Dyslexia

Dyslexia - Seven Tips For Help Kids Who Can't Write

by Angela Sapiana

Reading is one of the most important skills your child needs to master. So, when you start to notice something wrong with your child, you may wonder if they have dyslexia or some other learning disability?

Try as you might, the symptoms continue and your child keeps failing in school with no end in sight.
You can't help it, but end up yelling at your child and they end up crying.
You know that something is wrong but just can't seem to put your finger on it.

Here is what dyslexia is all about.

Dyslexia is a neurological, often genetic, disorder which interferes with processing language. Although dyslexia appears to be a visual problem, it's not.
Dyslexia is actually more about hearing than seeing.

Fortunately, dyslexia tests can be used to diagnose and identify the various types of dyslexia. Once a child has been diagnosed with dyslexia, parents can then get help with their child's reading challenges.

What are the symptoms of dyslexia?

Struggles learning the alphabet
Exhibits speech and language problems
Lacks understanding of rhyming words
Struggles associating a sound with its written symbol
Skips words or puts in extra words when reading
Changes words when reading
Guesses wildly at words
Reads a word correctly several times on a page, but then forgets it in seconds
Reads slowly and with great difficulty
Knows too few words for his age and grade level
Comprehends poorly
Comprehends well but difficulty with decoding
Cries or becomes upset when asked to read

How can you help your dyslexic child?

Have your child evaluated for a learning disability at school. Gather information. If your child is classified as dyslexic or learning disabled, find out about classes, modifications, and electronic support systems from your state education department and the International Dyslexia Association (IDA). Read about dyslexia. "Overcoming Dyslexia" by Dr. Sally Shaywitz, is an excellent resource.

Find a dyslexia tutor. Hire a qualified reading tutor who uses a phonics-based reading program such as Orton-Gillingham. Play memory and word games. Do phonics flash cards.
Improve fluency. Read easy-to-read books with your child, one or two levels below her grade level. Computerized books or read-along books and audio books also help improve fluency. Reading poems and plays over and over again work too.

Whilst your child will eventually read and may even become a great reader, they will still need extra time.

About the Author:

Click here to learn more about dyslexia assessments. Stop by Linda Silbert's site where you can find out all about dyslexia test programs and what they can do for you.

