My 8 year old daughter was confirmed as having ADHD and Dyslexia on the 18th. Her teachers and I have suspected for sometime. She is on the worlds best nutritional supplements and we watch her diet. She isn't classic ADHD in as much as she isn't out of control with the constant movement. She has impulse control issues and flies into rages. Her teachers are super. My question is does any body have any experience with the combination of these two diagnosis' and what if any tricks have you learned to help in the learning process.
Thanks for all your input. Especially, Thank You, to those of you who sent me the web sites with the great information. I will pass this along to her teacher too. She is very committed to learning all she can about ways to help Payten. I would try the home school thing but the the one thing God didn't give me was the patients to teach. I thank him very much for the ones he did give it to. And for hose of you who are dealing with these problems yourselves, you are in my prayers. Thanks to all who have tried to market their nutritional products but we have that part completely under control.
I have Dyslexia...found out in the first grade. I had a super hard time learing to read, but I am now almost finished with my master's thesis and I teach 8th grade reading and writing.
One of the tricks that helps me is highlighting...post-its for her grade. The color helps keep my eyes on the words...also recently I came across color transparencies...thought this was a cool idea.
It helps the letters seem clearer.
Vision Therapy! My sister Hannah has both of those issues, and this last winter she has gone through vision therapy. It has been wonderful. I don't know if your daughter has trouble reading at all, but if she does, it might be worth looking into. Do some research online. I don't know if there is a facility in Salem, but the doctors in Eugene at the Foley Institute have been wonderful, and it truly has made a difference. It could be that it wouldn't help your daughter, but I'm sure you're willing to try anything! It is worth at least looking into. Good luck!
I have dyslexia myself. When I was in High school I went across the country to see Dr. Harold Levinson who has a different way of treating dyslexia than any other doctor. You might be interested to read his books or check out his website. I used to go for an appointment through the time I was in college. I never had any of the typical symptoms. Normally kids that have been diagnosed with these types of things generally have been able to compensate for the learning problems up until a certain point in many ways. Everyone that has dyslexia is not effected in the same way. Everyone always says you read things backwards, etc. But that was not my problem. I had problems taking notes in class. I was allowed in high school and college to tape lectures. I was allowed if I wanted to to get books on tape for classes. I was allowed to have extra time to take tests. I could do the same things it just took me longer to process, to read, etc. Here's his current website. http://www.dyslexiaonline.com/bio.html I have his first book, Smart but Feeling Dumb and A Scientific Watergate.
Good luck.
C.
My step-daughter has ADHD and had many tantrums. I once took a coloring book and put IT into time out. She was coloring with a yellow pen on newsprint and couldn't see the color. She stabbed the coloring book with the felt pen and went through the book several times!
I did a lot of making sure the light was good for projects and encouraged any positive behavior.
As far as the dyslexia goes, I'm dyslexic as is my son. There are many good and new ways to teach us. There is a "picture story" that can teach the multiplication tables, without the frustration. As far as reading goes what worked for my son was listening to books on tape and reading along with them. He now reads on his own and enjoys it (He's 10 and just read his first "real" book on his own!)
Good luck!
I, too, have dyslexia. The things that helped me were glasses, notes, and wordsearch puzzles. The glasses were not strong- they just evened out my eyesight and helped me to focus. The notes were written by someone else for me to copy. This was most important in school. Someone else wrote what I needed to know and I would take the notes home and copy them. Then I had notes, had done the work, and it helped me to learn what letters needed to go where. If I copy something wrong, I can go back to the original notes and see where I messed up, and I know when they are wrong because when I read back through the notes, they won't always make sense, but at least I have the original ones to fall back on. I hope all that just made sense. Since she is 8, her teacher can help her by having whatever she needs to write down on a paper beside her in large-ish print. It doubles the difficulty to have to write stuff from the board. I do it for my students- it really doesn't take much extra time at all.
And word searches- they force the mind to seek out one letter at a time. There are a bunch of letters all mixed up on a page and you have to pick out the right ones. Good training for the mind. Word search puzzles are a lot how a dyslexic sees a page of words. It can be very overwhelming. Even doing a puzzle a day or working on one a little every day should help her mind be able to work out words.
Numbers are a different world, though. I haven't quite figured out what to do about that yet. Good luck to you!
* I am so grateful for the little red line under misspelled words on computers that tell you that you just spelled a word wrong! I still make an error now and again, but when I type, the computer helps me see where I have goofed. It is the lazy way out, but don't discard it altogether. If she can have a laptop or something in high school, then it will make her life easier. I know they are allowed in college.
I have a son who ha ADHD and impulse control. The best thing we fine is a consistent schedule. That means both you and your child, which isn't easy when both of you work and your child is involved in extracurricular activities. Also getting the teacher on board is extremely important. It sounds like you have. We recently started a "behavior management program" for school. I have it in quotes because all we are doing is simply having the teacher write down what score our son achieves during school based on his behavior that day.
He was having a week recently where he was in trouble 4 times...for not listening, talking out of turn, simple control issues that are disruptive that we know he is able to control. Well, the "program" instituted is simply a piece of paper with his name, date, and then the 1-4 system....4=excellent, 3=good, 2=fair, 1=poor. The school/room rules are also listed. Be respectful, be safe, be kind, be responsible. We have discussed with our son what these mean, he knows and can generally state a behavior or 2 of good behavior.
