Figuring out my daughter's reading issues

[psreit]

My daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia two years ago. She definitely shows those characteristics when she reads. I felt I was doing her an injustice by discontinuing an OG program. I was told by an educational consultant that an OG program is the only way to truly help her. However, as my daughter's reading improves, I am noticing that her biggest problem is not focusing on every part of the word. When she says a word wrong and I stop her to look at it again and look at ALL the letters, she knows the word. She does a good job decoding when she takes time to focus on every part of the word. I am amazed the long words she has figured out by decoding and not guessing, which she will do sometimes. Other than helping some with spelling, I don't think an OG program is necessary. I am helping her with spelling other ways. I am wondering if there is some other way to help her with the reading I described. Or, is this just something that will get better as she matures? She is already being treated for eye-tracking issues, so that's being dealt with. Just looking for any other ideas. Maybe I just need patience for it to get better as we move along.

[LynnH]

Pam I can't remember if she has been evaluated by a vision therapist? Not a regular eye doctor but one certified in vision therapy?If she hasn't I would strongly suggest it. Another thing you might try is something called a See-N-Read. It is a very inexpensive little tool that isolates the words as they read. My ds used one for awhile and it really helped.

[Mumkins]

Our vision therapist prescribed some insanely priced glasses, but they've helped soooo much. My daughter CAN see 20/20 without glasses. However, her eye muscles are weak. So, when they put special drops in her eyes, they allowed her muscles to stop focusing so hard and she actually needs a +2.75. They put a prism release lens in. It relaxes her eye muscles. DD was focusing so hard on just seeing the word straight, she wasn't able to focus on reading the word. With her eyes relaxed, her reading has greatly improved. Even her gains in math have impressed me. Relaxing her eyes have rally benefited her. She's writing more and spelling better too. PG was not that great for us. It seems like your DD might have the same struggle as mine, actually seeing the word correctly.

[psreit]

Angie was born with strabismus (crossed eyes). She wore prisms for a while, then had surgery to straighten her eyes. The pediatric ophthalmologist said she no longer needed the prisms. The surgery really made a difference in her reading. She wears regular glasses, but that's it. Her eyes do get 'buggy' when she is looking at words too long or even something with polka dots, a lot of stripes, etc. We are no longer going to the ophthalmologist. He retired due to some health issues. So, I am taking her back to the optometrist she went to before him. The optometrist is the one who had her in prisms, but the ophthalmologist is the one who did the surgery. My educational consultant is the one who recommended I take her to a pediatric ophthalmologist. It was a good decision. But, now that he is no longer in practice, I have decided to go back to the previous eye doctor. She does use vision therapy. In fact, she had tried Angie on the vision therapy program she has on the computer, but at the time Angie was not able to do it. Angie has an appt. with her next month, so that is something i will ask the her about. This eye doctor was recommended when Angie was getting early intervention when she was little, so I have confidence that Angie will receive good treatment. As long as her eyes stay aligned, I think we can continue seeing this particular doctor. Thanks for the input.

[Nealewill]

I think time is your best friend. I know my dd needs breaks in her reading. She usually tuckers out after a bit. I also think the more she sees the words, the more they burn into her brain. I read somewhere that a regular person with no reading trouble can "memorize" a word after seeing it 5 times. A dyslexic person may need to see that word 500 times before it sticks in their brain. That is what makes reading go so much faster - we have actually "memorized" all the words we read and rarely need to decode new words. For our kids, the more they see them, the more easily they will recall them.

I am not sure how long you have her read to you in a day but my oldest reads for about 1.5 to 2 hours a day. My middle child reads almost an hour a day or more now. We have pretty much gone to no TV or media on week days. I have a laundry basket in my living room filled with books at all time that come from the library. I get lots of interesting books too - lots of picture books from the juvenile section but many of the books do have challenging vocabulary. For example, I got a book titled When Jessie Came Across the Sea. It is about a trip a poor girl and mother made from Europe to America. There are lots of words but lots of great pictures. My oldest still likes books like this to read. And the words aren't overly challenging but the book is interesting. My son is really into the Magic Tree House books right now. He will read them in his free time. I know there are other Christian Series available for kids (the Magic Tree House isn't Christian) but I just try to find interesting things for them to read. My youngest probably reads about 2+ hours a day but that is because she loves to read.

For me, I find getting the volume in there is what really helped my kids pick up on reading. And having lots of interesting books for them to read. Do you what types of books she is drawn too? My kids all like different things. I try to keep the style of books my kids like all around the house. And do you own the level 2 or level 3 book pack? Those books were excellent. My oldest has read them all and liked them all. Because I loving having good books on hand at all times, I always buy both book packs for my oldest (so I currently own level 2 up through level 5/6 - both boy and girl book packs for when they do have the boy/girl options). During the school year, I don't worry too much about what my kids read during free reading time. They get enough challenging books for school. But during the summer, my kids will read books they didn't read from DITHOR and choose from the book pack. The books are excellent and my kids always enjoy them. Plus, I know that my kids are at least still being introduced to good vocabulary and good topics. We don't do DITHOR over the summer necessarily but I do still like interesting books to funneled into my kids brains. And we do still talk about the books, but not quite like we do when do DITHOR.

