Overcoming Dyslexia: Help for Michael & Nicole's Homeschool Journey

[DebbieSAChef]

Well ladies I am coming to you for some advice. As many of you know I homeschool my two oldest children: Michael (11) and Nicole (10), and it turns out this year we really noticed that our daughter's problem with school was not getting any better. It was getting worse and we were all getting frustrated. Well after looking at her backwards b's, d's, p's, q's, 5's, and 2's the Lord popped this crazy idea in my head "Maybe Nicole has dyslexia."

Now I had no idea exactly what it was but I remember a missionary from our church who came to visit mentioned her older daughter having it, even now as a twenty something year old, and some of her symptoms in putting her letters backwards.

I typed in Dyslexia symptoms on my search engine and it seems everything on that list and other lists talked about Nicole almost to a tee!! It was crazy, so I got on the phone with my local homeschool store that has lots of great resources for homeschoolers and they gave me a number to a tutor for dyslexic children. After talking with her, it confirmed my suspicions and she said she was going to send me a packet to fill out. My husband and I are relieved, after hours and hours of working with my daughter I was beginning to think that I was a horrible teacher and that I didn't know what to do to teach her!! Thank God I was wrong and the Lord is going to solve our problems by getting Nicole the help she needs. It is a huge weight lifted off our family. School was getting frustrating, not only for Nicole, but for everyone in our household.

So after all this, thank you for patiently reading it, I am wondering if anyone knows of good books, exercises or anything that would be helpful to me and Nicole. I know this tutor will help us tremendously but I just wanted some other advice or encouragement from anyone on here who is going through the same thing. Or knows someone going through this.

Thanks!!
Debbie

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I'm the dyslexic agnostic that questions whether there is a Dog.

 

[DebbieSAChef]

Very funny!!

I'm the dyslexic agnostic that questions whether there is a Dog.

KG you crack me up!!

Did you hear about the dyslexic satan worshipper?
He sold his soul to Santa!!

Did you hear about Dyslexics Anonymous?
It's a 21-step program.

Debbie

 

[mommyhugz1978]

My daughter is in 1st grade this year....... and she has been writing her fives backwards and making 3's backwards... and confusing 9's and 6's.... so I asked them to test her for dyslexica as well... I have it too!

 

[janetupnorth]

My daughter is in 1st grade this year....... and she has been writing her fives backwards and making 3's backwards... and confusing 9's and 6's.... so I asked them to test her for dyslexica as well... I have it too!

My daughter just started doing that this summer and in first grade. That is often part of the learning process so keep asking her if she notices what is wrong. She may not have dyslexia but always good to check.

For Debbie - I'll see if I can find my friends e-mail, she went to college to teach special ed, specifically for dyslexia. She has it but wasn't diagnosed until her junior or senior year of high school. She went from being a frustrated C-D student to straight A's after learning some tricks. I know a few people that have it in various forms and if you can help your daughter now to work around it, she will do much better. If I can find Amy's e-mail (...and she isn't on a mission trip, I'll get it to you, I'm sure she'd be glad to suggest some good curriculum and ones that would meet your homeschooling needs).

 

[Jean DeVries]

Hey Debbie!

Have you also looked into Visual Therapy? There's a new school of thought that many children who are diagnosed as dyslexic have visual problems instead. Not necessarily not being able to "see the board" as is traditional, but more of a visual processing issue. We have a local doctor here who does Visual Therapy, and it has worked wonders for people that I know who have seen him that had issues similar to your daughters (b's and p's backwards, etc) From his website:

"According to the College of Optometrists in Vision Development (COVD), a Learning-Related Visual Problem is a visual problem that directly affects how we learn, read or sustain close work. In many cases children and adults are misdiagnosed with a learning disability such as dyslexia. However, the problem is actually a lack of visual skills. They do not have the necessary abilities to accurately process visual information (such as words on a page) efficiently. So much time and effort is spent decoding the visual input that there is very little or no energy left to put meaning to what they see, which can show up as a comprehension problem. Visual therapy teaches coordination of the eyes along with visualization skills, which allows the brain to simultaneously interpret and derive meaning from words on a page."

Also, here are some other online resources:

http://www.vscenter.com/lmore.html

I don't know if any of this might be helpful, but it may not hurt to contact a Visual Therapist in your town and see what he/she says.

Jean

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

KG you crack me up!!

Did you hear about the dyslexic satan worshipper?
He sold his soul to Santa!!

Did you hear about Dyslexics Anonymous?
It's a 21-step program.

Debbie

Well, then there's the dyslexic who walked into a bra...

