careful listening to teachers--many of them are not that BRIGHT.

What school offered that kind of 1:1 support?

Anonymous wrote:Signs DS had dyslexia:
-- in PreK3, he hated letters
-- in PreK4, he didn't hate them but couldn't remember one from one second to the next (the way others have noted)
-- He could never really rhyme in preschool the way the other kids did. And his PreK teacher really focused on rhyme practice. He still couldn't get it.
- in K, he did not start reading. still having troubles with letters
- By beginnning of 1st, he was mad and angry and said 'he hated reading' and would refuse to try at all

Took about a school year of very intensive support (10-12 hours 1:1 per week) in 1st grade for him to have a breakthrough and really start reading. I can't imagine that a child without dyslexia would need such intensive support just to put the basics together.

Signs DS had dyslexia:
-- in PreK3, he hated letters
-- in PreK4, he didn't hate them but couldn't remember one from one second to the next (the way others have noted)
-- He could never really rhyme in preschool the way the other kids did. And his PreK teacher really focused on rhyme practice. He still couldn't get it.
- in K, he did not start reading. still having troubles with letters
- By beginnning of 1st, he was mad and angry and said 'he hated reading' and would refuse to try at all

Took about a school year of very intensive support (10-12 hours 1:1 per week) in 1st grade for him to have a breakthrough and really start reading. I can't imagine that a child without dyslexia would need such intensive support just to put the basics together.