Community Discussion
Topic: The "Dyslexic Gifted Child" anyone heard of such?

#	Author	Message
1	DVC_dad Wed 5/21/2008 10:37a	My 7 year old has struggled with spelling and reading since forever. He is in 1st grade this year. It is very difficult for my wife and I to force ourselves to even consider that it's possible that any of our children are lacking in anything academic. We are prideful that all of our children are at minimum "above average" in all areas. Well last week we learned that we have been complete egotistical idiots in this regard. After 2 years of struggles, fighting, tears, punishment, over abundant positive reinforcement (I'll take you for Ice Cream if you learn these spelling words), we have come to learn that it is possible for there to be something "wrong" with one of our kids when it comes to school. I now feel like a complete numb skull and I probably needed this huge dose of humble medicine as a father. I mean, you guys see how I love to climb up on the soap box and spew my wonderful words of "dad of the year" knowledge and know how. BOY HAVE I BEEN A FOOL. Okay bottom line.... After a horrible year of extra help, after school tutoring, and hours upon hours of toiling with my 7 yr old 1st grade son to learn to spell and read the simple words, we finally swallowed our pride and took him to a child psychologist for evaluation. The 25 page, typed report is here, and we had a 3 hour conference with the Psychologist to help us digest what the findings are. Basically all that "stuff" can be boiled down to this: He is a mentally healthy and happy 7 year old boy, who is dyslexic with a touch of OCD-Perfectionist. The saving grace in the equation is that he does have a cumulative IQ of 139...oh wow! So even simpler, he's a kid that cannot learn to read or write in the traditional sense, but can do math at an extremely advanced level. He is a "Gifted Dyslexic". Until this, I always thought of dyslexia as your brain swaping letter around like a "b" looks like a "d" and the word "GOD" looks like the word "DOG" but in my short two weeks of edumacation dyslexia is far far faaaaaar more complex that just letters. What is the point of this thread? The point is...... Are there any parents of dyslexics out there, are there any dyslexic LP'ers and if so can someone please share some success stories or some kind to give us some hope. We have found a school that we can send him to that has a goal of remediating these dyslexic children back into the main stream in as little as one school year, usually two years, but wow the tuition is like private school $ on steroids! Does anyone have any experience with this approach? I'm really trying to find the best solution for my child, and searching for info. Any comments will help. Please feel free to share any information. Thanks.
2	davewasbaloo Wed 5/21/2008 10:53a	Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Tom Cruise were/are all dyslexic, so the answer is yes! They key is to work together to get through the challenges, and celebrate the gifts. Dyslexia can impact words, numbers, music, spatial awareness, there are many ways. But early identification and support is a key way forward. Glad you have a diagnosis, here's to a brighter future!
3	DVC_dad Wed 5/21/2008 10:58a	dave ... man ... I love you.
4	davewasbaloo Wed 5/21/2008 11:03a	Dude, the feelings are mutual. I am soooo glad to see you still around here Chris. I am not sure what the Georgia school system is like. But here in the Uk, if it were one of mine, I would try to keep my kids in the main stream with support. That's how it is done here (by the way, my ex GF from college is a research scientist in Pharmacology, my best friend from Uni is a professor of English - they are both dyslexic). The key is to read up on it, find techniques that work for you all, and vent. Love to your family.
5	chickendumpling Wed 5/21/2008 11:03a	posting from wk on phone only read title will come bk when I hv more time promise can recommend hoagiesgifted.org once in, use search for 'dyslexic gifted' much love, cd
6	chickendumpling Wed 5/21/2008 11:03a	posting from wk on phone only read title will come bk when I hv more time promise can recommend hoagiesgifted.org once in, use search for 'dyslexic gifted' much love, cd
7	mele Wed 5/21/2008 11:25a	Aw, DVC, I don't think you've ever gotten on your soapbox about parenting. Also, even though you've been struggling to help your child learn, it sounds as if he's mentally happy which shows you haven't gone overboard. (Not that it isn't sad to see all of that extra energy spent on something that wasn't working. Who has extra energy to spare?) My son is extremely gifted and bright also but schooling has been a nightmare. Of course, he's chosen to get into a lot of trouble so I should probably crawl UNDER the soapbox instead of standing on it. Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone and give you props for continuing to search for ways to help your son! Good luck!
8	ImTinkerbellsfan Wed 5/21/2008 12:06p	DVC_dad What type of learner is your son? Is he a visual or hands on type of learner? If he learns visually or by doing hands on, a modification that the teacher and you as parents can do to help him learn the letters is to use shaving cream or sand and have him spell the words out. Plus it will give him another way to do something that is not pen and paper.
9	alexbook Wed 5/21/2008 12:26p	I don't have any personal experience with dyslexia, but I thought I'd throw in another famous name: Charles Schwab is dyslexic and has done a lot for dyslexia-related charities. I'd also like to throw in my encouragement and congratulations on the fact that you are dealing with this. So many parents would focus on the fact that the kid is doing well in one area and just try to ignore the others. There's something about a child who is very, very good at one thing and very, very bad at something else that's difficult for people to understand. I don't think most teachers or parents or just human beings in general are quite equipped to conceive of, let alone deal with, a person like that (and yes, I'm speaking from family experience here, though it didn't involve dyslexia specifically).
10	Kar2oonMan Wed 5/21/2008 12:46p	DVC Dad, take a look at this ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...S5-0ThBo

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