If any of your kids have dyslexia or a reading problem...

[milivica]

Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading Problems at Any Level
by
Sally Shaywitz

I knew nothing what so ever about dyslexia, thought it was a reading problem where you reverse letters. So for sure, I didn't even know my child had it. Just knew she couldn't read, though tried like no kid I ever saw. School was no help for sure - don't even get me started there. Finally, in 6th grade, I know what to do for her, I know what her brain is doing regarding reading, why it's doing it, and what to do about it.

My deepest thanks to her reading tutor for telling me about the book.

The first think I learned to my shock, dyslexia is a language (not a reading) disorder!

Currently, other than art and gym, my daughter is pulled and has special ed due to not being able to read...I predict in less than one year, this will no longer be so. That's how great this book is in it's explanation about dyslexia, what it is, and what to do.

I make this post in the hopes it will prevent another parent, and another child, from going through all the years of difficulty we did, for something so absolutely treatable. I took her to neurologists since 4 years old and THEY MISSED IT!!! Gave her other dx's, but never dyslexia. OMG...grrrr. But now, it's all going to change for her finally. Wish me luck at the IEP in a week, where I drop the bomb...if they don't give her what she needs versus what they're doing, I'll pull her every day to teach her. I know, I know, that shouldn't be my job, I should fight, etc... Welp, my kiddo shouldn't have to wait for justice, she'll probably be 418 years old by the time I get that.

So, if you think your child has a 'reading' problem, make sure you really understand the definition of dyslexia...I've found a lot of sites that get it wrong too so beware your sources. Even the sites that were accurate, didn't explain what to DO.

Take Care,
Lisa

[MaryEvelyn]

I am heading out to Barns and Nobel to get the book. Rita, I know, has Dyslexia and Central Auditory Processing disorder. The School is refusing to acknowledge any problem and so I am heading to an audiologist to have her evaluated.

[milivica]

Just wait till you read this book, you are going to be SO CLEAR on exactly what dyslexia is, and what you need to do about it. I read it the first night until literally, my eyeballs felt swollen - couldn't put it down.

[The Pogue]

Music instruction was a huge help in my daughter's overcoming her dyslexia.
It's a deficit in the phonemic system. Phonemic awareness needs to be taught directly, before they can decode the sound/symbol system of our alphabet.

[milivica]

I totally get dyslexia, still learning all I can do to increase phoneme awareness...I'm finally on Chapter 19 which should tell me step by step what to do.

Can you describe exactly, the process by which music instruction helped your girl, how it increased her phonemic awareness.

So far we are having fun doing rhymes, creating games to see how many words we can think of with the same beginning or middle sounds. We are reading aloud every night.

Due to (in my opinion) her tutor using the Orthon-Gillingham method, she has finally broken the alphabetic code, can say her alphabet finally finally finally, when she cannot read a word she is separating the word into syllables, sounding out each sound in each syllable, then putting all the sounds together. So we are definitely on our way as you can see!

I understand how what we are doing so far, will enable her brain to use the left back part (occipito-parietal) to read fluently, instead of the Broca's, Wernicke's, and right brained hodge podge she uses now. I get it that she has the higher abilities (syntax, semantics, discourse) but not the foundation of being able to hear each phoneme. I'm sure you get all this, but I didn't till Halloween week, which, makes it one of the best weeks of my life. Seeing how UNcomplicated dyslexia is, what's been the hold up for her and so many other kids...grrrrrrr!

Please explain how music instruction helps - I'm way open to learning! Though my spelling of non-laymen words still probably stinks, by all means explain in technical terms - I'm telling you it's so amazing discovering you child has a problem and easily finding out exactly what it is and what to do about it (unlike autism, for sure).

[The Pogue]

I think music instruction helped in a variety of ways. It train her ears for subtle differences in tone, increasing her auditory discrimination skills. It helped her develop a sense of rhythm and miter, something the Dr Seuss books are wonderful with.

A problem common to many dyslexics is limited auditory short-term memory. Most adults can recall and repeat a 6-7 digit string of random numbers, immediately after hearing it. This span develops in children. I may be wrong with this exact detail, but for the moment, say the typical 7 year old child has a memory span of 5 units. The dyslexic child may be limited to 3 or 4, which is significant, when you're trying to learn to read.

Say you know most of the letter sounds, though if you're dyslexic, you probably don't. You're looking at the word "slurp" and trying to sound it out. You do it letter by letter:

suhh...luuu..uh...errrr...puh...

By the time you get to the last letter, you've forgotten the first few sounds you made. Rather than blending it all together for slurp, or a reasonable similar word, like slip or sorry, you guess a word starting with the last sound you heard yourself say, puh...and guess "please" or "play".

If you're trying to copy a word from your book or the board, you can't look at the entire thing, s-l-u-r-p and copy it, you have to do it one or two letters at a time. Because you're constantly looking up from your your paper to the board, you're more likely to make copying errors, leave out a letter, transpose a few, and you fall behind the pace of the classroom.

As a child's reading skills improve, they learn to "chunk" sounds. In the above example, your mind eventually starts treating "sl" as a single sound, "ur" as another, and the finally consonant /p/ as another. Now you're only dealing with 3 auditory units, not five.

It seemed like learning musical scales helped my daughter become able to "chunk" sounds, and predict what series of sounds might come next. Also, it may have helped her learn to use her eyes and ears together, and actually increased her memory span.

I don't want to sound like I think music was the end all, because we were working with her on many fronts. Daily oral reading of material she's fairly proficient with was very helpful, for building up her speed and fluency. Rhyming games, memory games, choral readings (reading aloud with a partner, or while listening to a tape of the same material) all helped.

She, on the other hand, gives most of the credit to Harry Potter. Go figure. ;p

[milivica]

Ok that makes sense...a lot of what you said reminded me of the FastForward program she did, that forced her brain to focus on one sound or one sound chunk, and match it with the identical sound or sound chunk. Just like that card game memory, only with sounds that would play when you clicked each overturned card. She also had to identify sound sweeps as going from low to high, or high to low...harder than it sounds when the thing goes fast!

It seems like when it comes to reading, it's all about activating the left rear region of the brain when reading, the occipitotemporal area, instead of other areas like dyslexics do.