I have a similar issue with my little guy. I feel like I have been researching and trying to figure it out for 'years.' It's a bit odd and people are thrown (and don't take my concerns re dyslexia seriously) by the fact that he can read and reads at a decently high level. I spent most of the last twos years convinced he had dyslexia because reading seems so arduous for him and, while he has always loved books and being read to, he would run and hide and do all types of avoidant stuff to avoid actually physically reading. He also reverses letters and numbers, he can not "see" the reversals, he is very bad at spelling (however, he is still on grade level for it).
I took him to a neuropsych recently to be checked for it and she said he is definitely dysgraphic but she said it's so rare that someone "as gifted as he is verbally would have a language based processing disorder such as dyslexia." I hear that a lot but it does not comfort me b/c that sounds a bit prejudicial to me - how do I know that in the future they will still have this belief that it's impossible for a verbally gifted kid to have dyslexia?' I suspect they do not know enough about the disorder still. And, isn't that what "stealth dyslexia" is all about? But, good luck finding a neuropsych or psych who understands the concept of stealth dysleixa - I know I have been unable to find one ... not one that I can afford anyway.
HOWEVER, to complicate things my kid also had/has a vision problem - his vision is 20/20 but his eyes have problems working together, focusing, tracking ect. He has what is called "intermittent convergent strabismus," which means his left eye crosses intermittently. He receives vision therpay for it and I have noticed his reading improve as a result. It's gotten easier for him too - but still is more arduous for him than it should be given his intellignece, drive, reading comprehension, and LOVE for books, etc. I can clearly tell he lacking in phonics and memorizes how the word looks, etc. He is is only somewhat decent in phonics because I tutored him with hooked on phonics for years. His go-to-stategy in reading an unfamiliar word is guessing based on what the word looks like and context... He literally seems to be pattern solving when reading. I usually have to force him to "sound -out" and it seems way too hard for him.
According to the neuropsych, and this does make sense to me as well, he has a visual processing disorder (resulting from the strabismus) and that is why he has issues with reading. What seems to support this additionally is that he does have problems with the PRI part of the WISC - when he came out he complained "those picture sections are so so hard! I can't take it." His PRI is more than one standard deviation lower than his VCI. He did well on block design but complained bitterly it was so hard, and he barely survived picture concepts and picture completion and scored very low on both. The neuropsych noted to me that he simply had to spend so much more time on the pictures to get the right answer and he became too tired and fatigued and started just guessing to get through it.
Anyway, basically, I don't know what to think. Is it dyslexia? stealth dyslexia? Or is it a visual processing disorder? I have him in vision therapy again to see if it helps more. I wanted to get him dyslexia intervention just in case due to my suspicions (couldn't hurt whether he really has dyslexia or not) but I am having such trouble finding a qualified tutor and the one I have found charges over $100 an hour. Since he does seem to be reading well (his level jumped up over the summer) and his reading comprehension is so high, we are sticking with the vision therapy for now.
So, I hope this helps you. I guess my short answer to you is that if is not dyslexia, it could be a visual processing disorder. You should have him checked by a COVD developmental optometrist
http://www.covd.org/ ... The up side is that in my experience finding a COVD vision therapy is easier and less expensive than finding decent intervention for dysleixa - and that is saying something!
BY the way, back when I was first trying to figure out what was wrong with my guy it was polarbear who enlightened me to vision disorders and COVD, etc. Lo and behold we find out he has strasbimus...
