Special needs child and reading.

[Thalanaya]

I have a child who was born with a neurologic impairment. The right and left side of the brain do no communicate with one another. Learning is slow for her she is in 7th grade and reads on the first grade level. Is there any suggestions for helping her improve her reading skill? I read to her and have her read to me but it is very slow and frustrating for her. She has a magnificent creative imagination and knows many stories because they have been read to her. She struggles with writing her stories down because she also has cerebral palsy and her motor skills are impaired. My greatest wish for her in life is to be able to read but at 12 years of age my heart breaks that still she struggles. Her iq tests at 50 and I am proud that she can read at any level but I seek ways to help her that are fun for her any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Mandabplus3]

If she is creative then likely she is functioning from the right side of her brain. In this case learning to read needs to be fun, joyous and intuitive. if their is stress her right brain will shut off and let her left brain go into defense mode. Not good since you say she doesn't connect the two halves. Flash cards and laughter are probably your two best methods. Use both whole words and phonics flash cards, multiple times a day for very short fun sessions. Maybe 10 cards at a session, 6 times a day. Have you read Domands book " what to do with your brain ingured child" ? I think it would be worth you while. Doman suggests many activities that can strengthen and repair brain injuries, through physical activities like crawling and swinging.
 Also I would reccoment getting hold of right brained kids book too. Here is their website have a good look through and ask any question you have http://www.rightbrainkids.com/
I wouldn't hold must credibility in the IQ test. Due to her mental and physical restrictions it is unlikely the iq test has accurately measured her real intelligence anyway.
To start now today doing something. I would print out her favourite stories and read them together following in along with the print. Starting from the familiar and building from there is an often used educational strategy. You can use say a simple version of the three little pigs story ( if she likes it!) read it together word perfect. Then add some more complicated words to the text until you have an adult language version of the story that she can read. Favourite song lyrics written down to sing along and read with will work well for her too!

[Thalanaya]

Thank you for the great ideas. She absolutely loves to sing so music lyrics is something I'm going to try. We bought her a karaoke machine in thoughts of helping her but I think the words go to fast on there. We have tried the flash cards route but she gets hung up in even the smalles words even a and I. It is almost as if she can read better to herself than out loud. When reading I'd she comes across the word small she will say little. It's as if she had the meaning in her head but can't say the word.

[CVMomma]

Thalanaya, I taught at a school that used a program called the Barton Reading Program for kids who struggled with reading.  We saw amazing results with it.  It takes several years to get through the whole program and I don't think you could do it yourself at home unless you took their classes.  But if there is someone using the program in your area, it might be worth looking into.

My 14 yo nephew also struggles with reading.  He has been trying http://www.readspeeder.com/ and seems to like it.  It is a free speed reading program online.  I think his first reading was about 50 words per minute.  Now he is up to about 150, which really boosts his confidence.  The nice thing about this program is a person only "competes" against himself and they can read as slowly as they want to.  There are about 500 books to choose from, so you might be able to find something your daughter is interested in. 

[Jenene]

Hi Thalanaya,
Not specifically for reading but just wondered if you have ever looked in to Nuerological Reorganisation?  This is a similar program to Doman and works through a set sequence of movements that all newborns/children should go through as they develop.  Sometimes our kids with nuerological differences miss or don't spend enough time on these movements (crawling, creeping, eye movements etc..).  We haven't had our child assessed yet (but it will probably be our next step) so I can't give you any first hand experience but if you are interested there is a yahoo group called nueroreorganisation that you can ask parents/therapists questions.
Just a thought,
Jenene.

[Thalanaya]

She attends OT and PT to address these issues. She has a retained ATNR Reflex which affects her tracking for reading and a retained Moro reflex. We have tried neuro feedback as well. She didn't walk until 18 months so there was a lot of crawling. Her sensory system is effected too especially the vestibular as she is seeking in that area.

Nthanks for all the great suggestions so far!

[Mandabplus3]

My knowledge here regarding the physical limitations is limited but....
As for karaoke, start with slow songs she knows the words to. So she can learn to read along first.If they karaoke words move don't use it at all as you say she has trouble tracking I dont think moving words will help. If the karaoke words are too fast, moving or too small or unclear due to the back ground try making PowerPoint slides of her favourite song lyrics.
It is very, VERY common for children to substitute words like small for little...I wouldn't worry about that so much the purpose of reading is understanding, she has that. You just need to work on gradually increasing the level. in your case I wouldn't be a concerned with accuracy as understanding and improvement. Practice, practice, practice!  And definately read the Doman book.

[Thalanaya]

I bought the dorman book last night during the baby's 1 am feeding and I am on chapter 5 !

[Mandabplus3]

Hehe I read it in one sitting too...and then went to the library to get the rest!  Enjoy!

[kmum]

IQ tests are very inaccurate for people who have developmental delays & especially those with communication delays.

Learning through song can help people memorize but they don't retain the information in the same way as things learned through other methods.  Often things learned through song can only be remembered by repeating the song whereas something learned by flashcards for example, can be remembered instantly.

That's great that you are getting started on the Doman books.  I recommend How to Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence as well as the pathway to wellness.  I read What to do About Your Brain Injured Child first & it drove me nuts!  It is a history of the Doman method & never does get  around to telling you "what to do".  It is good to know the history but was very frustrating to have to wait for the other books to come to tell me "what to do".  I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I had known it was just a history.

I would recommend getting a neurodevelopmental evaluation if at all possible.  If you can do a program to help organize her brain first, it will allow her to learn the information more easily. Here is a link to the most complete list of neurodevelopmentalists that I know of:

http://dsdaytoday.blogspot.com/2011/06/get-your-own-neurodevelopmentalist.html

Otherwise, the Doman books will be very helpful at creating your own program & I'm sure the parents here will be able to help you also.

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