Dyslexia

My youngest has really been struggling this school year, particularly with reading fluency and comprehension. Her teacher has tried various strategies and we've been working extra-hard on things at home. I even took all of her stuffed animals except 1 away from her a couple months ago. She has been earning them back at a rate of 1 per week IF she reads to me, her father or one of her sisters 5 nights in a week. That helped with motivating her to do the nightly reading assignments her teacher sends home without a literal meltdown but it wasn't helping the fluency or comprehension.

While researching different things, I discovered that she exhibits a number of warning signs of dyslexia. Earlier this week, I sent a letter to her teacher detailing what I've discovered and officially requesting that my daughter be tested. The day I sent the letter, I received a hand-written note from her teacher and the next day I spoke with both the school counselor and the EC Program Specialist/Instructional Coach at the school. We have a meeting tomorrow morning with the EC Specialist and S's teacher to go over parent rights and do the paperwork necessary to get the testing process underway. Unfortunately, the school system won't diagnosis her, they'll simply test to determine if she qualifies for EC services. There are only a few certified testers in the state of North Carolina thought it may be possible to have her screened at a private school for dyslexics in Charlotte. It's something I'll be looking into more thoroughly in the near future.

People with dyslexia are generally very bright people who are unable to read, write or spell at grade level. Personal bias aside, S is a bright child. She often surprises me with her observations and insights. She can identify a number of plants and in many cases knows specific things about them such as "sassafras has a citrus smell when you remove a leaf from the tree or cut the branches. Tree pulp has been used to make a paste to treat pink eye and some people drink sassafras tea." She retains information and her teacher says she's usually one of the first to put her hand up to answer a question.

Here are some of the symptoms she exhibits:

*reads in a choppy cadence rather than smooth phrases (she pauses after every word)

*directionality confusion with certain letters: b-d confusion is a classic warning sign (she gets the b and d mixed up daily; I find b-d mistakes on homework when I look it over and she often asks which way the b points. Everything I've read says it's common for kids to do that up to age 7 or 8; she'll be 8 in a couple months and this isn't getting any better)

*transposes the order of letters when reading (she mixes up who-how, saw-was, & on-no often)

*can read a word on one page but not the next

*unusual pencil grip often with the thumb on top of the fingers i.e. fist grip

*may put their head down to watch the tip of their pencil while writing

*knows phonics but can't - or won't - sound out unfamiliar words (She stares at the page until we prompt her to 'tap it out' when faced with unfamiliar words)

*easily distracted by sounds (she complains if the refrigerator is running, if the dryer is on, if I'm typing, if her sisters have a TV on or are playing their hand held game systems in their bedrooms, etc. We hear "I can't concentrate!" a lot.)

*misreads, omits or adds small function words such as a, an, the, for, from

Those are just some of the symptoms I've noticed in my daughter. There seems to be a family link. When I talked to my husband about many of the symptoms, he was surprised how many of them fit him. He uses a fist grip and puts his head close to the paper to watch the pencil tip when he's writing. When he was in school he was often told he could do well if he just applied himself and was frequently labeled 'lazy.' He reads slowly and generally avoids it whenever possible. He told me he's never read a novel cover to cover.