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1)
Dear Amy, I am a homeschooling mom whose two boys have
significant reading delays and I suspect from some reading
about dyslexia that this is the problem, but I'm not sure.
Will this assessment help me determine if my children are
dyslexic? Will the results give me specific direction in
reading instruction to help them? Thanks.
Hello,
Officially, dyslexia can only be diagnosed by an MD or a PhD.
However, all of the subtests on our assessment examine
symptoms that are associated with dyslexia. In regards to
dyslexia, I think the most important thing to remember is to
"treat the symptoms and not the disease." I used to
work at Miami Children's Hospital. The Dan Marino foundation
had opened a wing specifically for kids with developmental
difficulties. Whenever they had a patient who had trouble with
reading, they sent him/her my way. I was the only person there
who was not an MD. I found that all those Doctors spent so
much of their time, worrying about the specific diagnoses.
Sometimes distinguishing the "label" of the
diagnosis seemed more important to them than treating the
symptoms. So, getting off my soap-box, whenever I encounter
parents of kids with reading problems, I advise working with
the symptoms and not concerning myself too much with the
label. A child, who cannot learn to sound out words, is the
same as the dyslexic child who cannot learn to sound out
words.
About instructional suggestions, each assessment report gives
instructional suggestions. They are somewhat minimal and only
enough to get you started.
Hope this helps. Let me know if I can answer any thing else
for you.
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
2)
Hi
Amy, I really need some help. We are homeschooling two of our
3 sons. One of our son's is very bright and benefits from a
lot of structure and ongoing challenges. I realized that his
time needs were distracting me from important help that the
other two boys needed. The other two have significant reading
delays. They are about in grades 3 and 5 (ages 9 and 11). We
are a reading family, treasure good books and do a lot of
reading aloud. But so far neither of these two are capable of
reading on their own. I own about all the phonics programs out
there, and we have daily lessons in phonics and reading,
taking it by small steps. I have tried to take a wait and let
them mature approach, but now I'm getting concerned,
especially for the 5th grader. I'm looking for some direction.
I probably should get them tested to determine the specifics
of their skills. Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
As
for your two sons who are having trouble with phonics
instruction...Phonemic awareness is the processing ability
necessary to sound out words. Most studies say that phonemic
awareness will fully develop by the age of seven, some studies
say five, and some say six. If your sons are nine and eleven
and are having trouble absorbing phonics instruction, they
almost certainly have some phonemic awareness weakness. I
think that it would be a great idea for you to have your sons
tested. You can use the Let's Go Learn Reading Assessment or
have them tested by a reading specialist in your area. As for
improving their phonemic awareness, I suggest you find a
workshop on phonemic awareness designed for reading teachers.
I know that workshops can be expensive but in my opinion, it
is the best way for a parent to learn how to administer
reading instruction for phonemic awareness weakness. Let me
know if I can answer any other questions that you have.
Best of luck and happy reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
3)
Dear Amy:
I am new @ Homeschooling.
My son is 6. 1st grader. Autistic - Pervasive Developmental
Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (PDDNOS). Speech Impaired.
The schools refer to him as High Functioning. Academically he
is a bit ahead of his peers in this Special Education class.
He can read very well. He can spell up to 75 words. He's
starting to write 1 to 2 sentence stories. His phonics are
great and he is good in math.
However, his school refused to approve of additional therapies
that I strongly believe he needs. The system disappointed me
by failing to provide a free appropriate public education in
addition to other issues.
Nevertheless, I have decided to homeschool my son. By the way,
all the skills mentioned above that he acquired, I worked very
hard during the summer with him to learn and he did.
I read that you worked with autistic children as well as
children with disabilities (autism is considered a disability)
and in your experience, would homeschooling be effective for
my son who is a quick learner yet has problems in the speech,
conversation, and socialization skills.
As far as academics, I have so much material that I have
bought that I know my son has and continues to benefit.
My questions are:
Will my son be better off in Homeschooling?
Where can I get 1st grade curriculum for autistic children
with speech impairments? and, where can I get assessments to
have data on hand as a comparison so that I can compare his
skills now (before starting homeschooling) and at the end of
the "school year". I plan on doing a "year
round" schooling-the 5 days of school from 7:30 am to
1:30 pm to include Math, Reading, Spelling, Writing, Good
Citizenship, Science, Social Studies, Speech, and Imaginary
Play. Oh lunch and recess time also. Well, I would really
appreciate your responses and I am looking forward to hearing
from you soon. Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Funny that you emailed me today, I was
just talking with a colleague last night about some of the
PDDNOS kids that I have worked with in the past. Here are my
thoughts:
1. "Will my son be better off in Homeschooling?"
