“Dad how do you spell Transylvania, I am trying to find a picture of Dracula and his castle”

Our son frequently asks how to spell words when he is using his iPad. As he tries to type out the words which I have attempted to spell the hope is that it will help with his Dyslexia. He is trying to move away from just using the iPads speech recognition app. In this vampire case we had an issue with either my spelling (most likely) or our son’s typing.

“Dad that doesn’t look like Dracula or his castle. It’s a man with make up wearing a very short skirt.”

Yes that was an interesting conversation we had about a word sounding a bit like Transylvania.

We have continued to work at home on our son’s dyslexia. It’s his biggest concern and causes him so much stress. However it’s a constant balancing act as he gets so tired at school. I want him to have time to play and relax. But when we do work we have tried a number of techniques. I talked about some of these in an earlier post

https://bereavedsingledad.blog/2018/11/14/home-help/

Maybe, just maybe we are starting to see some progress. He is starting to recognise a wider range of words (although it takes time). Increasingly some of the more common words are starting to be recognised instantly. This is real progress. He is now starting to read Graphic Novels without the help of me or a reading pen. He is using the pictures, the words he can recognise and trying to figure out the words he can’t recognise. He can just about follow the story now. Hound of the Baskervilles is his favourite graphic novel.

As long as he is up for the challenge we will continue to push. Learning to overcome dyslexia does feel like the search for the Holy Grail some days. But at least we now have some leads. Maybe we have started to narrow down the search zone. Let’s hope so.

57 thoughts on “Progress?”

  3. It sounds like you are both doing a brilliant job. The thing that help with my dyslexia was when technology came along and things like spell check meant that I could see words spelt correctly as I sight read so l need to see a lot of words really often to store them in my memory bank. I use the ‘speak’ on my iPad to proof read all my blog post before I publish as I can’t always see misspelt, missing or wrong words. Reading and writing when you have dyslexia can be exhausting though especially when your young and learning. Graphic novels and comics really helped my dyslexic son and brother with reading too, also reading what you love gives incentive. Keep up the good work you two, sounds like you are doing great.

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    1. Thank you so much. It is so exhausting for him, so many sensory things to deal with as well. I suspect the two biggest things which has helped is him using YouTube and the multi tasking exercises. Yes going to try and find more graphic novels, problem is that they are so expensive.

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      1. Will he read comics, they are cheaper (well depending on the comic obviously not talking first edition Spider-Man here)? Yes the sensory on top must make it so much harder, I find that with my son too.

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      3. 😅 wouldn’t we all (like a first edition) One of my brothers had a long view on collecting comics and every time a new character can out he would by one copy to read and one to go unread into a sealed bag. When he grew up and finally settled down a few years ago, these pocket money comics paid for the deposit on his house. If only I was that far sighted…

        Interesting that your son finds them harder to follow, I wonder why?

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  4. So sad that the graphuc nivels are so expensive. It must be so tiring for him, and for you too. I felt so sad when I read that he does not get mych time to play and relax. This is so important for a child, and I do hope that this can be achieved soon, in the meantime I take my hat off to you. You are doung a GREAT job. And so is he. ButInjust HAD to laugh at the man in short skurt and maje up and I was trying to imagine the ensuing conversation. Oh HECK! Lol

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  7. Yes it is tough trying to work on dyslexia after a day at school, but it is worth it. Every little helps and builds up whatever the child is able to build up. My dyslexic great niece – turned eight yesterday on the first day back for the new school year – did lots of eye rolling, huge shoulder shrugs, “stink eye” glare, weird excuses. But fortunately during the summer holidays at the end of her second school year she realised she could read books for her own age in their home. Their many black line drawings helped, on each page. Might help you with the illustrated books for his age being so expensive.

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  9. So glad he’s making progress. It’s great that you have a sense of humor with it all. So important in life to keep that! My daughter is ADHD. We’d spend hours studying. It took me a while to realize just what she needed to do in order to retain things. But once I figured it out it did cut back SOME on amount of time needed studying. A lot of repetition. A lot! You both are doing great!

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  12. Wonderful news. Never let him stop reading. He can train his brain to “unjumble” to letters. I have a daughter that struggled with dyslexia and other reading comprehension issues. she is now 25 and just graduated with her BSN RN in December. He can do anything with your patience and support. Make sure he has a teacher that will give him the same or they could damage his confidence. You are his only advocate when it comes to his learning. Many kids with these problems fall through the cracks of our educational system. You’re a great dad so he is already ahead of the game!

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      1. When you are tired at the end of the day and you have to help finishing homework, well, that is when you will really have to dig for the patience and understanding. He’s tires too and what he thinks about how you feel towards him during homework will make a difference on his performance. At least that’s what I learned through many nights of crying due to frustration over what I thought was a simple problem or sentence. We are human. As long as you are there and he knows you love him no matter what, then he will be just fine.

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  13. This is wonderful, especially as he is wanting to learn whereas I know of some who just don’t bother to try! The fact that he is enjoying reading his favourite stories is excellent, and he must be so proud of himself for doing so more or less on his own. You’re doing a great job!
    Love the vision of a Transylvanian…………. 😀

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  16. Hooray for this milestone! Like I tell my students, any step taken is a step forward. Yes, he needs his downtime, but a little time of challenging reading every day is still not as stressful as school. Like trying a new recipe for yourself vs. hosting a family dinner. Yes, it’s still a challenge, but you can go your own pace and not worry about what others think if there’s a goof up. x

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      1. Would down time between school and reading help? Just, you know, a little seclusion, or a little bit of gaming, or even helping you with that wheelbarrow. I’ve often seen my boys go to separate corners after school–not because they’re in trouble, but because they just need some peace and quiet with their own books or toys.

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  17. That’s great! I worked for a company once that made phonics software. They claimed that their unique method of coding words helped with dyslexia. Being a whole-words learner myself, I never knew if that was true.

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