So I guess to answer your question - time. We just read, read, read and read some more. My oldest and middle child have struggled with reading the most. My son has auditory processing disorder. It is different from dyslexia but makes reading really challenging. Dyslexia based curriculum is what is recommended. We did that for him for a bit but I have dropped it and he is reading so much now because he loves what he reads. He even loves reading some of the books I am supposed to read to him out loud. Recently, he was reading all of the one small square books to me but now we are into the Pioneer Sampler for science. He was reading 1 page of the reading for that out loud to me. Yesterday we were doing science and he says, "Mom, can I read 2 pages out loud to you from now on?" Uhmmmm, let me think.....twist my arm....YES! So I do agree with you - good books go a long way! HOD does a great of recommending good books and that in turn has significantly helped my oldest and middle child want to persevere and read, read, and read some more

[psreit]

Daneale,
I have only been having my daughter read what is scheduled in the ER books. That amount of reading is enough for her at one time. Her eyes just can't handle any more than that. But, I'm wondering if I should have her do another ER reading later in the day, just to give her more exposure to words. I read a lot to her, but she does little reading outside of school. She will read more if we go to the library and I let her choose some books herself. So, maybe our library trips should be more frequent. We have books here. As a matter of fact, last evening she went to the bookshelf and got a book about birds and read a little on her own. Then this morning, as soon as she got out of bed, she went to the bookshelf and got a Dear America book and tried to read some of that. Besides it being a harder level of reading, the print was small, so she soon tired of that. Right now she needs larger print. Her eyes can't handle the small print very long at all. We are almost finished with the ER books, then I will feel like I can move her on to other HOD recommended books. I just got my book list from HOD. Maybe we can find some of those in the library. Carrie does have good book choices. I'm not planning to begin DITHOR until the fall, but I think I will have Angie do extra ER reading each day, so we can get to some other books.

[Jennymommy]

Amelia Bedelia was a favorite here, as well as Nate the Great. Anything about creatures was a hit...even DK books with all the pictures, though we did have to discuss the theory of evolution as a way to escape the authority of God

[psreit]

Angie checked out a bunch of Amelia Bedelia books the last time we went to the library. She was reading those on her own. I get overwhelmed just looking through shelves at the library, so I'm looking forward to using Carrie's book list.

[Mumkins]

I found that a lot of the level 2 books were lower than the last part of ER. You could have her read level 2 for pleaasure, then begin DITHOR with the level 3 set when she finishes.

[psreit]

Mumkins, thanks for that information. On the book list it has grades for each book, like 2-4, 1-2, 3-6, 1-3, etc. Are you talking about the ones that show less than a three for grade?

[Mumkins]

No, there's a number given, such as 3.3 that would mean typical for grade 3, 3rd month. The Amelia Bedelia book is listed as 3.1. The very first pages of the ER section in the guide has the reading level listed for each book. If you go to this link for book pack 2, you'll see that most of the books are still in the 3. Level, similar to the end of the ER set. The books range from 3.0-4.1. I plan on doing them in order from lowest to highest. .http://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-optional2.php

[psreit]

I have seen those numbers. The books in the book list have grades 1-3, 2-4, etc. So, i guess the grades shown would put a 3:3 book in a 1-3 book or a 2-4 book, etc. I think I will start at the lower end and work up too. Thanks for your input.

[Nealewill]

Yes, I break their time up significantly. They read in the AM some, read in the PM some and then read before bed. My kids also are only willing to read certain type of printing It must be a certain size or larger. The library has just become my friend I am not sure if you can have an educator card where you live but with my educator card, I never have a late fee. No matter how long I keep something (within the school year my card is good for) I will never have a late fee. We can take out both audio books and regular books with it. It is great!

[psreit]

Daneale, i don't believe our library offers a card like that. We can renew twice, which gives us 6 weeks for a book, but it's a matter of remembering to renew. They will allow an extension if we aren't finished with it in 6 weeks. Angie is reading the Dear America book I mentioned earlier! She has never stuck with a book that difficult before! She admitted she can't figure out some of the words, but she seems to be understanding it enough to want to keep reading it. I'm not going to discourage her. I am just so happy that she is wanting to read! I need to get her reading more 'on level' books, so she can become more fluent and be able to read books like that to the full extent. So, I think she will be having 2 sessions a day to read to me.