Dyslexia In Children by Liz Dunoon

Dyslexia indicators for elementary or primary school students
• Doesn't enjoy going to school.
• Comes home from school most days exhausted, disagreeable and stressed.
• Gets very stressed and anxious as holidays come to an end and a new school term/year approaches.
• Is extremely tired at the beginning of the school year, terms and semesters.
• Appears to be trying really hard at school, but is not making good progress.
• Has trouble learning and reading basic frequently used sight words such as; my, the, in, on, can, we, to, at, be, etc, often given on flashcard to new school starters.
• Is slow to write their name.
• When reading and writing will often mix up letter in words and may read and write numbers, letters and words backwards. For example b can be seen as b, d, p q or even 9.
• When writing or copying written words, has trouble seeing the spaces between the words - they all seem to run together.
• Continues to rely heavily on pictures and illustrations in readers and books.
• Is hesitant and laboured when reading aloud.
• Guesses wildly when reading unknown words instead of trying to sound them out.
• When attempting to sound out unknown words will often confuse the sounds of the letters or letter blends - for example 'sh' for 'ch'.
• Misses whole words when reading aloud. This can be random words or even just the smaller words.
• Mixes up smaller words when reading and may read 'for' instead 'from' or 'and' instead of 'am'.
• Can learn a word, (with parent or teacher help) on a page in their reader and then cannot recognise the same word on the following pages.
• Will regularly read words backwards, such as 'was' for 'saw' or 'no' for 'on'.
• When reading, changes difficult words to a shorter version. For example Katherine becomes Kate.
• May skip parts of words when reading, for example will read 'there' instead of 'thermometer'.
• Continually fails to recognise familiar words.
• Memorises whole stories to avoid processing words and reading.
• Has difficulty knowing the correct beginnings and endings for words. For example they can read 'hop' but not 'hopping'.
• Can be easily distracted and lack concentration in the classroom.
• Cannot focus on a task or a piece of work for a period of time, meaning the work doesn't get completed.
• May have difficulty copying words from the blackboard/whiteboard. Unable to copy long word sequences and copies slowly letter by letter or word part by word part.
• Needs a quiet place with no distractions in order to read or produce any work.
• Has difficulty following a series of instructions.
• Confuses left and right.
• Has a fear of becoming lost.
• Has trouble thinking of words when they are speaking or writing.
• When talking, over uses words such as 'stuff' or 'things', when having difficulty thinking of a word.
• Has a limited vocabulary.
• Produces messy work, with poor handwriting and many crossings out.
• Doesn't hold their pencil correctly.
• Makes poor reading progress compared to the average standard in their class.
• Makes very slow progress with spelling.
• Often spells bizarrely, writing words based on the sounds of the letters and random guesses.
• Has trouble gaining understanding or meaning from written text, also known as reading comprehension.
• Has good comprehension skills when tested verbally, but then cannot write the same answers correctly.
• Isn't able to organise themselves or their possessions.
• Can count aloud, but cannot recognise numbers when written numerically or write them when asked.
• Has difficulty learning their multiplication or times tables.
• Has difficulty learning to tell the time on an analogue clock. They may prefer digital.
• Shows confusion with shape and number patterns, also with number order such as 100's, 10's and 1's
• Is confused by mathematical symbols such as + and x and also terms such as add, subtract, multiply and divide often mixing them up to produce incorrect answers.
• Has difficulty memorising and remembering things, such as days of the week, months, related seasons, birthdays, names.
• Has difficulty remembering things in sequential order.
• Has poor writing caused by a lack of skill with holding and mastering their pencil or pen.
• Their performance at school is adversely affected by a lack of sleep.
• They have very good or very bad days at school.
• Will try anything to get out of doing their schoolwork.
• Dreads doing homework and gets very stressed and anxious or even angry, requesting your presence and assistance constantly.
• Is easily distracted in order to avoid concentrating on schoolwork.
• May be the class clown, disruptive or withdrawn.
• Enjoys electronic games, but needs constant assistance to play computer or electronic games where the reading of instructions is required.
• May seek constant reassurance by continually asking what is required of them or what is about to happen in terms of future events and schedules.
• Has an immediate family member who also displays difficulty with reading, writing and spelling.
There may be other indicators of dyslexia in children that are not listed above. The main indicator is that they struggle to learn English (or the language they are being taught) given the same exposure to learning as the other children. Dyslexia can cross over with other learning difficulties which is why it is important to get a professional diagnosis. In other words a child could have one element of dyslexia and possibly some elements of ADHD, Autism, Asperges, poor memory, etc.

About the Author

Liz Dunoon is the author of the book Helping Children With Dyslexia and provides hundreds of free resources on the website www.helpingchildrenwithdyslexia.com

Coaching Your Dyslexic Child Book

By Jeff Goodwin

Conquering Dyslexia With This Dyslexia Book
This is what we hear all the time, I see the world differently it is simply that simple. Aside from the difficulties and problems made by my dyslexic brain and the words and numbers getting mixed up and sometimes tangled all up

We are all different. At our dyslexia centre we hear problems from adults and children all the time. Below is an example of what we hear. I seem to see the world differently from others, i think my feelings get in the way, it is very hard at times, almost terrifying. Let me explain. My funny dyslexic brain keeps muddling up words and numbers to the point I cannot even write a checkbook.

I find my mind raced ahead all the time and those tests or any exam the teacher set us pushed me right back.

What teachers in their right mind dreamed those tests up anyway? My mind simply demanded to understand why the test writer would put such useless questions, thats right useless questions to be answered. It made me go numb with fear, even frozen with horror.

My mind raced ahead when it came to exams times, I really felt stupid and i cryied myself to sleep may nights.

Who or what teachers dreamed those tests up anyway? Who in their right mind would put children through the pressure of exams to the point i would be frozen still with horror. Pressure mounted when I was a child and is still there today until i read and understood Jeffs latest book.

Picture my poor mind speeding up getting faster and faster, like a race car from one end of the track to the other searching wildly for a technique to understand and be accepted, and communicate correctly. I know I couldn't either.

Find out how you can stop your mind racing, but firstly find out for yourself if you are dyslexic or not.

Benefit from our free online dyslexia test. Quote dyslexia asejg - 32159