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SEN

Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

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Original poster

Dyslexia advice needed please

34 replies

clutteredup · 16/01/2012 17:53

DD2 is only 5 but she is very different from my other two DC in her attitude to reading and writing and counting- even DS who was a reluctant learner was a keen reader and both the other 2 have a natural instinct for numbers counting easily to high numbers without . I know all DC are different but I am a primary school teacher but not Early years and just 'know' there is something not quite processing normally with her. She shys away from letters, numbers and reading and has a lot of word memory problems - forgetting the names of friends, family and ordinary everyday things. She can recognise her key words but doesn't then remember them from page to page in a book, we go back and look at it and she has forgotten. I thought she was trying it on but I sense a reluctance in her which seems to be born out of a struggle to do it. I don't want to push her as she can get very upset easily about it. She is generally happy otherwise and quite bright in her approach to the world in general and has a fantastic sense of humour. She likes doing physical things and is definitely more able in that area but we do have dyslexia in our family so I'm conscious it is a possibility.
She is at a school which has a denial attitude towrds SEN generally and doesn't 'believe' in dyslexia - I know as I have worked there- so I am looking for advice as to what to do at home with her as I know she will go unnoticed at school .

OP posts:

SDCHM · 16/05/2012 00:09

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allmashedup7 · 21/04/2012 23:02

clutteredup, I am interested to hear how/if things are moving on for you and your DD now? I could have written your post word for word about my DD (almost 5). Everything that you have identified your DD struggles with mine does too. So far i have requested a SALT referral and have appointment with GP imminent to request hearing check. The Senco at the school appears to be quite helpful(only had an initial meeting though) I am finding it difficult to syphon through all the information to know where i can start to help :o

spendthrift · 03/02/2012 17:28

clutteredup , thank you for this thread because I am finding it very helpful.

Julianne, do you give help to parents of teenagers too? Didn't see this in time. DS was only diagnosed at secondary - his school has been fantastic, may i say, for him, but I am struggling to know how to help in the run up to the public exams - not so much the getting of extra time/laptop stuff, but support at home etc when the virtuous child disapears to be replaced by the say we say exploratory teenager? Hard enough as it is..

Original poster

clutteredup · 31/01/2012 18:20

Sorry to take so long to get back - thanks very much for all the advice - unfortunately not in London otherwise would love to come julianne .
dolfrog thank you I have looked up a lot of stuff on the internet - i found your site- you have loads of information and it has been really helpful. I'm going to see if I can talk to the child nurse at our doctors at half term and see if we can get her diagnosed - all the things i have read have struck a chord and also I'm wondering if DS has it too to a milder extent. he could lip read from an early age and learnt his letter sounds using Letterland with all the pictures and songs and still misprononces common words which he has sounded out rather than learnt from hearing. DD2 has never been able to hear rhymes or join in with frequently reread stories - she always got upset when I left blanks for her to fill in and only yesterday couldn't rememeber the word for dressing gown but described it instead- I've found books she can 'read' using picture cles so she can see what the words are which is helping her self esteem for reading a bit - just to say thank you so much for pointing us in the right direction - if her diagnosis shows she hasn't got it then we can follow teachers advice on reluctant reading and the like but I'd be surprised - it explains why her hearing test showed up so well when she was clearly not 'hearing' .

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julianneliteracy · 27/01/2012 18:16

hi all - I am a specialist dyslexia teacher and lecturer in London. Alongside my friend Sue Flohr (British Dyslexia Assc. helpline manager) we are running free 15 minute meetings with a dyslexia specialist in Lambeth on Thursday 2/12 - part of the SpLD Trust Empowering parents and Carers project. There are 12 free places (could be creche too...) for interested P & C. If you are local and want free specialist advice check send an email to [email protected]. We ran the first one on Thursday and only 6 parents showed - don't think it was well advertised. Please spread the word to any Londoners who want impartial advice from two old pros.

