Hi

Have you tried getting an occupational therapist to make an assessment? It's a long wait for the school board OT ppl where I work, but if you can afford one privately, I highly recommend it. The OT can give you exercises that will help strengthen the skills he's weak in.

Also, the "Brain Gym" program is effective as well. It's easy to do and often fun.

There are so many components to reading and writing... try looking up checklists for: dysgraphia, dyslexia... and related. it will help you narrow down his challenges.

something called "phonemic awareness" is also important... Mel Levine is a good name to look up

The Davis method for dyslexia is also a really good place to start, the book "The Gift of Dyslexia" is a good primer on it. I've flipped through and read excerpts and it makes sense from a psychological perspective (I majored in psych in university) in terms of information processing.

There are some other theories out there about if it's a visual processing concern: maybe the text appears to be swirling, broken up... the letters dancing around...?

what does your son find hard about reading? does it look different? do the words move around? does he forget the sounds a letter or group of words makes? is his letter formation sloppy? is it easier for him to read if he has a ruler under the sentence? or if the print is bigger? does he know the rules for reading and making words? (that a syllable is a sound chunk, and made up of one vowel and most of the time some consonants)

A speech language pathologist will also be able to help - which you might have to find on your own. it is a lot of detective work, but once you can figure out the SPECIFIC difficulties (your son is old enough to maybe be able to tell you himself)

I'm the opposite! I have a hard time with numbers and am much better at reading and writing, once I have my short term working memory under control. (I have ADHD myself, LD and am gifted... and work as a special education assistant)

Let me know if you have any other questions. I've worked with a bunch of families who've had to try and figure out the underlying issues.

:) maki

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My yr old son also a problem reading. I am also beggining to wonder if his condition may require professional help like a therapist. He went to a speech therapist for about 2 months last summer, but she did not think his problem had anything to do with speech. So i am back at square one. We have very limited funds and I don't even know where to start?!

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mommm said:

Do ADHD children have more of a difficult time learning to read and to write? My son is having a difficult time, the school and all the specialist are deciding if he is eligible for special ed, but they have no idea what the problem is, I think he has a terrible time tracking, that his little fast mind does not slow down to comprehend the letters and sounds, writting is worse. He loves math and is above for his age. HELP>>>>

My son is now almost 13 and didn't learn to read until he was 8. He attended the Montessori school for 4 years until head was 7 then public school. I say THANK GOD the Montessori school focused on letter sounds and phonics. At 8 when magically the reading happened, he has since surpassed all his classmates in his reading, comprehension skills and vocabulary. He devours books and loves to read at night before going to sleep. By the way, he also has great math skills. Hang in there, suddenly the switch will turn on with yours too. Joann

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Here are some great articles I found about bolstering reading and writing skills in children with ADHD...

Better Language Skills for Children with ADHD or Learning Disabilities: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1039.html Reading Help for Children with ADHD: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/2530.html Make Reading Riveting for Children with ADHD: http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/1869.html Writing Skills for Children with ADHD: http://www.additudemag.com/RCLP/sub/2747.html

And more: http://www.additudemag.com/topic_archives/adhd-learning-disabilities/dyslexia-math-help.html

Hope that helps!

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IMy seven year old daughter is the same way. We have an amazing teacher who has helped so much. She has started a technique called SQ3R with my daughter. What she was able to read, she couldn't remember. Basically she surveys the story (looks at pictures, etc then I write what she dictates as her observations). Then she "writes" questions about what she observed. Next I read the passage or few pages. She then reads the same pages. Anytime she gets to a word she had to sound out we write that in her log as well. This is all one-on-one, but she has gone from getting 30's and 50's in comprehension to getting 100's. It has also improved her confidence and self-esteem in this area. You could always google SQ3R and find out more.

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this sounds very familiar. My son is in 9th grade now. Was diagnosed with ADD (inattentive type) in 3rd grade. Has always struggled with reading but seemed to be more with comprehension and appeared in early grades was sounding out most words (not reading super slow or super fast), skipped words and lines, and just had terrible time concentrating while reading. Just had him re-tested again (all testing was done privately) and found out he has a reading disability problem with phonological processing. We are having a few more tests done but he may be dyslexic. In early grades he was probably memorizing words instead of sounding them out. Just last year he realized that words moving on the page was not normal and never said anything before because he thought it was normal. Took him to an eye doctor (opthamologist - you have to find the right one; not all are good at diagnosing difficult eye problems) anyways found out my son has had visual impairment that is not completely correctable called insufficiency convergence and is common in ADD kids. He has a presciption prism lens on his glasses that he says corrects the problem about 75% and has helped quite a bit. We plan to take him to CALT (certified language therapist that works with kids his age at start of summer). Amazingly my son has learned to cope along the way; he's able to do advanced high school work without reading much and make good grades. We now looking at text books on cd through Recording for Blind and Dyslexic.

I would consider getting your child tested by neurophysc for a complete evaluation to see if he has other learning disabilities. If we had known in elementary school what we know now our son wouldn't have had to suffer all those years not to mention the affect it has had on his overall well being ---- very long hours of homework after school and on weekends. I would spend the money on the best neurophysc you can find in your area and get him tested.

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My ADHD son is GREAT at math, as I was but horrible at reading. I am an adult ADHD, and I was diagnosed at 1st grade because I could not read, so I could not write. I was not capabible of sounding out words at all. I did flash cards of words over, and over, and over, and over until I recognized them. I do not read, I recognize but it seems to be an ongoing difficulty with ADHD disorder.

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It might be helpful to learn that there are some, NON-INVASIVE strategies that you can use to help with the challenges of ADD or ADHD. Here are just a few.

Politely request (as a parent) or allow for (as a classroom teacher) the following for a student:

1. Being seated near the teacher or other presenter

2. Printing of worksheets on pastel-colored paper (white-paper background can cause focusing issues for some)

3. Using graph paper while doing any math work to help promote placeholder accuracy

4. Having unit, course, or book content available via audiotape or CD

5. Underlining or highlighting important key words in a set of directions BEFORE beginning an assignment or task

6. Folding a worksheet or list of instructions into sections so that only a small amount of text or information is visible at one time

7. Having access to a copy of a peer or co-worker's notes, especially after a lecture or other oral presentation

8. Using special reading and learning tools, especially tools that can be customized for the individual reader or learner

For MORE strategies, please visit http://readingfocuscard.com/strategies.html

Miss Joan

Middle school teacher Parent of 4 sons

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Do you have a Reading Specialist in your school or District who can test your child and find out what actual reading level he might be reading at? Once they can get the concrete facts, I would think it would be better for them to map out a program for your child, as he might be good in comprehension but possibly weak in inferencing, or strong in vocabulary, etc. There are so many different areas that comprise being a "good" reader this might help to pinpoint where a program would need to be developed. Perhaps also if there is no Reading Specialist in your school, your BSI person can administer the test?

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