Reading and writing

I understand you so much, as I always felt the same about books

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I'm dyslexic as well as autistic. 

Constantly having to proof read every word to make sure there's no slip ups.

I always felt sad about not being able to read and write properly.

My son struggled to read and he is not able to predict what comes next in a sentence. He couldn't blend words either. I used to use and talk about the pictures a lot. My son loved the repetitive stories, especially Julia Donaldson ones as they rhyme. His favourite was the Ladybird one. -That is good too as the Ladybird has a texture in the pictures. He is not dyslexic but at the suggestion of our optician he found a blue filter over words helped. He is 14 now and his reading has improved, although he still needs help at school.

We had a lot of audiobooks and borrowed from the library, so he could follow or become familiar with stories. Also with the summer coming, use anything you can to help with identifying useful words on signs as part of games which are fun.

Regarding writing, that is also something he found difficult, but because he has an EHCP he is able to use his Chromebook for more of his lessons which helps.

I'd suggest helping him into learning music through playing an instrument. He may have trouble with notes on the paper, but find someone who's willing to help him learn a thing by ear to start, following along on paper. Music helps us create a wealth of network connexions in our brain. Another idea is to learn songs and sing them along with the lyrics.

My son had dyslexia and video games helped - the ones which he had to learn to read short sentences, like Zelda. I think this company has some fun games which help children with learning https://www.teachyourmonster.org

I read with a bookmark to underline the letters like a placard otherwise they can blur together. Paper is always easier than digital, as well. But there's usually neurological wiring creating a strength, redirecting focus from connecting symbols together to sound out language. The brain is a fascinating machine- it can put some compartments to sleep to funnel energy into others. Find his strengths so he has something he feels confident in. For many it can be something kinetic.

I have to say that it’s great to hear that despite negative experiences at school. That people and children do improve, become more confident and very successful. My Son does have an EHCP as he is behind academically.

Thank you. At the moment his difficulties are being put down to delayed development in certain areas.With Maths he can recognise numbers and count to 100 but he isn’t able to do sums. Whether there is another reason for this I don’t know 

I always struggled with writing, as did my brother. 

We learn in our own time. 

HI there,

I agree with Dawn. My daughter had similar problems. Her hand used to hurt so much trying to hold a pencil and write. We used pencil grips which really helped. We also bought fat crayons/pencils. Things that were easier to grip and let her go crazy with paint...window pens...anything that made the mark making fun. It turned out she was dyslexic and had fine motor problems. We think there is a degree of dyspraxia there.

She is now in year 4 at school and still has issues....but her writing is legible and she can write quite small letters. Its just taken her much longer than her peers but it can all be overcome. Just be super patient and don't put pressure on him because if he suddenly decides he hates doing it or gets anxious it will be hard to turn that around. Thats what happened to us because of poor teaching at school...the teacher was awful and put a lot of pressure on her. She refused to write anything for months! Patience all the way.

Hi

When my son first went to primary I was called in by his teacher and told that he was ‘retarded’ (this was 25 years ago) I was told that he needed specialist help which they did not have. After crying with rage when I got home.  I used the fledgling internet to find some help. First I got him a book called Toe by Toe ( still available on Amazon) It is an incredible work book that helps dyslexic youngsters and adults to read by putting just two and then three letters together. No more than ten minutes working on that a day. I then got him a slanted writing board -because I felt that his upper body strength was poor and this was affecting the  control he had with a pencil and in order to be able to write and draw he needed the paper to be in a different position.  I got him thicker pencils and also with one of those big rubber balls worked out a five minute, fun, exercise routine to help with his upper body strength.  I also found wonderful computer games that not only helped him read but helped with his hand control and his confidence. And of course I constantly told him that he was wonderful.

This was the start of our school journey. The journey was hard and I had to constantly fight his corner - I did a great deal of research and experimentation with him and my other children on different ways to  learn using the seven intelligences. Singing and dancing and hiding index cards and using funny voices and and a whole load of other stuff.

Now he is a professor of philosophy. 

I hope some of this might help

Sometimes a particular child is just not neurologically ready to read and write. My elder daughter had great problems at that age, she just didn't have the brain connections to be able to make sense of written words. Her teachers made things worse as they are measured on the performance of the children in their class, and seem to expect all children to progress at the same rate. However, it is just frustrating for the child to be pushed so hard, when they just cannot yet function in that way. All at once, my daughter picked it up, and she zoomed ahead, at 11 she had the reading age of a 13 year old. About a year and a half ago she obtained a first class electrical engineering degree.

Where there is one neurodivergence, there is sometimes another...could he also be dyslexic?  I am both.  Reading was agony for me at primary, which made me so sad as I so desperately wanted to access all the lovely books.