What are your best tips on helping a dyslexic child at home?

Hi Team: he first got assessed at the age of 6 using the Lucid Rapid Dyslexia Test which threw up all his weaknesses and since then they have put things in place for him but they said because he was under 7 they felt they needed to repeat this test again and we are still waiting.

My children are dyslexic and we use computers a lot. I have bypassed handwriting a bit and gone straight on computers. I am Swedish and find the UK very backwards and old-fashione din dealing with dyslexia....

I forget to mention - my ds is on the waiting list to see the Ed Psyc again for testing - teacher has a meeting with her in Sept but can't confirm he will make the list although after his results they have pushed him up. She suggested I may want to get my own test done which is £450!!!!

Hello all my ds (year 3) has dyslexia and also has severe auditory processing, sequencing and visual verbal problems. I managed to get the school to use the Toe-by-Toe method in Year 2 after spending 3hrs on a parents night and paying £25 for the book and taking it into them. The toe-by-toe seems to be working - he is still using it. I went into school last week for his end of year assessment scores and he is still only Level 1 on reading, writing and numeracy which I am obviously really worried about. It a real problem trying to get him to pick up any pencil or pen just doesn't want to do any writing or drawing.

Its even worse when Im as bad as DS Dallyspots. I cant remember anything either and Im so disorganised, everything is left to the last minute.

I tried the Flylady website for a while to help me get a cleaning routine and it helped loads in everyday organisation. Im going to try again during the holidays.

Hi teamcullen, what fantastic news! It looks like things are really going well for your boys. Sorry to read dad doesn't really understand that must be difficult for you because I expect you then have to try and explain to your son his dad's behaviour. Forgetfulness is a real problem mainly because you can't second guess what it is they are likely to forget or what they will remember. A dyslexic I know was half-way home from school in his mum's car when he realised he should be at school in detention.
The detention was because he kept forgetting things.

Hi Dallyspots and welcome jodee. Ive had a bust few weeks with parents evenings, going to new schools and general life so heres a bit of an update.

Firstly DS1 got a beautiful report and excellent SATs results. He managed to get level 4 across the board and has gone up 4 sub levels in twelve months. We are very very proud of him and more importantly DS is very proud of himself. Its given him a great boost in confidence just before he sets off to high school.

His high school seems great. I went to see the Senco at the information night and she had already been made aware of DS. The school has the dyslexia friendy mark and they have a good system set up for year 7s.

They have an accelerated reading scheme and all children on the special education needs register get one hour per week one to one tutoring.

DS2s report was very good and very honest. His teacher has spoken about how he has gained confidence in class discussions and in small group work. She also said areas where he struggles such as, he is very good at answering questions in spanish if he has good eye contact or listening to a tape recording with clear speach, but if there is background noise he finds it difficult.

His work has really improved since he has had his tinted glasses and his teacher says on days that he forgets them, his work is noticably not as good. His support will continue next year and they are looking at other ways to support him.

At home he is still taking his eyeQ and they do seem to have helped. I am trying to get him to do eye tracking execises but we both keep forgeting I think once the hols start, we will have to make more effort. I still havent sorted out a morning routine and we seem to be leaving later and later so thats something else we have to work harder on.

jodee DS2 also has auditory processing problems. He drives me potty sometimes, especially in the morning. I hope it will be easier in September when DS1 leaves earlier. On top of that he will want to ramble on in great detail about something and nothing, then we get half way to school and he has forgotten something.

On top of all that I end up in arguments with his dad because DS is so clumsy and forgetful and DH doesnt see them things are related and tells me Im making excuses for him.