Yvonne4 · 24/01/2012 21:02

Hi, my daughter has just been diagnosed with dyslexia aged 9. A relief really, as it explained so many things and we can help her along now. Before we knew something was just not right. I found some great stuff on www.teachfind.com
It is a teaching website, but it had loads of useful info on there that we could use at home, and viewing a few of the docos made it so much easier for us to understand her world. Good luck :)

dolfrog · 22/01/2012 00:10

clutteredup

Learning to read is a follow on process from learning to speak.
Those of us who have APD learn to speak by learning the whole sound of a word, so we can only match the whole sound of a word to the whole graphic representation of the word or the whole shape of the textual word. The learning / teaching process is called "whole word" or "look say" or in research terms as the "lexical process".
We are or become visual learners to compensate for our auditory deficits. Have a look at the learning styles section of the APDUK web site and if you look at the section guide top left or right (white squares on lines) you need to access the three bottom lines of web pages. ( I hope this makes sense)

Original poster

clutteredup · 21/01/2012 11:09

Thanks dolfrog - so if that is the case then given she isn't going to be learning to read at school it's something I'm going to be doing with her at home - where do I start?

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dolfrog · 21/01/2012 01:55

clutteredup

Otitis Media with Effusion (Glue Ear) is a cause of Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) which in turn is one of the main underlying causes of dyslexia.
Those of us who have APD are not able to use phonics as you can not process the gaps between the sounds that can make up a word, nor the gaps between words in rapid speech. This makes phonic blending impossible, and a nonsense of current government policy regarding learning to read.
According to the Medical Research Council 10% of children have some degree of APD.
And 60% of dyslexicshave some degree of APD.

Original poster

clutteredup · 20/01/2012 21:04

Like it ready for my now

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ASByatt · 20/01/2012 20:11

Growlers? Aren't they small ice-bergs?

Original poster

clutteredup · 20/01/2012 19:56

Gin sounds good - waiting till all mine are in bed no DH at home at the mo so reckoning on staying sober till all safely in bed
No doubt some Friday nighter will be along in a moment to tell me I'm an irresponsible mother and that will be why DD has problems there seems to be a lot of growlers around tonight.

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ASByatt · 20/01/2012 19:41

Ah you see that is probably the root of the issue, the school are muddling along with mixed methods from an early stage - it should be properly structured, lively fun phonics, with appropriate texts to reinforce.

(Haven't left DC in bath, honest - DH is with them and I've come down to find gin..... )

Original poster

clutteredup · 20/01/2012 19:34

Thank you ASByatt they do 'do' jolly phonics at school but not very often adn in amongst the look and see approach - the letters they have done through JP she is OK with but they do them slowly across the Years R and 1 whereas by this point in the year my other two had covered them all as they did one a week bringing each one home each week to practice the sounds and actions together . I did get the JP book but she's not interested in doing school stuff at home and won't listen to the stories.
I read to her every night and we have bookshelves full of books and I still read to DS (10) so she knows listening to stories is nice and I do let her choose so she will listen - I have stopped pushing the ones I like more !!

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Original poster

clutteredup · 20/01/2012 19:26

Sorry I meand DS not DH - although DH has hearing problems too but I put that down to domestic hearing loss
Thanks bramble we'll look into the hearing thing - the problem is that it is so intermittent that she's always fine by the time we get a hearing test done.

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ASByatt · 20/01/2012 19:25

Lots of correlation between children with a history of glue ear who then go on to experience 'dyslexia' - makes sense as it is widely recognised that one of the common characteristics is difficulty with processing and manipluating the sounds/phonemes wtihin words.

I would also query your DD's school's approach to teaching reading if she's expected to memorise words.

Wouldn't consider Toe-by-Toe for a 5 year old. She should be having masses of multisensory phonics input, reinforced by a structured approach to reading using decodable books.

Plus all the usual stuff about still being read to etc so that she remembers that books are good fun and reading is worth working towards etc.

'dyslexia' as a term isn't really very helpful, it doesn't tell you very much! Much more important to look at the child's own profile to identify the gaps.

Sorry must run and dunk DC through bath......

Brambleschooks · 20/01/2012 19:23

Glue ear can cause the issues you describe.

Original poster

clutteredup · 20/01/2012 19:17

Thank you again for all the great advice - I haven't checked all your links yet dolfrog but DD has had problems with her ears - possibly glue ear but has never been so bad that it's been diagnosed or treated directly - DH had it too but worse and was therfore treated before he got to school, although we reckoned that he relied on lettewrs from an early age to help him communicate he was nearly reading befor he started school and knew all his letters- but I'm wondering whether DDs possible auditory processing problems could be as a result of that- her hearing goes from perfect to terrible and back again so it's an intermittent 'fault' as it were - could this be a cause perhaps?

