I'm finding this site a relief from the research I have been doing on my son's ADD.

He is 10 yrs old...and now has been diagnoised with Dyslexia, Central Auditory Processing Disorder/Short Term Memory Issues...and now ADD.

This has been a 4 yr quest of mine to find something for him that works. A specialist suggested to us using Adderal...to help him concentrate enough to retain what we have been trying to teach him.

With all of our efforts in the past...private tutoring (the last two years), his own aid at school, working with dyslexic specialists...ect etc...he is still barely at a 2nd grade reading level.( he is in 4th grade) ..and does very poorly at writing..etc.

All of the teachers that have worked with him say "he's making progress...its just VERY SLOW".

I have an appt with his pediatrician in two weeks to see if we can get him on Adderal. I am scared...but I feel that I have tried EVERYTHING for him. He tries so hard..and wants to know how to read so bad...we just can't find the missing link for him. Could meds be the answer?? I am praying it is.

Hey, I replied to you several days ago, but the computer zapped my post and I didn't have time to repost then. Anyway, welcome to the forums. I have an eight year old with ADHD and dyslexia. I'm home schooling her and even that is a challenge. The two make a tough combination. I hope the medication makes a real difference for him.

I'm a reading specialist and what I've found helped my daughter the most was the Hooked on Phonics program. It has a lot of good motivators, immediate stories and books to read using the newly learned words, and a good solid base in phonics. It's something that can be done at home, if someone can put in the time. My daughter was going nowhere fast, before she started that. It's made a real difference for her. The neat thing is that your son wants to read -- that motivation will make a big difference. Also reading to him with him watching the words is very helpful.

Take care,
Scattered

Welcome to the Forum.

Hello mum, welcome to the forums. I hope you've found our General Parenting section and are finding the information and support you need.

Moderators and Administrators are always here to help you out when needed.

Thank you for the *welcomes*

Scattered...I do have the *hooked on phonics* for him. We have found (myself and the school)..that phonics does not work for him. When phonics didn't work at school..they tried the Edmark program...same result.

I have also tried *Read Right*. A home based tutoring system (two hours of reading a week) ....that also hasn't helped a whole lot..but he does know what reading excellently sounds like..so I hope that when it all clicks for him...that the light will go on.

We also read nightly...I guess that is why I'm so exited and praying that meds will help him concentrate enough to retain what we are trying to teach him. We are running out of ideas to try.

Medication can make a big difference. When you've got both dyslexia and ADD going on it's especially tough, because the ability to stick with the drill that would be helpful just isn't there. Something I used to use that helped my reading students was having them dictate a paragraph or story to an adult and then practice reading back what they had read. Interest in and familiarity with the text seems to help. As far as improving reading fluency and comprehension simply rereading a material he likes is one of the most effective approaches according to research. If he can't do that yet, having him follow along while an adult or a tape reads the same material may also help. Let us know how the meds go -- hopefully they will give him the leg up he needs.

Edward Hallowell in his book Delivered from Distraction discusses using the Dore Method to help his son with ADD and dyslexia, when nothing else seemed to be working effectively. I haven't used it but have read about it in several books about dyslexia. It might be something to research if the meds don't provide enough help in this area.

Scattered

Scattered..

Your first paragraph regarding the reading sounds exactly like the Read Right Program that we have been using. His tutor reads the first paragragh (in the beginning it was just sentences)...and he had to read it back to her until he it was excellent reading. They would do this through the whole book...and then he would read the whole book back to her excellently. A very good program...but it was very slow for him. We did this program for 1.5 yrs...at $400.00 per month. Of course..I do it at home with him still. When he started the program he was a *non reader*..now they have him at 2nd grade level books. The program of course...guarantee's 3-4 plus grade level improvements within months of the program...which it didn't work out that way for us. I don't blame the program....I just wish it didn't cost so much. We might restart it if his concentration is better with the meds. For now we are giving him a *break* which was the suggestion of his tutor.

I will all also read up on the DORE Method. We parents need as much information as we can!!

Thanks for writing.

