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We met with DD9's psychologist today and she has been diagnosed with dyslexia. DD was very relieved to know that her struggles have a name and that she is not just 'lazy and dumb like everyone thinks'.

We have to wait until next week to speak with her school, but have been warned that the resources within the school board are dismal for dyslexic kids in our province. The psych suggested a local tutoring program that uses the Orton-Gillingham approach. They have a one year waiting list (it is charitably funded). We haven't even begun to look for other resources yet. I did some light reading about dyslexia over the summer, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed tonight.

I know there have been a lot of threads about dyslexia in the past, but my quick search only found one. If you have a few spare minutes and a story to share or resources/books to suggest, I would be so grateful.

Hi Kathleen'smum -
I see you are in Canada, and the laws are different regarding mandates for special ed instruction. Here is a good conversation between folks in Canada that may give you some ideas and guidance: http://millermom.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Education&action=display&thread=8653

I have learned from various forums that SLP (speech and language pathologists) are most often the practitioners in Canada that deliver OG and similar reading instruction. I wonder if the non-profit tutoring program is through he Masons? If so, they are known to be very good - but yes, long waits. Perhaps you could contact them and they would have a list of private tutors?

As far as good resources:

"Overcoming Dyslexia" Sally Shaywitz
"Straight Talk about Reading" Hall, Moats
www.ldonline.org
www.readingrockets.org

Best of luck - getting a diagnosis is an important first step. My fingers are crossed that your school district will be responsive.

DS14 has dyslexia and Central Auditory Processing Disorder. In his case, rapid naming, working memory and problems associating symbols with sounds seem to be at the root of his problems. We are in Ontario. He was in a very small school with few special education resources which still taught using whole language when he was in grade 1. It didn't work at all for him, and we switched his school for grade 2.

We used a private tutoring company called the Oxford Learning Centre for 18 months when he was 6 and a half. They did intensive phonics tutoring with him twice a week for an hour at a time. At the end of the 18 months, he went up from a kindergarten level reader to reading chapter books. This company was very expensive for us, but we thought it was worth it.

If you don't have access to a similar private tutoring company, you could buy the phonics workbooks and see if tutoring your daughter yourself helps her. I guess it depends on the cause of her dyslexia.

We think he fits the profile of a stealth dyslexic now, see http://dyslexicadvantage.com/ for a definition. He reads well and quickly when he reads silently, but still skips over the small words when he reads out loud. He was tested by a developmental optometrist, and has jerky tracking. We remediated somewhat with a simple exercise done at home, but probably should spend more time on it.

Spelling is still a huge issue, but he has a laptop for school use, which fixes most of the errors for him as long as he uses it, which is still a struggle. I hope some of this is helpful for you.

DMA

Thanks mich!

The program we were directed towards is indeed through the Masons. We were provided with contact info for tutors who work with that program but also do private tutoring (we will pay for it until she gets into the program). Not knowing anything about dyslexia remediation, we were wondering how this program compared to others. We were lucky enough to run into a good friend who is a teacher and literacy coordinator and she reassured us that this is the premier program in our area and that she is seeking training in that method herself.

Thank you for the book recommendations. We picked up "Overcoming Dyslexia" last night. Getting this diagnosis, while not a big surprise, is a lot like the first time around. We knew NOTHING about gifted children. I have literally spent the last 1.5 years researching and reading everything I can about it to educate myself so I can better advocate for DD. Now, I feel like we are back to the beginning again. Very frustrating and overwhelming.

It has been a bit of an emotional weekend, fraught with a lot of guilt on our part. I just keep thinking about what her school day must be like.... she can't pay attention because of the ADHD, she can't write very well because of the dyslexia, and she is bored out of her skull because she already knows what she is learning, but won't be accelerated until she can show her teacher what she know, which she can't! And I ride her case at home every day over homework and give her grief for not 'trying hard enough'. I just hope it is not too late to save her motivation and love of learning.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Try not to feel guilty. You are doing a great job! Your DD sounds pretty complicated, and its not surprising it took you a couple of years to figure out everything that's going on.

