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any experiences of a ?dyslexic but very good reader - yr1

8 replies

Periwinkle007 · 13/09/2013 10:56

Anyone mind sharing experiences (teacher or parent) of ?dyslexic but good readers and how to handle the problems.

DD1 has just gone into Yr1. she is a very good reader, confident, reading early chapter books, Dick King Smith, Corgi Pups, Rainbow Fairies, Milly Molly Mandy, Paddington, Lighthouse Keeper type stuff. BUT she has coloured glasses because of issues with the contrasts on the white board and when we got them we noticed her reading improved drastically.

Without the glasses she misses out words, lines, punctuation, if she reads out the letters in a word she sees them in the wrong order. With the glasses she can control a lot of these relatively well. She certainly CAN read exceptionally well and much harder than she does but obviously with her age and problems she would find it too tiring.

She can blend quite well now but still sometimes has problems relating the phonemes (is that what they are called?) that she sees and knows and can tell you into the actual word. It is strange and hard to describe. She has always found it hard, even vocally, like she can't hear how the word is made up. She manages to do it but finds it difficult. Of course the words she stumbles on now are ones which are new to her (ie hasn't heard them not just hasn't read them before) so I am not sure how unusual it is.

I suppose I am looking for advice about what to do to help her. I personally think she needs some exercises in segmenting long and unusual words which she won't know but I don't have any and am not sure what words to use as well as the fact I suspect she would refuse to do it if I asked her to. I am hoping the school might give her some exercises because she is supposed to be getting an IEP as they are aware something doesn't quite add up in her development even though she is good at reading. I am assuming her IEP will be done in the next few weeks? is that unrealistic at the start of a school year, should I not be expecting it until half term? Is there anything else we can do to help her. Her eye convergence has all been checked out properly and her tracking is ok so it really is contrasts and presumably some level of borderline dyslexia (I am probably dyslexic) coupled with being very bright so being able to work with it to some degree on her own.


any experiences that might help me.

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horsemadmom · 13/09/2013 14:08

DD is dyslexic and improved once her convergence issues were sorted but did have coloured overlays for visual stress. It sounds like you have checked this out. I can only say that she needs careful watching. We know another very bright dyslexic who came a cropper once the vocab in her books was unfamiliar. Bright dyslexics (my DD included) find ways of decoding. This can only get them just so far and is no help with spelling. We found a fantastic dyslexia tutor recommended by our ed psych (have you done the ed psych? Worth every penny to do it early). She taught DD all kinds of methods to help her help herself. This isn't the kind of thing that you get with an overloaded SENCO who sees your child for 15 mins a week.

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Periwinkle007 · 13/09/2013 14:42

thanks - glad to hear things are going ok for your daughter now.

I have wondered about the ed psych route. I think I was waiting to see what happened this term. Spelling wise so far isn't bad, she seems to be able to spell phonetically very well (not necessarily the right choice of ou or ie or whatever but understandable so she is able to get her ideas down which is all they want so far but I couldn't spell so I am worried about that (especially as with everything else in the classrooms now there is the incentive of a star or something if you get them all right. so when she finds the words get more complex if she starts to find them hard she will feel doubly penalised almost by not getting a star like her friends)

I have tried to teach her things like if she is tired and can't see full stops then to look for capital letters as that can help indicate a new sentence (obviously sometimes it is a name but it is all I have come up with). I also suffered with the knock on effect on maths once it becomes a maths problem in a sentence, I found it so hard to pick out the right bits of information. I went on to get maths A-level but I struggled the whole way through school with it although my actual maths was very good.

I think that is my concern, from a SENCO point of view, they can't possibly devote time or resources to everyone who could benefit and as she isn't behind then she will be low on the list, which I understand but I still want her to be helped to reach her potential and learn methods of coping like you say.

I will look into ed psych. it is a few hundred pounds isn't it? worth it though if it helps her, even if the school don't then implement anything as a result, if it teaches us and her things to help her then that is more important. At the end of the day she has to learn to live life with her problems so I want to help her overcome them/deal with them rather than just see it as a reason why things aren't as good as they could be.

thank you

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simpson · 13/09/2013 22:03

DD's school news letter came out today with details of the school ed psych saying you could book an appt if needed and parents who already know him (the ed psych) can have review meetings on their child's progress/targets set.

Do your school do something similar?

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Periwinkle007 · 13/09/2013 22:10

not that I know of - I have never seen it mentioned before but it might be worth me asking. I think I will wait until the end of the month as after a month her new teacher should have more idea of how she is getting on and then I can see what she says.

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simpson · 13/09/2013 22:17

Does the teacher know she should have an IEP?

I think I would quietly start pushing...

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Periwinkle007 · 13/09/2013 22:21

well I am not sure but as the SENCO is the KS1 leader I am assuming so. perhaps I will have a quick word next week and just see. Perhaps they have decided she doesn't need one but according to DD noone has done anything with her yet other than the normal classwork going on and her reading book.

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freetrait · 13/09/2013 22:33

I don't have experience but instinct tells me that at this stage you will need to pay. Yes she has a need, but she isn't behind. In fact she is ahead. I am with you all the way, and if it was my DD I would investigate options re Ed Psych when you think most appropriate. It might be worth waiting a year for her to mature and she might get more out of it? That's just an amateur hunch going on my DS's development however...... I guess it depends on how much a stress it is for her now/ how she is she coping.

DS (not dyslexic) essentially learnt to spell in Y1, although it's not perfect, today he wrote "bycarbonate of soda, vinigar, food coloring, iceing sugar." I didn't correct any, but I might tomorrow! (not sure anyone else will.... this was his own "experiment" list).

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Periwinkle007 · 14/09/2013 11:11

thanks Freetrait. Yes I agree - the school budget is limited and she isn't behind, the thing is that being ahead doesn't mean she shouldn't be more ahead if that makes sense and doesn't sound too boastful or deluded.

Ed Psych is probably the way to go, you are right, she displays quite a lot of autistic spectrum symptoms too. She finds the world very overwhelming, she can't deal with new things or changes, she is very very hypersensitive amongst other things and school will never see that because in school she just does exactly what she is told, she doesn't deviate from the plan so to speak because she just wants to be seen as good and to get things right. she is a terrible perfectionist so much so that she won't try new activities in case she fails and I really am at quite a loss about how to help her. I want her to have a happy little life but she is always in some sort of turmoil or trauma that she doesn't seem to.

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