Well, it is impossible for me to know that but I do know that
he will be better off with individualized instruction.
However, kids with PDDNOS also definitely benefit from social
interaction. I suggest that he have some kind of regular
interaction with a group of kids.
2. "Where can I get 1st grade curriculum for autistic
children with speech impairments?" This one I can't
answer. All of my work with autistic and other developmentally
delayed kids was specifically with reading and language
comprehension and acquisition. I suggest you take a look at
the www.canfoundation.org website, perhaps someone there can
answer your question better.
3. "Where can I get assessments to have data on hand as a
comparison so that I can compare his skills now (before
starting homeschooling) and at the end of the "school
year"." Well, the company that I work for,
www.letsgolearn.com, offers and online assessment. You could
use that to track his progress over the year if you feel that
he would work well with an online assessment. If you want to
choose a more conventional assessment, try a language or
reading specialist in your area.
Overall
it sounds like you are on the right track. I know sometimes
schools can make it seem like progress with your son is
impossible. That is poppycock of course. Even after working
with adult PDDNOS students, I know that progress can certainly
be made.
Good
Luck,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
4)
Dear Amy, I homeschool and have three children my boys (age 11
and 8) while learning differently picked up phonics and
reading fairly well I feel, now I am trying to teach my 7 year
old daughter to read. We started last year and there seemed to
be a problem in her memory retention. She can count like a
whiz, but not recognize the numbers and she could say her
alphabet orally, but could not say the name of a letter if I
point to it. I started having her write her alphabet every day
adding on a letter every couple of days and she was fine with
remembering the order to write them in but still could not
remember what the name of the letter was. I would work with
her for weeks in a row and what we worked on one day she would
come back the next day and simply could not remember, like the
numbers 6-7-8 we worked on these for I have no idea how long
try different things, I would have to say "down and
around" and then she would know it was a six, "seven
has a slide" and 8 had "2 circles". We found a
computer game where she would drag the letter to a picture
that started with that sound e.g.. drag "h" to a
picture of a house, and she did super with that. We stopped
for the summer and this year I am doing 100 EZ Lessons with
her and she is doing great because she only has to learn the
sound and not the name of the letter. I was just wondering if
you could give me an idea of why she learns this way and if it
could be a problem later. I nearly had her tested for dyslexia
but thought I would try EZ-Lessons first and she is learning
to sound out words. She seems a little old to just be learning
sounds, any thing you can tell me would be very much
appreciated. Hope this all made some sense. Thank -you for
your time!
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
1)
Yes, everything you are telling me about your daughter makes
sense. I have experienced the same thing many many times in
the past. It is very common with kids who have a hard time
learning how to read and spell. What you are describing is
very familiar to me. I can't tell you how many times I have
worked with kids who would look at the alphabet when I said,
"Point to letter F." The student would point at each
letter along the way and "count" their way up to
letter F. They could never just point to F.
2)
"I was just wondering if you could give me an idea of why
she learns this way and if it could be a problem later."
From what you describe, I assume she learns that way because
of poor symbol imagery. Symbol imagery is the ability to hold
on to symbols (letters and or numbers) in the mind's eye. This
is what makes learning letters, memorizing whole words and
spelling possible. Is this going to be a problem later? Yes,
unfortunately it is. She will have a very hard time reading
and an especially hard time spelling. Kids with poor symbol
imagery also tend to have a hard time copying things down from
board in a classroom and copying things from one page to
another.
3)
I do think you should go ahead and have her tested. She may
have other weaknesses besides weak symbol imagery, it will be
important for you to figure out what those weaknesses are.
I
hope this is helpful to you, I know how frustrating this
situation can be. Don't despair, her ability to process
letters can increase.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
5)
Dear Amy,
I am a homeschooling parent and mother of 6. Two of my sons
are in college, four are homeschooling.
My greatest teaching challange is with my son who I recently
had evaluated by a developmental optometrist. Our first
appointment for vision therapy is tomorrow and I am currently
working on planning the details for how to conduct this year
of homeschooling. My son is reading at perhaps a 2nd grade
level and is quite frustrated about his slow progress. His
younger brother is fast on his heels and this doesn't help
matters. I have used a couple of different resources over the
years for teaching reading including, "Teach Your Child
to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" and "Total
Reading". I am most comfortable with "Total
Reading" as I have used it the most and use the parts of
the program that work best for homeschooling. It is designed
for public school classroom use though there are many
homeschoolers using Total Reading. It is similar to Spalding
with less rigidity in my opinion and has kids reading real
books much sooner than Spalding.
