Retention, Dyslexia + ADHD

A mom wrote
My child has mild dyslexia, a
learning disability she is very
well behaved and wants to
learn just learning is very
difficult for her.

She struggles with everything
in school especially reading
and spelling. She's already
failed once and on the
verge of failing again.

Response
There is very little evidence
that retention addresses
the learning or attention
challenges -- and it certainly
can impact self-esteem

The key is to get to the root
causes -- which typically
include:
- Trouble with sight words
-- students cannot create
a picture for what the word
means and they get lost in
reading, word problems ...

- Pattern recognition -- they
may not recognize when a
word is spelled correctly,
when a math problem is
done correctly, or what a
word is when they see a
"new" word -- even if they
just saw it on a previous
line

- Visual perception issue --
they often skip words and
lines when reading, have
difficulty copying off the
board or reversing letter
and numbers

- Attention t that which is
boring or frustrating

- Anxiety and frustration
then dominate

The key is to isolate the issues
and then address them -- the
anxiety and frustration tend to
evaporate when the real issues
are addressed

For a more in-depth assessment
go to On-Line Assessment