I have a 7yr old niece who I believe has dislexia. I worked with her on several occasions and noticed when she writes and reads she writes the mirror images of letters and numbers. And when reading has difficulty with d's and b's. I told my sister who addressed the issue with her teachers.
The teacher advised she is too young to diagnose and refused to help. Her doctor advised testing is not covered on her medicare plan and she would have to pay $1500 to get my niece evaluated.
I am concerned because in the research I have done online it clearly indicates that waiting to be tested is the worst thing you can do for a child. I fear that waiting until the 4th grade to be tested as the teacher suggested will only ensure my niece is further behind in school.
Anyone have any suggestions? Maybe some test centers out there that won't charge an arm an a leg?
That kind of reversal is not that unusual at her age. Is it affecting her comprehension and word identification? If so, she can request her elementary school to test her at no charge. She may have to press the point with her teacher, but the school is legally obligated to test.
Most cannot test young children because of the type of testing needed (ie reading/writing).... but here is a GREAT option. I totally believe in helping children as young as possible! Why wait!
There is an auditory stimulation program that helps with Dyslexia, among many other problems. It is called The Listening Program. It is a homebased program, only consisting of 15-30 min a day for 5 days a week. Amazing, proven results!
Go to www.thelisteningprogram.com to learn more. If you have questions, I am a Certified Provider located near Park Meadows. ;) I hope this helps you!
Thanks,
V. Hoskins
I was tested in 3rd grade and my parents found a wonderful teacher to help. I feel that the sooner children are tested the better. APS does have testing for children. You will need to call the district. After she is tested. An IEP (Individual Education Plan)will need to be done so that she will receieve the help she needs. APS number is ###-###-####. Another place that you can look for help is PEAK Parent Center. They work with families with children with all types of disabilities. Their contact information is 1-800-284-0251 or ____@____.com. Their website is http://www.peakparent.org/
K.
I would make an appointment with the principal and the teacher, to discuss what your able to do. If that doesn't help call the school boards and see if they can recommend anything. Thats all I can think of. I wish you well.
I used to work for Sylvan Learning Center, and deal a lot with the schools. Yes, you can request testing. Legally, the school has to follow up. The teachers are professionals, and if they say it's too early to test, then the testing they have does not accommodate a child of 7. You can press the point and get the testing, but in the end it may not be valid because of the age of your child.
My advice is to continue working with the child. Don't make a big deal out of the letter switching, or she will become defensive about it and worsen the issue. It is not uncommon for children younger than 3rd grade to confuse b/d or even p/q and 9/6. If she were writing whole words backwards, that would be more alarming. But it is still early. I agree on getting help the soon the better. I also agree with a previous post that advised focusing on auditory learning. Read to her A LOT! Back off from asking her to perform in reading. Children learn more than we know by listening to stories being read to them. They hear inflection in our voice and if they know enough to follow along while you read, they can learn how to pause correctly for punctuation.
If you are still concerned, you can take her to Children's Hospital for testing, they should have age appropriate testing, but dyslexia is difficult to diagnose because mixing up b/d is common for youngsters learning to read.
www.bookadventure.com is a great free service that allows the child to tell the site what kind of books they like and then take comprehension quizzes.
Good luck and keep reading!
My two younger kids still, on occasion, switch the d's and b's. Neither one are dyslexic. Go to DianneCraft.com for an incredible resource and encouragement! If there is dyslexia, she can help and it won't cost $1,500!
Draw a picture of the b first, then the d to it's right - put the e in the middle and make a bed. The child will learn to see the 'bed' and know which letter goes which way! Dianne if full of these kinds of helps.
Good luck,
C. G.
HI,
My neighbor here in Aurora is a dislexia specialist and does the testing for children in 1st grade. Her name is Susan Yost and would be a great person to talk to, ###-###-####. She works with two school districts and has two sons herself.
hi yes he may have that my 9 yr girl had the same promblems and it turned out she just needed a little more help in school and her b and d turned around a little bit better. but they did the same with my girl on waiting till 4th grade to tests her. the school system is hard to do anything wrong sometimes. i also took her to a phycoligists and other places to get help early. I hope this helps . god bless.
What school district does your sister live in? Your sister can request that her daughter be tested by a special-ed teacher, or if her school has a Linda Mood-Bell reading program, that teacher may be able to help point you all in the right direction.I can't believe her teacher just flat refused to help! Sounds like a real winner!
The school district that your sister is in should have a program to test the children with learning disabilities. Denver's is called Child Find. You can call DPS and they can help you find the appropriate dept in her district.
The sooner the better. The longer you wait the more likely her disability will become habit. Our really good friends live next door to the family that owns Dyslexia Institutes of America. They do the testing but for a 1/3 of the fee most others charge. If nothing else, you can rule it out!
Contact Rick Sorrentino at ###-###-####. Their web address is coloradodyslexia.com. Good luck.
Hi L.,
I am not sure what school district they live in but coming from DPS as well as Cherry Creek as a Special Education teach for K-8 it is most definately a thing we screen. I worked with kindergarten students who couldn't even identify the alphabet, don't tell me that is too young to see some concerns. I think you go over the teachers head, hard thing to do at times but head to the principal to voice your concerns diplomatically and see what she could do. I would also try contacting the special education department and see if there is someone you could speak to about your concerns. I would however, have documentation to provide and lots of it. It is so much more convincing to show the work that your concerned about and another thing would be to write down possibly how long it too for her to do that task. When we test, we do a LOT of timed testing so (for example) if it took her 15 minutes to write the alphabet, there is concern. I would not stop because as muich as I am not a George Bush fan there is a thing that is help over every teacher and administrator out there and it is called "no child left behind". Push, push and push to get that little one tested now. They can do an assessment and see where she falls, all it is for them is a little bit of their time. The earlier the better to be tested, take it from me. I am testing 8th graders who have had problems like this all through elementary school and now they are so far behind, they HATE school! Good luck!!
