Hi! I was reading the info previosly posted about dyslexia because ds6 is having trouble with reading more complex books that are on his reading level. He says "the words are all smashed together on the page, like they are running into each other with no spaces." I took him to the opthamologist and his vision is fine. The articles posted really hit home with us. Could ds have dyslexia?
When ds is reading books with larger print there is no problem. However, he is very reluctant to read independently, and if he's reading he always wants me there with him. Even though his reading is advanced, he usually doesn't want to read; he'd prefer that I read to him. He just gets really frustrated when reading and says it's really hard, even though he isn't making mistakes. Well, actually his mistakes are: skipping words, mixing up "a" and "the", and guessing at longer words even though he has the phonological awareness to sound them out (will sound them out correctly when encouraged). He can "guess" what is coming next from context, and will sometimes make up a sentence with the exact meaning of what is written although it's worded differently. He knows instincually what's coming next, so his reading comprehension is on a 7th grade level even though he's not always reading the exact words. Does that make sense? He can read the exact words if I help him track and cover part of the page with a blank notecard.
When writing, he's recently started writing letters and numbers backward, specifically, lower case "e", the typical "p, b, g, q, d", and "5", "2", "3", "6", "9", "7". He usually puts the tails on "j" and "g" backward. Sometimes when sounding out a word, he'll say the sounds in order, but then he'll write the corresponding letters in reverse order. Usually the beginning and ending letter are correct, but the middle sounds are sometimes reversed. He HATES to write! We use a white board a lot, and this helps. He prefers this to pencil and paper.
He's reading at around a 3rd grade level at least. He might be beyond that, but it's hard to tell because the books at higher levels are so overwhelming to him. When he sees a lot of words on one page, he freaks out, even if they are words he can read easily.
He's only 6, so I wonder if these things can just be developmental. Maybe his cognitive development is beyond his physical abilities needed to read and write? If there's a problem, I want to address it now and learn how to work on it with him.
He started talking very early and using complex vocabulary and complete sentences at a very early age. He's never had any articulation difficulties. He started reading spontaneously at around 4, and his reading skills have steadily improved until recently-we seem to be at a standstill because of his reluctance to read books on his level. His verbal IQ scores average in the 98th percentile with his verbal reasoning skills in the 99.9th percentile. Therefore I'm afraid he might be using those skills to compensate for reading/writing deficits. Could this be "stealth dyslexia"? Is it typical for gifted children with dyslexia to be verbally gifted?
Thanks for any help you can provide. I really appreciate it! Homeschooling has really given me the opportunity to learn more about ds's learning style and why he was struggling so in school. In a way, I'd like to stick my head back under that rock of denial. Am I searching for "problems," or am I truly unlocking the mystery of my unique child?
Jen
