still no diagnosis

Have you considered private remediation? It is usually far superior to school attempts at remediation.

Also, you should be aware that children who have difficulty learning to read almost always have one or more underlying deficits. Remediating these deficits can make learning to read much easier.

The two most common undiagnosed problems are visual processing problems and auditory processing problems. For vision problems, see http://www.childrensvision.com for more info, and http://www.covd.org to find board-certified professionals who can provide a developmental vision evaluation. For auditory problems, an auditory processing evaluation by an audiologist with training in this area can be helpful. See http://pages.cthome.net/cbristol/ for more info.

In terms of academic remediation, Phono-Graphix is often very successful. To find a PG tutor in your area, call or email the company (http://www.readamerica.net ). Also, you may want to check your library for the book “Reading Reflex” by McGuiness. The first three chapters do a great job of describing the skills necessary for reading.

Another program that tends to be dramatically effective with teens is PACE (Processing and Cognitive Enhancement). See http://www.processingskills.com

If money is very tight, there are home versions of the above programs that are usually very successful also. They just require the parent to put in an hour or two of one-on-one time daily with the child. These methodologies are generally much more effective than what most schools can provide, and your school sounds completely uninterested in doing anything effective.

Nancy

Thank you so much Nancy! My husband is disabled and money is very tight, but he is home all day so putting in the time is not a problem. I will go to the sites you suggested. We are homeschooling him this year as we felt we couldn’t do any worse than the “professionals”.

Elaine,

If anyone ever had a good case to win a lawsuit, you probably do. You might could win a case against your school system and get them to pay for private LD school. You’d need a very good attorney and some fortitude, but there are cases like yours that have won. The school has done an injustice to your child.

But I am usually one who says forget the schools and remediate privately or at home. But it is essential as Nancy already told you to use the right methods. Reading Reflex is probably the most homeshool friendly method as long as someone feels confidence in doing it. Otherwise, hire a tutor trained in an effective method. Your son has very little time. But I agree with Nancy, with such a severe reading delay, you should pursue both the developmental vision and auditory processing evaluation. Another site listing APD professionals is www.ncapd.org.

Here are a couple of articles about effective reading methods for children with reading disorders:

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

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

Janis

Your son deserves an education and it is the school district’s responsibility. Put everything in writing and start a file. First you need current testing that explains why your son cannot read. Then you need appropriate instruction for him. Does your area have parent advocates, ombudsmen or learning disabilities association that could help advocate for you and your son?

Elaine,
Since you are homeschooling this year, I think Reading Reflex would be a good first step. You can pick up a copy at most bookstores for under $20 (or order it online). It is a relatively easy program to use (it’s designed for home use), and there’s a chance he may progress very quickly with the program. There’s also a short, simple test at the front of the book that is very helpful in determining areas your son may have difficulty.

I assume he has relatively normal intelligence? How about social-emotional factors.

I will admit scores this low for this long are very, very, very unusual. There is a reason somewhere. If the school were failing, I would have expected to read that he reads at second grade level, not pre-K, that is usually going to be the case with a moderate to severe handicap, as in mental retardation.

His test scores are not my business, but has a good psychoeducational evaluation been done, more than once?

What types of intervention were done prior to your receiving custody of him? Some things that can impact successful reading acquisition are cognition, attention, processing, and the type of instruction he had prior to living with you. As Anitya said, limited cognitive abilities can have a tremendous negative impact on successful acquisition of reading.

Has he had any speech and langauge services? Does he know a second language? Has he ever had any trauma to his brain? Also were there any complications during gestation? All of these things can have some impact on his acquisition of reading.

I have been there done that with my own child and with other students who were unable to read in middle and high school. It is a rough road to hoe. it can be dealt with when you have the skills and training. However, in order to help you help him we need to look at all the variables that may have prevented him from achieving success in schooling.

I would definitely see if there are advocates in your area — a reading level *that* low if he’s got normal abilities is exactly the kind of profile that does get a kiddo private placement in some places. However, local policies and politics play a huge role and it’s a huge emotional as well as financial investment.
It’s also very possible that with reading level that low, his problems are more serious than Reading Reflex will address; the other rather large issue is, how does he feel about spending some time focusing on reading as “extra” school? (just as likely, though, he’s thoroughly sick of not knowing how to read… but whatever you do, suggest that you’re just going to try things — don’t tell him you Are Sure You Have THe Answer… because if you don’t then it’s him that is the Wrong Question and that’s an awful place to be.)

Do you have results from evaluations? What are his relative strenghts? Ya, sure, “dyslexia” isn’t in their educaitonal semantics (though, what state are you in?) — but learning disability is.
At the private school where I taught, about 25% of our students were their courtesy of a school system. Some had to go thorugh due process, but others did not.
Would be glad to help you work with him on the reading end (with Reading Reflex or Patterns for Success or SPIRE or whatever… ) — you could even bargain with him and give him “mental health days” since frankly it doesn’t sound like school is much more than a babysitting centre.