Dyslexia

TediousPhoenix

I am 22 and dyslexic.

My experience of the educational system is dated now, but for me the schools/ educational authority did not want to provide any help for me because I was not 4 years behind, which anyone with an ounce of common sense will say is a stupid and will have a detrimental effect on any such child; it's far too late to provide help at that stage.

My school did a test on me and concluded I was not dyslexic. They were actually so incompetent - and ironic - that they even managed to spell the name of the test incorrectly. That too did not include and IQ test.

My parents paid for a diagnosis and this time it concluded I was dyslexic. The reason for the negative test regarding your son is no doubt due to available funds rather than his extended welfare; they will wash their hands of him in few years and no doubt 'have worse' children - more than likely with behavioural problems - they have to concentrate their efforts on.

My parents paid for private dyslexia lessons for me and it helped with my confidence. Only a little with the dyslexia, to be honest, but without the confidence and coping strategies there would have been no way I would have got my physics degree from Warwick.

I would say pay for the private diagnosis. Parents always know best, not teachers who will soon forget a child.

TediousPhoenix

In addendum to my previous post, my brother was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (after attending a special needs school for a few years). Although he doesn't have dyslexic tendancies, it has been noted by people close to me that I have more of the 'tick boxes' of Asperger's than he does!

But never should any label be regarded a disability. I would not be who I am or have achieved what I have done without being dyslexic; I see it as a blessing in disguise. (Sort of!) Asked me that ten years ago and I would have laughed and argued, but providing an individual works ten times as hard as that of their peers they can succeed in anything they want to, provided they don't use it as an excuse.

ooobedoo

Can't really help but good luck, I was 27 when I was diagnosed. I am the ultimate underachiever, he is lucky that you are his mum and are helping him so much xxx

TediousPhoenix

I'm sorry to hear you feel that way, ooobedoo.

Schools used to - not sure about now - make children feel like underachievers and they left school believing this. It is *so* not the case and I get angry for all the children who didn't have parents able to fight, and fight, and fight like mine did.

I don't know you, but can assure you that you are not an ultimate underachiever.

...Reading your signature, if you use Firefox you can install an English dictionary. It underlines any word not in its dictionary that you may spelt incorrectly. I too used to be a copy/paste/Word person!

Lindyloo2_2

My son (aged 9) has signs if dyscalculia - like dyslexia, only for maths - and he found it impossible to remember his tables.
Last autumn I discovered a cd at this website
www.percyparker.com - it includes songs for all the tables from x2 to x12, and I have to say it has been brilliant - we play it in the car all the time. Now if he is asked a table he can quickly retrieve it from singing the song in his head. This has improved his confidence greatly and was the best £10 I've ever spent!
Even his 7 year old sister knows her tables now!

hope this is helpful - I understand how frustrating this can be, as he has no problem with all his other subjects, but his classmates tease him for being 'dumb' at maths

smileitconfusespeople_2

Lindyloo2 wrote: »

My son (aged 9) has signs if dyscalculia - like dyslexia, only for maths - and he found it impossible to remember his tables.
Last autumn I discovered a cd at this website
www.percyparker.com - it includes songs for all the tables from x2 to x12, and I have to say it has been brilliant - we play it in the car all the time. Now if he is asked a table he can quickly retrieve it from singing the song in his head. This has improved his confidence greatly and was the best £10 I've ever spent!
Even his 7 year old sister knows her tables now!

hope this is helpful - I understand how frustrating this can be, as he has no problem with all his other subjects, but his classmates tease him for being 'dumb' at maths

OMG.....i didnt know there was a medical terminiology for people that have difficulty with numers in particular sequences , even my telephone number at home i still struggle with im 38 and my pin no, for chip and pin etc and as for left and right i still have to look at my hands to tell which is which :eek: .People only really know about this condition with writing and reading i did well at school but i was crap at maths 8% and that was CSE but came out with 6 O 'levels :eek: ...weired hey..cant thankyou enough

THANKYOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:T :A

kolakube_

deebee this site is very good http://www.dyslexics.org.uk/ it is run by the mother of a dyslexic son, she is also now a tutor and I found her very friendly in giving info and answering emails when I was trying to get some help for my sister in law and nephew who is dyslexic/asperger's. The site has got loads of free resources and articles etc too. Good luck and best wishes.

xxdeebeexx

Originally Posted by BernadetteN
Where do you live?

