Starting to be confused....

using the book “Reading Reflex”. Start by reading the first three chapters of that book. (Your library may have it, or it is widely available in bookstores for under $20.)

Do a search on Amazon under “phonological awareness” to find some books that will provide you with oral games you can play with your daughter (5 minutes at a time several times a day, in the car, etc.) to develop her phonological awareness. Again, your library may have copies of these books. Teach her to orally segment and blend words. Then start with “Reading Reflex”.

The above approach is likely to get her *much* farther much faster than anything else you mentioned in your post.

You also may want to start researching CAPD, and plan on getting a CAPD evaluation when your dd turns 7. If she has CAPD, she may benefit from sound therapies (The Listening Program, FastForWord) and/or bodywork (NeuroNet or occupational therapy).

Most pediatricians know ***nothing*** about child development as it relates to reading and academic development. They are simply not trained in it!

Nancy

Click on LD In Depth on the top and then select reading. Read the article by
Joseph K. Torgesen “Catch Them Before They Fall Identification and assessment to Prevent Reading Failure in Young Children”

My thoughts as a parent of two LD kids now in High School. Your daughter has been tested and shows a deficit in phonological awareness which studies should is a key indicator of future reading problems. Your daughter has been recieving speech therapy since the age of 3. Kids receiving speech therapy at an early age are more likely to have reading problems then those who are not. I think you should take action an remediate in the next year because it will save you and your daughter a lot of grief.

Helen

Well, I’m not an expert on this, but I would look into Earobics. It’s a software program in the $80 dollar range that you can do yourself at home with your child. It’s designed to help your child achieve automaticity [?] in matching phonemic sounds with their word counterparts. I bought it when our son was 11; it looked like just what he needed but the pictures were just a little too juvenile for him so he didn’t want to use it. (Too “grown up” for that software.) It’s a lot of short drills, so the key is to work with the program consistently until recognition is routine.

Another home alternative mentioned frequently on this board is using the teaching techniques outlined in the book “Reading Reflex.” It’s the do-it-yourself version of a program that available through trained providers [the name temporarily escapes me]. I bought it used from the Internet for about $8. By the time I found out about it (through these boards), my son was already starting to make significant progress with his tutor, so I never pursued it.

I believe the pediatrician is right. Some kids will just not master reading that early. Our older son could not read well until the end of second grade (he was getting SLP help for lack of phonemic awareness). Was pretty much reading on grade level after that. Our younger son (dyslexic) was still having trouble at the beginning of third grade. Both had November birthdays, so they were among the youngest kids in the class, and that just made it worse. [If only I knew then what I know now!]

I think I’d work on basic phonemic skills at home, but try to make it as much fun as possible. And I agree with the pediatrician—relax about the timetable for accomplishing this. She will get there… she’s got a mom that will find a way!

Suzi, As I posted earlier, your scenario mimics ours very much. Our daughter was an early K (July birthday), and at the end of K was in the lower 30th percentile. We had her repeat K with a wonderful teacher, and she was holding her own. Mid-way through 1st grade, she was falling behind quickly — to the point that the teachers were commenting that she wasn’t working hard enough, laughing about her “writing in code,” etc. It was a horrible time for all of us. We’re fortunate enough to have options available — numerous private schools, some of which have strong program available. That doesn’t sound like its the same for you. Is there a good medical school not too far away that you could consult with? I’m sure you’ve had all the testing done, but they may know of resources that you aren’t being told about. We’ve tapped into some wonderful tutors through our educational psychologist. We’ve been lucky enough to find some retired teachers with soft spots for the kids who struggle, and they’ve made wonderful one-on-one tutors.

I would try posting the above on the Teaching Reading board. There are some very skilled reading pro’s there who may offer detailed responses, as they often do.
I agree with the previous poster-get help now if you can. We have a high IQ dyslexic daughter. She knew there was something wrong in kindergarten, I didn’t really clue in until 2nd grade. Intensive private tutoring to catch up, child meltdowns and self-image problems would have been much less if we had moved earlier.

I vote to get help before your child fails. Don’t be swayed by the ‘maybe it’ll get better later’ talk. I am somewhat surprised that the SLP didn’t pick this up earlier and without your prompting. What’s up with that? Pattim on these boards is our SLP expert-what do you think, Pattim?

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Well, I’m JUST a mom, but my daughter sounds a lot like yours. She was a November birthday, and I kept getting the “develpmentally delayed” runaround.

