Hi , new here
My son is in 1st and we have already been called in to 2 mtgs with his teacher about her concerns with his learning. I have been suspicious of dyslexia since he reverses letters and numbers, directions and so on…not to mention his mother is a lefty with dyslexia.
His grades have been great- due to our intense study after school ad a private tutor- yet he obviously struggles to understand written…and spoken directions, yet is very bright At school the teacher reports struggle in this area as well and she says he zones out at least 50 % of the day. We are waiting for testing through home district-he’s in a private school.
Concerns-his teacher just started marking off spelling words containing obvious bd type reversals. He had 100 percent ( hard earned) on all tests this year -which fell to 60-70 due to her new policy. Is it normal to penalize a student for reversals? How to approach this? He is able to correctly orally spell the words. I am looking for a good resource to back me up when I approach her.
Any good testing locations in philadelphia area that one would recommend?
Re: Re: Any advice 1st grade dyslexia
Welcome to LDOnline! Please read the following article on “The dyslexia Dilemma” ’ as it might help you better understand terminology to use when talking with the school:
http://www.greatschools.org/special-education/LD-ADHD/defining-dyslexia.gs?content=829
Additionally, this article on “Playing Hearts Not Poker”:
http://www.harborhouselaw.com/articles/hearts.bollero.pdf
There is a wonderful section right here on LDonline on Dyslexia:
http://www.ldonline.org/indepth/reading
Additionally, here is another great resource on facts and info regarding dyslexia:
http://www.brightsolutions.us
[Modified by: Administrator on June 07, 2011 10:36 AM]
Re: Any advice 1st grade dyslexia
Thank you very much for your time and helpful advice. I hope that this teacher will be able to see how her new approach to my son’s reversals are not going to help. I dread talking to her about this because I feel as though she is set in her ways…but I so am I on this one. He goes to a private school and I guess they are not held to the same standards as public schools. We are currenly waiting to have testing done through our home school district, as the private school offers very limited services. But, now I have decided we will seek private testing as well, to speed up the process. Thank you, again!
Re: Any advice 1st grade dyslexia
Before spending money on an evaluation outside of school, please be aware that at your son’s age it is very difficult to accurately diagnose any type of learning disability due to natural developmental differences among young children. The characteristics you describe are common in students through 2nd grade. While a private evaluation may indeed result in a diagnosis of dyslexia (which is a meaningless diagnosis anyway), it probably would not provide clear direction for educational intervention. Your local public school would be in the very best position to provide a meaningful evaluation of your son’s needs. It is also common for teachers to count letter reversals as misspelling. Your son needs clear, sensitive, and consistent feedback about his reversals in order for him to learn to recognize and correct them. If the teacher simply ignores his reversals she is doing a disservice to your son. Of course, when the content of his written work is being graded, reversals should not impact the grade. Check out the practical information related to LD and dyslexia at http://www.LDinfo.com
There are some things you can do re directions. One that was suggested to me for my son that worked extremely well was to read the instruction/direction to him, have him repeat it back to me, then read it to him again. Another way that I developed to make home life easier for him was to create a picture board with a sequence of instructions/directions on it. I started with 3 directions and built it to 6 (when we started he could only follow a single instruction at a time). There was a picture of the task, a simple sentence that described the task and a space to mark when he’d done it. I put it in a highly visible place (eg bathroom mirror, fridge door etc) and walked him through it with lots of praise and encouragement, it didn’t take too long for him to be able to follow more than 1 direction at a time. His short term memory increased with time and practice.
As I don’t live in the US I can’t help you with testing locations. Sorry.
I would have serious concerns about his teacher penalising him so severely - especially when she knows that he has difficulties. That would be seriously eroding his self-esteem and confidence. When you talk with her again ask her why she is so set on destroying his confidence - especially given he works so hard to learn his spelling and has an oral 100%. Perhaps she is working from the mistaken belief that if she marks him wrong then he will “make the effort to improve”. She might not understand the nature of dyslexia and how difficult it can be. Or the effect on self-esteem and learning that a overly critical teacher can have. I am not sure on the policy of reversals but I would think that given that your son has been identified as having difficulties, some leeway with his work (given that it is a reversal not a substitution of another letter) would be the norm.
Does his school have an LD policy? It might be helpful to refer to this and see what special considerations they have. Also, I would refer to the state policy on LD’s in school to see if there are any recommendations there that could be of use to you. Also, you might have a district organisation (here in Australia, we have SPELD) that can give you guidelines for making learning easier. If you have access to an educational psychiatrist, they can also tell you what guidelines are normal for your area.
Personally, I would be seeking to discuss with not only your child’s teacher but principle, guidance officer and literacy co-ordinator (if you have them) an alternative form of assessment for your son’s knowledge and competency levels. He obviously works hard to succeed - and he needs people around him that support him.
Cheers,
Diana