I am looking forward to using your assessment tool with all my
kids and I'm wondering if you can offer any suggestions on how
to procede with my son. Is there one reading program you found
to be successful with all the various types of
reading-challenged individuals you worked with over the years
or did you find yourself needing to tailor how you taught to
each individual's needs??? Any assistance or resources you can
provide will be greatly appreciated.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts:
"...I'm
wondering if you can offer any suggestions on how to proceed
with Derek. Is there one reading program you found to be
successful with all the various types of reading-challenged
individuals you worked with over the years or did you find
yourself needing to tailor how you taught to each individual's
needs???" Well, yes and no. I worked for many years for a
specialized reading company. They work with students with
reading issues so all of the work they do is individualized to
each particular student. So yes I did tailor all of what I did
to meet each student's individual needs.
I
am also interested in how the vision therapy goes for Derek. I
have a lot of parents asking me about vision therapy. I have
heard all different opinions. If you have a moment, let me
know how vision therapy is working for him.
Hope this helps.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
6)
Dear Ms. Pedigo, My daughter will be 5 on Sept. 22 so could
not start Kindergarten this year (cut off was Sept. 1). She is
very advanced socially, emotionally and intellectually. She
spoke over 100 words at 1 year of age; has always spoken very
clearly and articulately. She has always LOVED reading books.
She constantly asks how to say or spell words. She is reading
simple Dr. Seuss books, understands phonics, single letter
sounds, letter blends, does simple math, understands basic
o'clock and thirty when it comes to telling time. I would like
your opinion on the following: We plan to send her to a
private christian school next year. This year, because of the
cut off date, she is in the Pre-K or "4's" class. I
purchased the Alpha Omega Kindergarten Homeschool Pak and I
have started teaching this to her. Our hope is that we can
have her start in first grade next year since I've
homeschooled the Kinder portion. I haven't yet spoken to the
school she will attend next year but since it is private they
will test her and we will go from there. I would never do this
unless she was emotionally and socially ready..which she is.
What is your opinion/recommendation on this whole scenario?
Thank you so much.
Hello,
Thanks
for your email. I apologize that it has taken me so long to
email back to you. Here are my thoughts:
1)
It sounds like your daughter is already way ahead of the game!
She will certainly do well, no matter what grade she begins at
next year. If you are going to teach your daughter to read at
home before she goes to school, I recommend you find out what
reading instruction methodologies they use at her school.
Reading programs can differ dramatically and you may want to
follow their lead so as not to confuse your daughter when she
starts school. That way if she goes to K or 1st, the things
you have taught her will be very helpful.
2)
Should she go to 1st grade? I specialize in reading so I am
not an expert on school readiness but I will tell you what I
have experienced in the past. I once taught vacation-bible
school for two summers in a row. The first year I taught the
kids who were on their way to first grade. The second year I
taught the kids who were on their way to Kindergarten. There
was a huge difference. It wasn't so much socially or
emotionally but the kids going into first grade were just more
adept at handling themselves in a classroom-oriented
situation. The pre-K kids had a hard time sitting in chairs
for an extended period of time and a hard time being quiet for
a long time etc. In my opinion, Kindergarten is less about
kids learning content than it is about easing into school.
Kindergarteners do some play activities and some academic
activities; by 1st grade they are better able to handle a full
day of academic oriented tasks. Even if I thought my daughter
was ready for the kind of content taught in a first grade
classroom, I would not let her miss Kindergarten. But of
course it is up to you. Talk to your school, I am sure they
will know better than me about what will work with their
program.
3)
I think teaching her some reading this year before she goes to
school is a good idea. However, studies say that
"phonemic awareness," the processing ability
necessary to sound out words, doesn't fully develop until the
age of 6 or 7. So if your daughter seems to have a hard time
with some parts of reading, don't worry she will probably be
fine. When I worked in a Kindergarten classroom, we had pre-K
kids come in for half-day visits in the springtime to see what
it was like. Perhaps that would be a good idea for your
daughter.
