Tips for helping 11-year-old with dyslexia and slow reading/rereading

[Franny1]

My 11-year-old DD has diagnosed slow processing and dyslexia. He has recently started saying it takes him several times to read anything (school stuff or novels) so it takes him a long time. But at other times he has devoured quite big books like Lord of The Rings and Animal Farm! He says when he’s really into something he doesn’t have to reread as much.

He has actually been tested for ADHD and we were told no. But there’s clearly an executive function/working memory challenge here or something (arguably part of slow processing I know, but this symptom is new to us…).

Anyone have any tips to help him? He does actually like reading so it’s a shame, and also obviously he does have to read for school.

Has DS had an EP assessment?

Yes, that’s where he was diagnosed with slow processing and mild dyslexia.

Did they not cover the difficulties you describe DS as having and make recommendations?

No, like I said, this specific thing is recent.

You didn’t say when DC was diagnosed/had the EP assessment though. For all I knew, that could have been recently. Hence the question.

I think another EP assessment would be a good idea.

Thanks yes will do ultimately but in the meantime just hoping for some parental recommendations.

The problem is without understanding the reasons why, any suggestions may not be helpful and in some cases may make it worse. For example, some people find using speech to text software helpful, but some don’t and for some this can actually increase the amount of content the person doesn’t take in. Another example, some people find reading from a screen and using a screen ruler helps, but for some, moving to a screen reduces comprehension. Another example, some find playing music or white noise quietly helps them concentrate, but others find it distracting.

I had the neuro educational psychologist from a well known developmental centre assess DD2 privately. She found the same thing as OP described, but didn’t explain why.

I know DD2 was reckoned to be in the top ten percent for intelligence, whereas she was on the 33rd percentile for auditory processing, so quite a disparity.

The psychologist did make a recommendation though for school - the school should provide the Powerpoint slides for lessons in advance, to give DD2 a visual framework to hang the auditory input on. Not that they ever did, despite being given the report in writing!

I do wonder now DD2 is older, if her problem is more from autism than ADHD - she uses bottom up processing for language rather than top down, so she doesn’t get the meaning of what she hears, or sees (as in TV) or reads, although her abilities in the nuts and bolts of languages like spelling and grammar are excellent? She’s the same in foreign European languages; but not with Japanese where the written characters are visual. For instance, she said the character for bamboo looks like a transection of bamboo.