Please help me understand more about dyslexia

[Splinters]

I volunteer at a primary school, listening to children read. One is a girl in y4, who is recognised as being dyslexic. She often does have trouble reading out words, even very simple ones, and is quite easily distracted. But when she finds something she really wants to read, and gets into the story, she suddenly starts reading much more fluently, recognising many (though not all) more difficult words instantly, and really following the story. This happened today, reading from a book with several paragraphs of solid text per page and very few illustrations.

I am surprised, because I didn't know that reading fluency of people with dyslexia could suddenly 'improve' like this. It has happened a few times though, and with books that she definitely hasn't seen before. If her teachers overhear, they are surprised too. Does anyone know more about this? And do you have any tips on how I could help her extend this fluency to everything she reads, not just good stories?

I've never heard of this.

When she can't read, is it because 'she is easily distracted'?

Is there anyway she actually has ADD-PI? (Attention Deficit Disorder - Predominantly Inattentive) rather than dyslexia?

This happens to my DD (9) as well...but in addition to being very dyslexic, she is very dyspraxic, and one of the symptoms she manifests is distractibility and fidgeting. When she gets it together with the aid of things like a quiet spot and a wobble cushion she can read much more fluently and her retention is miles better. Dsypraxia in girls is still quite under-diagnosed.

My DD is in yr 4 and is awaiting a dyslexia assessment. She also seems to improve sometimes if a story grabs her. Or if she makes a good start on something it feels like her confidence increases and she reads much better. Other days it is a struggle of mis-read words, mixing words in a sentence up, losing her place all the time, fidgeting, distraction etc...

Can vary. I am keen to see what her assessment turns up...

i am dyslexic, i do this, i think she is simply guessing the words, if it is a subject she already knows something about and is interested in she will know what words will come up and will be able to tell from the context of the text. give her the same words out of context and she will be stumped.

This sounds very much like my DD! She is 8 and in year 4. She has a diagnosis of ADHD PH/I (Primarily hyperactive/impulsive), and the school are considering having her assessed for dyslexia. Her performance can vary enormously - ranges from being able to read and understand pages of chapter books with ease through to mixing up basic words such as 'and' and 'the'. She is very impatient, very easily distracted and hyperkinetic (she is always moving in some way, which makes it difficult for her to work properly). I am not convinced she is dyslexic, but I know that the school are trying to help her as much as possible and are checking just in case as that would give her access to more help in the classroom.

There are three cognitive subtypes of developmental dyslexia: auditory, visual, and attentional. Which means that an auditory processing disorder, a visual processing disorder, an attention disorder, or any combination of the three can cause the dyslexic symptom.
Children do not reach the age of maturation until 6 - 8 years of age, each child develops different cognitive skills and abilities at different ages and at different rates. So until the age of maturation children can still grow out of developmental problems. After the age of maturation remaining developmental problems can be clinically diagnosed as disabilities, and the issues which can be symptoms of these disabilities such as the dyslexic symptom.
For more information you could have a look at
CiteULike Group: Developmental Dyslexia - library 497 articles
CiteULike Group: Reading: Acquiring and Developing the Skills and Abilities - library 263 articles
my web page of PubMed Dyslexia research paper collections
or may be my Dyslexia and Reading Links list