I highly encourage you to get an independent evaluation if you can afford it. Schools are notoriously bad at dealing with dyslexia (maybe you are lucky in this area) and a full evaluation and official diagnosis will provide you more leverage now and in the future. It will also help determine if there is something else going on in addition to dyslexia. And it's nice to discover what your kid is really good at :-).
I really want to get my 6 year old DS evaluated. DS is in 1st and not reading, and worse he isn't getting any practice during his school day. It's stories and writing...and his writing is awful. Honestly, I don't know if it's dyslexia, dysgrafia, or ADHD-Inattentive. But something is going on with him and I am worried about our move.
DH is not on board though, just tells me again that he didn't read until he was in third grade, blah blah. I am going to try and get him into Year 1 instead of Year 2 in the UK, which is where his birthdate places him. Other than that...I feel pretty powerless at the moment.
It also doesn't help that literally every person I know has a K/1er reading on a 2/3 grade level. All I hear is how bored their snowflakes are in school and how the *need* to be challenged.
I highly encourage you to get an independent evaluation if you can afford it. Schools are notoriously bad at dealing with dyslexia (maybe you are lucky in this area) and a full evaluation and official diagnosis will provide you more leverage now and in the future. It will also help determine if there is something else going on in addition to dyslexia. And it's nice to discover what your kid is really good at :-).
I really want to get my 6 year old DS evaluated. DS is in 1st and not reading, and worse he isn't getting any practice during his school day. It's stories and writing...and his writing is awful. Honestly, I don't know if it's dyslexia, dysgrafia, or ADHD-Inattentive. But something is going on with him and I am worried about our move.
DH is not on board though, just tells me again that he didn't read until he was in third grade, blah blah. I am going to try and get him into Year 1 instead of Year 2 in the UK, which is where his birthdate places him. Other than that...I feel pretty powerless at the moment.
It also doesn't help that literally every person I know has a K/1er reading on a 2/3 grade level. All I hear is how bored their snowflakes are in school and how the *need* to be challenged.
Well maybe if people didn't hold their kids back six years their 12 year olds wouldn't be in 1st grade and this wouldn't be a freaking problem!
I highly encourage you to get an independent evaluation if you can afford it. Schools are notoriously bad at dealing with dyslexia (maybe you are lucky in this area) and a full evaluation and official diagnosis will provide you more leverage now and in the future. It will also help determine if there is something else going on in addition to dyslexia. And it's nice to discover what your kid is really good at :-).
I really want to get my 6 year old DS evaluated. DS is in 1st and not reading, and worse he isn't getting any practice during his school day. It's stories and writing...and his writing is awful. Honestly, I don't know if it's dyslexia, dysgrafia, or ADHD-Inattentive. But something is going on with him and I am worried about our move.
DH is not on board though, just tells me again that he didn't read until he was in third grade, blah blah. I am going to try and get him into Year 1 instead of Year 2 in the UK, which is where his birthdate places him. Other than that...I feel pretty powerless at the moment.
It also doesn't help that literally every person I know has a K/1er reading on a 2/3 grade level. All I hear is how bored their snowflakes are in school and how the *need* to be challenged.
I worry about my 6yo too. She still writes a lot of letters backwards & occasionally writes entire words backwards. She's not a good reader. I can't tell how much is laziness & how much is actual difficulty. But I wonder.
The other thing to consider if you are worried about your child's reading is a family history of reading struggles. Dyslexia runs in families. 50% of a dyslexic parent's children will also be dyslexic. I was always suspicious of DS's reading ability but believed the school when they said he was fine. I believed the rhetoric that kids learn to read at their own pace and some take longer than others. But as soon as DH shared his suspicions that he, himself, was dyslexic I knew DS was as well. DH was never diagnosed as a child and kept his reading struggles hidden his entire life, even from me. DS's diagnosis brought awareness to our family. Turns out that DH is dyslexic, DH's brother is dyslexic, and DH's father is dyslexic.
Post by hopecounts on Sept 21, 2016 3:39:14 GMT -5
Yes absolutely get your kids tested if you are concerned. The sooner therapy is begun the more effective it is. If it's not the issue then you know that and can keep looking for what is going on but if it is they can get help and start making progress.
J's birthday party is Sunday and it is a Star Wars theme. FYI if your kids like Star Wars, Target has some of their Star Wars toys marked 30-70% off. Anyway, I was picking out a birthday card for J and I was shocked that the cards were all still "boy cards" and "girl cards" and of course all the Star Wars cards are "boy cards" except one, yes, ONE, for a girl that has Rey on the front. J hasn't seen The Force Awakens and Darth Vader is her favorite anyway (is that weird? Oh well). I was just really surprised given all the brouhaha about Target discouraging gender bias in toys. I imagine it is because their cards are mostly Hallmark and Hallmark still has control over the displays. Anyway, I tweeted Target customer service in an FYI kind of way and was underwhelmed with the response.
