Experience with Dyslexia?

MrsEK

MrsEK

New member
I know this is a weird place to ask about it, but I'm trying to get input from as many places I can think of.

We strongly suspect our daughter might be dyslexic. Someone guided me into looking into it after hearing about some of the issues she has in school. They showed me a list of 37 symptoms that a lot of people with dyslexia can show, and she ticks off 21 of the things on the list... The more I read about it, the more it seems to fit what we're experiencing with her.

I contacted her school to see if they have a way to test her for it (I do know that they have a dyslexia specialist on site for kids who are already diagnosed). I'm just trying to find everything and anything I can do to help my girl not feel like a screw-up every time a spelling test comes up
 
Maybe a pediatrician can recommend a pediatric specialist so you can be sure and be given an advice on how to help her in school, whether she needs a tutor or be placed in a special class. I had a student before who I noticed at the beginning of the first quarter to have an issue with writing and reading. She needs understanding and assurance that there will be help in her situation.
 
How old is she? My daughter has dyslexia--the classic "was" reads as "saw". The biggest way to help her (I homeschool) that I found was to have her read everything out loud. Also when she was younger, moving her finger along to read by covering the next letters so she wouldn't see them to transpose, she could just focus on the sound she was supposed to be reading. At 20, she still reads everything quietly to herself. We tried vision therapy and other things, but school was never her strong point. She does enjoy reading now though. One thing that I totally missed is math. Most of my kids are math haters, so when she didn't do well in math, I didn't ever make the connection she could be transposing numbers as well.
 
Most school districts have special education specialists that could test her IQ and evaluate her performance to see if there is a discrepancy in what she should be able to do and what she can do. I would definitely talk to her teachers- most are pretty good noticing problem areas. Dealing with dyslexia mostly involves teaching the person different strategies to cope with their difficulties and helping them become more aware of their own specific difficulty. I worked with special ed students and my go to method was to engage all the senses - Read it - Write it - Say it (outloud) You mentioned spelling as a big issue- that is almost always a challenge. Since many kids with dyslexia often struggle with the fine motor skill of handwriting - she could practice by writing with her index finger - forming the letters in the air as she says the letters outloud (she should do the letter sounds too when the word allows it). Practice by writing with the index finger in a tray of sand or shaving cream. All these involve a bigger physical movement than handwriting and that can help with remembering. Another option might be to teach her the sign language alphabet and she could finger spell her words as another way to practice-there it is again- movement. If you give it a try I would strongly suggest practicing the letters sounds along with the letter name when forming the letter sign.
 
My daughter is dyslexic among a few other issues. She was diagnosed by a specialist who did a three-day test with her. It was a long process, getting someone to believe me (we are military, it's always difficult to do something). But once we got someone who suspected she was, it was smooth sailing. What we weren't expecting were a few of the other learning disabilities.

The best place to start is the pediatrician to see if they can get you a referral.
Good luck!
 
mrottler said:
How old is she? My daughter has dyslexia--the classic "was" reads as "saw". The biggest way to help her (I homeschool) that I found was to have her read everything out loud. Also when she was younger, moving her finger along to read by covering the next letters so she wouldn't see them to transpose, she could just focus on the sound she was supposed to be reading. At 20, she still reads everything quietly to herself. We tried vision therapy and other things, but school was never her strong point. She does enjoy reading now though. One thing that I totally missed is math. Most of my kids are math haters, so when she didn't do well in math, I didn't ever make the connection she could be transposing numbers as well.
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She's 7, fixing to be 8. This week she sadly got docked a bunch of point on a math assignment that she actually aced :( She writes sixes backwards, and her teacher said she wrote 2's (even though her two's look different). She also transposes some numbers like 12 and 21, and she can't do math without using her fingers
 
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