Hope Again

When Maggie’s Academic Instructor said to me in a meeting, “Well, yes… this will help with her dyslexia.”  I said, “Wait a minute… I’ve never heard that diagnosis with Maggie before.  You think she is dyslexic?”  The instructor said, “Well, yes.  Of course she is.”

hmmmmm……

Well, what is a mother to do, but begin researching what dyslexia is, what is means for Maggie and if there help out there.   I have found hope again!!!!

You see, when you have a child with many dysfunctions and many a paper describing her as severely delayed, you can feel very lost without a direction to move through life. So she can’t write many words from memory…. what else can we do to help her?  So, she still can’t remember her touch points on math… what else can we do to help her?   So, she forgets the difference between a plus and minus sign…. what ELSE can we do to help her?  So, she still has fine motor skill trouble with her writing, lacking the ability to always form her letters in the lines correctly… WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO TO HELP HER??!!!! 

So, she is severely delayed in typical milestones…. now what!

Well, when I get a direction to move in, I jump in head first, without hesitation, because having a direction is HOPE!.  HOPE that she will be able to learn in her own way….. HOPE that I won’t just spend my days spinning the wheel of teaching… HOPE that she will be able to celebrate her learning without having to have spent e.v.e.r.y  l.a.s.t  o.u.n.c.e of energy trying to complete a given task.

“Dyslexia is an auditory/language problem, visual/perceptual problem,
and often also a visual/motor (eye/hand) problem.”
”Many times these children are not reading or reading at least two years behind grade level. They write almost no sentences from memory since their right, visual hemisphere is not storing words efficiently (copying a sentence is not considered writing). Transposing numbers (19/91) is not considered dyslexia. When a child reverses letters or numbers, even if only once in a while, you know that there is stress in the writing system—the child has to think about the direction of the letters rather than the content of the writing. I always take reversals (reading and writing) seriously past the first grade. One way to eliminate them is with Brain Integration Therapy exercises. “

Auditory Dyslexia

1. Difficulty learning the names of alphabet letters when in kindergarten.
2. Spelling has no phonetic pattern to it (“Tuesday” = “Tunday”).
3. Sounds out all words, including sight words (“many,” “could,” “these”).
4. Little memory of words just read in a previous sentence.
5. Sounds out the letters in a word but can’t put it into a whole (b-a-t).
6. Memorizes stories but can’t remember the same words in another story.
7. Phonics rules are not applied in the reading context.

Visual Dyslexia

1. In reading, reverses whole words sometimes (“on” = “no,” “was” = “saw”)
2. Regularly reads “big” as “dig.”
3. Very slow, labored reading. Often takes a deep breath.
4. Reads at least a year below grade level.
5. Scrambles letters in a word, reading “left” as “felt.”
6. Says that words wiggle when he or she reads.
7. Reads a word from the line above and adds to the present line.

Visual/Motor Dyslexia (Dysgraphia)

1. Reverses letters or numbers in writing.
2. Letters not written below the line (“g” and “y” for example).
3. When writing the alphabet, will ask “What does that letter look like?”
4. Cannot write words from memory.
5. Copying words is labor intensive, like replicating art work.
6. Hates to write.
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   Our Butterfly, described almost exactly!!!!
   
   So, here we go…. another brain therapy to research and implement!
   
   Oh, sweet little butterfly…. your brain what beautifully and wonderfully made… and God loves you!  My prayer is that we can help you train your brain to work side by side (hee hee, right hemisphere/left hemisphere!!!) I want you to be able to do all that YOU can do… because I know your heart desires more… we just need to get your brain to help you do that!
   
   HOPE!