My thoughts are all jumbled right now. Daniel has now gone through a total of four hours of testing, broken down into smaller bits over two days. We are fairly certain he has dyslexia. We already knew he had some lingering speech issues. And the speech-language pathologist alluded to "other stuff going on," possibly involving a problem with his long-term memory. We'll get the full report back in another week or two.
I'm doing what I do: I alternate between feeling like we can conquer any learning disability thrown our way OR freaking out over the stress of wondering what we need to do. I need a plan. I'm not the sort who functions well on maybes and mights at some undetermined time in the murky future. I want to know what we have to do and when we are going to do it, or my mind can't rest. Of course, we can't make a plan until we get that report back.
I've been scouring Amazon and dyslexia Web sites to put together a book list. That's something else I do. I read everything I can get my hands on. I have some credit to spend at Powell's, but I want to read some more reviews online check the library before I actually buy anything.
I have:
* Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz
On the wishlist:
* The Misunderstood Child: Understanding and Coping with Your Child's Learning Disabilities by Larry Silver
* Basic Facts about Dyslexia and Other Reading Problems by Louisa Cook Moats and Karen E. Dakin
* Your Child's Growing Mind by Jane Healy
* About Dyslexia: Unraveling the Myth by Pricilla Vail
* How to Reach and Teach Children and Teens with Dyslexia: A Parent and Teacher Guide... by Cynthia Stowe
* A Special Education: One Family's Journey Through the Maze of Learning Disabilities by Dana Buchman and Charlotte Farber
* Mothers Talk About Learning Disabilities: Personal Feelings, Practical Advice by Elizabeth Weiss
* Phonemic Awareness Activities for Early Reading Success by Wiley Blevins
Web sites to study:
* Barton Reading System:
http://www.bartonreading.com/* Bright Solutions:
http://brightsolutions.us/* International Dyslexia Association:
http://www.interdys.org/* Reading Rockets:
http://www.readingrockets.org/helping/questions/dyslexia* Learning Disabilities Online:
http://ldonline.org/* All Kinds of Minds:
http://www.allkindsofminds.org/ptk/index.aspx* Texas Scottish Rite Hospital:
http://www.tsrhc.org/dyslexia.htm
Our entire homeschool curriculum is going to have to be evaluated once we get the results of Daniel's testing. My thinking right now is that we will immediately take six weeks or so off for me to gather my wits and figure out what we need to do as far as tailoring a curriculum, then start back to school at the beginning of May and work through the summer -- essentially year-round school with short breaks when we need them instead of following the traditional school calendar. There's so much I don't know right now, but I hope putting all of this here will help my brain power down so I can sleep!
Comments (3)
Good job, mama! He'll do fine. Promise!
I have an adult daughter who showed tendencies towards dyslexia. The advice I got when I was homeschooling her was to do less close work, to limit it to ten or fifteen minutes when it had to happen and take breaks to look out the window and get up and also to do things bigger and to be patient.
Raymond and Dorothy Moore's books and information was very helpful to me as a homeschool mom. They cited studies and information for why too much close work too young caused and reinforced problems.
Recently I read a book by John Holt in which he talked about his take on dyslexia and learning in general. It's called Teach Your Own.
He talks about explaining to your child who is writing backwards and inside out letters that it is ok to point a dog any direction but you can't do that with letters and why.
Stay calm and don't let yourself feel overwhelmed or helpless. You can do a great job of teaching your son. There are lots of ways to approach learning and homeschooling opens up more possibilities and allows you to do things that you can't do when you choose another type of schooling approache!
I can't say a thing about dyslexia. Bede's autism is hyperlexic, of course, quelle ironie. BUT. I can say that reaching out online (and offline when possible) to other homeschoolers with kids like mine has been invaluable.
But you knew that already. I'm glad you got some answers. More will come.
Much love.