Need dyslexia help

[artemesia]

I need advice on getting help for my niece who we feel has dyslexia. The school she is in is not being very helpfull so the family is looking for outside options. MIL and SIL have read the book "Gift if Dyslexia" and found it very informative and feel that the approach and techniques described in the book might be a good path to take. MIL has located a teacher in the area who has been trained in the method that was developed by the author of the book, but A.'s teacher was not very positive about this method. MIL is conflicted now about what to do. The teacher said that she has read the book and taken the training course, but said that one of her other students went through the program and it didn't help. I am a bit leary of her advice since she hasn't been very proactive about helping A. and seems to simply advocate rote memorization as the learning tool to help A.'s dyslexia.
Have any of you read the book or been through this particular program? Or do you have any other suggestions? They live in the RIchmond Va area, if anyone might know any resources available in this region.

[hahamommy]

Check out this website avko.org I was referred to it as a homeschooling mom because they have an awesome spelling program that was designed for kids with dyslexia but it's so commonsensical that it can/should be used for any kid. AVKO stands for Audio, Visual, Kinesthetic & Oral ~ a multi-sensory approach to learning. I'm sure you (and they) will find the website comforting and informative.
Best of luck to your family
~diana ild

[lauren]

I don't think I can help much regarding the particular approach, but I do know from my work in the schools that the term dyslexia has kind of fallen out of favor in schools. I'm wondering if you can find out what they would call the problems your niece has, and how they would approach them. Sometimes it seems schools get a little nervous when parents come in with a label for their child, insisting things be done a certain way. I am just curious whether they are experiencing any problem with the child or not. They can do formal testing in school to determine whether she has any learning difficulties and if she does, they would be required to offer special services to address them (this is through the IEP or Individualized Education Program process).

I am wondering if you've done a search using one of the search engines to find general and/or specific info on dyslexia.

Wish I could be more helpful!

[somemama]

I've heard this theory but never actually tried it out. Get colored transparency paper and put it over something for her to read. See if it makes a difference in her ability to read.

For some kids, light sensitivity gets mistaken for dyslexia. I'd be interested to know if this actually works.

[artemesia]

THanks for the feedback. She was tested last year, and the school didn't really say much one way or another, and they have been VERY slow getting her any kind of help. BAsically, so far they have said she's slow and in not so many words lazy. THere is a lot of other factors going on, especially at home. SIL (not her mother) had her tested specifically for dyslexia through a private company at her own expense, and I do not know the specific results but I was told that she did have dyslexia. RIght now at her school she goes to the special ed classroom for part of the day for extra work on reading and spelling, and there has been a bit of improvement but not much. The family iss pulling together and trying to push the issue, and it seems to be a constant battle with the school. I live out of town so I only get long didtance updates and when we are in town. We have gotten the inpression that there are some socio-economic issues going on, as her parents are very low income, live in a trailer etc. that the school is just putting this off and hoping that they will go away. But as I said, the extended family is working with this too and will not give up.
SOrry for the sloppy typing, it's a sticky keyboard.
MIL is looking for something that she can do with A. at home when she has her (which is not all the time) or a program outside of school that could help her, because this has been dragging on for quite some time and she is falling further and further behind, and we are worried how she will fare socially (being labeled stupid and such by her peers). The whole thing is a big mess, much more than her problems at school and it would take me hours to type it all out. We are just trying to find solutions to as many of the problems as we can in this difficult situation.
Her academic difficulty seems to be letter recognition and reversal when writing, and she can get short words like cat and the like, but non-physical words like should or and seem to trip her up. UNfortunately, she is now totally turned off by learning and school.
Thanks for the website suggestion, I will check it out.