Dyslexia

 This is the face of frustration and not understanding why school is so hard and mistakes and bad grades despite extra practice and....dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a general term for disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols. I have suspected Bailey had dyslexia since she was 4. Both her Kinder and 1st teachers didn't disagree, but some things I was seeing are considered normal for that age, but they aren't considered normal past 1st, so I literally couldn't wait till 1st grade was over to have the testing done because there is no reason other than that she had dyslexia for some of the things I was seeing and I was still seeing them past 1st grade.

After Kinder, I wrote these notes:

Bailey

• mixes up b and d in reading
• handwriting reversals
• reads no as on
• her eyes seem to go to the end of the word instead of the beginning when reading
• reads ton as tom or vice versa
• confuses numbers 17 might be 71 to Bailey
• very poor mental math
• wants to write way above her ability
• loses her place on the page when reading
• uses pictures to interpret words
• even after intense drill & study can mess up words I feel like she should know
• SO frustrated with school!!!!

After 1st I wrote these notes

Bailey

• mixes up b and d, p and q, uppercase P and 9
• I make her write Bb Dd at the top of spelling tests so she doesn't mess them up because if you reverse a j the teacher still knows it is a j and she doesn't get it wrong, but if she write a b for d then the word is wrong.
• wants to write letters in uppercase so she doesn't mess them up
• reads the as and
• can reverse numbers 27 as 72
• complains about something bothering her every time she reads
• loses her place
• can't figure out unfamiliar words and just guess even if she has been taught the tools to decode the word
• doesn't test well
• we work harder than any of her peers to stay caught up
• poor self-esteem because of school
• easily frustrated
• learns best through hands-on
• adds or subtracts letters in words
• transposes words- reads let as tel
• math facts are not mastered despite so much practice
• struggles in math partly due to the fact that she can't read the words problems

 Anyways, the test did show that she does have dyslexia and auditory processing issues, which is basically hearing dyslexia where she mixes up things she hears. Although I am so thankful to know for sure it still makes me so sad that school has been so hard for her. We are starting dyslexia therapy on Monday & Wednesdays this year from 4:45-5:45 and it is a 3 year program. Hopefully in the next 2 years she will be an independent reader and have more coping strategies, although dyslexia will never go away.