Comments on: Early Signs of Dyslexia

By: Laura Gregg

Laura Gregg — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 02:17:51 +0000

In reply to Suzy Lenne. As a parent of a son with severe dyslexia, I can tell you the age of learning to read wouldn't change the outcome. He is dyslexic for life, just as his father is dyslexic even now. With the right instruction, he will read better, but never with the same ease or automaticity as his typical peers. My continued hope is for children with dyslexia to be diagnosed as early as possible, so as to prevent the secondary consequences, such as anxiety, learned helplessness, poor self-esteem and self-worth. The right intervention, which is a systematic, multi sensory, research based reading/spelling approach (I.e., Orton-Gillingham or Wilson) can prevent the secondary consequences. For more information, contact the International Dyslexia Association or your local IDA chapter.

By: Suzy Lenne

Suzy Lenne — Fri, 26 Feb 2016 21:50:17 +0000

Thank you for your insights. They really shed light on how dyslexia can make reading so hard. My question is, do you think that with time, learning to read becomes easier for someone with dyslexia, without all the early struggles. What I mean is, if teaching the skill of reading is delayed until later in school eg children the age of 9-10 instead of 5-6, would that make it any easier. Are there developmental stages that are obtained with age that make reading easier as someone gets older? Is it worth all the struggles in the early years of school or would a better idea be to focus on other pursuits in younger children and delay explicit teaching of reading until they are a bit older?

By: Dusty

Dusty — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 16:04:00 +0000

In reply to Yolanda Sullivan. What a blessing it is to realize what is going on. It was hard for me at first to accept. Now however, I am relieved because my daughter is very bright she just needs a different method of learning. God bless as you move forward.

By: Dusty

Dusty — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 15:53:08 +0000

Your list sounds so similar to my daughters struggles. She is 11 now. At 3, she knew all the letters and their sounds. Not by sight but she new that A said aaa, etc. when she couldn’t read or write well by 8 and I was homeschooling her, I was frustrated and called her lazy. I told her she was far to smart to not read. Boy was I wrong. Now, I understand and we are on a far different path. At 11, she is reading above grade level, though she still struggles with sounding out a new word. Her comprehension is great (we did 2 phonics programs a year!! and still do!) She still can’t spell, her writing is atrocious and math is a bear, but we understand what we are up against now and she is doing great! What a blessing that you are posting these signs to look for. They may not have them all, but people should be aware lest they hurt their child by PUSHING them to learn the same way as everyone else! God bless!

By: Kerstin H Olczak

Kerstin H Olczak — Sun, 21 Feb 2016 21:57:59 +0000

In reply to michelle. Thank you for sharing - having both a boy and a girl with dyslexia, I very much relate..

By: Kathleen Lydon

Kathleen Lydon — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 17:42:00 +0000

My daughter is 10 and in the 4th grade. She was diagnosed with dyslexia in the second grade – although she was tested in kindergarten but found to be average and age appropriate. … her 1st grade teachers were concerned but we refused to retest so soon. …If only we weren’t forced during her kindergarten year.
She is slightly different from your daughter in the story. She LOVED.books – listening to others read, looking at books for hours on end, “reading ” to herself and others, ,trying to figure out where someone was on a page (although rarely finding it on her own) and she could easily rhyme. She still occasionally makes up her own stories when looking through a book – when “reading to her students /children “. Similar to your daughter, she has a great memory for details -much better than my husband or I.
Thank goodness she had and has supportive teachers and family members to keep her positive and help her fight the fight.
Hopefully people will judge her by the awesome, spirited, happy girl she is rather than by her learning challenge.
Thank you for sharing your daughter’s story.

By: michelle

michelle — Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:45:22 +0000

I have dyslexia.
I remember struggling through school, and no one helping me out. I was called “lazy” by teachers, parents, and the school psychologist, I knew what was going on around me and what they wanted from me as I learn, but found it hard to express myself and read the contexts. I was told I had to go to Special Classes and I can still hear my mum screaming at me, “SOUND OUT THE WORD!” even sounding out the word was very hard. S’s can sound like c’s, PH sounds like F’s and so on, it was really hard, and broke down into tears so much, I didn’t understand through primary and high school why I was failing English classes due to my spelling.
It wasn’t until I was in my last years of Uni that I need to do something about this. This was after I spoke English as a second language when clearly its my first. I found out through a behavioral optometrist that the color pigments in my eyes where making it hard for me to focus on the text on white paper. And that I was consecrating on the word itself more and trying to get that right, than on the sentence is trying to say to me.
I did have to wear colored glasses for a while, I don’t wear them anymore. I found some of the techniques in this list was helpful to myself may years ago when I decided to not let Dyslexia get to me… I learn things at my own paste, I taught myself how to re-read, and gave myself time and patients, it was hard because i was going through Uni at the same time, and doing 3 jobs…. but I thank online chat rooms too, I would ask the other person on the other end if they not shorthand the words and write them out in full, so I can commit them to memory.
Then I meet my husband, huge Scrabble Nerd! Who help me further with my learning words, teaching me scrabble and the maths behind scrabble, which teach me to understand little and strange words.
I never had an issue with Maths, it was always words. I now work in the Education Department, and my Dyslexia does pop up from time to time, but I feel like since school days, I have improved myself and have a more appreciation for words and reading.
Be patient with your Dyslexic Kids, giving them time to understand the sentences and word, even with Maths, they will get it in the end, you see them struggling, then give a break, no yelling at them! also explain why PH sound like an F, or why there are silent letters in the words, this confused me like crazy, ghost become gost!

Thanks for this article, I about to have a kid myself, and this was one of my biggest worry that they will become Dyslexic like me, but with these techniques i think the both of us will get through this together and have a great time in school!

Thanks again!

By: Deidra

Deidra — Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:14:03 +0000

Everything you’ve described here sounds so much like my daughter. Like you, I was so looking forward to reading with my daughter, but teaching her letters, shapes, and numbers was an absolute nightmare. She is in the 2nd grade and while she is making slow progress, she is very far behind her classmates and loathes the mere thought of trying to read anything. Even 2 or 3 letter words. She sees a word and when she can’t get the sounds to work out, she will put another word that she can sound out in its place. Sometimes it makes sense. She will see “little” but say the word “small.” But other times she will replace it with a completely unrelated word. We are working on “main ideas” now and she will pick out only the small bits from random parts of the book that she was able to retain, jumble them all together and call them the main idea. She tries so hard that it breaks my heart to have to correct her. Trying to keep her encouraged is a huge undertaking. When she is doing well, she is thrilled, but even a gentle reminder or correction and she falls completely apart and declares that she can’t read and she’s giving up. She has a much better disposition about math but reasoning, multiple steps, and reading directions hinder her progress. Still, she feels that she is much better at it than reading though her grades don’t reflect that. Her teachers have said that all of this is normal, but I am convinced that they simply don’t want to be bothered with a student who may have different needs. I know what I have to do now. I am going to get my daughter the help that she needs. Thank you so much!