Dyslexia: Advice, tips or guidance?
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My child is being tested for dyslexia, I’m at a loss for how I help. She refuses to do any work at home with me, won’t try to read, try to do sight words, or anything, but I have her with a tutor 2x per week. She told me she tries to hide to everyone that she can’t read (1st grade). Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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@GetInTheCar I am a Licensed Dyslexia Therapist and have been working with students identified with dyslexia for 10 years. Happy to help. I highly recommend a book called The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan by Ben Foss! Lots of great information for parents. There is also a podcast called Dyslexia Uncovered you should check out. What type of intervention is your child receiving at school and with the tutor?
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I have a bit of dyslexia and ADD, from probably 7th grade on, my mom would get me books on tape (I guess Audible now) so that I could hear the words, and follow along. It was super helpful in building my confidence because I hated popcorn reading because I’d pronounce a word wrong. This helped because I already had heard it.
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Good point. I had a note taker in college and textbooks on audible. Idk if this would help 1st grade, prob not but could help in the future! It’s tough but her brain working differently will pay off in the long run! Great job advocating for her
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@GetInTheCar I am a Licensed Dyslexia Therapist and have been working with students identified with dyslexia for 10 years. Happy to help. I highly recommend a book called The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan by Ben Foss! Lots of great information for parents. There is also a podcast called Dyslexia Uncovered you should check out. What type of intervention is your child receiving at school and with the tutor?
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@dyslexiadoc I'm going to check out your recs! @GetInTheCar we just completed testing for my daughter with her public school - also 1st grade and does ALL of what you describe. We suspected she was having trouble, but her struggles really started coming out of the woodwork early in the fall. We enrolled her in 2x a week tutoring as well, and it's been her only source of progress, albeit slow. The school has finally identified her as having "surface dyslexia" - a subtype, also called orthographic or dyseidetic dyslexia. I have a meeting with the school specialists and admin board in 2 weeks to learn what support she'll be given next year, since it won't kick in until 2nd, and I'm sure I'll learn more about my involvement then and can share! It's a whole new world for us of things I certainly don't understand, but I've adopted the attitude of the more information experts can give me on my child, the better I can support and help.
The small successes I've had at home have been based around consistency and choice of materials. Making reading a routine. Period. And sometimes bedtime is hard because they're tired and just want to comfort and snuggles...not the work! So find the time where she can be most engaged, with fewer battles for her to fight.
As for materials, one thing I've learned is that not every "early reader" or "first reader" book is created equal. Beginner Bob Books were a critical starting place and from there the I Can Read! My First - Shared Readers have been a good transition - they're the yellow label ones. But even then...not all. Read them first, find where you think she might get too hung up and or see if it's a feasible challenge. And even if they seem too easy, building the confidence and feeling the success that comes from completing a book or two books is so important. I've also found that for my daughter, subject matter is important...she doesn't want to read what I find cute or "classic" - she's more excited to read what she's interested in! Even though I hate the weird "Shimmer and Shine" characters (and it literally pains me to buy those), she's pumped that there's mermaids and sparkles and jewels and whatever.
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@GetInTheCar I am a mom of two kiddos with dyslexia. One is diagnosed severe the other dyslexia. Getting the intervention they need as early as possible is key. We are in a fabulous public school but they were not doing enough. Our school disctrict uses the Wilson Method and they would do intervention 30 minutes 4 times a week. I called Wilson Method and they explained it needed to be administered 5x a week for much longer of a time epsecially in a group setting (which ours was). So for sure research what your school is providing and if it is not enough move the child. We ended up moving to St. Francis school in Austin because of their learning center so our kids could get one on one intervention for their dyslexia and finish the program before 8th grade. If my kids had been younger when I figured this out I would have done all I could to send them to a dyslexia specific school. We have one in the city I live in. I know this is overwhelming but these kids are so gifted in other ways. Helping them to know about famous people or people they look up to with dyslexia helps their mental state.
Later - when mine got to highschool I hired tutors who have dyslexia. My kids needed study skills which are very different for people with dyslexia than those without. So having college kids with dyslexia just study with them helped a ton. They figured out the best ways for their brains to study.
One thing I can say is kids with dyslexia have grit from such a yough age. They learn how to work very hard and not to give up. But protecting their love for themselves is super important. Its very hard for them to not feel stupid in the American classroom. Also make sure all reading intensive subjects are in the morning. Their brains have to work so hard that by the afternoon they are basically done. (This is for middle school and on).
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I am a Speech/Language Pathologist who supports dyslexia in my private practice in collaboration with dyslexia therapists. A child with Dyslexia's brain is usually exhausted by the end of the day! I suggest audio books/ using colored rulers can help for the eyes to focus on the sentences being read and not visually getting over-stimulated, setting realistic goals so the child feels successful, having the child work with a reading tutor who can make reading fun and interesting so you don't have to have this battle at home. Remember this time will pass! It is challenging but hang in there with them!
