My daughter was recently diagnosed with dyslexia. I want to purchase educational materials for her teachers, the ESE staff, and myself that can be used to help my daughter in the classroom and at home. I’m specifically looking for workbooks and other instructional material specifically for dyslexics. Can anyone tell me where I can purchase these supplies or recommend what I should buy?
Re: Instructional Materials for Dyslexic Child
A lot depends on what she has already learned in reading, what she has mis-learned and will have to unlearn, and where her specific difficulties are found. As a tutor I do use workbooks, but NEVER as silent seatwork; this is actively counterproductive and leads to yet more mislearning to be unlearned later. She needs individual or very small-group help from someone who knows about teaching reading and about reading difficulties (unfortunately, most classroom teachers are ill-prepared.)
I have posted a lot of notes on how to tutor, over time, and I send out copies of these to people who ask — very much behind, I promise I’ll get to them, sorry to everyone who has asked. Just ask me at [email protected] and I will get to it.
dyslexia diagnosis
Saying that a child has dyslexia only tells us that she is having difficulty reading. It doesn’t tell us what skills/abilities she is lacking.
Does she have difficulty hearing the individual sounds in words? Can she blend sounds together? Does she blend them in the wrong order? Can she segment sounds and put them in different positions in words (stop vs spot, for instance)? How much of the code of the English language does she know? If she has these kinds of problems, she needs a reading program such as Phono-Graphix which is popularized in the book Reading Reflex which was mentioned in an earlier post.
Does she have difficulty tracking? Does she skip words or lose her place easily? Can she read words easily in isolation but make many errors when reading a page of text? If she has these kinds of problems, she needs to be evaluated by a developmental optometrist to address visual deficits.
Of course some children have a combination of the problems described above. Perhaps whomever diagnosed your child gave you more specific information. Post more and we will try to offer more suggestions.
Re: Instructional Materials for Dyslexic Child
What do the teachers say she needs? DO they understand how she learns?
(If you give them wonderful presents of materials without consulting them that would be a mistake for myriad reasons.)
http://www.rlac.com carries many excellent materials — but to make recommendations for specifics I’d need a lot more than “she’s dyslexic,” as Victoria & LInda indicated.
Workbooks may not be the best choice for a dyslexic child. Also, it would be helpful to post your daughter’s age.
Audiblox is often very helpful for dyslexics. This is a home cognitive skills training program. Website is http://www.audiblox2000.com
I would also recommend that you get a copy of “Reading Reflex” by McGuiness and read the first three chapters. Your library may have a copy; otherwise, bookstores carry it for under $20.
You may want to join the dyslexiasupport2 list at http://groups.yahoo.com .
Nancy