She was a child who sounds like she was actually much worse than yours. She couldn’t rhyme, sound out words, learn word families (?), write her name, sing with a group, etc. in K-5.

I bought the (Dev delayed) excuse that year. 1st grade came. She took 3 hours to do one sheet of work and/or write sentences you couldn’t read. She never finished her work and spent most of her time catching up on work during recess and/or “standing on the fence” for punishment for not finishing in class. Yet, she was the only one in the class that knew what a compound word was.

She had to be tutored in reading (by the school (?) in order to pass 1st grade. We diagnosed SLD in all areas (basically dyslexia but my evaluator knew that was a word that wouldn’t help in our area school). Found out she was high IQ (like yours).

After 2 years of LMB and SI OT, she now is reading above grade level. Hand writing is beautiful, but slower than average. We still need “time” accommodations on major projects and long reading assignments, and she enjoys textbooks on tape as a review for tests. SHe also uses technology in the classroom.

I DON”T vote for wait and see. I vote for getting some good sound reading instruction. I ONLY have experience with LMB and what it did for my daughter. (We did 2xwkly). I have heard very good results from other programs.

Everyone on this bb may not agree the same type of reading instruction, but I’d be willing to bet that MOST will agree NOT to wait.

Many people thought I was nuts for thinking my son had a problem. In preschool they thought he was just great. His kindergarten teacher did see the problem but I was still in denial because of what everyone else said.

I wish I acted earlier.

Research based methods will help any child.

A good SLP should be doing the sounds with her and building her phonemic awareness. If this is not happening I would check into an SLP who addressed this issue. If it is happening and your daughter is getting it there is a problem.

Suzi,

I don’t think he is right. You have described a child who very likely is both gifted and has learning disabilities. Check out the LD Depth section to learn more about this. As a parent of such a child who received very early intervention (starting in first grade, educationally, with OT beginning at age 4), I can tell you that early remediation is key. MY child, who has a very high IQ and carries multiple diagnoses, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, developmental coordination disorder and ADHD, ended up in a class for gt/ld children by second grade. Today is a a 12 year old sixth grade at a private school for gifted boys. He has a consistent straight A average. He loves to read (though he reads almost entirely by recognizing words and has weak phonemic awareness) and reads well above grade level. By contrast, his peers who did not receiving services until later are mostly still in special ed classrooms and are continuing to experience serious difficulties. Many of them are angry and frustrated and hate school with a passion. Don’t wait and see! Getting help right now can only enhance your child’s learning, even if she doesn’t have a true LD. It could save you and your child years of grief.

Andrea

Suzi , just adding my voice to all the others. Jump on this now and you will save your child and yourself loads of anxiety and grief later on. My son too had mild speech issues and at the end of Kindergarten (after a great year) we became aware that he might not be hearing the ending sounds in words correctly. We didn’t begin actual reading remediation and I am very sorry now that we didn’t.

We continued with speech therapy, but waited until 2nd grade to attack his poor phonemic skills. In the past year he has made great strides with an ortongillingham tutor, and a 4 week stint with Lindamood Bell. But I sure do wish we had understand back then what we needed to do. I agree with the other posters that Phonographix is something you can do at home. Also, many speech therapists have Lindamood Bell training, so perhaps your current therapist can provide some of the remediation?

Good luck!!

I would give a limb to have had our son’s needs identified when he was in preschool or kindergarten (or even younger, preferably). We found out at the end of second grade, when so much time had been lost. (Actually, there were test results on file in Kevin’s accum file at his school that he had been tested by an SLP in kindergarten, but those results were never shared with us, a direct violation of state law - ooops!)

Anyway, it has been our experience that your average bear educator or pediatrician knows NOTHING about many of these issues. Our son’s physician wasn’t even sure what CAPD was. So I would encourage you to bang the drum and beat the doors down to get your child help NOW. If you have a complex that you’d like to be everybody’s best friend and don’t ever want to make anybody mad, you might want to lose it. In the end, you may not be the most popular parent at your kid’s school or at your pediatrician’s office, but your child will be better off. Having said that, remember also: more bees with honey than vinegar works best.

Incidentally, we, too, strongly believe that our son’s disability(ies) run in our family and that my successful, national board-certified teacher husband had/has these exact same disabilities, but of course, in the 50s and 60s, nobody knew anything about it. He just worked very, very hard because he was afraid of the nuns.

Good luck!

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