 

[quiverfull7]

Our 18 year old daughter is dyslexic, had vision therapy and other things. Does much better now. Contact your local public school and see about having her tested (which they should cover through your school district) and let's see... I'll get you a list of the books I read that made such a difference for me as a mom... let's see... This is GREAT: http://www.dyslexia.com/
The Upside Down Kidz by Harold Levinson MD I'll keep looking for what I have.

 

[mommyhugz1978]

My daughter just started doing that this summer and in first grade. That is often part of the learning process so keep asking her if she notices what is wrong. She may not have dyslexia but always good to check.

For Debbie - I'll see if I can find my friends e-mail, she went to college to teach special ed, specifically for dyslexia. She has it but wasn't diagnosed until her junior or senior year of high school. She went from being a frustrated C-D student to straight A's after learning some tricks. I know a few people that have it in various forms and if you can help your daughter now to work around it, she will do much better. If I can find Amy's e-mail (...and she isn't on a mission trip, I'll get it to you, I'm sure she'd be glad to suggest some good curriculum and ones that would meet your homeschooling needs).

My daughter's problem goes a little deeper than just flipping numbers around.... But I also googled symptoms of Dyslexia ... and almost all of them my daughter has... BUT this year I have insisted the school test her for that..... But I think I am going to do my own second opinion through her medical doctor...... Hopefully one day she will thank me. :cry:

 

[quiverfull7]

She will thank you.. whether it is in ways other than words... it will be the look of understanding an accomplishment... the joy of completing something without quite so much struggle... she'll thank you! It's also important to know that later on, when they need to take the SAT or ACT and they need extra time.... these things have to be documented to get extra time. And it will need to be fairly current. It's recommended to have them tested again in 10th grade so that you don't have to fight to get them help in college either. I know it's hard to do but it's worth the effort. Don't look at it as getting them a label because that ISN'T why you do it... do it so that you can identify strengths as well as weaknesses and get your child the best help tailored to his or her needs as quickly as possible! I'm here cheering you on... been there done that... read and known the pain of a disability diagnosis... but also see what intervention can do! March on you mom's out there... YOU are your childs best advocate!

 

[mommyhugz1978]

She will thank you.. whether it is in ways other than words... it will be the look of understanding an accomplishment... the joy of completing something without quite so much struggle... she'll thank you! It's also important to know that later on, when they need to take the SAT or ACT and they need extra time.... these things have to be documented to get extra time. And it will need to be fairly current. It's recommended to have them tested again in 10th grade so that you don't have to fight to get them help in college either. I know it's hard to do but it's worth the effort. Don't look at it as getting them a label because that ISN'T why you do it... do it so that you can identify strengths as well as weaknesses and get your child the best help tailored to his or her needs as quickly as possible! I'm here cheering you on... been there done that... read and known the pain of a disability diagnosis... but also see what intervention can do! March on you mom's out there... YOU are your childs best advocate!

I have dyslexia as well... BUT mine only efftects things in math.. werid I know... but I struggled and struggled until 8th grade.. before the diagonsed me. I have been going around and around with the school and I feel like no one is listening so .. at the suggestion of my family. I am going to go get a second opinion and prove to the school that she has this learning disablity and it needs to be addressed... Okay now I can say it on hear but lets hope that I can have the courgage to tell the school that......:yuck:


Sorry Debbie for Hyjacking your thread....:balloon:

 

[quiverfull7]

Call your child's pediatrician and see if your insurance will cover the testing ... that is where I had our 11 year old tested a couple months ago. The schools now have to do quite a bit more intervention and paperwork before they can refer a child for testing so try it via Health Ins. and see if that will be quicker.

 

[janetupnorth]

My daughter's problem goes a little deeper than just flipping numbers around.... But I also googled symptoms of Dyslexia ... and almost all of them my daughter has... BUT this year I have insisted the school test her for that..... But I think I am going to do my own second opinion through her medical doctor...... Hopefully one day she will thank me. :cry:

If you noticed more symptoms by all means get her tested! The younger it can be caught the better she can learn! Make sure she gets a vision exam too to correct any potential problems there so she doesn't have to deal with multiple things. I hope you find answers!

 

[crystalscookingnow]

Praise God that you figured it out & can get her the help that she needs. I can only imagine how frustrating that would be for all of you!

 

[bgraham]

My son is 7 and in the second grade. I have been concerned for a while that he might be dyslexic and just last week I scheduled testing for him. We go on the 18th.

Good luck!

Beth

 

[DebbieSAChef]

WebsitesI looked at these websites and it was just crazy how many of these symptoms she had. I was amazed that I didn't realize it sooner! I am so relieved and now things are looking positive for all of us.

She won't have to dread school anymore and I won't have to dread doing the same things over and over anymore. I mean if I still have to do repititive exercises, I know I will be doing something that will benefit her according to this problem instead of just frustrating her.

http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/weblinks/dyslexia.htm

http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html#dysgraphia

Debbie