Well, I've suspected for a while that 8-year old ds was most likely gifted with LD's. Based on my own research I assumed that he probably had dyslexia, dysgraphia and ADHD. Thus I made curriculum choices based on my own assumptions while homeschooling him for two years now. He's done very well, and now I finally have been able to get him diagnosed. I was somewhat surprised by the results though.

His formal diagnosis came back with: he is highly-gifted (genius level IQ), has a dysgraphia type of condition (somewhat milder form of dysgraphia), and possible attention disorder, but DOES NOT have dyslexia. This evaluator can only focus on dyslexia and language type of learning disabilities, and is not equipped to formally test for ADHD. The first thing that surprised me was his IQ score. I figured he was gifted, but I was amazed at just how high he scored on the giftedness level. I now feel an even more awesome sense of responsibility to help ds reach his full potential, and make sure that he does not waste his God-given talent. Equally surprising to me though was that the evaluator thinks he’s not dyslexic!!

When I brought him home after K year, he could barely read CVC words and his phonemic awareness was very weak. I used a phonics curriculum geared towards dyslexics (Orton-Gilliam based methodology) along with Sequential Spelling, and by the end of 1st graded he was reading at a 3rd grade level independently. Now after finishing 2nd grade, he is reading somewhere between 4th grade and 5th grade level. The evaluator feels that if he was truly dyslexic, there’s no way he would have made this kind of progress in such a short time without professional dyslexic intervention.

She also points to his high SAT achievement scores, and the fact that his current phonemic awareness and reading level is too good for someone to be considered dyslexic?? So is it possible that the fact that he is highly gifted and received proper dyslexic phonic instruction from me…that now his dyslexia symptoms are too mild to get him diagnosed?? I also don’t see what being bright and having high test scores have to do with having dyslexia. Obviously there are plenty of famous bright people who were also dyslexic, as well as having other LD’s.

The final point of confusion for me is what constitutes dyslexia in the first place. According to the evaluator, the only thing that correctly identifies someone as dyslexic is if that person struggles with properly associating sounds with their letter combinations (lack of phonemic awareness). Other symptoms such as the following don’t suffice and don’t really have anything to do with dyslexia: transposing letters and numbers, choppy or slow reading, omitting and substituting words while reading, poor eye tracking on a page while reading, inconsistency in spelling the same words, difficulty with telling how to tell time, memorizing and recalling math facts.

The thing is my ds still has issues in all these areas to some degree, but the evaluator felt these symptoms are more likely due to an attention disorder. I just fail to see how that’s possible. My ds tries so hard and cares so much (often to the point of tears). And even when I can tell his attention span is at its maximum, he often struggles with these more mundane skills that most kids can get….and he can’t even though he’s highly-gifted?? It doesn’t make any sense! Even my dh still struggles with some of these skills as an adult (like telling time, transposing, slow reading and poor inconsistent spelling), and dh is a formally diagnosed dyslexic.

Perhaps I should have tried to get him diagnosed earlier, but I didn’t have the chance to until now. Also people like his K teacher and pediatrician kept saying he’ll probably outgrow things like transposing letters…just wait and see. Maybe the fact that he’s highly-gifted is masking some of his more severe dyslexia symptoms? Have any of you who homeschool gifted kids with LD’s had similar problems getting their LD’s accurately diagnosed?? I’m just kind of frustrated because I really was hoping for an accurate diagnosis, and I’m not sure if I got one. It would be nice to have something in writing just in case he might require special accommodations in the future (we plan to homeschool through high school, but you never know).

Ok, first off, your child is only 8 and should still have some weak areas such as telling time, etc. sometimes that stuff doesn't click until later.
I have a son who is LD and it took years to really find out what was the problem. He is now going into 7th grade and I just learned he was Dyslexic. Any time a child has trouble reading or spelling it can mean they have some type or form of Dyslexia. I didn't know that, it was something I just learned.
I have went thru alot of testing with my son, so I'm pretty confident that the testing is correct. What your tester decided on, sounds right. I don't know your child personally, I'm just going by what you have said.
I think it's great that your child is so highly gifted, you should be so proud, cuz what your doing is working and I would just continue on with that, since it has proven such high scores.
If he's got ADD or ADHD, I would focus on that.
Not sure if I'm helping you or not, cuz I'm kind of confused by this.
To me, it doesn't sound like your child is Dyslexic becuase he is so gifted. Most children with that, struggle really bad like my son does. It's really hard to watch them.
Luckly, my son works really hard cuz he wants to be successfull in his future, and he will!
Kris :)
HTH a little.

I don't know the particulars with your dc and it's my guess that no test is going to give you all the answers. I only offer you this:

I have two sons, both are highly intelligent and both have some form of learning issue. My older ds is a musical prodigy but struggles academically with honest to goodness ADHD. My younger ds is dysgraphic and dyslexic but has an amazing memory -if he hears it, he can repeat it.

