Dyslexia-personal experiences and help

My 12yr old Granddaughter was diagnosed last year and I'd like to thank you for posting what he said about it being exhausting to read. I've bought her lots of books to try and give her my love of reading but nothing has. I've been so disheartened to see her take a book I've searched for that I think will really interest her only to see it consigned to the shelf never to be looked at again.
I had never considered it would exhaust her to read just that she really couldn't be @rsed .
I just ordered her a book called Fantastically Great Women which has pictures and just one page on each Women , maybe I can read a page with her at a time that way it won't be too tiring..

thanks trisher

trish my grandsons are now 12 and 16. With the eldest it was clear from a very young age that he totally lacked eye, hand brain coordination. He simply couldn't master the art of holding a pencil. He watched tv and read sort of sideways. "To stop it moving" He worked so hard - it was heartbreaking to see him, and got very little forward. He was diagnosed at about 6 years old and immediately was given help at school. He has a lap top rather than a pen and paper. My younger grandson isn't quite so badly affected , but also received a dyslexic diagnoses. Help at school was cut completely without a days warning. My daughter now has to pay £50 per hour per child for extra tutoring. Revision is utterly exhausting and a teenager is difficult to persuade that it is worth the candle. But daughter keeps going.

On the up side. Both are extremely creative. They can envisage complete projects and how to get there very quickly. They are therefore wizards at problem solving. Eldest is on track for top marks in science, computer engineering and maths. English is a real struggle but he needs at least a c or whatever this daft government deems it to be at the moment in order to progress

My opinion is that dyslexia is simply a different way if learning and the educationalists have been clueless in the past in teaching this large minority. They will continue to be at this rate.

Thanks for the posts
tanith I think one of the hardest things to accept if you are someone who loves reading is that someone will never have the pleasure you have from it. That said don't underestimate the appreciation of language dyslexics can have. Of my 3 DSs the dyslexic is probably the one who appreciates poetry most and loves spoken language in plays and films. Try reading poetry with your GD she may enjoy it.
whitewave I despair of education when the true abilities of a child are not supported by the system and parents have to pay to get the help they need.
Creativity is a often a strength with dyslexics and should be really encouraged. Wouldn't it be wonderful if this was appreciated more. Level c in English is so stupid. Can you imagine asking someone with sight impairment to lead someone along a path somewhere and failing them if they can't do it?

Yes following on from tanith both boys have always had a good mastery of the spoken word. In fact the eldest receives huge praise from school and his work experience company, indicating his maturity etc. In his speech.

trish the bloody thing was that they were both getting excellent help, but it was cut totally arbitrarily. Daughter is lucky and can pay, but how many children were hung out to dry because of this governments austerity programme.

I am so glad to read this thread. Our first grandson, aged 8, is very badly dyslexic. We are just in the process, as a family, to find strategies to help him develop and reach his considerable potential.

I am beginning a course about dyslexia online via the University of Lancaster. Then,
last night, at our DiL's suggestion, I enrolled in a free online FutureLearn course for teaching a second language to a dyslexic child( we are a multilingual family). I begin in late April.

Helping our GS is an an informed, loving work in progress. He also begins a new school in September which is a centre for dyslexia. Next term, we are home schooling him with all hands on deck. This has not been an easy decision but is the best one for him at the moment as he has become dispirited and is losing his sparkle.

rinouchka if he is lucky enough to attend a special school then he will fly. You will be astounded at how well he will do. Keep your eyes on the horizon.

I'm going to do that FutureLearn course too, Rinouchka. Despite teaching languages for years, I have never had any formal SN training. It just isn't on the agenda during 'training days' and I've never had the opportunity or be able to afford specialist courses. What I've gleaned has been self-taught.

It is possible to teach dyslexic children foreign languages (especially German), although they do face a number of barriers, such as short-term memory problems and phoneme recognition. The FutureLearn course should be interesting.

What skills are taught to train teachers daph re dyslexia?

Just a few words of encouragement. Two of my four children, now in their thirties, are dyslexic. My son struggled at primary school ( at that time dyslexia was a middle class fantasy!)but was lucky enough to be brilliantly supported at secondary level. He has a degree in Business Studies and is a qualified management accountant - he had to work hard but is very determined ( and now loves reading)
My daughter was diagnosed at an earlier stage and was supported throughout school (she also has Lupus) and also had help at university, her current job offers support. Every child is different, but they all have their strengths, they just need encouragement to find them.