I am Canadian (Quebec) too and my youngest (DS7) has dyspraxia/dysgraphia and some degree of dyslexia. His issues are mostly with rapid naming and visual perception/discrimination. We worked with a SLP for about 8 months using a multisensory approach for reading. It has been very helpful.

Good luck.

We have been on the dyslexia journey about 4 months now. DS9 fits the definition of Stealth Dyslexia and received his official diagnosis of dyslexia just before the end of the school year last year. I spent the entire summer reading everything I could get my hands on about dyslexia. I'm at work right now and the names of the specific books are currently escaping me. I just finished the Dyslexic Advantage, which was fabulous.

I feel (as does DS) so much better knowing what has been "wrong" all of these years. DS was also lumped into the "lazy and unmotivated" camp by myself and his teachers. This year is so much better. For example, he can't name the months of the year in order. Last year I would have been at my wits end, getting on his case for not trying hard enough....I mean, really, he has an IQ of 140, but can't name the months of the year? Well, sequencing turns out to be a huge problem for people with dylexia. This is just a small example of how I "see" things better now.

We are working with a private OG tutor (we're in the States). It seems to be helping, but we are only about a month in. I'd love to stay in touch with you, so we can be a resource to each other through this journey. PM me if you need anything.

Three years ago, DD9 was diagnosed as HG with dyslexia and dysgraphia. When I got the educational psych's report back, I was overwhelmed by the recommendations. I felt like I had to do everything right away. I felt guilty that I couldn't get her reading instruction, vision therapy and keyboarding instruction that summer. I read everything that I could and beat myself up that I wasn't doing enough. I got a lackluster response from the school. As long as she was at grade level, they weren't going to offer anything. I felt like my husband and I were the only ones who could see the problem but couldn't handle all of the extra needs by ourselves.

After about a year, I had a friend lend me her copy of a webinar by Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide called "Dyslexia and Writing Challenges in Gifted Children." The graphics quality was poor and sometimes it was hard to follow but I still found it helpful. A couple things have stuck with me. First, that dyslexia may look very different in gifted children so some of the traditional screeners done by school don't flag it. This helped me believe the diagnosis and understand the school's skepticism. Second, that there is is time. Yes, some things need prompt attention, i.e. phonemic awareness, but other things like spelling can wait. These kids tend to be late bloomers but they do get there with appropriate support. They just may do it by a non-traditional path. I found this to be the most liberating tidbit for me. It helped me let go of my guilt re not being able to tackle everything at once. Drs. Eide also wrote Mislabeled Child and Dyslexic Advantage. I've read the former, but not the latter. I suspect that much of the same info will be in the latter because it came out shortly after the webinar.

Three years later, DD9's oral reading fluency is much better. Her decoding has improved but deteriorates rapidly if she is tired or frustrated. She's working on keyboarding with mixed success. She can pass a spelling test but there seems to be no transfer to her written work. Her self-esteem with respect to writing is fragile at best. She had a great teacher last year and another one this year so I am feeling more supported by the school. Somedays, I am overjoyed to see her reading independently. Other days, I am so frustrated that she can spell "perspicacity" but can't spell "when" with any consistency. Overall, things have gotten better but it's not easy.

Thank you all so much for sharing your stories. You have no idea how much I need to hear it today! I thought I was prepared for the diagnosis and I really was okay for the first two days, but now I seem to be falling apart and I can't figure out why. I can't talk about it without getting upset. I think it is a massive case of mommy guilt. I just want to redo her first three years of homework!

Perplexed - I will indeed PM you. I really need to talk with someone who is going through the same journey. Thank you so much!

This sounds soooooo familiar. With my DD10 she can never remember Oct at all LOL. She has caught up in reading to her age level and can do OK on spelling tests but forget about the basics..such as "rite" and "write". We have had her in tutoring since June. School is no help since she can meet "grade level" requirements. The place where we take her for tutoring just tested her spelling and she scored at 47...50 is "average" so she is just below grade level. I am planning on going back to school and asking for a 504 plan, but I don't have much hope since she is not severe enough for school. I just wish they would recognize that there is a difference when an "average" kid scores a 47 and a "gifted" kid scores a 47. The gap between IQ and achievement is much bigger. The kid knows there is something wrong and the anxiety hits the roof!

