Retained reflexes, auditory processing problems and difficulty learning to read

[mawbroon]

Hi, hopefully some of you can help me, if posting in SN is not appropriate then I can ask for it to be moved.

DS2 is 6yo and just finishing up P1 (Scotland). He's been struggling with reading and writing so I took him to be assessed for retained reflexes because what I read online sounded so like him.

He has x2 reflexes retained at around 25% and another at 50%. I can't remember offhand which ones they were, but they were to do with the neck. I can find out if it's relevant.

He also did some visual and auditory testing and it turned out that he really, really struggles when there is background noise. Open plan school. Need I say more. It's never quiet, ever

We've started on a programme of exercises for the reflexes and the chap who we are seeing has mentioned the Johanssen (sp?) auditory stimulation as something that might be beneficial after he's dealt with the gross motor stuff first.

He is falling behind with reading because the phonics don't appear to make any sense to him whatsoever.

I think I need to take this into my own hands rather than rely on the school, and find another reading method that he can manage. Does anybody have any information about other reading methods that may make things easier for him, or had a similar experience?

Hi. I can truly recommend the book "toe-by-toe", it is hard work, but so worth it. I have seen my oldest son go from really struggling to read any phonics, to reading for enjoyment! My other son, we started working on it as soon as he started showing signs of difficulties, and he has as a consequence never had the issue of hating reading which commonly happens when children struggle with it.

The book has to be done in sequence from the very beginning, the instructions in the book are clear and easy to follow. Motivating to do some regularly is not so easy, but having seen the results, I can't encourage people to try it enough! It is not a quick fix, as it does take time. But so worth the effort.