Hi Angey,
This is a great website that should be able to give you the assistance you need to start your homeschooling. It relates directly to homeschooling a student that is dyslexic. http://www.homeschoolviews.com/askamom/askamom-apr06.html
Your on your way!!

Barbara Antinoro
Educational Counselor
Kid Angel Foundation
Education.com Team

I know just how you feel. I have begun homeschooling my son whose is also 10. The school was going to test him for a learning dissability. I waited a year and a half.
It never happen. I have not had him formally tested but he fits all the criteria. He is finishing fourth grade and reads on a second grade level. This is after a year of private one on one tutoring. It is very hard and you just wonder its so simple why can't they get it. The best advice given to me is just be patient and don't push to hard to point that everyone is frustrated and ready to give up. We love our homeschool group. We go on field trips and have pe days. It is a great way for the kids to socialize.  It is also a great way for me to socialize. You get to talk to other parents some dealing with the same problems. When I was talking to another parent(certified teacher homeschooling) about my child she suggested that it might be dyslexia because she is going through the same thing with her son. Do a lot of research, the more you know about what is going on the better and you might find some teaching methods you can use.

Hi,
I know how frustrating it is seeing your child struggle. I have an intuition that my oldest son has dyslexia which I have brought up with his teacher, primary doctor and friends. I worry making my 8 year old son go through a series of tests and his teacher doesn't think is necessary because he is receiving extra help in and out of school which has boosted his self confidence but what awaits him next year I fear the help he is getting is not enough  and an evaluation is needed. The best advise I have gotten so far is, write a letter to the school your child attends and by state law they have 90 days to response and test. Also if you go through private testing you are responsible for paying however if you go through school "they"  (public school/tax money) are responsible for, the financial part but also developing a program for you and your child along with other needs "our" children may have.  Good luck

This may be helpful:

http://www.dyslexiasd.org/reading_lists.html

do a search and see if there is a Lindamood Bell center near you.  They have a very good program that works.  My son, who is severely dyslexic went from a 2nd grade reading level to a 4th grade reading level in 13 weeks (he was 12 years old at the time). It is very expensive but the program works.  While you are taking the time to homeschool, you could have your child go there 4 hours a day to get the much needed reading help she needs.

Dear Angey,

Did your daughter have an assessment by a reading specialist or a psychologist to pinpoint her exact difficulties?  

You say that she is reading at a first grade level and that she's ten years old.  I've been a reading specialist for 35 years now and what I'm thinking right away is that she likely has a phonological awareness difficulty.  Probably letters and sounds don't make sense to her.  She's having to memorize words without being able to understand how to figure them out.  The English language probably doesn't make much sense at all.  Is that how she sees it, do you think?

For many years I've felt that often we aren't able to help students because we don't know enough about why they're having difficulties.  I suggest that you might want to look at my website (dynamicreadingandwriting.com) to see if some of the things I've noticed about why children have reading difficulties might apply to your daughter.

Do you have an educational specialist who gives you support in working with your daughter's home schooling program?  That would be critical I think because it's not just the curriculum you'll need to teach but you'll need to tailor-make a teaching program to show your daughter how to learn the curriculum, with specialized techniques and strategies.

Maybe you should try books that are audio. Sometimes the info, sinks in better when you hear it.

One way to get your daughter moving with her reading and writing would be to play games that practise reading and spelling. That way you can all have fun whilst she learns. You can make them up yourself or download material from the internet. My website www.readingwithouttears.com has some effective and fun games to play. There is also the software 'Wordshark 4' which is excellent. I use both in my teaching and get impressive results. Also read to her and discuss the content of the books. Write a few sentences about the story and then get her to read what she has said.
the best of luck!

All the experts I trust believe that dyslexia is usually caused by whole-word reading. Children taught to read entirely by phonics rarely have this problem. See article, decide for yourself.

I AM BASICALLY GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING WITH THE SCHOOL NOT HELPING MY SON MUCH. I AM A SINGLE PARENT AND THIS WHOLE SITUATION IS HARD FOR ME. I REALLY FELT LIKE I WAS THE ONLY ONE GOING THROUGH THIS. MY SON IS 9 YEARS OLD READING AND WRITING ON A 1ST GRADE LEVEL.I AM LOOKING FOR RESOURCES TO HELP HIM AS WELL. SORRY I WAS NO HELP TO ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION.