Highly perfectionistic/HG+ and dyslexia are not a good mix! My DD just refuses to write or does the bare minimum because she can't bear to make mistakes.

On the bright side, her principal called DH today and said he had a phone conference with the psychologist already and will be meeting with the school resource teacher tomorrow to review her case. He will get everyone involved to meet with us next week and iron out her new accomodations. She received a Fusion writer for her own personal use in any subject, and that alone had her smiling from ear to ear today. She said that writing was almost fun! We are trying to be realistic in our hopes for what the school will offer. We know that as a solid B/some A's student, she meets all expectations. They seem to be very concerned about her self-esteem and anxiety though, and I think this may be her 'in' to accessing resources. Fingers crossed anyway. We are planning to wait until the school meeting before we make decisions about private tutoring. It is hard to sit on your hands and idle once you get new information. My first instinct is to just run with it and do everything that has been suggested.

Can I ask those of you with more than one child: are your other children dyslexic, too? If so, were you able to more readily identify it in your younger children? I ask because many dyslexic children are late-talkers - my DD was about three when she started to really talk and our little DS is followed by a SLP for his late-talking as well. Wondering if we should be looking for anything specific with him and it there is anything that can or should be done in the preschool period if we suspect anything. (I did contact his SLP this week, but have not heard back from her yet).

Unlike IEPs, you still can get a 504 even if your child is at grade level -- my DD has one and is at or above grade level in a gt class. Your district probably has a parent 504 guide.

@ Kathleen, neither of my other kids are dyslexic. sorry I can't help.

KathleensMum I don't have a formal diagnosis of dyslexia for DD9yrs, but am pursuing one. She definitely has CAPD and ADHD-i. DD5yrs has some eye tracking issues and may also have some mild ADHD-i in the mix but she's a VERY different child and yes she did start talking younger. There you go, sample of two :-).

My youngest is profoundly dyslexic and spoke late and my oldest was reading chapter books in Kindergarten and spoke very early (although she has attention issues that sometimes compromises her comprehension now that she is in HS and reading lengthy text). My dad appears to be dyslexic and now understands why he had so much trouble finishing assignments in school and learning a language in college , I have a b-i-l and s-i-l that struggled with reading/school and there is a good dose of inattention on both sides of the family. Neither me or my husband have LD's.

Scientists are beginning to identify genes that carry certain learning disabilities - but just like hair color and other characteristics, you can have kids that are very different.

I just don't understand how my son got such a gigantic dose of dyslexia - the genes from each side of the family must have come together in a very big way.

My sister's son has dysgraphia but aside from that there is not a single soul in either of our families who have had similar problems in school. I have been reading 'Overcoming Dyslexia' and the author suggested that it might be better to think of it as a 'trait' in that the DNA will be passed on but it's activation, or degree of activation, depends on other factors like perinatal incidents and environment. My DH wants to blame it on her prematurity and birth trauma. I can't even go there because I still have PTSD from her birth and I just can't add another level of guilt to it. I spoke briefly with one of our neonatalogists in the hall at work last week (he is our follow-up guru and also the one who cared for DD) and told him of DD's diagnosis. He offered to pull his stats about dyslexia from our local population of prems for me, but he agrees that there is almost always a family history involved.

There is relatively little research that follows premature babies past age 3. I once had a neonatologist tell me that he's never seen any proof that prematurity and ADHD are correlated, and then I met a developmental pediatrician who scoffed, that's because the research isn't done, not because the relationship isn't there.

Regarding PTSD: cognitive-behavior therapy now (thanks to the Iraq war) has quite good strategies for treating this. You might want to seek relief.

DeeDee

There is a growing body of research in which prems are followed long-term. And there most certainly is a link between ADHD and prematurity! I can't remember any studies correlating with positive family histories of ADHD or learning disabilities, though. I'll pull the articles I have later this week when I have office days and I can access our hospital's e-journals.

Re: PTSD, it is so much better than it was. And it did take a lot of work to get here. Ultimately, it does not matter WHAT caused it (as if we will ever know for certain, LOL), just that she does indeed have it. I have had to remind DH to keep his eyes forward so he won't trip over what is right in front of him. I would much rather put my brain power to work figuring out how to help her!