dyslexia

Carolyne - posted on 02/15/2009

Kirsty our children sound so alike, Tom also excels at any sport he tries and just like your daughter is very in tune with other childrens emotions, always the one to comfort an upset friend or sticking up for a friend who is being picked on. He can't watch sad films he gets too emotional, he cried all the way through WALL E!

I'm dreading Tom going to secondary school, cos of his lack of organizational skills, he will lose most of his belongings in the first week!

Tom is in the process of hopefully being Statemented which will give him even more extra help than he gets now. Yes I do tend to think in pictures and Tom says he sees how things are done in his head, he recognises words by their shape not by sounding them out.

Kristy - posted on 02/14/2009

Carolyne could be describing my daughter! Multi step tasks are tough too. I have notes everywhere. Our school system uses an A,B,C, D schedule. Very tough for her! I have her schedule written in her planner, every notebook and binder she has, on our fridge and in her room.
If you were to meet her you would never guess she was dyslexic. She's become so good at imitating classmates and covering by frequent bathroom trips!
But, sports. Oh my, the sports! Every one she tries, she excels at. I think she "feels" more than other kids, as well. She is very empathetic. She can sit next to someone crying and cry right along with them for their hurt.
I've heard that dyslexics think in still pictures as opposed to having a memory "movie" too.

Carolyne - posted on 02/14/2009

Good advice there from Kirsty, something else that people don't realise about Dyslexia is that it isn't just reading and writing problems, most Dyslexics have very poor working memory which means they can't remember things like phone numbers, lists of instructions, what they went upstairs for! the list is endless, they also have organizational problems, such as preparing thier school books for the next day, having PE kit on the correct day etc, My 10 year old son still doesn't know the months of the year in the correct order has problems with left and right. Then there are the emotional side of things, understandably thier is the lack of self esteem, constantly finding everything a struggle, feeling inferior to their classmates, trying to hide their disablity (they get very clever at avoiding certain situations).

On the positive side, a lot of Dyslexic have a special gift, they may be artistic, be great at maths (although some struggle with maths aswell) my son is very good at sport, many Dysleics think ' out of the box' and I've even heard there are some design companies that prefer to employ dyslexics because they don't think like every one else they are more original.

No 2 dyslexics are the same, I'm dyslexic and have very different problems to my dyslexic son.

Kristy - posted on 02/13/2009

Carolyne is right, dyslexia is not something you outgrow. I fought very hard for my 11 year old to be tested from very early on in her school career. The school claimed all along the problem was she was tired (she has sleep apnea as well and we were in the process of attaining her CPAP machine).
Finally, they started the tests, which ran almost an entire school year. She's finally been classified as dyslexic.I'm worried that she's going to have a constant struggle the rest of her schooling. Not to mention no one at our little tiny school has any idea HOW to teach a dyslexic child...
Dyslexia is not just about seeing the words backwards, or reading them backwards. It can be all symbols, numbers, letters, and not just backwards. Sometimes they can be all screwed up. There is a directionality component as well that's challenging. Organization is important, but that's one of the things that come into play in dyslexia as well.
Testing early and being thorough are so important. My advice is start researching and start trials of different things at home. Dont wait for the school. They never seem to be in any hurry to help!!
These are a few websites i've looked into!
http://www.ldonline.org/ldbasics
http://www.dys-add.com/nowknow.html#NIHR...
Good luck!

Carolyne - posted on 02/13/2009

My 10 year old son is severly dyslexic and has had all the test, his IQ puts him in the top 10% of the population but his reading and writing is in the bottom 2%. You do not grow out of Dyslexia it is something you have to learn to cope with every day of your life. With the right teaching methods a lot can be done to help Dysleics to learn coping strategies, they need to understand that they are not stupid (most Dyslexic are above average intelligence) and that they just learn in a different way than other children who are not Dyslexic. I recommend a Forum called being Dyslexic for great advice and support, find it at www.beingdyslexic.co.uk they also have a facebook group.

Karen - posted on 02/12/2009

Aperently I can not spell sorry about that I am not sure how to go back and fix it, Ironic though it is!

Karen - posted on 02/12/2009

As a person with Dyslexia and a mother of a child with Dyslexia I recomend you get the book called the Gift of Dyslexia by Ron Davis. It really helped me.

First don't panic! So many gifted people have it and funtion just fin with a little help. My guess is that once you know a little more about it it wont feel so scary! Good luck!

Debbie - posted on 02/11/2009

Anna there are different levels of dyslexia. My 10 year old can read well but can't understand what he has read. His writing is quite bad and while he can spell verbally, when he writes the spellings he gets them wrong.

The school have tested him 3 times and each time the result is that he's borderline dyslexic and needs to see the educational psychologist to have it confirmed. Thats where the problem lies as the school says there aren't the funds for his testing. Only after testing will my son get the extra help he desperately needs.

I know how you feel about wanting to help your son as I'm the same.  Be patient with your son, give him lots of praise for even the smallest acheivements as this will give him confidence to keep trying.

Anna - posted on 02/11/2009

thank you for your kind words and help, he's nearly 7 and no he doesn't wear glasses but will get his eyes checked.they are going to test him over the next few weeks then may get an idea as to how to move forward.he tries very hard but he gets very frustrated when he can't get it and a few unkind words from other kids doesn't help.just want to help him as much as poss.thanks again Anna

Anna - posted on 02/11/2009

he is nearly 7.he's going to be put forward to be tested over the next two weeks with the special needs teacher.once we know for sure then we need to find out what the school will do to help him and what we can do it's very frustrating for him as he tries so hard

Amanda - posted on 02/11/2009

Quoting Anna:

dyslexia

just been to a parents evening and they have told us that our son needs testing for dyslexia,need help to understand what this means.we know he struggles with things any help much appreciated thanks anna.

Dyslexia is a common learning disability that can be easily overcome with learning things in a different manner( like having things taped or read to him). It basically means that he sees words backwards. But he is young so I bet he outgrows it. Does he have glasses? That may also be a factor. Have them check for other things as well, hearing and eyesight may be a cause too. No matter what I am here for ya. I was told when Jake( now 13) was in preschool and stuff that he had adhd, I felt he was just a toddler... he was treated for it but only after a bunch of testing. Adhd is mostly behavioral, dyslexia is simply how he learns. Hope thiat helps, but let me know.   Manda

Vickie - posted on 02/11/2009

my son has dyspraxia, I have dyslexia, your son needs to see the special needs teacher at his school. How old is he??