Hi aeh,
Wow - amazing explanations. Thanks very much.
"CTOPP: So basically his entire vocabulary of decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) is memorized, since he appears to have untestably negligible phonological awareness."
This sounds exhausting and limiting to me: But it also rings true based on how he "reads." He has a huge reading vocabulary, and can read - for example - complex Magic the Gathering cards quite fluently. Until he hits a word he doesn't know. Then it's all stop.
It IS exhausting and limiting. And a testament to his tremendous intelligence, that he is reading at grade level sheerly on the strength of his memory and verbal abilities.
So I guess I'm back to wondering - is there anything here that would help us decide whether we should go with a private tutor or Lindamood Bell-like thing to support him in school - versus - do we need to pull him out of public school and look into a school for dyslexic learners? Or should we just start trying things and see how he responds? That sounds so hit or miss and time seems to be flying.
FYI - in parallel we are grappling with how we would home school. It's just something that would be very, very hard for us for a number of intractable reasons. But I'll bet lots of people at this sort of juncture say that ....
Do not wait to remediate. The best approaches for dyslexics require them to engage in conscious re-training of their decoding strategies, which is increasingly difficult as they build sight vocabulary. Lindamood-Bell, Orton-Gillingham, Wilson, Barton, are all good strategies. He needs to learn phonological awareness from the ground up. Home programs, relatively easily implemented by parents, include Toe-by-Toe, All About Reading--both much cheaper than tutors certified in the name programs, and modeled on the same principles. My suggestion would be to look at LB, OG, or Wilson, for short/mid-term therapy, and to give you and him exposure to the approach as implemented by experienced professionals, and simultaneously supplement with TBT or AAR at home, in very short, daily sessions. Once you catch onto the approach, you may be able to continue at home, without the very pricey therapists. I'm more familiar with AAR than TBT; AAR goes up through high school-level decoding, in four self-paced levels. I know others here have excellent experiences with TBT, as well.
