Molly Bentsen wrote:
Tom & Sandy Farley wrote:

S_S Wrote:

My 7 year old (almost 8) is just driving us nuts by his absent
mindeness - I mean the type of behavior where we ask him to put on his
shoes, 5 min later we remind him, he still is playing around and then
5
min later we remind him and by the fourth time, I lose my patience and
raise my voice...



You don't say if this is a relatively recent development on his part or
a change in your expectations.
Have you considered that it may not come from inattention but from over
attention to so much at once that he cannot prioritize among all the
stmuli? We experienced this disorganized attention to everything with
our daughter from about age four on. We worked on sequencing and
categorizing and preplaning activities with her. Because she
compensated so well for reading difficulties, we didn't find out how
dyslexic she is until 9th grade. Disorganization is one of the aspects
of the dyslexia spectrum. Is Attention Excess Disorder [AED] an
identifiable condition?

[Took her 6 years to get her degree in theatre arts. She is a good camp
counselor, stage manager, restaurant manager, etc.]
Tom


I think I am facing a similar issue with my 10-year-old,
who is an avid and skilled reader, but whose spelling
and writing weaknesses and patterns are pointing me to
research dyslexia. I realize it's been a number of years
since you faced this with your now-adult daughter, but
I'm curious how you went about getting her diagnosed.
Did you work through the public schools or seek private
assessment?

I'm gathering information at a dizzying rate, but haven't
settled on a clear path forward yet...

--Molly



I'm not the OP but you've just described my 7 yo daughter except her
reading may be a bit weaker than your child. I know what you're going
through. It's hard to know where to begin.

Do you know anyone whose child is in a private school for dyslexic or
learning disabled children? I knew such a person, so she was my obvious
source for where to start. She also confirmed my suspicions about DD -
that I wasn't over reacting. I also talked to another friend who works
in the local school system (former teacher and principal) to see if I
was on-target about DD's spelling issues.

DD had a private assessment through a private school that specializes in
dylexia. They were a bit puzzled by the results; she didn't fit some of
the factors (e.g., on-grade reading and excellent reading comprehension)
of a classic dyslexic person but it was evident that she needed extra
help in spelling.

In any case, she now meets with a Wilson Language Tutor twice a week. I
read a bit about the Wilson Language method on the web after DD had been
meeting the tutor for a while. I wasn't really concerned about the
specific method - the tutor is great and DD really connected with her
and likes working with her. So, her spelling has improved although I
expect that she will always need some sort of extra instruction during
her school years.

In case you don't have them yet, here's a link of symptons of dylexia:
http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html#sum.

and here's the link for the International Dyslexia Association:
http://www.interdys.org/



Jeanne