Hi teamcullen and hello jodie, sorry have been caught up in things. tc I hope the meeting at school went well. jodie when i remember how I nagged at ds when he was starting school and didn't think he was concentrating on reading I could cry. You are definately not a bad mum. You are doing everything you can to help him. No where does it prepare you for how hard both physically and mentally raising children can be let alone when they have something like dyxslexia. But it can also be great fun and rewarding try to hang on to that when the going gets tough. Sometimes returning from junior school with both of mine they would sit me in a chair make me a cup of tea and put what ds called 'mums bad mood music' and leave me to stew for a while. After which I felt so guilty for being a bad mum I forgot what they had done to upset me. (Though I do remember the home shcool walk could be a nightmare). Are you able to have 'me' time and switch off for a bit?
Lisad did you do paired reading? and if so was it helpful? You should be really proud of yourself especially as you also had trouble translating when you were read to - I'd never heard of that.
Does anyone read AA Gill in the Sunday Times - he is an extremely successful columnist who is also extremely dyslexic he dictates all his work and says he gave up trying to spell when he realised the rest of us spelt phonics with a p. Bye.

Very interesting thread, can I join in?

Dallyspots, that is so encouraging to read about your son, I sometimes wish I could look ahead to DSs future to see what may lie ahead for him, and wow you must be so proud of your son!

My DS is 10.5 and struggling, I am really disheartened with the whole process so far - we have seen Paeds. and Ed Psychs, the Paed. said he was dyslexic (this is over a year ago) so when DS was finally assessed at school I felt sure help would be around the corner (assessment May last year) but because DS didn't tick all the boxes no extra support was given. OK he has phonics in school but that's it.

I was so frustrated with school and the ex-SENCO I found Toe by Toe, which we had been doing when he took the assessments, maybe if we had just sat back and done nothing for DS at home we would have got help, who knows!

Teamcullen, we have found Toe By Toe to be very helpful, but a very LONG process (DS hates doing it so will do as little as possible) but I can see how well he has done, we started in Nov 08 and DS (then aged 8.8) was struggling with words like duck, pen, will.

We are now nearly at the end and he can easily read e.g. appointment, employee, but DS doesn't seem to recognise his achievements!

As for the mornings, I feel like the worst mother sometimes, I know DS has trouble focussing (there is a severe auditory processing problem about which I must start a separate thread) but my patience goes fast as I don't have much time between school run and work and I am hoping for a thread of comfort here that I am not an evil mum and [feeling very bad emoticon].

sorry for such a long post btw

as someone with dyslexica I can only comment on my own experience. I ahted learning spellings, terrible and stressful. But weirdly enough i can tell you if a word is spelt wrong but not how to spell it right, so try looking at wording shapes.
Also I managed to get though my school life by having a huge word base, then if i knew i couldnt spell a word i would replace it with one that meant the same that i could spell, especially if phonic spelling.
I hated being read too, the wirds sounded jumbled but was easier if i could follow along, so both 2 copies of books you plan to read.

HTH

Hi teamcullen, Sorry about Dore it was a lot, lot, cheaper when we did it, we buy Eye Q at Boots where it is 3 for the price of 2. One of the good points about secondary school is that they are not so obsessed about spelling, not having to follow the curriculum spelling lists as at junior school was such a relief - children are no longer set up to fail although it must be said that in Year 5 the teachers abandoned it and we ignored it year 6. It sounds awful but you may have to hound the school we found that things promised didn't always arrive mainly due to schools' having so many children it is easy for something to get mislaid in the system or not passed on to someone. I think your children and mine have a lot in common from what you have written! It isn't always easy having dyslexics in the family but it can be very rewarding and they can be great fun too. It's ok about the name they're the dog's spots not mine.
Someone asked how ds did at GCSE: B at History and C's for Eng Lit, Eng Lang, D and T, Drama and 2 ICT's (dp and I cried we were so proud of him). They are the subjects where independent thinking really helps but the subjects such as Sciences he found were difficult because he was put in the lower sets earlier with children unable or unwilling to learn. Unfortunately ds is also discalculaic so has just taken maths for the 3rd time - fingers crossed please. Have you tried the Dyslexia Association? They are very helpful and fact and help sheets and can also tell you exactly what you can expect the education system to provide. Good Luck.

Have you thought of dyspraxia? The lack of being able to ride a bike etc. seem to indicate that. It can be diagnosed via the health service rather than school.

Proper omega oils are good too, my son has found they help him cope.