Most definately. My daughter is 8 and in 2nd grade and we're just about to finish her first grade book and start the second grade one. Fortunately, she is highly motivated and is self pushing (now if she would only do a bit of that in math:rolleyes: ), so I'm hopeful by the end of the summer (I'm going to go straight through with her homeschooling without a break) we'll be at or close to 3rd grade reading level by the beginning of next year. Hopefully -- I could be off in my projection, but she has a good memory for words which is helping too.

Now math and spelling are a whole 'nother problem!:eek: Consdering that I was still holding down the bottom 10 - 15 percent of the bell curve in spelling and math computation by 5th grade, this may be problematic!:faint: 'Cause my folks worked my tail off and I still struggled.

I'll be interested to know how the meds work. I still haven't gotten my husband to agree to a trial for our daughter.

Scattered

My son David who was diagnosed dyslesic 2 years ago has been on the Dore program for 10 months and its made such a diference an so many way, his teachers cant believe his academic progress but the biggest change is to his personallity, he is confident,happy and looks forward to school now, I cant beleive how his short term memory has improved, in fact this happened very quickly.

The program is quite expensive and we gave up our holiday last year to pay for it and are so glad we did, you also need to supervise the 10 minute excersise sessions, as I said david has been on the program for 10 months and in the centre they say that it could last about 18 months so its quite a time committment

I first heard about the Dore program through davids school as they belong to local education authority that has taken part in research and now recommend this as a solution , this is on the UK site and my hustband was very sceptical at first read all the research and we met other parents before joining, I am so glad we did and now my hustband is their biggest fan

Maggie

Thanks for sharing your success story, Maggie! I'm going to have to learn more about this!

Scattered

Maggie... Can you tell me more about the Dore program? Is it just about concentration exercises?? or is there a lot more to it.

I'm a bit leary of programs that *promise* me things. Not that they fail...but my son seems to be harder to *reach* than the average ADD/dyslexic/audio processing child. The program we are taking a break from..was $400.00 a month. Is Dore more than that?? Of course..what price is there..to teaching your child to read?

The Davis Dyslexia Program uses concentration exercises with KOOSH Balls...which we do. We can finally have my DS stand on one foot without falling over. It was very difficult at first.

As far as medications...yes..Scattered..I will let the you know..as well as the WORLD :-)
My husband and I were very much against it at first...actually for the last 4 yrs..we never thought that meds would be an option...cause he wasn't *bouncing off the walls*. But...after Read Right...the Davis Dyslexia Program..(which we are still claying words)...we just are worried sick that we can't find something to make a difference for him. Our school even hired him a private aid to help him stay focused. I have absolutely the best support for him at school...and they are worried as much as I am. They KNOW him well..and we can't figure out why he's not *getting it*. We are all excited to try the meds..

Yes..spelling is an issue. I haven't found what words for him yet. I have tried claying his spelling words..writing them in different colors (Jeffrey Freed idea)...writing them in sand and flour, phonics...

He can do them when we do them at home ....but by the time he gets to school he forgets the words.

He definately thinks in *pictures*...but the claying doesn't help. He can resite the alphabet backwards..as well as all his spelling words ..front and backwards...his little brain just doesn't want to retain the information for very long.

The pyschologist that we just saw..said that he believes the meds will stimulate his brain to retain reading and spelling. He made me feel good by his approach on this. He wants DS to be put on 10 mg Adderal....then in 3 weeks we retest him. If his concentration levels go up..that is the dose we stay on...if its the same...we up his dose until we see an improvement on concentration. He said by doing this..you don't get into cases where kids are *zoned out* or over medicated. You give them just enough..and keep testing until you see the concentration improve. So..we will test every couple weeks until we know for sure what dose to keep him at. The physch said that he has EXCELLENT results with this approach and he talks to the kids and they say "I don't feel anything different except that i can learn". I was worried about my sons personality ..I don't want him to *change* because of medication...ya know what I mean.

The way I'm looking at it...to accept the medication (because you can't believe the dirty looks I get from people when I tell them we are thinking of meds)...is that..
If my child was depressed, diabetic, or had some other ailment that required meds on a daily basis...there would be no question to what I would do...

