Treasure Reading

Oct 7: Fantastic Conference on Reading and Language Difficulties

2009-09-29T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Next week, October 7, SPELD NSW is holding a conference about the latest international research on Reading and Language Difficulties.

SPELD is a non profit organisation that is a terrific first port of call for parents who are concerned about their child's reading or writing.

Learn more about SPELD and the conference, visit http://www.speldnsw.org.au/

And parents, on a personal note I'd like to add...when we first learned that my older son had a reading difficulty, I was told about SPELD so checked out the website. When I saw that SPELD was the Specific Learning Difficulties Association, I thought that SPELD wouldn't apply to our situation as our son didn't have a 'learning difficulty' so I didn't investigate it further.

Only later did I learn that SPELD is a fantastic resource for people who are concerned about their child's reading. I let my own definition of 'learning difficulty' cloud my perception of what this amazing organisation can offer. It has as phone line for parents to call and get information or advice. A library. And a list of tutors as well.

I'm now working with SPELD to put together a Parent Forum for early 2010 on the issue of reading difficulties.

Interestingly, one of the things we talked about in a planning meeting was the barrier some parents can have around the terms 'reading difficulty', 'learning disability', etc. One of our members, Fran, suggested we should use the term 'reading difference' because that's really what's going on with kids who have a difficulty learning to read or spell!

Treasure reading!

Karen :-)

Clues to spot reading problems early and what to do about it...

2009-03-10T03:42:00.000-07:00

Clues to help parents spot reading problems early

The Basic Skills test in Year 3 is a long way to wait to get confirmation that there’s a problem. Here are some clues to look for:

- Do the home reading each night with your kids. If you don’t see a steady advancement in reader levels, talk to the teacher.
- Is your child reluctant to read for fun? Does she excitedly bring home books from the library and then stop after a few pages. Does he complain of his eyes or tummy hurting or being tired when it’s time to read?
- Is your child exhibiting behaviour problems? Kids can act up or withdraw to thwart attention from their reading problems (subconsciously of course!). Our older son had a lot of anger. Our younger son went through full assessments for ADHD but his behavior stemmed from audio processing and dyslexia.
- Look at family history. Is there a history of learning difficulties or dyslexia in the family? Don’t just look at yourselves as parents. Look at uncles, aunts, grandparents and cousins.
- Trust your gut! If you think there is a problem but everyone is saying things are fine, it’s worth investigating further for your own peace of mind.

What to do about if you think there is a problem

- The first port of call is to talk to the teacher and possibly the school counselor about your concerns and what help or assessments they can offer.
- My strongest advice is to get an independent literacy assessment done. They aren’t cheap, but if you get the right assessment done early, you will save so much time and money in the long run. And most importantly, if your child does have a learning difficulty, she can be helped before her behavior and self esteem suffer more. So where do you go? Not all tutoring companies provide assessments that can identify a learning difficulty. So go to companies that have specialist literacy resources and remediation like Kids First. Consider talking to SPELD – a nonprofit organisation that specialises in reading problems and learning difficulties. It’s across Australia. Here’s the link to NSW: http://www.speldnsw.org.au/
- Get your child’s eyes and hearing checked.

I’ve seen the impact of reading problems on behavior and self esteem first hand. I’ve known the frustrations of not knowing what to do for my sons. And I’ve talked to scores of other parents who’ve had the same experiences I’ve had.

Trust your gut! If you’re concerned about your child’s reading, have him assessed. There are amazing remedial resources available and they work.
Please feel free to contact me, share your stories and your ideas.

Treasure reading and the gift of dyslexia.

70% of new teachers say they weren't shown how to teach students with disabilities

2009-03-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

Dyslexia...

A new report released by the Australian Education Union reports 70% of new teachers say they weren't shown how to teach students with disabilities or those from non-English speaking backgrounds.*

Within the past month, I've spoken with a couple of new teachers (one working less than 5 years, the other working for less than 2 years), and both said they hadn't been taught about learning difficulties.

Yet up to 20% of kids are dyslexic.

The biggest mistake I made with identifying my own son's reading difficulty was not trusting my gut. And I hear the same thing from other parents over and over.

Parents, if you think your child has a problem with reading, trust your gut and get it checked out!

*More than 1500 teachers took part in the national survey which tracked the concerns of those entering the profession.

Source: The Sunday Telegraph, March 8, 2009

Treasure reading and the gift of dyslexia

Why are so many kids with reading problems and dyslexia going undetected?

2009-03-07T00:37:00.000-08:00

Dyslexia.

I always thought it just meant that someone flipped their letters around and that was it.

Did you know it means "impaired ability to learn to read"?

And that up to 20% of people are dyslexic?

I found that percentage hard to believe until I stopped to think about what I'd experienced in my children's reading groups at school over the years. Invariably, between 3-5 students in a class of 20-25 would be struggling with their reading.

I was at my son's sporting event this morning and spoke with yet another parent whose child had a learning difficulty that went undetected for years. This mum said she'd suspected all through primary school (k-6) that her child's reading wasn't right but was reassured repeatedly that her child was fine. It wasn't until high school that they got the assessments they needed to source a learning difficulty. This mum felt a lot of guilt about not pushing harder to find out what was happening with her child and frustration at having not known what her options were to get help. I've spoken to scores of parents who've had this same experience.

Parents, I'm determined to shout from my soap box about this issue!

