Dyslexia

A journey of learning....

So it all begin when Sawyer was a little boy.  He was late to develop first sounds and had trouble pronouncing all the sounds in words.  I wasn't too concerned, Phil also had speech issues as did many people in his family and this was something that everyone "outgrew".  Nevertheless, we did see a speech therapist (an hour a month was what we were allowed through the Early Education Program, which in my opinion was worthless).  He did 2 years of therapy and we noticed very little improvement until he was served through the public school system at age 5 by a different therapist who used a different approach.  We begin to actively work on "auditory bombardment" (me, saying the sounds correctly over and over and over while he listened rather than him repeating sounds).  At the same time, I noticed that he was having a very difficult time learning the alphabet - recognizing letters and knowing their sounds.  I instinctively, just put it aside and we did preschool type activities rather than drill and practice.  Reading was very difficult for him (and his speech therapist warned me that it might be).  I tried to get help through the public school system mostly for resources and materials for me to use at home but they were bound by laws and rules and regulations and would not help me unless we went through a process of getting him on an iep specifically for reading (he was on one already for speech).  They would not modify his speech iep to include reading or writing without jumping through all the hoops.  

I decided to hold off and I tried not to stress, having been frequently told by other homeschooling moms that boys mature later and that eventually he would learn to read.  Indeed he did.  By the age of 10, Sawyer was able to read without struggling to sound out each and every word.  He quickly advanced to reading at and beyond his grade level and even placed in the 90th percentile at a tenth grade level on the standardized test that is required by homeschooling regulations. (Though I knew his compensation skills and his great comprehension placed him there, not strictly his ability to read.) 

But, something wasn't meshing...the writing and spelling wasn't following.  The nagging part of my intuitive "teacher mom" role knew that all these little issues (speech, late to read, unable to spell) were adding up like pieces of a puzzle rather than isolated phenomenons.  I was convinced that he learned to read by memorizing words and using the context clues around the words and that he didn't grasp the building blocks of phonemes (all the sounds that make up language).  Here was this smart boy who often displayed talented and gifted ideas and thoughts but with such struggles in learning to read and write.  And it wasn't just Sawyer, Evangeline was having similar problems (though not as severe) as she begin to read and write, and Brighton's speech was still developing and he was not ready for any Kindergarten academics.

The writing part is what convinced me to keep on searching, talk to more "experts", talk to other mothers, research...  I just wanted an explanation, a name for what "this" was, and what I was supposed to do about it.  Somewhere along this journey, a good friend of mine with several dyslexic children suggested dyslexia.  The more I learned about dyslexia, the more it seemed to "fit the bill".  

I decided to have Sawyer tested.  I knew that if Sawyer was dyslexic than so was Evi, and Brighton, and possibly Glorielle.  The testing was extensive - about 2 hours of reading, writing, and phonemic awareness, memory, recognition, etc..  The results along with the packet of information that I put together with iep information and work samples were used to create an in depth assessment of his learning ability.  

We now have our results.  Sawyer is severely dyslexic.  (My own assessment after being there for the testing process and discussing results is that Evi is mild to moderate, Brighton is profound, and Glorielle, I would guess is mild).  

Now, I know what to do!!  (Or at least I have a place to start).

  First, I need to know what dyslexia is.  I have started reading articles, reserved books at the library, bookmarked websites...I want to know what it is and what it isn't.   I want to understand dyslexia.  I do know that it is a genetic brain difference and I wouldn't call it a disability.  Think of a dyslexic as not processing words in a linear way (left to write, top to bottom) and having a poor visual memory for flat 2- dimensional shapes.  Rather dyslexics see the whole word in a 3-dimensional way like viewing "mid air" from all angles....so if you were in a parade and watching a balloon in the shape of a b come down the street, it would be b from one side of the street, d from the other, and p from a child watching upside down from a tree.  The same if the balloon was shaped like the word "was".  It would be was to one, saw to another, and sam to the third.  Dyslexics often see the big picture, not the separate parts so they read the whole word at once rather than its pieces starting from the left (just what I thought about Sawyer reading from sight).  I am looking forward to learning more!!  This is all so very fascinating to me.

Second, I need to learn a new reading and spelling program called the Barton method.  It is homeschooling friendly and I can train myself to become a "tutor" and use this at home by watching DVD's and reading through the instructional manual.  It is supposedly very user friendly.  There are 10 levels we will purchase and work through (and find a way to pay for it as it is very expensive).

Third, I will need to revamp the way we homeschool.  I will need to allow for up to 4 hours of individual tutor time (2 for Sawyer and 2 for Evi) plus time to prepare Brighton for being able to start the program.  Currently, he doesn't have the language skills to even start the program.  We will need to continue to just work on speech and making a language rich environment for him to learn and grow.  Barton actually has children STOP reading for a time as they train the brain to recognize those phoneme building blocks and go back to the basics.  Everything will be done auditorily for awhile.  Eventually, we will add back in reading (and writing) and then progress to a writing program.  There is also an element of dysgraphia which has to do with letter formation that I will be looking into as well.  And of course, my "average" learner will continue to need instruction that suits her.

**Edited.  I wrote about my own learning struggles and wondered if I might be dyslexic. The more I read, the more I can see the strengths of dyslexic in Phil.  He didn't struggle through the challenges of dyslexia (other than speech when he was younger).  On the other hand, I don't seem to have the phonological piece of dyslexia or the dyslexic strengths but I do have the memory retention aspect which can be something entirely different from dyslexia.  I don't think that we can both be dyslexic because we have one child who is not, and two dyslexic parents produce all dyslexic children.  So, I think if I have to choose the parent with the dyslexic gene, I might have to choose Phil based on the speech and the strengths that he has.  This is actual very discouraging for me.  For Phil, it doesn't really matter as he excels in learning, for me, and my struggles, I wanted answers for myself and maybe hope for some remediation as I work through the program with Sawyer.

A new organizational box started - filled with paperwork and articles and notes.

Ready to start learning.