Both are gifted. Both would fail in traditional school. That's why we homeschool. I teach to their strengths and work on their weaknesses. I try to push without shoving, and I try to create success wherever possible. We do a LOT of work orally. I also try not to compare them to what is the myth of "normal."

hth
S-

My ds was diagnosed for dyslexia at 7 or 8 after I spent three years teaching short vowel sounds. He was tested by a dyslexia specialist in her home. The results showed there are like 17 different forms of dyslexia. Mine did not have many different forms, but was extreme in four or five. The lady gave me very specific details about the best way to work with ds (she was a homeschool mom) and it really changed the way I worked with him. DS is now 13 and reading on about a fourth grade level and catching up quickly. He was very slow to start, but is sort of wizzing along now. Except for writing, which is still hard.

Older ds was diagnosed (by me) with ADHD in the womb when he cracked a rib from kicking all the time. IQ tested high at the age of 6 along with formal ADHD diagnosis from a testing specialist. We realized he was a musical prodigy when he was about 12.

This post was edited on Jul 31, 2010 09:22 AM

my nephew was diagnosed with dyslexia but not the kind where the letters are backwards. He had diffiiculty writing what he was thinking. In other words he could take a test orally and pass it with flying colors but give him the same test to write out and he would fail it. he did get help and went on to graduate with As and Bs. Once he was diagnosed we realized his mom ( my sis) had struggled with that her whole schooling and we never knew a condition like that existed... Maybe your son has something like that!

This post was edited on Jul 31, 2010 12:15 PM

Oh yes, my son too can only take tests orally. He can't get the stuff in his brain down to the paper.
He can read at grade level but his comp. is very low.
If you teach him something today, he will come back tomarrow and have forgotten it.
He doesn't write backwards, but can't spell those little words but does great at big words.
There are so many different forms of it.
Kris

Hmm, you know I think there is such a sliding scale to "dyslexia." Here are some thoughts I had:

I have not had my girls formally tested, but my husband and two brothers have been formally tested and labeled dyslexic. So, I feel I have a pretty good background to check against.

I don't know if I agree with the tester's assessment that telling time and math facts wouldn't be signals of some form of dyslexia--as my oldest clearly dyslexic daughter is almost 11 and is finally able to mostly tell time and just finishing up her addition/subtraction facts. (Though she fully understands more complex math concepts and has since a young age.) I would also say that that those stem from her dyslexia and aren't a result of being an all around slow learner. She is quite smart, actually--able to name all of her Presidents by face at age 2 and even attribute major accomplishments to some of them. These skills have continued and she has amazing reasoning skills and memory on anything she hears/pictures she sees. I say these things not to lift her up, but --since I have no formal "IQ testing" --to show she is quite a gifted learner in other areas.

So, I do believe those problems you mentioned can be tell-tale signs of someone who has a "dyslexic-type" mind. (BTW, though my husband can now tell time, he still has absolutely no sense of time, no matter how hard he tries.)

Now, with all that said, we have done Orton Gillingham-type programs almost from the start (she's starting 5th), Sequential Spelling, 3 phonics programs, etc. (which have all helped). And, even with all her abilities to remember details, she is just finally able to read books at a 3rd grade level--but still at a slower pace. So, given you made so much progress so quickly in reading, I don't think you can just attribute it to his high intelligence allowing him to compensate. That doesn't seem consistent with dyslexia. Though, I fully believe a well-equipped researching parent can be just as effective as a specialist using the right tools.

I say, continue teaching him as if he were dyslexic if that is helping. Don't worry about the label until the time comes that he needs it for assistance--if he does enter public school some day, they will probably retest him anyway for learning issues and in the state I came from they don't distinguish dyslexia from any other reading issue. So, his deficits will show up regardless of the label and he'll get the help he needs to fully succeed and challenge his bright mind.

Like usual I think I took a ton of words to take a simple comment and make it way too complex. :-)

It's very difficult for most evaluators to get a good picture of what's going on with HG (and the more rare PG) kids who are really 2E. That's a handful of acronyms that just means that learning difficulties can look quite different in kids that also max out the standard tests. Yes, LD's can look non-typical in HG/PG kids.

So what's a parent to do? Keep going with what is working. Strengthen the weak spots as best you can and let them fly in their strong areas. The fact that your child is getting one-on-one teaching support is probably the best thing you can do for any child with LDs, HG or otherwise.

I am dyslexic so this is my take on this type of problem. Public school often creates learning disabilities and makes them worse. When you homeschool you can teach your child they way he needs to be taught making the LD much smaller. In a few years you may not see what you think is the LD or it may be bigger depending on how you teach. It sounds like you are teaching your DS the way he needs to be taught so don't worry about pushing in any direction with his schooling, let him do that.

I read well but when I pick up a pencil my mind goes blank and I can't write. I do better with a computer (hard to believe, I know) but one still needs to learn how to use a pencil. Take a little time most day to work on the problem areas but spend most of the day working on other areas.

It isn't unusual to have gifted people who are dyslexic Einstein and Edison both are known to be dyslexic along with many other famous people. A dyslexic persons brain just works different it doesn't mean that they are stupid. You just have to find what works for them and keep plugging away with the hard things but moving on with the easy things.

Just curious, is there a reason you need a diagnosis for a learning disability?

My favoite site is the Gift of Dyslexica

http://www.dyslexia.com/

This post was edited on Jul 31, 2010 12:36 PM