The number one mistake I hear that parents have made over and over again is that they didn't trust their gut - they thought something wasn't right, asked questions, but were told things were fine and accepted it. And they say over and over again that they didn't know what else to do outside of talking to the school. Parents, if you think your child has a reading problem, trust your gut. Don't let it go.

In my next post, I'll talk about the clues I suggest parents look for and steps to take if they suspect their child has a problem with reading.

Treasure reading and the gift of dyslexia!

Our story - reading problems and dyslexia

2009-02-22T15:52:00.000-08:00

I'm still amazed that my older son's reading problems went undetected for so long.

I have a degree in English, read to my kids from the time they were babies, was a
classroom helper, repeatedly questioned my son's teachers about his literacy level,
did outside tutoring, and still missed diagnosing a reading problem.

IT ALL STARTED...

It all started when my older son was in Year 2. One day, he quietly started refusing
to do his school work in class. He wasn't beligerent or naughty. He just wouldn't do it.

So I thought maybe he had issues with authority or something and off we went
to see a child psychologist. We put together an rewards program to motivate him
to do his work and all was fine.

It never crossed my mind that his behaviour might be related to literacy problems.

Yet I'd been concerned about his reading, and especially his writing since Year 1.
I'd met with his teachers several times throuh Years 1-3 to express
my concern and ask how he was going. Repeatedly I was told "he's fine".

REALITY CHECK

In Year 3, my first son did a two tests - an optional series of skills tests and
a mandatory basic skills test. The results of these confirmed our concerns that
we had a problem!

But where to turn?

OUR FIRST ATTEMPT AT TUTORING

Our first port of call was to a national tutoring company that offered an assessment
and small group tutoring. My son started the program in Term 1 of Year 4.

At the same time, we started having occassional behavior problems again - outbursts
of anger that weren't appropriate.

One incident prompted us to again seek out a child psychologist.

This psychologist helped us quickly find the source of his frustration and anger
was a learning difficulty.

We quickly realised that the small group tutoring he was doing was not going to
address the learning difficulty he had. So we started 1:1 remedial literacy tutoring
twice a week for two years. He's gone from strength to strength academically and
behaviourally ever since.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO...

I thank God for the journey we had with my older son because it set us up to handle
much bigger, yet very different, challenges with our younger son.

Our second son is 3 years younger than our first.

His journey started with ear infections, slight hearing loss and
grommits (or tubes in his ears) by the time he turned 1.

At the age of 2, we realised he was behind in speech development. We went on a
waiting list for the health centre program and he finally participated in
group speech therapy with about 8 other kids. It definitely wasn't enough but
that's all that was available.

When he was 3 years old, it occured to me to look for a private speech pathologist.
I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to look for a private resource before this!

But at the time, our first son was doing fine in kindergarten and we didn't
know there were going to be literacy problems. We'd never investigated language
resources or tutoring. Basically, I didn't have a clue about what the issues might
be or what my options were!

He did 1:1 speech pathology until the age of 5.

At preschool, he was fine for the most part.

When he started "big school" kindergarten, we were told at the end of the year that
he was "a bit immature" and should repeat.

This was at exactly the same time our older son's basic skills test results had come
through so alarm bells were ringing for me that something wasn't right. Until this time,
just thought they were both reluctant readers!

Over the school holidays, I had my younger son's hearing and eyes tested again.
Serious audio processing issues were identified so we started speech pathology
again.

He did speech pathology for 2 years. During this time we also thoroughly
investigated ADHD and tried the Failsafe diet.

Over the two years, he did Year 1 twice because he was struggling with reading
so much.

We had to remediate his language before we could remediate literacy.

Once his audio processing had signficantly improved, we turned our attention to his
literacy and dyslexia.

It's been 1 month now. We finally know the types of dyslexia he has and are working with our tutor and an expert from the leading university in Australia in this field, on a customised
remedial program for him.

It's been a very long and expensive journey identifying our sons' dyslexia and
remediation. And we have a long way to go still.

That being said, I'm so grateful to have found the resources and to have had
the money to get my sons the help they need. I've heard story after story
of kids who haven't been identified or helped. Stories of parents who knew
something wasn't right but didn't know how to investigate it or what to do about it.

Every parent needs to know what to look for and where to turn if they think
there is a problem. And every child deserves the help they need to address a learning
difficulty.

A Gift for Every Child Struggling to Learn to Read

2009-02-14T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hi!

My name is Karen Robertson and this first blog entry launches my Big Goal of giving the gift of literacy to every child who's struggling to learn to read.

I've seen firsthand the impact of reading problems on behaviour and self esteem with my own sons, and I'm so grateful that we had the resources to get help for them. But we spent countless hours investigating different approaches and spent many thousands of dollars until we
found the help we needed.

We're not alone.

I've spoken to scores of parents whose children had reading problems that went undiagnosed. Many of these parents suspected something wasn't quite right with their children's literacy but didn't know where to turn to get help. And like us, many of them wasted a lot of time and money along the way.

It shouldn't be this hard.

Kids who have reading problems need help. And the sooner they get it the better.

That's why I'm committed to raising parents' awareness about how to spot reading
problems early and what to do about it.

This blog will share my journey as I work to deliver this Big Goal and I ask you
to please share your stories!!

In the next blog, I'll share our family's journey with reading problems and dyslexia.