Three children who may be dyslexic.
I have observed very similar symptoms in three children who I have been helping in school. The ages of the children are roughly the same: 9, 10, 11. The younger two are boys, the oldest a girl.
None of these children get any help in their schools at this time and the boys have been branded as possible behavioral and lazy problem children.
Each child I have observed seem to be very clever in other areas especially sports and the arts.
I devised a survey, with the permission of the class teachers, to enable me to carry out an assessment on each of these children, and for the parents, to provide a background on the family and child’s history.
Then I carried out various practical exercises from the first Module of the Dyslexia Certificate course. I have listened to them read independently, and found the two older children constantly missed out words, or jumped lines, or guessed words totally out of context.
Each child could read about 95% of the Dolch list of words. But when it came to spelling them, each of the children typically spelt the words exactly how they sound. Interestingly, they all have a dislike of reading, especially out loud to the rest of their classmates; this is also when I noticed they always sit at the back of the room.
All three children have very scruffy handwriting, the younger child is left handed and writes his p’s, 9’s, d’s, and b’s backwards. Then after he has done this, he knows this is wrong.
From the survey that I gave to the parents, one of the answers that stood out as a common factor is the problems each child had with either their hearing, ear infections or speech when a toddler or baby. The parents also admitted that either they or their partners also had a problem with reading or spelling when a child or even now. As one parent put it, “ Still can’t read or spell without checking and re-checking my work, constantly checking for mistakes”.
Each child for their particular level at school can do what is expected of them for the times tables, but have to go through the whole procedure of reciting the table from the beginning. Similarly for the alphabet, days of the week and months. Out of context and they each got stuck.
I asked them if they had difficulties copying from the board, and if they lost their place when looking back up. Each of them admitted they never finish writing and constantly were being told to hurry up before the teacher wiped the board clean, or being told off for writing in their books the wrong way round. (Starting a new book from the back page and upside down).
Since reading the course work textbook, I have noticed a whole lot of dyslexic traits in these children. The teachers have recognised the assesssments and observations that I have carried out, and strategies are now being put into their education plan for help.
By C.W., a student on the Dyslexia Certificate course.