The other thing we are doing is giving him incentives to behave. We have made copies of the forms and have him fill them out the night before school, so he gets it ingrained into his mind how he is going to behave. Then this copy gets hung on his bathroom mirror with tape by him. After the score comes home, we are hanging it in his room right by his door (we moved it when he had his birthday party for his friends last week) so he can see the how he is doing. He has had five 4's and one 2.5.
He does take Metadate in the morning for ADHD and then Clonidine at night for impulse control. The only day he got a 2.5 was the day he and dad went out for breakfast before late start at school and his medication was forgotten that morning.
Perhaps some of this will help you with your daughter and the impulse control....which can be as simple as talking out of turn when others are talking.
Hey there,
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Hi M.
I have text book Dyslexia and have had for all my life.
Dyslexia is a eye to brain isue... It is not an intelagance isue. I was tested with an IQ of 175 but I have a horrable time spelling and reading. At 8, your Doughter has an incredable amount of pear and school presure on her. With the Dyslexia it can cause depresion, anxiaty, and a host of other symptoms. ADHD is kind of a catch all that is used for children that the adults can not figure how to contraal or what to do with them. The disorder is disruptive to those around the child. The trama the child is going threw is hard enough but than with all the other isues around it and the reaction of other children and adults makes it even harder.
Today there are special programs to help the Dyslexia person in learning how to cope with the EYE to Brain connection. Your doughter is probably VERY SMART and that also is a chalange for the adults. The child probably is smart enough that she is board and frustrated so she acts out, and it works, she is no longer board.
Harsh disiplin will only cause her to act out even more and cause more resentments and the cycle continues.
Do the reserch about Dyslexia and ADHD, look to to holistic approch, a hole body aproch. Look at non AMA aproches as well as AMA. With out knowing all the details this is the best I can do to attempt to help, good luck.
Hi M., I just recently have been working with someone who has those same two issues and has dealt with them since childhood. She is now in her 20's and seeing remarkable changes in not only her depression and ADHD or ADD (I am not sure which), but is now reading fluently for the first time in her life! It is so wonderful! The change has come about through nutritional supplements although she had been trying a host of things over the years nothing gave her the turnaround this has. If you want to talk to her let me know. She is a sweet girl and she has adopted 2 children, one who also had ADHD and is doing way better. Her, or her mom who has worked with her over the years,may be able to share other things as well that they have learned to be helpful. Her name is Naleena. My email is ____@____.com
Hi M.,
My name is A. Swift. i live here in The Dalles area.
I see you are a Usana distributer and your daughter is on it already. I have been in the nutrition industry most of my life and 6 years ago was introduced to a patented nutritional powder that has helped people with many issues all the other very fine products had not helped with in the way this has. I have friends that have seen help with dyslexia, ADHD and many other serious issues. In fact my sister in laws grandaughter has has amazing help with autisism, ADHD, and has a split IQ. she would be happy to share with you if you are interested in seeing your daughter helped.Call for info
A. Swift ###-###-####
Raising a sensory smart child is an awsome book, by Carol Kranowitz. It deals w/ all areas of ADHD, ADD SPD and in general kids who need stimulation or need less stimulation, it also will direct you to OT help that will help w/fidigting (tools for stiiting quietly, like a pillow that inflates your child can sit on, it keeps them just off balance enough that they will move constantly yet not noticeably) and their works habits will improve.
Take good care,
H.
Hi - Congrats on turning 50! You know 50 is the new 30!! I am 47 and am mother to 4 year old Freddy who has recently been diagnosed w/ASD. Also a dietitian - can I ask what nutritional supplements your daughter is using?? Freddy is a notoriously picky eater . Thanks M.. M.
My son has this as well. 8 is the toughest age when they have these two things. It is hard to see the future when you are struggling with homework each night. My son is 13 now and is getting straight A's in middle school. He is no longer in any special classes either. This website helped me a lot:
http://www.dys-add.com/
spechial ed helped me they help you with the same stuff you learn in a normal class room but at a slower rate and help you under stand things
Updated
spechial ed
Watching her diet....... does that include NO gluten, cassine (milk and milk products), or sugars?
Vision Therapy...I am a vision therapist in Bend and I deal with MANY kids with dyslexia and ADHD and it can make a world of difference. It's a HUGE committment on your part but can change her world. There are wonderful vison therapy clinics in Eugene...one of the best in the country!! Look into it.
I have an 7 1/2 year old who is dyslexic. From doing lots of research I have personally learned that the teachers in schools are not specifically trained in Dyslexia. I also found out on the internet that one of the schools in Bremerton does have a dyslexic program that they have been trying out on the children but they have shown that the children have not improved within being in the class during the last year(what a waste of time for the kids plus frustration). I do home school my son and for the first 6 months of the year I have taken him to a tutor twice a week who's daugther is dyslexic (she is 26 now) At the beginning of the year he could barley read but now has in my opion and the tutors he has advanced at least a level. He is reading wonderfully!! She is also very aware that each child learns differently. We use computer programs as well as one on one reading.He also learned sign language and uses letter cubes. One thing that I have learned is that they need constant breaks. And not sticking to one thing for two long. As for nutrition I have read up that children with dyslexia and adhd benefit highly from Omega 3's specifically DHA they have shown great brain growth from taking DHA and substantially development growth in kids that being taking DHA. Hope this helps if you would like more info or chatting feel free to email me.
