Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Stealth Dyslexic Techniques/Hints/Modifications?

I'm pretty sure my DS6 is a stealth dyslexic, though his reading is starting to come along for his age. I've read a lot of the books on dyslexia (The Gift of Dyslexia, Overcoming Dyslexia, etc.) and a lot talk about traditional teaching methods being a poor fit. Unfortunately, I haven't found a lot of suggestions of things that *do* work, especially when it comes to things outside of learning to read better.


So hit me up with some of the best things that have worked for your child in subjects like math, history, science. We homeschool and I would really like to shake things up, but I'm a traditional learner myself.

(I do see audio books mentioned a lot and so far, those haven't been a big hit at our house.)

DreamBox for math. Megawords for spelling and reading, but probably not yet.

edublox.com

DS8 hits a lot of symptoms for stealth dyslexia, but they don't test for it here so no diagnosis. He seems to have the motor type (Disnemkinesia?).

we are doing edublox and I can already see differences - he reads about 2-3 grade levels above his own - but didn't seem to enjoy it before. Since about 1 month in from starting edublox he seems to find it much easier to read and is far more eager to get stuck into diary of a wimpy kid or the next roald dahl.

His handwriting has also never been good and that is also improving since we started this.

Obviously different programs work for different types of LD, and even variations within LD, but this seems to be helping DS a lot, so thought I'd share.

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.

Thanks all! I love these suggestions and am taking notes for now and later.

Kathleen'smum...Does the iPad read *anything* out loud to her or is this just stuff that she's writing herself. It would be nice to have something that would, say, read any ebook he could get from the library and have the words/pictures right in front of him, rather than relying on me being free to read it to him or rely on audiobooks only (which he doesn't like anyway).

Just because I'm here, I'll throw in the short answer - "yes", the iPad can read to you. Here's some basic instructions, but may vary depending on the age of your OS: osxdaily.com/2012/05/30/text-to-speech-iphone-ipad/

I'm glued to your post for DD7. We're about to try text-to-speech ourselves, and like you, are all ears for advice from kathleen'smum on best use and pitfalls. Thanks!

I've got text-to-speech enabled on my Kindle! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see if my DS likes it.

Does anyone have any experience/ reccomendations for an OG-style remediation program in French?

My kids fall under the umbrella of stealth dyslexia. It's dyslexia on super stealth, though - reading has never been a problem. As Kathleen's mum describes, not everything needs to be modified, just those things that the child needs. My kids go to public school, but if I were starting this as a homeschooler, I would start armed with data: get the testing done and identify the actual weaknesses and accommodate them. My kids need OG to learn to write and spell, but not to read. My kids need accommodation for transferring information - this actually would suggest against learning math on a computer in which problems need to be worked on paper as the information transfer introduces errors. Traditional paper and pencil instruction is 10000 more effective for my kids.

My kids also need time to let the asynchronous parts of their development just plain develop. If I could have a do over, I think I would introduce next to nothing in the way of composition, be it writing or dictation, until much older. I would introduce OG and writing mechanics relatively late and before tackling writing fluency (journals are torture devices in my house).

The upshot: Do some testing to see what *your* child needs. Take advantage of your homeschooling flexibility to look critically at how your educational approach is proceeding and accept that you might have to experiment and adapt as your child grows.

In a quick google, I found that there is a researcher working on early literacy in French and bilingual students: Chantal Dufour-Martel, PhD, IDAPEL Research Director, Dynamic Measurement Group. There has also been very preliminary research done on converting OG to Spanish and French reading instruction for second-language learners. Some therapists may have made their own OG-inspired adaptations to French.