Dd2 (6) just diagnosed with dyslexia - recommendations for good resources etc

[hazeyjane]

DD2 is in year 2, and has just been diagnosed with specific learning difficulites - dyslexia. In the assessment she came out as above average in most areas, but there is a big gap between her reading and spelling and all other areas. She struggles over small words, reversing them or blocking the words. Spelling is all over the place with letters reversed, words running into each other and everything is phonetic.

She has visual disturbances which she calls 'sparkles', she has blurring of words, and she gets very tired and sometimes nauseous when she reads.

So we have seen an optometrist, who has recommended some reading glasses to help with convergence issues, and is going to do an overlay test.

The school have put her in a small reading group focusing on read, write, inc and the senco yesterday talked about the possibility of starting a Toe to Toe (?) programme with us. They also talked about using writing frames (?)

I don't want to overwhelm her with stuff, as at the moment she enjoys reading in small doses, and loves making up stories.

I just wondered if anyone could recommend some good resources, apps, websites books - anything really?!

Also if there is anything else I should be asking the school to look at.

I've posted in sn children too.

Thankyou.

I can recommend this website:

www.dyslexics.org.uk/

Dancing Bears is better and much less boring than Toe by Toe.

Thankyou, I will have a look at dancing bears - even the senco said that toe by toe is dull!

Hello - we do the Tinsley House programme and have had really good results so far. They recommend Engaging Eyes software game, which is esp good for convergence. Check out Tinsley House Support Thread in Special Needs. We've also been doing Get Set for The Code, which are the primers for Explode The Code. So far, its been great. Good luck x

[[http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/ The British Dyslexia Association] are good, There's lots of advice on their website.

Overlays are the thing that's made the biggest difference with my dyslexia, I also had one teacher who used to print my work sheets on light blue paper which helped as I didn't have to keep moving the overlays to write so might be worth asking the school if that's possible if your DD isn't likely to be embarrassed about it being different.

Quite radical but take a look at Cellfield www.cellfielduk.com/

I'd also recommend coloured overlays for reading and light coloured paper for writing on. Different colours work for different children, so whilst pink might work for one child, another might have more success with light blue or green for example. I've seen children who struggle to read suddenly read much better with the right overlay as it helps to stop the letters jumping around on the page.

Did they give her any exercises to do? I am sure I read that exercises can help with convergence issues. The coloured overlays could help but those are really for Irlen syndrome which is different to convergence issues I believe.

My daughter has coloured glasses which have been brilliant for her.

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/3/e818.full?sid=bd9574fb-4575-4d35-a46e-a63394e68331

Do read the above report. While coloured overlays may have a placebo effect (changing child's attitude to reading) or may reduce glare for some sensitive children, there is no peer-reviewed evidence (none) that finds it works at all for improving readiing. Be wary of placing too much value on anecdotal evidence.

If your child is having reading difficulties then she simply needs to be taught well with a good synthetic phonics programme. I'd also prefer Apples & Pears over Toe by Toe at this age but Feenie was right to direct you to www.dyslexics.org.uk/ where you will get the best, most effective and evidence tested advice (certainly better than from the BDA)

oh, and learning to read properly, by tracking and decoding text from left to right will provide all the eye exercise needed. Children who become reliant on looking around the page for clues as to what they are reading are often slow to develop the tracking skills they need - it is simply lack of the correct practice

Thank you to 'Feenie' and 'edpen' for recommending my website, 'where you will get the best, most effective and evidence tested advice'

'hazeyjane', this link leads to a comprehensive article about vision problems and dyslexia:

nifdi.org/news-latest-2/blog-hempenstall/414-keeping-an-eye-on-reading-is-difficulty-with-reading-a-visual-problem

Aaah, I should have made this a proper link here we go...report on whether vision problems cause 'dyslexia'

I do have to add though that whilst no they don't appear to have any evidence of the coloured thing working I can't explain in my daughter's case why it does work. She used to cry because of the white board hurting her eyes, her eyes always watered, she always had to rub them when reading, her reading is WAY ahead of her age but the letters all merge together and she can't see full stops etc. put coloured glasses on and the difference was instant. I don't believe it is a placebo effect on a 5 year old who didn't know what it was all about anyway and who liked reading and writing (and was exceptionally good at them but exhausted by the effort required) regardless of the fact it hurt her eyes.

but that is just our experience. I think they try to use them too often for people who actually do not have a problem which they would help.

Thankyou for all your replies!

The articles have made my brain hurt, so thankyou for those!

Obviously the world of dyslexia is not a clearcut, one size fits all, and the added issues of visual disturbances throws in another element of contentiousness.

I think we will try the overlays, as dd2 definitely does have some kind of visual disturbance, and whether there is a placebo effect or not, if it helps her feel less tired and encourages her then they may be of some help?

the overlays or coloured paper or slightly less bright backgrounds can make a huge difference for visual disturbance and reduce tiredness all round I think so definitely worth trying. Everything is worth a try. I mean I know that in artificial light all day looking at a screen my eyes are tired and I find it harder to do things, the same MUST be true for children and often classroom lights are very bright and things do reflect light and a glare can make it much harder to focus on reading.

Dyslexia is most definitely a wide ranging problem with like you say no clear cut 'these are the symptoms'. DD1 displays so many dyslexia signs but then doesn't follow the most often associated ones. Either way in my opinion whether it is dyslexia, a learning trait, just the way she is, she has to learn to deal with it and function regardless so we just try to work out things that help her with HER particular issues.

I think from what you say about her spelling being very phonetic that that is very good, I would say that surely that indicates she knows her phonics and can put words together plausibly which is great.

The 'sparkles' she mentions. do you know what she is trying to describe? I only ask because I am SURE I read someone on here once a few months ago saying something about a visual disturbance being linked to a medical condition that they didn't realise their child had. I wish I could remember exactly what it was and I don't want to cause any concern unnecessarily but I think it was something to do with a form of epilepsy causing the visual disturbances. It might be worth a mention to the Drs if she is getting something like that affecting her vision and making her feel nauseous. I am sure it isn't anything like that but worth ruling out and making the Dr aware she has some sort of problem?

Thankyou nonickname - I have spoken to her dr, and she thinks it is a visual thing rather than a form of epilepsy (which is I think the thing that you might be thinking of).

Dd2 has been prescribed some glasses with a prism prescription, to correct a convergence issue. Do you know if they can be used with overlays?

Hi, I was just browsing the forum when I stumbled on this topic.

My DD is in year 4 and was diagnosed in year 2, I have found www.nessy.com to be a great asset to her education, it's fun, bright and easy to use.

Even my DD in year 2 now has found the Nessy applications fun and informative.

I don't see why the overlays couldn't be used with her glasses if they help her.

I am pleased the Dr doesn't think it is the epilepsy thing, I just wanted to mention it though as you might not have been aware of the possibility of it being something like that.

I think nessy is what they use in my daughters school. I am sure she has mentioned it.

hazeyjane, yes the glasses can be used with overlays, although she might find she doesn't need overlays with the glasses.

It is true that coloured overlays are often used as a placebo for reading difficulties however they are proven to help with visual disturbances, which are common in people with dyslexia, obviously I wasn't saying the overlays magically made me able to read but they did stop the horrible lights at the edge of my vision (which I'm guessing is what your daughter calls sparkles, I called them fizzles when I was little) and it is much easier to read when you haven't got something on the edge of your vision making you feel sick.