Let
me know if I can answer any more questions that you have.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
7)
Hi, I'm an Aussie mum with a son who is struggling to read. I
wanted to give you some background and ask you advice. My son
is in year four this year. When he began school, he went to a
small, private school that had a strong phonics program. He
was there for kindergarten and year one. His reading was
progressing fine and he was shining in every area he
attempted. That school closed and we had to change schools.
This new school recognized phonics but did not work
reinforcing phonics or going over the rules and how to sound
out words. He was there for two years. Currently we are away
from Australia and I have been homeschooling for a year now. I
plan to continue this when we go home to Australia in October.
My son has had his eyes tested before we left last year and
the eye doctor found that his visual memory and visual
sequencing were both very poor. I'm not sure exactly what this
means but I know it does effect his reading. He is very good
at math, in fact, last year he finished his grade 3 book, a
grade 4 book and was ready to start the grade 5 book, but his
reading has held him back severely. The doctor gave us some
exercises to help. I have noticed that his eyes often drop
below the line he is reading and also he constantly mixes up
words like for/of, that/what, where/were, here/there etc...
and really struggles to sound out new words. He's a bright boy
and finds it very frustrating! What I thought, was that when
we get home, to purchase a good phonics program and start
again with how to pronounce different sounds etc... and also
to go back to the eye doctor and see what he had to say. What
would you advise? My son really hates writing, it's always a
struggle to get him to write much more than four lines. He
really likes drawing (stick figures, planes etc...) and he's
very creative with his Lego. I would really appreciate your
input. Thanks for your help.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. Here are my thoughts: I am asking
myself if your son is having difficulty because of incomplete
phonics instruction or if he is having difficulty acquiring
the skill of sounding out words. Children in Kindergarten and
first grade (especially very bright children) may seem to read
well because they memorize words easily and use the pictures
and concept of the story line to help them figure out the
words. These are good reading strategies when used in
conjunction with sounding out words. Once a child gets to
third grade, the quantity of reading gets so large that these
tactics (with out the added skill of sounding out words)
cannot suffice. I have worked with hundreds of kids and the
majority of them have been in 3rd and 4th grade. Even a minor
reading issue will become evident in third grade since this is
where a student is required to read independently. In the
United States, this expectation is extremely sudden. In second
grade, the students are still reading picture books and
learning to sound out words, the very next year they are
required to read chapter books independently. A lot of the
parents I have worked with report that their children seemed
fine until third grade. "The teacher never said anything
to us about his reading and now he is falling way
behind." If you think that your son is having difficulty
because he had incomplete phonics instruction, then perhaps
some supplemental phonics might be a good idea. If you think
that he has already had efficient phonics instruction and is
still having difficulty with phonics, a full reading
assessment would be suggested to identify any issues. My
company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. is offering an on-line reading
assessment on www.homeschool.com. If you decide you want to
pursue assessment and would rather have an assessment in
person, look for someone in your area who specializes in
reading assessment and instruction. Make sure any assessment
you choose measures all parts of reading; sounding-out words,
memorizing words, spelling, reading in context, reading
comprehension, listening comprehension and vocabulary.
I
have heard people say again and again that the child they are
working with just needs "more phonics." Sometimes
that is true, but sometimes the reason the student is not
catching-on to phonics is not because of lack of instruction.
I am remembering a student I worked with in Texas five years
ago. She was a sixth grader; let's call her Stacey. Stacey was
one of the smartest, brightest kids I ever worked with, she
was almost senatorial. She could handle herself in a room full
of adults, participating in the conversation, making witty
comments etc. Stacey was attending a special education school.
Stacey could not read. She had been in an intensive phonics
program for four years with virtually undetectable progress.
Stacey had extremely poor phonemic awareness. Phonemic
awareness is the ability to distinguish sounds within words.
Phonemic awareness is a major indicator for reading ability. A
person with strong phonemic awareness will usually learn to
read with just about any type of reading instruction. A person
with poor phonemic awareness may have a very difficult time no
matter what type of instruction. Phonemic awareness is a
processing ability necessary for a student to learn how to
sound out words. If your son has phonemic awareness weakness,
he will probably mix up words, stumble over sounding out words
and spell poorly. This could be the reason that your son hates
writing and gets fatigued after only a few lines. If he is
putting a heap of cognitive effort into spelling each and
every word, writing will be an exhaustive exercise. I find
that these same kids often seem exhausted when just copying
words from one page to another.
