Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Need book ideas to read aloud (Long post, sorry)

I wonder why the psychologist says your dd has dyslexia? Your description of her reading makes me wonder.

It seems to me that if she's reading the Littlest Pet Shop books, which you say is a grade or so above her, she's a good reader for her age. Also, not recognizing a word in a book, when she can read it on a flashcard isn't typical-- it's usually the other way around. Kids with dyslexia use context to help figure out words that they can't read in isolation. What other signs of dyslexia does she have? Does she struggle with fluency? Is she a hesitant reader and does it sound like she's seeing each word for the first time? Can she sound out? Again, dyslexic kids often can't.

As for read alouds, regardless of whether she's dyslexic, I'm sure she comprehends far above what she can read. Go for good, complex literature. My kids loved Raul Dahl, Magic Treehouse, and other chapter books sprinkled with pictures when they were 6.

Thank you for your response, I did not get into the entire backstory for the sake of time but I'm happy to expound.

Dd loves to be read to, but reading on her own is problematic. When I say that she can read a word that's isolated versus on a page, I mean that she can look at a word on a flash card, isolate the letters, and with coaching combine the sounds to make the word. She can read beginner books for content, but will jumble the word order or substitute words (like see mail and say mailbox). She brought home a chapter book to read, but to my knowledge could not read it herself. She could possibly read it silently, but she said she chose it to be read aloud at bedtime.

She saw the psychologist primarily for adhd testing, as she is an extremely active/fidgety child and has been in trouble at school for impulse problems (ex: drawing on the table when she should be drawing on paper and saying she can't resist playing with the pencil caddy on the table she sits at). He ran a battery of tests (WISC, WIAT, Beery VMI, Child memory scale, CPT-2) along with snap-IV and bds-2 to rule out any other issues. He said his initial findings are that she writes in mirror image more often than expected for her ability level (which we and her teachers have seen), she has trouble organizing her thoughts and often ran out of room on her paper while writing for him, and that she confused b, p, and d in words and by themselves. Since he saw the dyslexia issues, he wanted extra time to look at test scores before making a decision about adhd. He said she did well on her cpt test for the first portion, and that bright children often compensate on the test so she could have masked her inattention. Once she got 3/4 of the way through the psych said she got tired and started making more errors, then told him she was ready to take a break. He also mentioned that he expects her iq scores to be skewed as a result of the pending adhd and dyslexia diagnoses. We will get his final report on Monday.

Mercy Watson books! We only read the first three because that is all the library had and then when I thought about them again my son was past them (and my other son flew by them before I remembered how much we liked them).

I'm not sure if its typical but definitely not uncommon. My ODS has loved to be read to since birth practically. At 6, though, he showed little interest in learning to read on his own. His comprehension, however, was always way above his decoding abilities. I wanted reading to be a joy not a chore, so I read to him and didn't push to hard on the learn-to-read books (they ARE boring after all!).
He is 10 now and reads way above grade level, but I still read to him because he still enjoys it. I am reading David Eddings' Belgariad to him right now. I am thrilled to share books I loved as a kid with him. When he was your daughter's age we read the Magic Treehouse books and he also loved George's Secret Key to the Universe series. Another favorite was The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie (Andrews) Edwards. Great book about encouraging imagination!

We also talk a lot throughout about the choices the characters make, what unfamiliar words mean, etc. I try not to ask HIM too many questions though because he starts feeling like the whole experience is a test and then its much less enjoyable for him.

My advice is to read her anything she shows an interest in and don't worry about the reading level.



epoh, I hadn't thought to read that one to him, I enjoyed reading it myself though. I am intrigued that the author found the pictures first and constructed the story around them.

Also, I think reading to them is a great way to manage books that they are interested in but may have subject matter that might be a concern. I read Ender's Game to him over the summer, which gave us a better opportunity to discuss some of the themes. He wants to read The Hunger Games, but I think that is another one that we will read together.

I am reading "The Hobbit" to my 6 year old son right now. He loves it and as a special treat, we will watch the movie version when we are done.
I read most days for 25 minutes to him. I have a policy of reading real literature books and not those graded "read to me" books because I want to instill a love of good books in my child in the little time that I have to read to him everyday. I too ask a lot of comprehension questions throughout the read aloud time and am surprised when some of the complex sentence structures in these books and the unusual language (to my child) is within his grasp. I also mix in qustions like what he might have done if such a thing had happened to him and could he imagine the dark and dreary night where the characters were plodding through the forest etc and ask him to describe his responses with finer detail.
Before this, some of our more fun read alouds were Dr Dolittle (the original version) and Winnie the Pooh series.
So, go for it and you might find yourself enjoying them as much as your child!

Oh another fun series that comes to mind (after reading the fairy thread) is Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.

Some books that we like are:
The Ivy and Bean books
Clementine
Judy Moody Books
The Stink Books- Judy Moody's little brother, he has his own series:-)
Amelia Bedelia
Grace series-Grace, Just Grace, Still Just Grace.


Tried to read Encyclopedia Brown books to her and NOT interested....the pictures weren't interesting enough:-(

Gook luck!

I wouldn't be overly worried at 5 unless the diagnosis is confirmed and verified by a second opinion. If it does come back as dyslexia You have a jump start on working to help you child.

FWIW, I discovered that my DD was pretending to read books using the context based memory you mentioned when she was 6. She had previously been reading books to me and I wondered why she suddenly made mistakes with an entirely novel one - the answer became apparent. I would not jump to diagnostic conclusions too hastily.

I spent some time with my DD right then and there - she already knew the 'letter sounds' so we worked on the word sounds and persisted through the tears (I hatedmyself and felt like Dr Mengele at the time but I 'just knew' I had to do it) and a couple of hours later DD could read. Just six months later she had torn through the Hobbit and was well into the HP's. Only mentioning this because my DD showed the similar behavior...

Thanks, madeinuk. I posted a response explaining the tests dd was given, but it seems to still be awaiting approval by the moderator.