OP posts:

dolfrog · 20/01/2012 17:19

Developmental dyslexia is not a condition, but the shared symptom of many cognitive disabilities or disorders.
Dyslexia is a man made problem having problems with a man made communication system the visual notation of speech, or decoding and recoding the graphic symbols society chooses to represent the sounds of speech.

There are two types of dyslexia -
Alexia (acquired dyslexia) which results from a brain injury, substance abuse, stroke, dementia, or progressive illness.
Developmental Dyslexia which has a genetic origin.
Most dyslexic children have developmental dyslexia. Dyslexia is language dependent due to the subtle variations of cognitive processing skills each orthography requires.

Developmental dyslexia has three cognitive subtypes: auditory, visual, and attentional. Which means that an auditory processing disorder,a visual processing disorder, an attention disorder, or any combination of the the three can cause the dyslexic symptom. These are medical or clinical conditions which can have more severe symptoms than dyslexia.
clutteredup the issues you have describes could be suggesting a possible auditory processing disorder.

Brambleschooks · 20/01/2012 15:37

Lots of great advice. Start by ensuring that she has her letter-sound correspondences in place. lots of letter level multisensory work - playdough, shaving cream etc. You can build from there.

Question whether you will be fighting the system throughout the school - hard decision but others have raised it. Is it the best place for her.

toe by toe is good, but I don't recommend it until children are in around Y5, lots of underpinning needed before then.

Sorry, got to post and run, school ( but you need to know I work as a qualified dyslexia specialist in primary).

Jacktigger · 20/01/2012 15:30

But some people (of any age) do learn better if they learn visually rather than phonetically or by remembering the order that the letters appear in a word.
My DS was taught Magical Spelling (google it) by a Dyslexia specialist. Magical Spelling teaches you to store words as a picture in your visual memory. When we use it he learns his words very well and can spell them forwards and backwards as he is "reading" the letters from the picture stored in his memory.
This sort of learning works very well for some people including those with dyslexia.

maverick · 19/01/2012 10:36

''She can recognise her key words but doesn't then remember them from page to page in a book, we go back and look at it and she has forgotten''

OP, as a specialist reading teacher I would suggest that there is nothing wrong with your child and you need to look at the school's teaching of literacy. If she is being given 'key words' to memorise by sight as whole shapes she is not being taught correctly.

www.dyslexics.org.uk/should_I_have.htm

Original poster

clutteredup · 18/01/2012 19:14

Thanks I'll check it out.

OP posts:

Nora5000 · 18/01/2012 14:31

Hi,

I would recommend a book called Toe by Toe which is a reading manual that teaches in very specific way.

Original poster

clutteredup · 17/01/2012 20:08

Thanks for all the advice - i spoke to her teacher today just 'generally' about her reading and she said that she was fine in 'group reading' and joins in with the others but had little concentration for her key words. The thing is when I'm reading she talks over me with a time delay of a few seconds so she is 'group reading' way beyond her level at home . The basic words she has just group read are new to her again a few seconds later. She's already developing strategies.
The teacher also said she would only engage with things she was interested in and would rather be doing other things - well I can agree with that we all do that and that's normal but it's more than that she is really finding it hard to do. It is good to hear that I'm not just overreacting and that my concerns are ball park familiar to a lot of peoples experience - I'm going to keep an eye on it -I have Letterland somewhere in the depths of DSs bookshelf and we have the cat in the hat too - at the moment she shys away from any mention of word recognition so I'll just try the picture approach thanks for the website - horsemadmom thanks for the suggestion I'll wait a while for professional intervention and see if I can work through with some of the other suggestions. Annatome I went on a Maths course at Appleford School many moons ago and still use a lot of their suggestions in my teaching now - its a great school, unfortuantely private isn't an option for us right now but again if we still have issues later we may explore that one too.
Thank you for your support it's nice to know I'm not doing this alone - haven't mentioned it to DH yet.

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