DD12 did not need to learn all subjects differently, she just needed good accommodations so that she could absorb the information. The exception to this is Orton-Gillingham tutoring. It is the only way that reading and spelling have ever been understood by her. If you are looking for specific accommodations, I can share her refined list of what works (six years of editing to get here)
Keyboarding for all written work (she had dysgraphia as well, but the spell check is essential). She has an iPad for school and it has changed her life! She has tried a few different apps and likes iReadWrite the best. She also makes us of the camera to take pictures of the board and a PDF app to turn the pictures into documents. The PDF app is helpful for worksheets, too. She can type right on them.
Speech-to-text: the Dragon dictation app doesn't work well for her, but she can make use of the ipad text-to-speech with most apps. She plugs in her earphones and uses the mic. This is pretty mind-blowing for her, as she just starting using it. Something that finally keeps up with her brain!
Text-to-speech: her iPad will read anything she has just typed back to her to aid with proofreading and editing. The iReadWrite app has good editing features, too. Between the two, her writing is vastly improved. She also uses TTS on her Kurzweil app so that her textbooks can read to her as she follows along. Super helpful when teachers send PDFs of their class notes to her and she can have all the information read to her. FWIW, DD dislikes audiobooks when reading for pleasure. But, it is a necessary feature for textbooks.
Math: she had success with DragonBox as a younger child. Math is just a whole lot of ugly in grade 7 when you have ADHD and dysgraphia and dyslexia so I'm not sure what part is just dyslexia-related that I can pull out and share with you. The best accommodation for her in this subject is to have a private tutor who preteaches concepts to her. Her goes over everything she will learn in class BEFORE she encounters it. It gives her a chance to ask questions, gain an basic understanding and quelch the anxiety of being overwhelmed in class. On a whole, one of the best things we have ever done for her. She is a verbal girl and she needs someone to sit with her one-on-one and explain and demonstrate every concept. Additonally, using a calculator and having a list of steps available is key. We tried every math strategy possibly and she can not learn math facts by rote. Buying her a calculator was necessary to her mental health.
Oral testing: anything beyond fill-in-the-blanks or multiple choice needs to be done orally whenever possible. This goes for book reports and all other projects. It is amazing to see what she can do with 5 slides and her own voice.
If you can get them to a place where they can access the information, and assistive technology can DO that, a dyslexic child can learn anything! The specific program doesn't really matter so much, at least in our experience. It is the way that the information is given to them. Use verbal instructions and text-to-speech. It is like giving them the key to the most incredible library in the world.
