I am a little worried that DS (5) might have dyslexia or dysgraphia or both (not that I know much about either one). He is having the hardest time learning to read and write. He does not recognize the shapes of words at all, and has to sound out even the simplest sight-words that he's seen hundreds of times. His spelling is completely phonetic. He mixes up the orientation of letters, and sometimes writes whole words backwards and upside-down.
He has been able to write his own name for a couple of years, and had memorized a few (Mommy, Daddy, you, etc.) But he has now ditched the memorized spelling for a phonetic one -- “you” is now “yoow,” for example.
He started kindergarten this fall, and so far it has been very stressful for him (and the whole family) -- he comes home exhausted, grumpy and oversensitive and has been acting quite aggressively, which is unusual for him. He is not at all excited to go to school and has a hard time completing his school work and homework. And because he has not been able to finish his writing assignments at school, the teacher sends them home for him to complete each evening, so we are spending all our free time doing homework and the poor kid gets very little down-time.
DS's teachers tell me not to be concerned, as he is still very young and within the normal range in terms of mastering reading and writing, but still my "mom alarm" is going off. He appears to be extremely bright -- he was a very early talker and his vocabulary is huge; he grasps mathematical concepts easily and does mental calculations quickly; he is very logical and is a good problem-solver. I just feel that, being so bright, reading and writing should not be this hard for him to master.
DS has a gifted older brother (10), who began to read before he was 3. So I don’t really have any experience with a “normal” reader, and I could be expecting too much from my younger one… but I really just feel that something is wrong.
Is there any way to test a child this young? And if he is dyslexic, what can be done to help him cope? I hate to see him falling behind his peers and losing his confidence.
Thank you for any advice you can give.
