I received the phone call from my daughters’ 1st grade teacher. She stated that my daughter is very involved with the classroom conversations, asks very intelligent questions great at math. She has what the teacher thinks is a processing issue. She processes things orally at grade level and above, where she fails is going from oral to writing language. She confuses her Z’s and N’s. So where an N is supposed to be she will write a Z and vice versa. When working with my mother (for someone different to help her with her spelling) she confirmed that my daughter will sound out her spelling words. She will get 100 on an oral test, but guess at the spelling test.
The teacher said that she is going to pull my daughter and one other kiddo (he is having a similar issue) out to do their spelling test. She is hoping that if the stress of a timed test and not being able to “tap” the sounds were out of the way it could help.
Question: Do any of you teachers or specialist have any suggestions of if there is a processing disorder? What are the signs of Dyslexia? What is a SAT (Student Assist Team) really about? What is a IEP?
Thank you everyone who commented. The teacher did state that she can not diagnose students. She only has a general education degree, but having 28 years of experience she has noticed that my daughter needs help past her knowledge. We both had hoped that Title help would have made a difference. It did for a short time, but it was like the 10 steps our daughter made, after a few weeks they were back 5 steps.
It's great that her teacher is on the ball, and sensitive to potential learning differences. If I were you I'd schedule a complete psycho-educational evaluation, privately administered if you can afford it. That way you'll know exactly what you're dealing with.
Also if she needs accommodations, you'll have a paper trail.
How is her handwriting other than the N and Z? There is a disorder called, Dysgraphia that is similar to Dyslexia, but effects handwriting, spelling and putting your thoughts on paper. Most of those children can tell a great verbal story and are very bright, but when it comes to putting letters on paper, there is a disconnect. If your daughter is at level for handwriting and doesn't have trouble with spacing letters and forming letters, then it might not apply. I'm investigating this for my son, but I have also noticed that both of my kids can verbally "write" an essay much easier than actually thinking of the sentences and writing at the same time. We've been recording their verbal answers and then writing them down, so they have a step in between the thinking and the writing and it is really helping them.
I am so glad to hear this teacher is noticing she may learn differently and trying different techniques. Unfortunately, teachers aren't taught in college how to teach children how to read that may learn differently e.g. dyslexia. If you do suspect dyslexia, get her tested-don't wait for the school as early intervention has shown to help tremendously. Unfortunately, most schools have a fail-first mentality and would rather wait to see if a child catches up rather than do meaningful intervention (the "gift of time").
I am very surprised that the teacher would make any kind of a diagnosis. Teachers work with kids that have different learning disabilities and may know quite a bit about them but they are not qualified to make a diagnosis.
Meet with your pediatrician and see about getting a referral for a specialist. The specialist is the person that would make the diagnosis. They also then make a plan for different things that will work to help your child learn. The school then has to incorporate those recommendations into their IEP (Independant Education Program), or 504 plan as it is sometimes called in GA.
Do not jump to the conclusion of dyslexia or anything else. Just have an honest conversation with your pediatrician and go from there.
I think it is fabulous that the teacher is noticing things, talking to you about her observations and trying to come up with ways to help your daughter. The teacher is most likely not qualified to make a diagnosis, but it is very possible she has seen this before and has worked with similar students. So her observations are relevant, but you will need a specialist to make an official diagnosis.
We are going through the IEP process with our kindergartener, so I am by no means an expert. I do hear people throw around the terms IEP and 504 plan, and this website does a nice job of explaining the difference:
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-ser...
Both of these terms are backed by Federal Laws, so they do not vary from state to state.
I would talk to your pediatrician AND ask the school for an evaluation. The ped will be able to refer you to the appropriate specialist. That's important! In order for your daughter to have an IEP (or even a 504 Plan) the school will need to do its own evaluation. Save yourself some time (and these things do take so much time!) and just start the ball rolling on both!
