Dyslexia?

[isabelle]

Hi to everyone! I'm happy to have found this site. I have an 11 year old daughter. I've been confused as to whether she is dyslexic, has vision problems, or is in need of more phonics work or all three. She loves books and is always "reading" but I am more and more concerned that there is a problem. I'm reading several books by the experts such as Straight Talk About Reading by Hall and Moats; A Mind at a Time by Mel Levine, M.D.; The Well-Trained Mind by Bauer & Wise; and I've requested Parenting a Struggling Reader by Hall & Moats from the library. I asked my daughter to read selections from five books of varying levels. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle, The Interrupters, p. 58. She read Benji, Carol, arrangement, and forsythia incorrectly. Forsythia was pronounced "frostia". In the American Girls book Kit, p. 1, she had trouble with clackety, Kittredge, pointer; Little House in the Big Woods, p. 131, in the passage "coming to the dance", she skipped the word the. When I asked her why she skipped it she told me, "I didn't see it." The Jungle Book, p.9 the word scratched was read scorched and stretched; tips was read as tipes, tumbling was trumbling and squealing was squirreling. In the Sign of the Beaver, p. 1, the word admit was read ambit, spruce was spurce, stumps was strumps and cedar was cendar. In the last example, the word Aztecs was zactecs. She saw the z first not the A. I know this may be difficult to follow but from these examples can you offer an opinion about what you think the problem is. She still reverses b & d. I have just started to use TWRTR but I only have the text. Do you recommend I get anything else? Also, when she reads alone, she doesn't read silently. I asked her why she does this and she told me, "I can't hear the words if I don't read out loud."

[Carole]

Dear Isabelle,

I understand your concern regarding your daughter's reading. First, though, I see some positives in that your daughter apparently enjoys reading and does read quite a lot.

The types of errors you describe would make you think there is a possibility of dyslexia; if that is the case, it appears fairly mild. I would be concerned about comprehension if the word is "scratched" and she reads it as "scorched" or "stretched." She apparently is not aware that what she is reading is not making sense.

I don't know how your daughter was taught to read or whether she has a strong phonics background. She makes the kind of errors you would expect from someone taught to read using the "whole language" approach. It seems she is guessing at whole words rather than trying to sequentially sound out the words.

You say you have a copy of "The Writing Road to Reading." You will find this book very, very helpful. You will also need to purchase a set of phonogram cards (individual size) and a sounds CD. The CD will give you a reference to ensure you are teaching all of the phonogram sounds correctly. You will also need an intermediate student notebook and the Spalding Assessment Manual to track progress. A set of Word Builder cards will help teach the rules that apply to English structure.

My suggestion is to first carefully follow the procedures outlined in the spelling chapter of the book. By doing this you will be teaching the phonemic awareness and systematic phonics that your daughter seems to need. She will begin to make the connection between sounds and symbols and begin to "attack" words by sounding them out rather than guessing at them.

You can then progress to the writing and reading chapters in the book. You should pay particular attention to teaching monitoring comprehension which is the first mental action. Children must be taught they can expect everything they read to make sense; if it doesn't, something is wrong and they need to go back and check. That way when an error is made when reading, students learn to self-check.

You say your daughter reads aloud when reading by herself. This is probably a good thing at this point as perhaps she will catch some errors that way. If children are still making a lot of decoding errors, they are less likely to catch them when reading silently.

Let us know how your daughter progresses.

Carole

[isabelle]

Hello again to all! Yes, Carole, I also thought my daughter was guessing her way through some words and that she would take short-cuts rather than use word attack skills. She did receive phonics instruction but I think we (her parents) assumed she was getting it because she was always picking up a book and she really enjoys them and shows it! But we did not work hard enough to really make sure she understood. I have been working with her over the last few weeks with phonemes and blends and she seems to have no problem with them, she even seems insulted that I am reviewing them with her ( and her sister, so she doesn't feel singled out). But she does have a definite problem with breaking down large words into syllables, (isn't that a decoding problem?), and she also seems to have a problem with spelling. Yesterday she read the first chapter of Felicity Learns a Lesson (American Girls). The only words she read incorrectly were apprentice, babe (she pronounced it baby), philosophy, education, seamstresses and the name Nan, short for Nancy I guess, which she pronounced Nane with a long a sound. What's really funny and entertaining as well is that she reads the parts with made up voices, that is, when she is reading the father's words she uses a "male" voice. Concerning her comprehension, I also wondered whether she really understood what she was reading. She seems to understand the story as a whole but not "each" sentence. Thank you so much for your insights and and advice. You've helped me a great deal. We have cried many tears and sometimes the confusion and guilt have been overwhelming that I may have done harm to my child. I will indeed let you know how she progresses and thank you again. I also want to take the Parents Course on-line when that is offered. Keep up the great work!