I would imagine the filing shit comes from the greeting card company, not from Target.
J's birthday party is Sunday and it is a Star Wars theme. FYI if your kids like Star Wars, Target has some of their Star Wars toys marked 30-70% off. Anyway, I was picking out a birthday card for J and I was shocked that the cards were all still "boy cards" and "girl cards" and of course all the Star Wars cards are "boy cards" except one, yes, ONE, for a girl that has Rey on the front. J hasn't seen The Force Awakens and Darth Vader is her favorite anyway (is that weird? Oh well). I was just really surprised given all the brouhaha about Target discouraging gender bias in toys. I imagine it is because their cards are mostly Hallmark and Hallmark still has control over the displays. Anyway, I tweeted Target customer service in an FYI kind of way and was underwhelmed with the response.
I would imagine the filing shit comes from the greeting card company, not from Target.
Right, their cards are Hallmark, I'm sure Hallmark still controls a lot of that. Still. Target can throw some weight around.
it's... bad. it's legible, but barely. far below where she should be in 6th.
Meh, if it's legible, it's all she needs. Unless she's going to make a career doing calligraphy, it probably doesn't matter. You'd be surprised how many really bright kids have horrible handwriting these days.
aside from that she's super bright and she knows it. every teacher tells her this and it's clear they're not blowing smoke. one of her teachers called her "people smart" which is probably the best description I've ever heard of her.
Doesn't sound like this is a concern for her teachers- maybe it shouldn't be for you. Dysgraphia is often a cause for behavior problems when teachers and/or parents dwell on it.
I'm not against a keyboard program at all but I reflexively thought it would be counterproductive but maybe that's really what she needs?
Sort of like the people who don't want their kids signing because it'll interfere with developing speech. Or wearing glasses because they might make your vision worse?
The problem is, if she's forced to do her assignments "long hand" she'll absolutely dumb-down what she produces and her grades will tank. By middle school, and 6th is middle even if it's housed in an elementary building, you want her thinking about her ideas and how to organize them on paper, not whether mom is going to be happy with her handwriting.
what does it entail? (i'll ask these questions of the school, obviously, but I want to have a good grasp before talking to them if possible.)
A school OT could give her a program to learn from. Mavis Bacon is always a good option. You can also make this something she does at home. For younger kids, supplying an Alphasmart is great, but by middle school it should be a laptop and she should get training in Microsoft Word. TBH, the thing that really buffed DS's keyboarding skills was his participation in his railfan forums. He's pretty good these days.
it's... bad. it's legible, but barely. far below where she should be in 6th.
Meh, if it's legible, it's all she needs. Unless she's going to make a career doing calligraphy, it probably doesn't matter. You'd be surprised how many really bright kids have horrible handwriting these days.
aside from that she's super bright and she knows it. every teacher tells her this and it's clear they're not blowing smoke. one of her teachers called her "people smart" which is probably the best description I've ever heard of her.
Doesn't sound like this is a concern for her teachers- maybe it shouldn't be for you. Dysgraphia is often a cause for behavior problems when teachers and/or parents dwell on it.
I'm not against a keyboard program at all but I reflexively thought it would be counterproductive but maybe that's really what she needs?
Sort of like the people who don't want their kids signing because it'll interfere with developing speech. Or wearing glasses because they might make your vision worse?
The problem is, if she's forced to do her assignments "long hand" she'll absolutely dumb-down what she produces and her grades will tank. By middle school, and 6th is middle even if it's housed in an elementary building, you want her thinking about her ideas and how to organize them on paper, not whether mom is going to be happy with her handwriting.
what does it entail? (i'll ask these questions of the school, obviously, but I want to have a good grasp before talking to them if possible.)
A school OT could give her a program to learn from. Mavis Bacon is always a good option. You can also make this something she does at home. For younger kids, supplying an Alphasmart is great, but by middle school it should be a laptop and she should get training in Microsoft Word. TBH, the thing that really buffed DS's keyboarding skills was his participation in his railfan forums. He's pretty good these days.
to the bolded, it's not like that. she will actually need to be able to write to function in school on some level. she can't (yet) carry her computer around with her like you can glasses or being able to sign. she IDGAF about what her penmanship looks like, I want her to be able to write something that someone else can read. eventually she'll have to fill out a form longhand and it will need to be clear enough for someone else to know what she's written.
I have zero issue with her using a keyboard but it hasn't been explained to me HOW that gets implemented in her classes. it's not clear that she has the option to type all day which wouldn't be a logical option anyway.
she's been in middle school since last year. our district has MS as 5-8.