Worried Mother …

March 26th, 2009

I am the mother of three children aged 6, 8 and 10 who are all dyslexic. Although we have moved to a village where the school has excellent references etc My children are not benefiting after 5.5 years of primary school my 10 year old only has a spelling age of 7. I have been in constant contact with the school since my son started as I thought he was dyslexic although not as bad as his father. We have had him privately diagnosed as moderately dyslexic.

His peers also do not seem to be too keen on him and his behaviour appears to be more immature and attention seeking (he gets quite high). He is out going and fairly confident, he will give most things a try. He goes to cubs and karate and has recently started snow boarding lessons. He is also fairly good at swimming.

He loves factual books and has a good vocabulary. He is okay at maths although does not enjoy it. He is enjoys topic is interested in sharks, astronomy and the ocean.

Following his recent diagnosis Aug’08 we have started private tuition for an intense phonics programme with Dyslexic Action in Glasgow. However the school and I are at odds as they have taken my son of the core programme following a basement by a temporary learning support teacher – this has also happened to by middle child I have moved my youngest child due to bullying and poor progress and low confidence. They have also started an alternative spelling programme as opposed to reinforcing the DAs programme.

I am at a loss as what to do and my anxiety is increasing as my son has a year and half until he goes to high school.

I also can not find out what I can expect and no one will answer this – not the ed psych, not the head teacher and not the DA.

Everyone is rather polite but no one is very helpful in the way forward and how to maximise my children education in the 3 RRRs before they leave primary school or what I can expect.

I am focusing my efforts on additional support for the eldest as he only has a year and half until he moves from a school of 70 children to an 1100.

What can I expect what more can I do? Where can I buy your books?

Oh dear and you’re from my old hunting ground. I used to work for the Dyslexic Centre in Glasgow. And they sold my first books on dyslexia.

Now a dyslexic will never be a good speller. i rely heavily on editors. There is a massive, and in my opinion, misguided stress put on spelling when what is needed is strategies and good writing. Try to concentrate on content.

So this is what you do. You teach him word processing and get him a lap top. He can use this at home and at school. Then your target is to get his spelling good enough to be recognized by the spellcheckers. The words he cannot spell that are stupid, ie the words that are spelt stupidly, you collect in a personal dictionary, instructions to be found on my site, Dyslexia Testing as a freebee. He can then look them up whenever he needs them and will then start to learn how to spell them. Its very simple and takes away the stress because the kids end up writing fun, silly sentences and learn that writing can be a fun thing.

You then teach phonics skills at the same time. I have written a phonics course, available from the same site, and written for parents so is dead easy to use. All my books are written because no one else wrote easy, plain english books to help parents. Your answers are to found in these books and games.

Now the really important thing is to find out what your kids are gifted at. All dyslexics are gifted at things and it is these gifts that they will use in life. Please remember that Jamie Oliver is very poor at spelling also and dictates his books. But he is gifted at so many things.

Hope this helps

Entry Filed under: Dyslexia,Freebie Tips