Absolutely not suggesting that it's ever right to exert extreme pressure in an effort to pursue
unrealistic expectations, particularly in light of a disability which limits performance.
This is why I noted that I'd rely upon expert opinion to say what is in fact
realistic for the child in question. "Slow" progress isn't the same as "no" progress, but there's no point in depriving the child of enriching experiences just to doggedly pursue achingly slow progress, either. This is precisely why I noted that I would probably make an agreement that the child would spend a "percentage" of the time with school-related texts in tandem with audio. The text-only option is clearly not very effective for this child, but it may be too soon to know whether or not gains might be made by using the two tools together.
The percentage of time spent with text might be quite small and still be entirely appropriate. It's really not for me to say, which is why (I hoped) it was clear that determining whether or not improvement is even
possible needs to be the first consideration here. My apologies if that got inadequate emphasis in my original post.
It's also true that what is ultimately "possible" isn't always known for many specific diagnoses, particularly as more is learned about the underlying causes of the disability, and better means of working around the limitation(s) are devised. Some people have better ability to develop compensatory strategies surrounding particular skills than others.
I just don't think that life is likely to ever result in little need to read text, outside of a few endeavors, so it might be limiting to give up on it. In some ways, the digital age has been much kinder to dysgraphics than to dyslexics. Maybe giving up on text is necessary, but maybe not; it's at least feasible that a limited diet might improve matters if it's a decoding problem.
I think my advice and Polarbear's are actually the same here-- use this wonderful new window into literacy and let him enjoy books!! (Worry about the text thing on it's own as a side matter.)