Hi teamcullen, Have you tried Omega 3 and 6 oils such as eye q. My dp just reminded me. Our ds took them for a while and after three months the difference was quite amazing - no more unpredicatable mood swings, more concentration, he could sit still for a whole mealtime and he could manipulate his cutlery more effectively so his food stayed on the plate instead of the table. We enroled him at DDAT which I think is now the Dore Institute and for three months before that we had to take him off
eye q so that they could assess him. Truth be told after a few months respite we had forgotten how challenging ds had been. Within 3 weeks at DDAT he was up to the level he had been after 3 months of oil. I know DDAT has been slighted by some people but for ds it was a life-saver. I don't think it helped greatly with spelling but the following I can vouch for. DDAT works through personalized exercises and they must be done everyday with check-ups every so often and a new exercise programme devised. Soon ds could balance on his bike without violent wobbling, he could catch, after five years swimming lessons stuck at beginners 2 he moved to gold award in two terms, he could remember rhymes, and play football. One of the exercises several months in required spinning and dp asked him how he felt, meaning did he feel dizzy, ds said he felt really good because now he could play football and the other boys would let him play with them at school because if you can't play football they don't want to know you. he also became able to relate to his peergroup. Another big step was the upsurge in self-confidence and acknowledging that he was a dyslexic. He felt confident to tell people that he was dyslexic and ask for help. Some of things we hadn't even realised were connected with dyslexia. He also had coloured lenses for a while which calmed down the movement of words when he was reading. Of course what helps one child doesn't necessarily help another. Ds says that one of the most important things at junior school was supportive teachers who encouraged him to bring things in to about.

My biggest regret with my son is that I made him do homework at all at primary school. It would have been much better to just refuse to do any, and then work on the skills he needed at home. They do work so hard at school just to keep up.

We have had charts for the morning routine. Also occasionally just letting them either be late or leave the house not having finished getting dressed. Do make sure he gets enough sleep, a good bedtime routine and the use of lavender oil have helped us.

my dd goes to a private dyslexia centre for one hour a week with a specialist dyslexia teacher, we are using most of the above we do 5minutes daily of TOE by Toe at home set my phone alarm every day to remind me! picture charts also very helpful as well my dd is moderate and ds is severe dyslexic. ds has statment and ds on school action plus. school useless! dont leave it all to them coloured acrylic sheets from whsmiths can also help some children my dd uses pink/rose to overlay her work and she finds this helpfull ds doesnt find it usefull! so....

Thanks Dallyspots. It sounds similar to the support my child gets. I assume that your son gained a good grade in GCSE English for him to be taking it at AS level - is that correct?

Hello Flumperoo. Yes ds goes to a state secondary school it is a CofE assisted one. Assisstance at school can be anything from extra time allowed to complete things to using a laptop or having someone sit with the child to act as scribe or reader. Our school has a SEN room where catch up work can be done and a range of software to help with spelling they tried out a programme called Lexia with ds and on his recommendation ordered it for the school. One of the problem with teenagers (apart from being teenagers) is that they can be resistant to help they want to be inderpendant and don't like to be seen going and receiving help, this might apply to boys more though. If dictation or a laptop is used for an exam make sure that your child is used to working in this method. Extra time should also be allowed. Exam arrangements must be made through the school. I'm afraid I don't know the process for schools abroad. We made use of audio books for set English Literature where they were available. A word of caution to English school parents the rules for public examination have changed and a child has to take the exam in the manner they use in the classroom. As ds cannot dictate notes in a classroom situation this could be disaster but if course work and mocks are dictated that should should suffice. Ds's school bought him voice activated software but this is proving rather problematic as it either seems to need a lot of tweeking by a technician or it doesn't work. As a result ds has had to take his AS exams by typing on a laptop. I know there is various software out there for dyslexics but Lexia is the only one we have tried. Good luck.

I used to use a picture chart to get DD to get organised in the mornings.

Wake up - smiley face 7.30am

Kiss mum - a heart.

Eat breakfast - bowl and spoon 7.40am

Teeth, face and hands - toothbrush 8.00am

Get dressed - drawing of her in uniform 8.10am

Relax - drawing of a TV 8.20am

It actually worked pretty well, but went by the wayside last summer. Must start it again.

I also seem to say "FOCUS pet.." about a million times a day.