I teach middle school reading, and many of my students are at a very low reading level for their ages.  I've seen them improve using audiobooks, since it helps them relate written words on a page with spoken words that they hear in their everyday lives.  Their ability to retain vocabulary information has definitely improved since I've started implementing an audio element in their reading.  The program I'm using in my classroom is from Scobre Press.  They have MP3 players for all of their books.  You can see them at this website: http://www.scobre.com/products_bookbuddy.php  I think they let you hear samples.

Having been through this myself, and having lots of friends and family members who have been through this issue, I must strongly recommend you get an independent assessment with a qualified specialist.  Many of my family members are public school teachers or administrators, and I attended public school quite successfully, so I have nothing against public school, but statistically only 10% of dyslexics are accurately assessed through public schools.  It may be cheaper, but it very rarely is truly useful.  The private assessment i got was very extensive, gave me an amazing amount of detail about not only my daughter and son's weaknesses but also their strengths, and gave us a wonderful starting point for helping both children.  The informal assessment through the school was a joke and didn't help at all.  I also recommend reading "The Dylsexic Advantage" by Brock and Fernette Eide.  There are other really good books out there, but start with this one.  There is a LOT of misinformation and bad data floating around regarding Dyslexia.  So many so called experts out there unfortunately have not kept up with the current scientific, brain based research.  Science has made tremendous advancements in understanding what is happening in a dyslexic brain.  It is actually rather amazing.  Read the book, get a formal, private assessment, and you will be in much better shape to determine how to help your child, I promise you.

I am graduate student in an ESL program and earned already four other four years academic degrees, two vocational degrees, a programmer and network certificate, and I speak the German language fluent as well.  This is not a recommendation. No. You have to follow this:  Students with dyslexia symptoms process information different than students without dyslexia.  Dyslexia is a descriptive term so other humans do understand that this or that learner perceive information in a different way.  These students (e.g., your daughter) are as smart as other students and actually absorb more information than "standard" students.   The problem is to organize these information because of excessive amount of information.  Computer scientists call this an "data overflow" and the system starts panicing.  A human system is, of course, more complex.  Yet the "panic effect" also occurs in human mind which basically stops the progress of reading and writing abilities.   The "panic effect" is further built up by peer pressure and helpless parents who want that their kids are like other kids.  A student might be put in the role to become like their fellow students.  This is an absolute no-no.  Therefore the students has to develop his or her own method of how to read and write which leads, at the end, to the same results comparable with their fellow students.  This means a longer experimental phase for the students with dyslexia.  This is also one reason why "dyslexia" students appear to be slower than other students.  Their mind tries to find a workable and rational concept to process all absorbed information.  If you structure the learning behavior of a student in a static way, it might exactly happen the opposite of what you might expect (dyslexia).  Structures might be great for daily routines such as hygiene, taking meals, and changing clothes.  They are important for a healthy lifestyle.  But the mind is a matrix of time and space which does not always follow static structures.  So ask your daughter if she ever thought of how and where she likes to do her homework.  Perhaps going in the park Sunday morning and making up funny songs might help to soften old structures that block her mind from progressing reading and writing abilities.  Ask her if she can give some instructions to you (of course, only as a play).  Maybe she likes to be in control and might play a role what makes her feel important.  This creates a lot of free space in her mind and things get more relaxed.  I also would ask you that she writes letters on a different medium such as on sand.  Maybe she likes arts so she can paint stories including short sentences on the painting.  Painting happy clouds can, for instance,  feed her imagination to tell and write stories down.  The imagination has no limitations so let her dream what makes her happy.  The positive side effect of this approach: She will improve the ability to write and read without pressure.

