There was a time when I thought Logan might have a learning disability. He used to write all of his letters backwards. He would get agitated when it was time to do homework. And he even saw a commercial about dyslexia one time and said, "Mom, I think I have that." Since then, he has started writing most of his letters correctly, although he still writes from the bottom up instead of from the top down. And he is still only a "C" student, even though we know he's really smart.
There seems to be some kind of difficulty there, but none of his teachers have ever said anything about it. Although, we did have to give him an extra year between preschool and kindergarten. His preschool teachers recommended giving him another year. He did excellent in Pre-K. But then in Kindergarten he went back to being average and having issues again.
Now, his reading is getting better every day. But, he still gets agitated when doing homework. He's a bear to deal with! And he doesn't do well on tests, although if we ask him the questions that he missed, he can tell us the answer. Something seems to get lost between reading the question by himself and getting the answer onto the paper.
I wish we would have had someone come out when he was younger so that he could have gotten more help. Ohio is really good about offering programs for kids who need help. But, I think you have to start it before a certain age. He still has fine motor skill issues and some gross motor skill issues. And I think if we would have caught it earlier and gotten some extra help, he would be better now. And maybe they could have caught any other issues as well.
Logan has always been an auditory learner and I'm surprised he reads as well as he does. But, you can tell that he's so focused on reading the words that he might not always understand what's going on. We're still working on reading with the correct inflections and pausing at the correct moments. Sometimes, he starts to read and will read two or three sentences together as if there is no period. I'm trying to tell him that he has to pay attention to the punctuation as well as reading the words. I think because of that, he really dislikes reading comprehension. I think it's because he finds it so hard to focus on the story and read the words at the same time. Make sense?
Although I don't think he's dyslexic, I do think there might be something going on that he could use extra help with. I've been reading about the orton gillingham method, which is for dyslexia, but can help all readers. From what I've read it takes a multi-sensory approach to teaching spelling, reading and writing. That might be better for him since he is an auditory learner. I think there are schools in which the teachers have gone through special orton gillingham training. I was trying to find any kind of books on it to read more. I'm sure there are also other books out there on different approaches.
Have you guys ever been through this with any of your kids? Do any of his symptoms sound familiar? Did you have to send your kids to one of the special schools for learning disabilities? If so, did it help?
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My own children are younger than yours, but this does actually remind me a little bit of my brother. He falls back on saying he is "dyslexic" now as an adult, but I don't think he was ever labeled as such as a child. He is, however, an extremely auditory learner and also left handed which means his brain is wired a little different than righties. Reading this my first thought was, 'Huh, I wonder if her son is left handed too." I think that everyone learns a little differently and some people are just never going to prefer to read to learn. I'm the opposite of my brother. You talk at me I tune you out in no time flat. I just want someone to give me a book on the subject and leave me alone.
ReplyDeleteNo. Logan is right-handed, although he was playing putt-putt left handed last week when we went. I'm like you. I love to read. I don't think I'm an auditory learner because I'm always so distracted when it comes to listening. But, I can read like nobobody's business!
DeleteYou should ask your school district if they will have him evaluated as age may not be an issue. If it is, you can do private testing, but you have to pay out of pocket. However if the private testing shows that he does qualify for services, then the school district will have to provide them.
ReplyDeleteThat's great advice. I stayed up last night thinking about it. I don't know whether to do that or not. I think I'll email his teacher soon and talk to her first to see if it's a focus issue or if she thinks anything else. Thanks for your advice!
Delete"You talk at me I tune you out in no time flat. I just want someone to give me a book on the subject and leave me alone."
ReplyDeleteHeidi summed up my learning experience so well in this one statement. College was so tough because many of the instructors gave lectures that had nothing to do with what was in the textbook. In taking notes, I'd find myself suddenly staring at my notebook with no memory of a single word the teacher had just said; I'd spaced out because I was reading what I'd already written. My best efforts always came from instructors who either stuck to the textbook material, or at least had great inflection in their lectures. One instructor in particular stands out because she was so enthusiastic about her subject matter that conversation and group exchange was simply organic.
All of which is extremely off-topic. My son writes right-handed, but performs everything else left-handed. He is a fine reader, but is much more capable with verbal directions. My daughter? very right-handed in all ways, and needs written directions as she can't retain oral instructions to save her life. Just like me. She and I also suck at chess, as we can't retain "what if" images; there is zero room for planning ahead strategically. Which makes it very hard to decorate a room, for instance, as I can't "picture" how it might look. I never considered that a lack of these skills might be part of a learning disability; but then again, I haven't really been negatively impacted by it, either. I'll have to keep my eyes open to see how things go for my daughter. Hope you're able to get whatever helps is needed --- there is no reason for a child to have difficulty gaining an education, as advanced as we are at this point in time!