my son (5) is showing signs of dyslexia, his dad and i both have it, so i kind of new it was on its way... but i was just wondering, if any one has had any luck with curriculum's that teach specifically to the dyslexic child?... that doesn't cost and arm and a leg! i have been really interested in the S.P.I.R.E program but cant afford $1,500 plus on getting it. i have been looking into the orton-gillingham method and multi-sensory learning techniques, but not sure if their is anything better out there? or if any one can recommend any thing that has worked for them?...
I haven't used anything myself for my children. However I am dyslexic. I have bought sequential spelling to use with my daughter. She shows a lot of the same reading difficulties I had but, has not tested dyslexic. She always gets labeled borderline. It is suppose to be good. There is also a writing program I think for it. I believe I saw it in the Rainbow book. I could look for it if you like.
The Scaredy Cat Ready program is suppsed to be great for dyslexic children. I found it after my dd was past the beginning stages or I probably would have used it with my dd11.
Two spelling problems to check out for dyslexic/dysgraphic children-- All About Spelling is the first, the second is Sequential spelling. I own both of these. Honestly, I like AAS better for the "rules" and multi-sensory method. We just started adding Seqential Spelling...not because AAS isn't working because is DEFINITELY has been a blessing...but I wanted to add spelling for my younger son and decided to just add his older sister to his Seq Sp lessons too. You might also check out the yahoo group HeartofReading. It is for homeschool parents with dyslexic, dysgraphic, etc parents. Many on there could help you with reading curric. I know a lot use either Barton or Wilson. My daughter isn't dyslexic but has definite spelling/phonemic weaknesses to go with some other learning challenges.
Just because you and your dh both have it does not mean your son would automatically have it, there is a chance he does not. At age 5 it is very common to see 'dyslexia' symptoms. Many kids do that. Most will outgrow it, if he still does it a couple years down the road, you could assume it, but right now, I would think it too early to jump to that.
thank you all for your responses!! i will defiantly check them out! and though i haven't had him "tested" yet, and that, yes he is still young, i just want to give him the best possible jumping off point that i can.
Just for the record( dont let my typing influence you haha) I would have been labeled dislexic in todays world. Back in my day they did say I had "Mirror vision" and really did not treat me any different other than kindly telling me when my numbers and letters were reverse order. Occasionally i still see myself reversing things when I write by hand mostly, but not knowing I had a problem made me just work a bit harder at correcting things. I never felt like I was less of a person because no one really labeled me. I have one child who has a problem with spelling, but this was not discovered until the child went out to school as at home 'he' would always do fine on spelling tests etc. Not sure if it was the nervousness of being out there or what but I have been told the colorful lessons of Phonics programs, ( they gave me that as a kindergardener/first grader as with the whole class) helps! We had phonics at home, so this could be why the child did okay at home schooling? So my recomendation is to use a phonics lesson as early as you can-- Horizon has one that looks good to me!
My son isn't officially dyslexic, but he has many of the traits. My advice, based on our experiences with him, would be to skip right over learning to print and go straight to Cursive with "Handwriting without Tears". Not having to lift his pen up off the paper has gone a long way to keeping all his letters headed in the right direction. Teach reading early and don't use just one method. Hands on, playing with blocks, making art, read-alouds, phonics, computer games, tracing letters in sand, rewarding with M&Ms... if it's even remotely fun and somehow related to reading, do it! Immerse that kid in words. We used every "learn to read" program our library had on the shelves. Also on the plus side, his diction is *much* better than it should be, considering that he couldn't hear well for much of his early years. The main reason my son doesn't have a diagnosis of dyslexia is because he reads well above grade level. But he reverses letters, writes upside down and mirror, swaps his words around when he's speaking, confuses concepts such as "bigger" and "smaller", "above" and "beneath" and so on. And struggles with gross motor skills such as running and jumping. Basically he's got all the traits of dyslexia except difficulty with reading. Miquon was a great math program for our son. It's tactile and hands-on and teaches math in a very visual, concrete kind of way. Good luck! I think your son is lucky to have you and your husband for parents.
When I was on the multidisciplinary team in public school, we got in-serviced on dyslexia a lot, and they told us that any program for children with dyslexia should be phonic-based, focused, sequential, multisensory, and a bunch of other stuff. When I found the Christian Light Education curriculum, their Learning to Read program seemed to meet all those qualifications, which are supposed to "treat" dyslexia, and to "prevent" dyslexia that's not really brain-centered but is rather the product of faulty teaching methods (like the old look-guess method, and so on). There's ear-training, eye-training, hand-training, and lip-training (I guess you'd call it) with hear it, see it, write it, say it, in all their various combinations.
Lip training? I remember sitting with my son showing him how to make the "m" sound by pressing his lips together, and the "n" sound by putting his tongue behind his teeth. He couldn't hear the difference when I said it, but he could feel the difference. Is that what lip training is? I found it really helped, and we did it with all the phonics we learned.
Perhaps you've already read this, but The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald D. Davis is a good book to start with. I think there is a curriculum based on the ideas in the book, but I thought it was crazy expensive! However, since you are starting with a five year old, you can draw some good ideas from the book and implement them into whatever curriculum you use. Also, I think Explode the Code is dyslexia-friendly. A friend who is a special ed teacher recommended Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lesson.
Ok I have dyslexia and so does everyone on my side. I am telling you from my experience teaching now my 4th child that the key is NOT to panic and get the most expensive program out there. Last year I did Teach your child to read in 100 EZ lessons. He was in K, but he has a January B-day so he was an older K. It was a HUGE struggle. We finished almost all the lessons, but then warm weather hit and I just made him read here and there. He was NOT getting it, so I let him play and learn on his own till Sept. Then at 6 and a half, 1st grade, I tested him and he did not know but a few letter sounds and he could not name any of the letters. So I started with the basic phonics again. I used Explode the code 1, Bob Books and some other cheap readers I found in a store. I used flash cards for the letters and we did them EVERY day. I had him take 3 letter cards a day and draw a picture of something that started with that letter. My son got it! He was finally ready to retain it. Here it is April and he has gone from not knowing ANY letter sounds to reading on a second grade level. NO KIDDING! He now reads Magic School House books with me listening and helping with a few words. He turned 7 in Jan and was reading! So I just want to say that dyslexics need phonics, consistency and more time. Don't look at those other kids reading at age 5 or 6. Keep plugging away and know that when your child is ready they will "get it". BTW if you test some of those early readers on their phonic skills, they would test low. My kids all test very high because they have to rely on them every day.
