Anyone's DC with verbal dyspraxia learning to read?

[bubble2bubble]

DD is 4 and started school in September. Her teacher phoned the other day to ask how I thought her reading was going as she seemed to be struggling and basically wanted my approval to go back again to much earlier reading books to see if this helped.

It seems to me that some days she can do so much, recognises all the words and then next day seems to have retained nothing

I think I kind of expected this as her speech follows a similar pattern, but wondered if anyone else had experience?

Yes. Forwards and backwards. No dyspraxia though dd2 has language difficulties.
This is my experience: I used to notice her language doing exactly this this pattern but it's less noticable these days than it was months ago - there is improvement as she gets older. Dd2 has remained on v early reading books in class until recently - as in no words, just telling the story which is actually harder for her than reading CVC words (dog, cat etc) which she can do after lots of practice providing she's reminded everyday to work from left to right. Have pushed for books with words, and first high frequency word list (non-decodable words) which we've been practicing religiously every night at home for weeks only to find that though she can read them from her word list she was unable to recognise them elsewhere (eg in another print or different order or different coloured paper). So, we worked on this and had sucess of a sort (seemed to vary day by day). This week, finally, she "performed" in class and did recognise those words out of context (until the next lot of words...).
It's swings & roundabouts, but bits start to click gradually.

I'm considering looking into how I can use some sort of memory training (no ideas yet) to help her develop her memory, thinking along the lines that maybe this will help with word retrieval? Can you tell I'm a mum who is still trying to work out this whole language thing ?

I had a lot of success with teaching him to sound out words phonetically, as for some reason the letter sounds have stuck in his head. But now we are having to get him to say whole words, rather than spelling out c - a - t, just to say the whole word "cat". I find with my DS that it's only really gruelling repetition and rote learning of the basics that gets him reading. We are now also working on comprehension and ENJOYMENT! The best book for him so far is the Three Billy Goats Gruff, as he laughs out loud when the troll roars and jumps out!

My DS has moderate verbal dyspraxia affecting principally articulation-he has theerfore found phonetics very hard because blending is so difficult. However he has a phenomenal visual memory and I have found look and say a far more effective way to read for him as he can seem to read a whole word and retain it well whereas decoding via phonics is a nightmare. However I do do both with him as I think phonics is seen as a better way generally to learn to read..

dd2 made the big leap from sounding out to saying the whole word by same methods - gruelling repetition.
I think my dd2's problem with not easily recognising words out of context is from being a v visual learner. Sees the details rather than the whole picture, so if "it" is written a tiny bit differently like with a flick on i's tail then to her it's a different word completely. Got same problem with learning nouns, e.g picture of a gate = gate, but how to apply this to another picture of a gate that's a differnt colour/shape etc? It's "different". Unfortunately she hasn't got the langauge yet to really explain to her the concept.

Sorry OP, feel i've hiacked post here. I know nothing about dyspraxia but hope these other processing problems helps you in some way.

As I have said many time on MN, Headsprout is second to none.

Fun, easy, keeps data for you, all the repetition your child needs in an appealing way.

It's perfect-I know as botha mother and someone who has spent the past 3 years researching this product with kids with communication diffs.

yeah me and ds been looking at that , for us its knowing what ds knows as hes not verbal though he is learning to finger spell sounds in his unique style but not sure what will happen with harder sounds

can i ask can your dc make the sounds at all?

Hi Phoenix - DD does have a fair number of sounds now but nowhere near enough to sound out words phonetically - still a lot of consonants missing & most vowels are problematic ( dipthongs totally impossible)

Kissingfrogs - your DD sounds so similar- I feel a bit less like I'm going mad now I suppose the only answer for speech is repititon so it is logical that eventaully this will work for reading as well ...Dd has memory problems too which bothers me quite a lot, but again sometimes it is so obvious and other times not - and her long term memory can be astounding As for those books with no words....aaaagh...I'm sure there is a point to that, but for a child with virtually no speech??

Did the Headsprout trial online and DD was very taken with it, so that is a definate possibility Moondog - thank you

see ds can link sign with words but can not link the sound to the letter by=ut think thats more the receptive

I am coming round to fact ds is probably going to need voca to aid his communication

can i ask how old your dc are and if there in salt unit and has it helped

SLT unit has been amazing - the difference was almost immediate. I have no idea what would have happened if she had stayed in mainstream

DD has/had verbal dyspraxia, she never learnt to read using phonics, she learnt to read cvc words by look and say at 8.5yo. She is now almost 12yo, and can read, at a 7yo level. Any longer words, that she hasn't come across, she will spell out and I have to tell her what they mean, and we add them to her vocab book and she learns them by look and say even now. She is making progress, but I don't think it helped that all the emphasis at the school was on phonics until she was 7.5yo and got into Y3. I have since been told that DD would just have NEVER learnt to read using the phonics method, she just doesn't learn that way. That is in MS.

Loudlass- I think that is what DD is doing ( except her learning is so frustratingly intermittent ) I don 't think she really gets the phonics thing at all.
I am very interested to know how your Dd's speech is now she is 12?

ds defintley can not connect sounds to the letter mind lol he cant make them either