Hi Angey, I completely understand your frustration.  I am a 43 year old with dyslexia, and I started college a year ago.  Some of the things that I have found very helpful are When she is reading, have her keep a dictionary near by.  One of the issues dyslexics have is when they are reading and they encounter a word or phrase they do  not understand, all information flies out of their head.  Another suggestion would be get her some books on tape.  Our local library has books with cd's.  She can listen and read along and this will enable her to read more on her age level and maybe even some of the books her friends are reading.  Have her use a ruler or piece of paper to keep her place.  As much as she may want to have the radio on, it isn't a good idea till she develops the coping mechanism of being able to block out all noise.  Also, the site www.freerice.com or .org is a great site that she can practice vocabulary and feed the hungry at the same time.  Building her vocabulary in a fun way will help with her reading.  If she is having issues with math, I found that writing out directions and examples and then using different colored highlighters to highlight the written direction and then the step in the problem really helps as well.  One other thing, if you can get your hands on a copy of "The Gift of Dyslexia" do so.  It saved me from feeling like I was stupid and incapable of learning.  It took me till I was 42 to decide to go to school, but I am so glad I did.  I am carrying a 4.0 getting my degree in elementary education with a dual certification in Special Education.  I hope this helps, and please feel free to contact me if I can do anything else, or if your daughter wants someone to talk to.

I also have a ten yr old daughter. She was not diagnosed with dyslexia. But I am quite certain she has it based on my knowledge(My brother has a very severe form) and life experience. She still confuses numbers and letters and writes them backward. She hates writing. We started homeschooling after first grade. I was being told she would be held back because she failed too many spelling tests. I waited many months to have her tested and gave up on the school doing anything(they don't recognize dylexia as a malady) WHATEVER!! I called our pediatrician's office and was referred to a psychologist. We visited her, made appointments for testing. She was tested by two different psychologists. One specialized in Dyslexia. After just a few weeks we met with the Psychologist again and were given results. She has ADHD/ADD. But she does not have dyslexia(according to them)  I've been blessed to live in a state that requires very little in the way of monitoring or anything. Actually I only have to turn in attendance and a school enrollment form once a year! SO we have gone into almost anti-school mode. Getting my two girls detoxed from the structure and rules and bad memories of their public school enviroment has taken almost 3 yrs and some days they STILL talk about how Mrs. So and So did things. UGH! I have the same problem with reading however, I'm unsure just what level she is on. We have tried to start over, which can be just as frustrating as not starting over.  Phonics is a BIG thing missing in a lot of PS's these days. I would start there. You can incorporate some of what she has already been exposed to, such as sight words. One thing that has taken the most time for us is getting the kids to understand they must read to comprehend, not to get the highest score on their DIBELS sheet. (The bane of my existance)this DIBELS crap is just that CRAP! I find NO value in it at all. We don't need speedy readers, we need children who can read and UNDERSTAND what they read. You can make flash cards with different words and have her make sentences and tell a story. We lay it out on the floor. Sometimes make a "train" of words. Spelling and reading can be very difficult for a dyslexic. But dyslexics are VERY intelligent. My brother's IQ is off the charts but he can barely print. He KNOWS the information, but he can't get his brain to let his hand write it down if it saved his life. I'm seeing similar qualities in my daughter. Her IQ wasn't nearly where his is, but it's ok. Let her be a kid, don't put too much pressure on you or her. Let her do things she likes to do. Check with your insurance to see if you can have the testing done for free. The Shriners do free testing but it can take a LONG time to move up to the top of their waiting list. If you can afford it, places like Appleton Learning and Sylvan may be able to test. But I highly recommend a psychologist. There are other issues besides the learning disability that may need to be addressed.  Like how to deal with a child who has ADHD. There may be meds that you can use to help with focus etc...We use none, but I'm re-thinking that a little. Most of all, just love your daughter. Let her be a kid and keep being her advocate. Do math lessons in the grocery store, ask her to read the menu at a restaurant. You can learn anyplace! We go outside and we travel extensively. We are enjoying learning, FINALLY! Good luck to you!

Try getting her to learn things without writing them down, ie. vocab., arithmetic, history etc. Train her to remember rather than recognise. This practice does help the subject and in some cases can almost cure dyslexia. The big secret is NOT to make a problem of it to your daughter.

Hello, I am in the same situation, I too have a 10 year old daughter with dyslexia and also reading at 1st grade level.  The only resource I have been given is the "Scottish Wright Masons".  I have yet to contact them to get help.  If you should find any resources, please let me know.
Dyslexia MOTHER