how to help DD9

[supergreen]

My DD was diagnosed with dyslexia last year. School is unclear on how they actually help her but I have noticed that her overall performance is much worse than in previous years. I realize that different factors could be contributing to that as well but I'd like to help her outside of school. I've looked online and a bit lost on which resources to use and where to find best advice that's informed by latest research?
Did anyone struggle with similair problem and found any particular websites or resources that were helpful? Thank you!

[user1474894224]

I have two friends who have taken their child to be assessed here: www.davisopticians.co.uk/Dyslexia.asp IS there something like that local to you? I know for one child he has glasses. The other child has coloured paper for writing and overlays for reading.

[onewhitewhisker]

supergreen how is her work being affected specifically? is it e.g. reading, writing, spelling? with DS I found it helpful to have a clear idea of this and then look for specific resources for each thing as otherwise it can be really overwhelming.

[malmontar]

It is normal for things to get more difficult as they get older. We found that our DD specifically struggled from year 4/5 onwards. I would look at your diagnosis report or your daughter's work and as previous posters have said, concentrate on what they are struggling with.

[twoyears]

I have years of experience of research and practice in this area and work with high performing teachers. I’m also very happy to give parents free advice. You’re welcome to pm me if you'd like more information.

(Children love the activities!)

[supergreen]

@user1474894224 she had her assesment and wears glasses


@onewhitewhisker all of it really! she struggles with comprehension, seems to skip whole chunks of text, misses letters when writing and struggles with spelling. It's hard to get her to sit down and do her homework which is unsurprising I guess ...given that it always turns into an ordeal!
I am aware some of these issues won't be necesserily linked to dyslexia I thought that perhaps I could find some strategies that would help her with each of the issues she;s experiencing but...
Google comes back with too many options and I am not sure which one is the most reliable and actually works? hashtag lost!

[onewhitewhisker]

OP I sympathise, it's really tough. I think if you can get as specific an idea of each problem as you can it'll be helpful, was there anything coming out of the diagnostic report? We used an Australian downloadable workbook called spelfabet with DS, it's supposed to be an errorless learning method that goes right back to very basic words, grouping them by sound to build up phonics awareness. He had really weak ability to 'hear' the phonics in words and reproduce them in writing so going over and over this was helpful. What letters does DD miss out when writing? if it's the vowels then it's likely she also is struggling to get and reproduce the phonics sounds. for handwriting, the 'write from the start' and 'speed up' books were good, DS needed lots of practice in really basic letter formation. Reading for gist in a non-linear way is v typical, DS has found a kindle helpful where he can make the font big and reduce the amount of text on a page. Covering the page, revealing one word/line at a time with encouragement to read each word aloud and really slow down may help, but just do a little at a time and expect her to find it quite fatiguing. Homework, again I feel your pain, I would cut her as much slack as you can and just focus on the basics. we negotiated with school that DS didn't do the literacy homework but instead did an equivalent time on basic skills e.g. spelling high frequency words, letter formation, punctuation; that was helpful. The evidence as I understand it suggests that dyslexic children need both lots of practice on the basic skills and adaptations that play to their strengths, e.g. use of computer. DS was allowed to do longer pieces of literacy work on the computer which helped him to reduce his frustration and produce some work he was really proud of. We were also lucky in that he got twice a week 1 -2-1 literacy support focused on improving his phonics and writing so you could ask if they have anything like that and push for DD to receive it.

[Lara53]

Look at Toe by Toe and Nessy reading and spelling

[Friendlyapple]

Try Alison’s website. She’s an Australian speech pathologist - she has a lot of free resources on there. My DD is older now but I still enjoy her blog posts and some of the teachers I know like it too. I have no relationship/affiliation etc with her I just think she has good ideas/approach.

[Friendlyapple]

Cross post with PP - Alison’s website is Spelfabet. She’s not all grabby/ driven by money - instead, she is passionate about kids and literacy (and evidence based teaching/learning methods) which is why she has so many resources freely available to use