Well I have been caught up in affairs around my house. We realized our 8 yo son is dyslexic. In the fall we watched Barton's videos and both my husband and I thought - well, maybe. As we started thinking about enrolling him in school and talking with teachers for that age group we realized he is behind. I am a "better late than early" kind of person, but he wasn't moving forward - even with some of the reading programs they suggest for dyslexics. Granted, I did not implement all of the multi-modal stuff in my house, but still he wasn't remembering basic phonograms. Some of the red flags for us were fairly unsteady handwriting, skipping vowels in his spelling, still confusing the b and d (even in cursive - really!), not remembering simple words from one page to the next, having to sound out EVERY single word (the, but, and). It was time to take action.
I am certainly no expert, but I love to research. I have been reading books about teaching reading - for fun - before I had children. That's why we taught cursive first and used an orton-gillingham based program! Nonetheless, my child needs more help.
Vision Therapy
One of the first things to determine is if this is an eye tracking/teaming, focusing type issue or if this is a cognitive auditory processing issue. My son can track words on a page, doesn't tire easily from trying to read, doesn't rub his eyes, etc. I have a friend whose daughter had the tools to read but her eyes were having trouble tracking. Another friend said her son had letters waving at him on the page. These are the thing we don't even think to ask our kids. So ASK YOUR CHILD what is happening on the page when they read. You might be surprised. Both of the friends mentioned above have their children in visual therapy and it has made a HUGE difference for them. Some say that visual therapy can help most dyslexics - I really don't know what to say. If your child seems to get the "process of reading" but tires easily or explains to you that the words are blurry or dancing or whatever - check into visual therapy.
Irlen Syndrome - Color Therapy
Others talk about Irlen syndrome. This has to do with how the brain deals with light and contrasts. To solve this issue you should try the colored overlays. They help to reduce glare and eye strain so that kids can read more successfully. We did try this - briefly - but my son thought I was crazy thinking these things would help him. So, that wasn't the right solution for us. However, it has been very helpful to many people. It is certainly worth trying.
Auditory Processing Issues
Some children have trouble distinguishing the sounds being made so that they can separate them into their smallest unit. Most dyslexics have this to some extent. I honestly think my older son has some issues but because he did intense speech therapy for a year it helped him to match the sound and visual representations of those sounds (he still can't spell). If your child doesn't seem to be able to produce or understand the difference between similar sounding sounds (th/v) etc. this might be the level you are at. You can look into speech therapy programs that help you understand how to place the mouth to say different sounds and then teach your child learn how to produce those sounds properly and tie them to the letters we use to represent those sounds. Lindamood Bell LiPS program does exactly this. Although he does struggle with a few sounds this doesn't seem to be the root of his issue either.
Right Brain Children
Then I started reading about right brain children. This seemed to fit my son VERY well. He did have great spatial ability, he loved to draw and thinks in pictures, and he talked about how he could "flip" things around in his head. Who knew? I don't think this way. As I read it became obvious that most of these kids aren't really ready to start reading until they are about 8 and it takes them time - just like everyone - to figure it out. This fit into what my reading specialist friend said that around 4th or 5th grade her students began to "click" more with reading - they were now developmentally ready to do it. The book The Dyslexic Advantage spoke right to my child's strengths. It also explains how it might be a bit more than just "right brain/ left brain" issue. The main take away is that my child does actually see and think about the world differently and I need to understand that!
Following this thread led me to Dianne Craft and her right brain reading information. She comes out of school setting and is trying to help kids be as successful as they can be in a school setting. She uses visual memory to help students learn words. We tried this some with my son and it was helping some. We also got her book on Brain Integration Therapy. Some of my friends had tried Brain Balance and similar programs and I figured - this couldn't hurt. It was worth a try. We have only been doing it for about 2 weeks and it made a difference the FIRST DAY. His handwriting was a teeny bit improved. We are trying to do it faithfully - but Spring Break! Yesterday, I thought we would just do his reading exercises and we didn't do the brain exercises first. Normally, he makes only one mistake in his dictation (at a kindergarten level). Yesterday, he tried six times until he got it right!? There is something to this brain integration therapy. I honestly think the exercises are fairly similar to some of those used in vision therapy. It is a focus on crossing the mid line and getting your eyes and fingers to track properly.
Building on this brain difference we moved into the book The Gift of Dyselxia by Ronald Davis. The Davis method has some controversy about its effectiveness. However, this is the book that encouraged me to start asking my son about how he sees the world and realizing that he does see life in pictures and is really a visual learner. The Davis program teaches kids how to stop spinning the words in their head and find a fixed point so that they can read from that point. They also model all the letters and words in clay and learn the definitions of the "little words" that cause dyslexics such trouble - because they can't "see" what the word means. It sounds a little wacky but it also is how my son thinks!
We met with the Davis specialist in our community. She has been teaching for over 30 years and founded a special needs school in our community. She is dyslexic and taught using orton-gillingham methods for years. It wasn't until she did the Davis program when her daughter was diagnosed that she saw a huge change in her own reading ability and comfort. She had made it through grad school struggling to read but after doing the work of Davis she now enjoys reading. Their program is a one week intensive with long term homework (1 to 2 years)!! We have decided to try this path for now.
This doesn't even touch on the "learning to read" part. That is a whole different issue and I will address it. So far I have learned that dyslexic kids truly do think differently and develop on a different time table. They have to work really hard to be able to do the essential task of reading (most interventions are intensive and take at least 2 years!). I am so blessed that we have had him at home so that his difficulty reading has not stopped his learning. We haven't spent tons of time focusing on his weaknesses, we have been able to develop his strengths. We are just beginning this journey but hopefully some of what we have learned so far can help you as well.
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