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A.D.D. and difficulty reading

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I have an 8 yr. old who has A.D.D. and difficulty reading. Does anyone have any teaching methods, tips or strategies for me. Thank you

Submitted by scifinut on Fri, 02/13/2009 - 2:43 PM

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Make sure that the reading difficulty is truly related to the ADD and not a symptom of something else. Visual issues can look like ADD because the sustained focus is difficult for kids with visual difficulties. Fix the visual difficulties and the reading may come easier. Oh, and don’t go by the standard “vision” tests they do at school because those only catch a small percentage of true visual issues.

Submitted by Mandi on Sat, 02/14/2009 - 1:50 AM

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Try breaking up the lessons more. For example, Spend 10 or 15 minutes on reading then let him go spend half an hour playing a fun game. Come back to reading and pick up where you left off for another 15 minutes. Long attention is hard for ppl with ADD. So don’t ask for that. Instead, take the lesson that is an hour long and insert it at 4 different points in the day, in shorter time blocks.

Words are all around us. So use your surroundings. Take him to more places do more fun things. There are captions at the zoo next to the animal cages. Quick little captions, and cool animals are fun for kids… So take that and use it. Museums also have captions.

All kids like puzzles. Word puzzles and codes are fun. Make a simple pictogram code, and write short messages with him as a game give him the key, and let him figure out which letter corresponds to which little picture and write that letter under the picture and then read the completed message.

Seriously, my mother actually resorted to writing me messages with my food on my plate.

thas my thoughts. Good luck!

Submitted by silent07lianne on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 5:25 AM

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hi, i’m kris lianne del rosario a second year college student from university of santo tomas here in the philippines.

make sure that ADD is related to the reading difficulty. because there is a case that you might getting solution in wrong disability.

it could be possible that the reading difficulty is due his lack of attention.

this site might help you in teaching a child with add.
http://www.ldhope.com/teaching.html

Submitted by LStarr on Thu, 03/12/2009 - 7:41 AM

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The studies done National Institutes of Health, Child Health and Human Development, show that while 60% of students do fine (to varying degees) with whole word/whole language (now called balanced literacy) reading instruction, 40% don’t and need systematic phonics based reading instruction. Currently, a large percentage of schools do not provide this kind of instruction. It is possible that your son is in this 40% and/or has specific reading disability. Go to www.interdys.org to find information about the chracteristic of children who have reading disabilities.

Submitted by Beth on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 2:57 AM

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Did any one notice the original question was posed [b]2 YEARS AGO????[/b]
I have to wonder if this is a good place to come to for advice and guidance???

Submitted by Mandi on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 6:45 AM

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Well all i have to say is this: I happen to have ADHD which makes it impossible for me to focus on much of anything sometimes, so likely in an ADHD moment i for one over looked the date.

As for what this place is good for and what it isn’t good for… It is like every other object in this world. Completely devoid of any innate goodness for anything or badness for anything. That comes from the posters like you. If you think that everyone here sux, invite ppl to post here make it better i guess… We can be the cahnge we want to see no?

As for what everyone else’s excuse is, well i have no idea, maybe they all have ADHD too, even those not labled with it? Who knows? I certainly don’t. I do know though, that having a venue to ask is far better than not having one. Even if it does take 2 years to get an answer. Some of us have been looking for answers for 25 years. And still have none and have gotten no further than when we started all thosse years ago. So 2 years seems…. Fast.

Well again, if you have a problem with the help provided here you have several options:
1. Contribute more and invite your friends so that there are more answers to questions like this in a timely fashion.
2.Start your own LD forum build it up from scratch and assure and somehow provide timely answers.
3. Find another forum, one that maybe does what option 2 states.
4.Suck it up, and put up. And be a part of this forum for all it’s imperfections it does help some. Maybe even you one day… Who knows?
5. Keep wondering if this is a good place to come for guidance and keep making it a better place to come for guidance. It is only as good as those who post.
6. Ask instead how you can make it a better place to seek guidance.

Good luck!

Submitted by jmueller on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 2:18 AM

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Thanks for the website link dhfl143, it was very helpful. I teach 5th grade and have a child who has just recently been tested. His results were very low in all areas, but not really low enough to qualify for special ed. I have made modifications within my own room for him. His reading level is very low (phonics & phonemic awareness). I read everything that is for a grade to him. Im not sure if I’m helping or hindering him? We did put test reading in his IEP, but I still worry about him next year. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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