So WHY...because for some people...whose brains are NOT transmitting right...that a little pill, once a day...that could change their lives...be such a negitive for some people.

We go next Wednesday..I'll keep you posted.

Thanks and I hope it goes well. My first dose of meds was fortunately the dose I ended up on and so the change was immediate for me -- I hope you'll easily find your son's best dose/medicine too. It is a shame how people act about meds -- they just don't understand the biology of it. Trying harder doesn't help -- it actually has been shown to make things WORSE! Less glucose is sent to the brain the harder an ADDer tries -- I've expereinced this myself under stress to the point where I can't even read a simple form or map.


Have you read the book The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald Davis? I got it a couple of years ago and it has an interesting take and approach for working with dyslexics based on their picture thinking style. I don't know if it would be useful for you or not, but thought I'd mention it. The author has dyslexia and developed this approach himself and has a unique theory about why the dyslexic symptoms happen and how to change them.

Take care!
Scattered

Scattered..

OMIGOSH...I love Ron Davis. In fact...I have read all his books and my son is going thru the Davis Program. Our school district has embraced the program with one of my best friends/teachers completing her cerification with the Davis Program as we speak. For a small school..we are so lucky to have a teacher trained in this program.

My son has completed about 150 words now with clay and I go and help the dyslexic kids clay at school. The program is amazing..

BUT...once again. My DS isn't taking off like the other kids have done at school. After the correction process ...so many jump grade levels in reading and writing. For my DS..it isn't that way....but he IS doing better. My friend talks about my son every time she goes to the Davis Center and asks questions...trying to find out what else we can do. We are now into *fine tuning* his focus and that has helped. We have discovered that cursive writing is a trigger for him too...so he recently clayed his alphabet in cursive..which has help him a lot.

The last training she went to..the Davis *people* actually said "even after the correction process..there are SOME people that do need meds to help them concentrate". I was relieved when she told me that. I was afraid to tell her what path we were thinking of going on...but she is also embrassing this thought...which is a relief to me.

One week from today we have our Dr. meeting ;-)

You know for what it's worth my husband is severely dyslexic (and most probably ADD too, although he says he can't deal with one more label, so wont get evaluated). He wasn't identified as dyslexic until 9th grade when his father caught him writing an algegra problem upside down and backwards (he didn't even realize he had done anything unusual). He got specialized help but was still only reading at a 5th grade level in college. None the less, thank to computer technology, a wife who types his papers, a very bright mind, and lots of hard work, he is about to graduate with all A's and B's with his BS degreee while working full time and being a daddy. So slower reading is harder, but it doesn't have to derail one's dreams. Sounds like you are giving your son every opporunity -- he's a lucky guy!

Scattered

Dannyzmum, I am not sure of the exact science but my husband who is a logical thinker read through all the research on the Dore website, but it was speaking to a headmaster at the Ballsall School where research was done that convinced him to try this program and we are so glad we did..

When we went for our initial assessment they measured Davids balance using equipment linked to a computor system, plus they measured his eye tracking, completed an ADHD test and a dyslexic score test, the doctor conducted an examination and went through some medical background , they gave David quite an intensive series of tests reflex's that sort of thing..the crux of this was setting the program to Davids specific needs and asked us what we wanted to see an improvement in I think we are asked to list four area and David picked concentration as his main one, we left with a Diary full of excercises and have to tick every day whether they are easy or hard, when we have either ticked 6 easy or 10 hard we can move onto the the next excercises

I have seen other childrens excersise diaries and they are totally different to Davids so assume they have many different ones dependinging on the individual

Every 6/7 weeks we go back for reassessment where thay re-measure the balance and eye testing plus put all the ticks from the excersises into the computor and we go through various questionaires which gives an overall picture of the progress and the next excercise diary is printed..

The good thing is we can see the progress scientifically through the computor readouts, plus of course the changes to David he is now reading and enjoying books his attention and concentration levels are so much better which means he can manage him self and this has given him much more confidence, plus he is now able to join in team activites

Great feedback, Maggie! Thanks for sharing about your experience with the Dore program. It's something I'm considering for our daughter.

Scattered