The Results are In

A few weeks ago, I posted that we were having Emma Grace evaluated for dyslexia and/or other learning issues. Well, the results are in.

Emma Grace definitely has dyslexia. She has difficulty associating sounds with symbols. Although she can tell you the sounds of letters, blends, and di-/tri-graphs AND she can tell you the letter or letters that make sounds, she has to think about it; it is not automatic. Also, for some reason, the abilities that she does have in this area do not easily translate to reading words, so she has difficulty sounding out words. She's more likely to guess at the word based on how it looks or by getting clues from a picture than by actually reading the sounds from the symbols.

In addition, she has the "classic" dyslexia symptom of reversing letters, numbers, and some words (like was and saw).

This visual perception challenge is complicated by the Irlen's Syndrome I posted previously.

Quite honestly, I am amazed that she can do what she can do given the hurdles she must cross. She does read. And she reads more now than she did before we got the purple filter and started using the purple paper. She even asks to read to me.

This is all quite perplexing to me, though. Not that she has dyslexia, because I know that learning to read has been difficult for her, and I know that she struggles with other sensory issues. What perplexes me is that we had her evaluated by the school district at the end of Kindergarten. At that time she was screened for dyslexia (not tested), and they told us that she was NOT dyslexic. They also told us that she did not have learning disabilities. Basically, they said she was a late bloomer with low to average potential. And now we find out that she has been struggling with remediable challenges that, if caught sooner, might not be as discouraging as they are now.

I find myself angry about the lost time. I try not to spend much time there, though, as there's nothing we can do about it now. All we can do is start where we are and go from here. Which presents its own problems.

I met with the assessor to discuss all of the results, but I have to say that some of it still confuses me. Also, some of the things she found can be seen as quite perjorative when describing a child and her potential. For these reasons, Cliff and I have decided not to post those results here but rather to share them personally and individually. I must admit, I'm not sure I'm ready to discuss the other findings, because I don't really understand what they mean. I'm working on it, doing research, and asking questions to try to understand it better. So, I apologize for peaking your interest only to defer to another time and format.

I shared our results with Emma's OT (Fritzi), and she made some suggestions for how to proceed. The recommendations from the assessor were mostly things that we are already doing, so that was encouraging. The few things we weren't doing were things we didn't know we needed to do, because we didn't know about the dyslexia.

Fritzi suggested that we see a doctor that she recommends to many of her patients with similar diagnoses. We have an appointment for December 7th. This doctor is an MD who treats with a combination of traditional and alternative methods. She will do a full metabolic work-up including blood, hair, saliva, stool, and urine specimines to look for allergies, thyroid dysfunction, nutritional deficiencies, overgrowth of yeast, parasites, etc. that could be affecting Emma Grace's ability to think and function. This will rule out (or in) any of these things before attempting some of the remediation recommendations. Anything "in" can be dealt with. Of course this could mean dietary changes, medication, therapy, etc. Definitely not a miracle cure, but doable. Once we know what's going on metabolically and can make some adjustments, then she'll be in the best possible situation for addressing some of the other recommendations.

In addition to seeing this doctor, we will change our reading program to one specifically designed for teaching people with dyslexia. I know another homeschooling mom with dyslexic children who has offered to share her program with me. This will give us an opportunity to see if the program works for us, and if it does, GREAT! If not, we haven't invested a lot of money in something that doesn't work. If necessary, we will also see a dyslexia specialist.

We will also have the Irlen lenses made. We still must have the appointment to determine her exact, personal color. I want to have the lenses made as clip ons so she can use them as needed with her regular glasses. I have to work out some details, but we will have that done soon.

I know this is long and hard to digest, so please do ask questions when you have them. But most of all, just love Emma Grace for who you know her to be. She's no different now than she was before the assessment. She is lovely and funny and compassionate, and she will continue to be all that and more.