If
you think that more complete phonics instruction is needed,
Homeschool.com sponsors a highly regarded phonics program
called Frontline Phonics. I have read a lot about it and it
has been very well received. However, some of the instruction
might be a little "young" for your son. You might
have to modify it a bit. I have found that kids around the age
of your son are becoming aware of being "cool",
therefore I try to make the whatever lessons I am teaching
seem hip. Best of luck to you, feel free to contact me with
more questions.
Happy
Reading!
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
8)
Dear Amy, One of your FAQs mentions Phonemic Awareness and the
lack some kids may have which leads to poor reading skills.
I'm kinda guessing that this is what my daughter has. I have
determined that in 1st grade the ears, eyes and mouth were not
synchronized to properly read. She looks at a word and then
guesses, hoping that it's the right word. Some of her guesses
include words that don't have the same letters as the one she
is trying to figure out. She doesn't really sound out words,
she just likes to guess or will just skip the word and
continue reading. She's not a strong speller either, but
doesn't always spell with phonics. Her handwriting is poor as
well, which leads me to believe she wasn't taught properly in
reading, writing or spelling. What resources would you suggest
in order for me to help improve her reading ability? She will
be a 3rd grader and I feel that if she's not strong in the
early skills, she will continue to fall behind and not want to
read. I'm homeschooling her and this is very frustrating for
both her and me. This will be our first year of homeschooling.
Thanks.
Hello,
Thanks for your email. What you are describing does sound like
phonemic awareness weakness. And yes, you are correct, if her
weaknesses are not addressed, she may continue to fall behind
and will not want to read. Phonemic awareness is a major
indicator for reading ability. A person with strong phonemic
awareness will usually learn to read with just about any type
of reading instruction. A person with poor phonemic awareness
may have a very difficult time no matter what type of
instruction.
"I have determined that in 1st grade the ears, eyes and
mouth were not synchronized to properly read. ...which leads
me to believe she wasn't taught properly in reading, writing
or spelling." Phonemic awareness is a processing ability.
This means that if your daughter had phonemic awareness
weakness, she probably had it long before 1st grade. No one
could notice it before that because she was not being
instructed to read. Poor or inadequate instruction cannot
create weak phonemic awareness but it can exacerbate the
problem. Poor phonemic awareness will also contribute to a
poor spelling performance, as you mentioned. I would expect a
student with a profile like your daughter would not always
spell phonetically. Some of the kids I worked with wrote
letters that seemed to have nothing to do with the sound they
were saying even if they said the sound as they wrote it. They
would be saying "s" and writing the letter K. As far
as poor handwriting goes, phonemic awareness doesn't usually
contribute to that. It depends on the kind of handwriting
mistakes she is making, but most kids with poor handwriting
have some difficulty with visual-spatial processing. This
means that they may have a hard time copying a shape, they may
approach the task in a very disorganized way. This kind of
student may also print their letters a different way every
time. Or perhaps your daughter is putting so much
concentration into spelling that she is not concentrating on
what her letters look like.
I am very impressed that you noticed it was a problem with
ears, eyes and mouth. Most people don't automatically
understand that those three processing abilities are working
together. Not only do you see and hear the sounds, you
actually "feel" the motor activity in your mouth. If
these three things are not matched up, it can create a
struggle.
I am sure this situation is very frustrating for you and your
daughter. I have known master teachers who had been working
with beginning readers for years who wanted to pull their hair
out because of this kind of difficulty. Twenty years ago, most
people thought that phonemic awareness could not be increased.
Thankfully, that is not the case anymore. The first step is to
get your daughter tested with a full reading assessment. My
company, Let's Go Learn, Inc. is offering an on-line reading
assessment on www.homeschool.com. If you decide you want to
pursue assessment and would rather have an assessment in
person, look for someone in your area who specializes in
reading assessment and instruction. Make sure any assessment
you choose measures all parts of reading; sounding-out words,
memorizing words, spelling, reading in context and vocabulary.
Don't despair, increasing phonemic awareness can be hard but
it certainly do-able. You are fortunate that you got an early
start on the issue. If your daughter were a 5th grader, this
would be a more difficult task. I have even worked with adults
who could not read for 40 years because of poor phonemic
awareness. One older gentleman finally learned to read and it
changed his life entirely. "I can read the story to my
grandchild for the first time instead of making it up." I
will never forget the look in his eyes. You and your daughter
can work together to excel in reading, it takes commitment and
determination. Keep at it. Contact me with questions any time.
Good
Luck, Please keep in touch.
Happy
Reading,
Amy
Pedigo
apedigo@letsgolearn.com
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