Learning Disabilities

[WWofford]

I'm concerned about my 6 year old son. I believe he might have a learning disability. We're just doing basic phonics and he can't seem to get the hang of it. He can't remember or seem to distinguish between some of the sounds or remember short 2 letter words that we've just gone over. Should I be concerned? Is it too early to tell? I'm getting low on patience now. Anyone with any encouraging words or advice?

[sbgrace]

Does he have any signs of dyslexia? http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html My son did and we switched our approach based on that to one that would be effective for dyslexia.
I think sometimes kids just need time to grow into things but if you're dealing with an actual disability like dyslexia they aren't going to just magically get better and targeted intervention started early can make a huge difference. That difference is not just in terms of outcomes but also in how the child views himself.

If he's got warning signs there I'm happy to share with you what I learned. Even if he doesn't I can make some suggestions too in terms of programs you might try. Because you mentioned the struggles with possibly hearing the sounds I'd encourage you to try this assessment. http://www.bartonreading.com/students_long.html#screen If that's an issue there are programs to address it and you'd do those before you expected him to be able to make progress in phonics. If he can't hear the differences in sounds he needs that basis first. Let me know if I can help.

[WWofford]

Thank you for the dyslexia list. Very helpful. The only thing I could pick out was the directionality problem. I just noticed this one the other day. We were going thru the list of lowercase letters the other day and I was getting him to tell me what they were and he did confuse the d's and b's, same with u's and n's. He said they were the same. I explained they were not the same, but we haven't gone over them again. My mother has dyslexia (never diagnosed) but she has a directionality problem (and other problems with language and writing) that I noticed a few years ago. My husband said he had a lot of problems with that as a child, also.

We have just recently moved into an RV so I have no room for our printer, so I will have to get the materials mailed to me. But, I'm very interested in program suggestions.

Thank you so much for your help. I usually don't have much luck with MDC.

[SundayCrepes]

He may not be neurologically ready to read. Check out this article:http://www.lilipoh.com/articles/2007..._children.aspx

[sbgrace]

Originally Posted by WWofford

Thank you for the dyslexia list. Very helpful. The only thing I could pick out was the directionality problem. I just noticed this one the other day. We were going thru the list of lowercase letters the other day and I was getting him to tell me what they were and he did confuse the d's and b's, same with u's and n's. He said they were the same. I explained they were not the same, but we haven't gone over them again. My mother has dyslexia (never diagnosed) but she has a directionality problem (and other problems with language and writing) that I noticed a few years ago. My husband said he had a lot of problems with that as a child, also.

We have just recently moved into an RV so I have no room for our printer, so I will have to get the materials mailed to me. But, I'm very interested in program suggestions.

Thank you so much for your help. I usually don't have much luck with MDC.

It's normal for six year olds to have issues with switching those types of letters I believe.
Is there a way you can do the assessments? I would be reassured if he passes those. Also, if he can tell you first sound, last sound, rhyme, etc. that is also reassuring. There is a form of dyslexia that is different. The child can often understand phonics and even spell well but they can't seem to visually remember things. So they may sound out the word correctly but then next time they encounter the word it's the same process all over again like it's brand new.