Yes my son has a PhD and is dyslexic. It is such hard work!!!!!

My husband is dyslexic, but it was never officially diagnosed. He can read quite well, but very slowly, and has managed to learn to read hebrew (which is purely phonic.)
He gets words and letters and the ideas in his head all jumbled up.
He said he hated school because he found everything such a struggle. Apart from practical subjects where he excelled. So he trained as a TV engineer and ended up with a succesful business of several shops, repairing and selling tvs and other electronic equipment.
As others have said, there are several types of dyslexa, depending on the sensory channels most affected.

daphnedill Interested to learn that you will be on the same course. I taught French and Italian for 3 decades in a Tertiary College. Dyslexic 16-19 year olds choosing to do ALs or IB in a foreign language were limited to bilinguals. I think I posted in another thread a few months ago that dyslexia did not always manifest itself in both languages for bilinguals, at least in my experience. However, I have no experience with younger learners of MFLs.

DGS (8) has French and Italian speaking cousins so will explore which language is best for him
( possibly Italian) and how best to approach it. He has some oral and aural skills in both ( through passive learning and loving to listen in to others' conversation) and he loves his cousins( but they are all being brought up to speak English as a 2nd language)!

Am very excited about this course and do hope it is well-run!

In retrospect my son showed many signs of dyslexia but it was't picked up until he was adult.
At school his English was poor and he had to resit O level English whilst his maths/sciences were all up in the 90%.
Thankfully he got through English on his resit and was able to continue to 6th Form where he concentrated on the sciences. He now has his Ph.d. and was also top of his year.

My best friends daughter , now 36, is dyslexic and had special help aT school. While she hasnt gone on to higher education she became manager in a local farm visitor attraction and had staff management as well as animal care responsibilities. She did extremely well and is now involved in farming. Her problem with reading/ spelling remains though is much improved, but she is one of the most intelligent articulate and capable people i know.

Lovely thread. Place marking at the moment but will be back to contribute.

I think it shows that it should not be treated as a disability but simply as a different way if learning. There are far too many for it to treated as anything else. Like being left handed.

ww I've never had any training to teach dyslexic students. Thinking back, I don't think special needs were even mentioned during my PGCE. At the time, the country still had special schools, so a secondary teacher was considered not likely to have to teach a pupil with SN, and many children were disapplied from learning foreign languages. It was before the introduction of the National Curriculum, so there was no entitlement for all pupils to learn a range of subjects.

In service training was expensive and SN was never seen as a priority for my development. Everything I know about SN has been from observation, talking to colleagues and my own reading.

Yes daph I think that is a real issue as teachers are often clueless as to how to the dyslexic issue. The children are being badly let down

I remember on TPs in the 60s working with children who were dyslexic. Teachers recognised the condition way before psychologist gave it a name.

It's surely a good thing that people feel able to admit to the condition these days without the ignorant labelling them stupid?

Anya the name was known well before that, but it wasn't integrated into the legal system until after the Warnock report of 1978. Soon after which 'statementing' started.
As with most things, it was to do with funding. A child had to have an 'official' diagnosis by the so-called experts before funding for extra help/support could be given. Which as we know is still difficult to obtain.

We called it 'word blindness' - whatever name it was given, as with many other conditions, it recognised in the classroom very early on.

It's good to have dyslexia now recognised, rather than dismissed as 'middle class parents looking to excuse their lazy children', which was the standard response during the 70's when I first wondered if one of my children had 'word blindness'.

It's still often necessary for parents to pay for private diagnosis, not least because of the cuts to school psychological services.

I feel it's a little unfair to criticise individual teachers or even schools. A secondary teacher teaches 200-300 pupils and can't 'know' them all. Not only that, but there are other conditions, such as autism and many more, and a teacher just doesn't have the time or resources to give the necessary support.

Even when a pupil is diagnosed, which can take months or years, he or she needs the input of a specialist and very few schools now have any. It used to be the case that local authorities provided support or, at least, advice, but they've gone too.