2 COMMENTS!

Could It Be Dyslexia?

My daughter, Natalie, has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and since her diagnosis several years ago, I’ve learned quite a bit about the condition. Now, I think it’s time to focus my attention on learning more about learning disabilities.

Natalie was quite delayed in both her physical and mental development when we adopted her from Russia six years ago. Her potential for learning was a big unknown. From the beginning, what we saw of her ability to learn was heartening, nearly miraculous. With enough to eat and a little (well, a whole lot of) love and attention, her learning took off like a rocket. Still, we knew it would take several years of school to sort out how much Natalie needed to catch up, before we could assess her ability to keep up.

Six years later, it’s still a bit of a mystery. We know Natalie has ADHD, and while ADHD is not a learning disability, its symptoms, such as lack of focus, can impact her ability to learn. We know she has Sensory Processing Disorder, and the results of Natalie’s SIPT testing gave me a little insight into how this added burden effects specific learning-related abilities, although that complex information hasn’t synthesized in my mind well enough that I can explain it! (Yeah, what she said!)

Nat will turn 9 on Sunday, and she’ll enter 3rd grade in the fall. And, I’m wondering if she’s dyslexic. I wonder if she’s at the right age, and has done enough of the work of catching up over the last six years, to separate this one specific issue out of the mystery-mix that is the one-and-only Natalie.

I read that it’s a myth that seeing letters or numbers in the wrong order, or writing them backwards, are signs of dyslexia. That some of that is normal up until a certain age, and that while some people with dyslexia do transpose numbers or letters, dyslexia involves much more than that--it describes a more general, more all-encompassing difficulty reading. Is that true? I don’t know! But it’s backward-ness and wrong-order-ness that I’m worried about with Natalie.

Here’s a somewhat comical example:

Natalie wrote “BM” in large capital letters on June 28 on our calendar. Why? Is she planning to...no, I won’t go there. It turns out “BM” stands for "My Birthday." Of course. Isn’t that obvious?

So, there’s that. Then a day or two later she and are playing with a magnetic calendar, and she’s putting the days in the squares one at a time. She gets to the number 12, and stops. She shows me both the number 12 and the number 21, and asks, “Mom, which one is 12?” She honestly couldn’t figure it out.

Our pediatrician mentioned sending us to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for a developmental evaluation. Looks like it’s time to follow through. And it looks like I’ll be looking for some good, easy to read and understand resources about learning disabilities.

2 Comments:

• Posted by CheriLee - Jul 2 2009 @ 5:55 PM
  Could it be dyslexia? Maybe.
  3rd grade, at least in my state (NC) is a year of new tests (EOG) and higher expectations. It is also the grade when kids' learning disabilities are often first identified because the system allows for a certain amount of catch-up, 3rd grade being the year they assume kids have leveled off. One thing that strikes me about your daughter is the fact that she is able to identify that there was a difference between the 12 and the 21, even if she wasn't able to select the correct number. Does she receive any special ed services through the schools? If not, many school systems will test a child for LD if you formally request it in writing. Though I warn you, you may be better off building a relationship with her 3rd grade teacher and letting him or her help lead you. Good luck!
• Posted by Tony - Jul 2 2009 @ 4:03 PM
  Dyslexia?
  A few years ago I found a great book about Dyslexia. It is called 'Overcoming Dyslexia' by Sally Shaywitz. She is an M.D. but has that wonderful ability to connect with readers using layman's terms. In the middle of the book are several pages of age-related checklists which could help you to decide whether a full blown Learning Assessment should perhaps be done. The reversals you mention, by themselves, are not indicative of Dyslexia but there may be other things going on and I am certainly not an expert. The book is a great help. One of my sons and my wife are Dyslexic and I have been around a number of diagnosed Dyslexic students. Have you talked to anyone at Natalie's school in the Special Ed department to see if they might offer the testing? A Psychoeducational Test is very expensive if you have to pay for it on your own. Be sure to have it administered by someone who is willing to sit down with you to interpret the data. There is a non-profit resource that I have used called Recording For The Blind And Dyslexic which offers recorded books for use by individuals who qualify. They have saved my son's school career. He uses his finger to read along with the cd of the book. His reading comprehension and vocabulary have improved dramatically. This is great accommodation for a Dyslexic student. I always find it interesting that ADHD is not considered a learning disability. The people who have made this judgment should be given a dictionary to look up those two words. In my own life many of the symptoms of my ADHD have had a very direct impact on my ability to learn. Good Luck.