Hi, I am not an expert either, but would like to add my personal experience in the hopes that it may help others.
Although my 15yo DS was diagnosed with ADHD in 1st grade, we only recently discovered via cognitive testing that he is 2E with major challenges due to very slow processing speed, weak working memory, and graphomotor impairment (written expression). Dr. says he's a Ferrari with a Fiat transmission. School has been incredibly difficult both academically and socially every year.
His elementary school(private) had a reading program that required each student to read and log 1000 minutes over a period of 4 months from 2-5th grade (500 min in 1st grade). DS did it each year out loud through 4th grade (although I read to him out loud in the early years). It was so incredibly frustrating/agonizing for all of us but he had the will to succeed so he did it inch by inch. Did it help him? I don't really know if it helped him with reading, but he learned to succeed through tenacity and persistence. I believe he actually learned to read at the end of 3rd grade when I gave him a Hardy Boys book. He still collects them and at 15yo reads them at night when he can't sleep. He is now a HS sophomore with a high vocabulary but is still a slow reader. But he can read, YAY!
Now about the audio books. When DS was around 3-4yo, I bought some Disney book/cassette tape combos at a garage sale. He loved having the book and listening to the story at the same time and learned to turn the pages at the right time from the audio cues. Encouraged at the spark I saw in him, I found more and more of these at thrift shops, etc. He had a voracious appetite for listening to stories and for learning about various subjects via audio. Over the years I found age-appropriate audio materials without the companion books. An example is the dramatized Narnia audio books and Lord of the Rings Audio, but I also found many history and science type lectures on audio. DS has not just learned a ton via audio over the years, it's also given him the "escape" that others might have via reading a book. Although he wouldn't necessarily go pick up a book to read to calm himself down during frustrating times (except Hardy Boys), he would listen to a story .... and he still does, especially Narnia. I'm very happy that I provided him these resources even though I didn't understand the 2E, graphomotor impairment, slow processing issues, etc. I see the audio solution as highly valuable, but I also provided him with reading books that contained lots of pictures since he is visual to keep his tactile senses engaged. I think this has also been a good thing.
This summer he had to read "Gathering Blue" for homework. I checked out both the audio and paperback versions from the library. We listened to the audio version in the car, then I found an online quiz to help him study.... I printed out questions for 2-3 chapters per day and he wrote very brief answers on paper after looking them up in the paperback if he couldn't remember. Then after I got home from work we reviewed his answers through a discussion.
Gotta go, but I hope this helps some of you with younger children to see the possibilities for your kids into the teen years. And feel free to let me know if you have any other questions about our experience.
My DS has just started a program in a school of 8 students within a high school of 110 students. It's strictly for 2E's just like him and I'm very hopeful - they "get him."
I appreciate the many thoughtful comments on this thread, Polar in particular, thank you for your insights.
