Dyslexia

[estradling75]

Hey everyone,

I am hoping to tap into the wide range of real life experience here. My middle son has always had problems with reading and writing/spelling. For the longest time we figured he just wasn't interested and he can be more then a little flighty. As he has moved up through the grades it has only gotten worse.

Now my wife and I are not the kind of parents that jump to some kind of medical condition every little thing, but at the same time we don't want to miss a valid condition that when known can be adapted to.

This doesn't seem to be correctable through more personal parental help with his studies. So when we started looking around we found this Symptoms of Dyslexia

Reading through that list and comparing it to how he has does in scripture and other reading as well as in school work he does seem to hit a majority of the symptoms for Dyslexia.

My questions are, what else could it be? (Assuming it is something)

And if it is dyslexia how can you know for sure, and how to you adapt?

Thanks

[Gwen]

Without actually knowing your son it's hard for anyone here to say what it could be. You need to take him to a qualified professional for diagnosis. Some schools will do the testing if the teacher reports the same issues as the parents. Though there is debate (depending on the school system you live in) on how accurate their testing is. There are actually a lot of things it could be when you are just talking about reading problems.

How old is he? What are his strengths? What is his preferred learning style? Before you can adapt you have to know exactly what it is.

[Jennarator]

I would have him tested. The schools can help with that.

Pretty much everyone in my family has it, so I know no different. It effesct everything from reading to driving directions, to sports.

There are lots of different kinds of it, so how it is treated depends on how sever it is, and what kind he has.

My suggestion, go to the school, first they have resources.

There is no need (unless super severe) for "spevial classes." No body in my family ever need that. We all did sports and adapted very well. My husband teses me, someimtes, but he only means it in fun. My family jokes about it. It can turn to a non issue, once he learns to accept it and deal with it.

Good luck!

[Backroads]

I would be foreward having the schools test him, because many school districts lump most reading problems into the dyslexia category.

[Eltelepi]

There is quite a few things it could be. A learning disorder, dysgraphia, dyslexia or many others. It can also be more than one. Or maybe he needs to be taught differently. I'm currently looking for what my son needs to get help (way different issues, tho). Here in Canada I would say get the opinion of a specialist, but I don't know how the medical system works in the US, if it's really difficult, or really expensive or anything.

[Torrence]

If you are in the United States you can go to your child's school and ask for testing; let them know your concerns. Keep on the schools case. If you are out of school at the mean time your insurance might pay for testing outside of school.