I watched a series about dyslexia a few years ago where a university lecturer was warning about simply classing literacy difficulties as dyslexia. He advocated a reading intervention scheme which is used in Cumbria, Rochdale and North Yorkshire.

Unfortunately we live in Middlesex and they have no reading intervention scheme running there.
However it seems very interesting and has given me the idea of making my sons extra reading books simple enough to breeze through so that he can gain confidence. Both my sons use the coloured overlays. They made a fantastic difference as it stopped the words from 'jumping' around.

Thank you all for your replies.

I still haven't decided whether or not to take on the school, find a private tutor or look to become my own expert or some of each.

I converted an idea from the book called 'The Gift of Dyslexia' and gave the two boys a pile of wicky stiks (coloured string covered in wax that keeps its shape when bent) and asked them to form 6x8=48. They worked in different rooms and thoroughly enjoyed the 'making' of their sum. They crafted and formed each number and carefully chose the colours (the results were amazingly different from each other). I then asked them to read out their sum and trace round the numbers at the same time. Up until bed time they could both remember that 6 8's are 48. The real test will be in the morning.

Thank you Lindyloo2 for taking the time to paste the link to Percy parker. I am definitely going to give it a try.

My parents paid for private dyslexia lessons for me and it helped with my confidence. Only a little with the dyslexia, to be honest, but without the confidence and coping strategies there would have been no way I would have got my physics degree from Warwick.

Thank you so much TediousPhoenix you have really cheered me up. Well done for gaining your degree .I don't necessarily want my boys to go to Uni, I just want them to feel comfortable in the education system. As I keep telling them 'Education gives you more choice'

he is lucky that you are his mum and are helping him so much xxx

Thank you ooobedoo the thing is I don't know which way to turn at the moment to try and put things right for him.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I need to formulate an action plan I think

Dx

loopylass

Hi

Just thought i would tell you about my daughter she is 13 and has struggled most of her school life
I said to her teacher when she was 7 i thought she was dyslexic as her dad and all his brothers/sisters and 2 of his 3 nieces are
The teacher said she is very young she will grow out of putting letters/numbers back to front etc this was 1 of the many things she did and still do
I asked for an assessment but never got it, but trusted them when they said shes fine
At middle school she had extra support but i felt she needed more AGAIN i asked for an assessment and was told no so i paid for a dyslexia screening test for my daughter and it said the probability of dyslexia is high
I took the results to the SEN only to be told that the LEA teacher will not do an assessment i also told the LEA teacher i have got the SEN code of practice book which states that every parent has a right to request and get an assessment done for their child she replied your still not getting one
I asked them to do a colour screening test and they agreed and she needed colour overlays and that has helped her reading
I also told them about a book called toe by toe which i was told was very good and the SEN teacher told me she has just purchased a few copies it teaches them how to sound words and to her surprise my daughter didnt know a few of her sounds at the age of 11 and she agreed it might help and it has slightly
I also told the SEN teacher i was going to get a private assessment for my daughter and she said she wont get any extra help even if you do
My daughter has struggled through all of her school life she is going to upper school in september and she still struggle with reading and her maths is very bad she still doesnt know all her times tables she needs to use a number square for addition as working a sum out she puts the numbers back to front so the sum ends up incorrect i am very worried for her especially with exams as if the question is long and not straight to the point she wont understand it

If i had the money i would pay for private lessons but i have 4 children and money is tight i bought a book off amazon maths for the dyslexic and some things are good but again she looks at it and dont understand it really upsets me when i hear of how many children have to struggle and how many parents have to fight to get anywhere for something that should be available to help those children that struggle so they can get a better education so a better life and if they helped children in primary schools then they would have a better chance in getting somewhere when they leave school

sorry for the rant but i feel they have failed so many children and you would have thought things would have got better over the years but it seems that they put children who struggle in the bottom class and leave them because they cant be bothered to give them the extra time they need.:(

Volcano

A system of books I used for teaching dyslexic children by 'synthetic phonics':

http://www.prometheantrust.org/faq.htm

Worked very well with huge improvements in most children and easy for parents to teach at home. However you must use as often as is recommended.