Need Support 4 year old son

Don’t be broken hearted! You can make tremendous impact on his possible learning disability by intervening early. I would start with “reading reflex” as a way to introduce the basic building blocks for reading. I’d start in a low key way, no pressure, as he’s only 4 and then keep on eye on things. Play with puzzles, encourage coloring and scissors, and read to him. Lots of rhyming games and memory games. If you think there any speech or motor issues then you should persue an outside evaluation , b/c its not uncommon for LD kids to have language issues or fine motor problems . You are so ahead of the game and you lots of time to work with your kids.

I would also like to add that now is a good time to educate yourself.

Go to wrightslaw.com and learn how to effectively negotiate in the IEP process. Do not wait to do so, so you can avoid having bad IEP’s put in place before taking corrective action.

Some school districts do very well for children with dyslexia, but some are outright horrible. Hope for the first, but be prepared for the second ;).

I would also suggest joining a local support group for parents of LD kids so you can get the benefit of the experiences of those who went before you.

And take heart! Dyslexia is not a death’s sentence. With proper assistance many children with dyslexia can achieve progress and have positive experiences in school. There are a lot of very good people out there who will help you with this, many on this message board.

Most important, believe in your child! He will be able to tell that you do.

Take a serious look at the Preschool program by Audiblox. This covers foundational skills to learning. In your case, I think it would be very helpful.

I would first of all recommend that you take him for a speech-language evaluation. Many dyslexic children have language issues. He is too young for an auditory processing disorder evaluation, but keep that in mind for about age 6. Has his hearing been tested? If he needs speech-language therapy, they should be able to work in some phonological processing work if that is a problem. The speech pathologist can guide you in helping him at home. Some SLP’s do have expertise in reading disorders, and I’d try to locate one who does. This is your best bet to give him a good start.

I would get the computer program Earobics 1. It is for developmental ages 4-7, so it may be hard for him now if he is delayed in auditory skills. But you can try it and see. He can do this at home. www.earobics.com

Once he is in school, if he still has trouble with learning to read, you should attempt to find a private reading tutor who is experienced in one of the effective methods rather than depending on the school. Rarely do they do effective remediation. You are in great shape because you have realized this so early!

Here are a couple of articles that tell about effective reading programs for dyslexic children:

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/reading_approaches.html

http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/reading/mssl_methods.html

I would also strongly recommend two books which will give you ideas for helping your child both now and later:

“Straight Talk About Reading” and “Parenting a Struggling Reader” by Susan Hall and Louisa Moats. They contain most everything a parent needs to know in this area!

Good luck!
Janis

Your children are so young that recognizing this now and beginning intervention early should help make a big difference. That’s very positive! If you can, get over to the book store or library and get a hold of Sally Shaywitz’s book, I think the title is “Overcoming Dyslexia.” They may even have it on tape so you can listen to it while driving.

Another thing you can do is start researching local resources now. Look for tutors who are trained in the best reading methods (Orton-Gillingham, Phonographix, Lindamood-Bell, etc…). Work with your kids on letter/sound recognition now (or have someone else in the family do it). Since your children are young, make a game out of it. Rhyming while playing in a sandbox, blending sounds and writing out letters in the sand… try to make it fun. If possible either you, or have someone else, read to your children daily. Have them sit next to you. Follow the words with your finger so they can get used to looking at words. These are things I did with both my children when they were young. One is dyslexic and the other isn’t and yet I think this was beneficial for both of them.

Dyslexia can be such a broad term - what is they’re predicting? That he will have trouble reading? How is his speech?

Have you considered holding him out of kindergarten and keeping him in preschool for another year? It can help him to gain ground. Have they suggested having him work with either a speech therapist or speech pathologist or with a tutor to help him get ready for kindergarten?

In the meantime, there are no ‘sure cures’ but I always suggest reading out loud on a daily basis. It helped my own dyslexic son tremendously. Try to read out loud to him 20 minutes a day. It can’t hurt.

Good luck.

get some plasticine and have your child learn to roll ‘snakes’. Use the snakes to make letters…it is good if you have large, clear examples of the letters and start by covering the print with clay, then when he is more familiar, he can make his own letters by copying the printed shapes.

My son did NOT learn his letters until he began working them in clay. This did not happen until late gr. 1, and I felt awful that this never occurred to me…because his language skills were very advanced, his nursery school teacher told me ‘don’t worry, he’s just immature’ — NOT! he’s visually dyslexic! A really wise resource teacher got him going on this, and it was very effective. YOu are starting almost two years earlier for your son, and I bet lots of work like this will really pay off. It’s fun, too!

BEst wishes for you and your family…don’t feel bad, and don’t feel responsible for your ‘bad genes’! (and they aren’t bad, just different and less usual than the ‘average’!) We all have difficulties, and dyslexia is NOT the worst thing you could be dealing with. Dyslexics usually have talents as well — as your guys get older, be careful to watch for and encourage those talents. They will NOT suffer as you did, cause they already have YOU on their side…that bodes very well for their future!

I agree that you should be proud of yourself that you are coming to terms with this while your child is still so young.
I was in such denial when my son was 4. I wish I had come to terms with this earlier.

I would definitely consider audiblox. It was developed as a preschool program. My son did 8 months of vision therapy with one of the top optometrists in the country and some of the work we did replicated audiblox and other cognitive enhancement programs. These programs work at the most basic level improving underlying skills that come naturally to most kids. Skills like visual and auditory memory, left/right differentiation, motor timing, balance, etc are all essential developmental elements important for later academic learning.

I have often lamented that schools do not understand the need to address these basic undelyng skills. They try to work around problem areas rather than addressing them directly. Your child’s brain is the most plastic while he is still young.
If there are speech and language issues consider speech therapy if he seems to have a visual motor deficit vision therapy can help.

You CAN in fact change his brain. It takes some work but it is worth it.

We also had great success with the book reading reflex as Karen suggested. You can start this with a young child as well.