Right now, it's less important for you to learn about dyslexia, processing disorders and other similar diagnosis, because you're not the one who can diagnose her. The best thing you can do is find out who the appropriate specialist is and take your daughter there.
When our son’s psychologist offered a diagnosis and explained it to us (he hit the nail on the head, by the way) I had a deeper appreciation for the depth of his knowledge and experience. He was diagnosed with Social Pragmatic Communicative Disorder. Tell me you've heard that one before. Yep, never heard it myself! His teacher and the principal hadn't either. There are many things we have heard of – dyslexia, sensory issues, autism – there are many, many things we have not heard of. Your daughter could very possible have something you’ve never heard of. That’s why you need to talk to someone who actually is qualified to evaluate and diagnose.
Sounds like the teacher is handling it very well. I like that she is being proactive.
It's good to catch this early. My daughter is a mirror reader/writer. She used to write her name from right to left in the upper right hand corner of the paper.
We put her in Kumon at the end of the first grade school year. As well, she is in the schools reading program. Everything is almost corrected. If she is tired, she will confuse a written d and b.
One of our budget analysts signs his name upside down and backwards. I haven't met him, but see his signature on my paper work.
Read up on the different variations of dyslexia and mirror reader/writers.
You need to have your daughter formally tested.
I have a left hander and she mistook Z and N and M and W last year. She's since caught on. I had a son who got p, b, d and g mixed up to begin with (later figured it out). They aren't Dyslexic.
I think they have problems with rhyming, left to right and view things in reverse I think. Here's an example from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyslexia#/media/File:Dyslexi...
I like the Mayo Clinic for reference:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dyslexia/ba...
Good luck! A trained professional will be able to tell you :)
I had asked about my daughter being dyslexic when she was in 3rd grade. She was always messing up d and b and though normal for a lot of kids, I just thought there was something there. Plus she seemed to have trouble with reading. They told me that for dyslexia, there are more than just one or two things showing. We did find that my daughter is a visual learner. She always will be. You can tell her something but if she does not see it, she does not process it completely. She cannot add a bunch of numbers in her head but can do complex calculations on paper or with a calculator and is currently in honors math.
Your daughter might be an verbal learner. She needs to speak things out to do it but when it comes to putting things on paper, she runs into difficulties. I went to school with a girl that had the same problem. Her parents had her tested for all kinds of things. She would try to write things out but taking it from her head to the paper things would get jumbled. I remember she would take history tests orally in another room.
I am a really bad speller. Always have been always will be. I am not dyslexic in anyway just really bad at spelling.. I can orally do a word and all that but when it comes to writing it down forget it
It seems a little premature to diagnose dyslexia because a first grader mixes up two letters. It seems to me that such confusion is common in the early grades. My daughter used to write backwards for a while when she was a little kid. Like mirror-image backwards. And she's very bright with no dyslexia.
You can ask the school what kind of testing they can do, but I really think you might be jumping the gun.
Uh...as far as I know, teachers are NOT allowed to do this type of diagnosing with students. I'd be VERY concerned about that.
You have some good ideas here. I would check with a developmental pediatric ophthamologist and see if there is something going on with a visual processing disorder. A really good book to check out is called The Out of Sync Child. You can find a lot of it's information online too.
I am not sure if it is dyslexia, but dysgraphia might be an issue. Testing is really the best way to find out. I would have this done out side of school myself, because a lot of schools are not qualified to diagnose either one.
Finally, if she just has spelling problems, she might just have spelling problems. MRIs have shown that spelling happens in a very specific part of brain that has nothing to do with any other intelligences. I am a very bad speller, which is hilarious because I teach writing and Literature in HS and college. But, I so cannot spell!
I hope that helps.
I think you need to go see an eye doc first of all. This could be in the wiring between her eyes and brain and an eye doc is the best one to work with you on this issue. Once you have that done and found any issue then you can see where you are once you have finished up the eye therapy.
