Agatha Christie

This was on a newsletter I get that gives tips for struggling readers

http://athome.readinghorizons.com/emails/newsletters/2010/newsletter_november.aspx

Agatha Christie (1890-1976)

Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie was a British crime fiction writer. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott.

Agatha Christie is the world’s best-known mystery writer and the all-time bestselling author of any genre other than William Shakespeare. Over a billion copies of her books have been sold in the English language, and another billion have been sold in over 45 foreign languages. In a writing career that spanned more than half a century, Agatha Christie wrote 80 novels and short-story collections. She also wrote over a dozen plays, including The Mousetrap, which opened in London on November 25, 1952, and is now the longest continuously running play in theatrical history, and And Then There Were None (also kown as Ten Little Indians), which opened in the West End of London in a new adaption by Kevin Elyot in 2005.

She was able to use her creative mind to her advantage. She was known for coming up with ideas for stories while shopping for a hat or overhearing a conversation at a café. She did not let her struggles with dyslexia overcome her; she overcame them and succeeded in grand style.

Self confidence

I am learning that self esteem is usually low in kids with Dyslexia. I suppose it is because they compare themselves to others in class, friends and siblings. Maybe they innately know they learn things differently or see the world in a different way. We always strive to give our daughter the confidence she needs to try new things and the courage to make mistakes. We applaud her efforts no matter the outcome. "Try your best" is our motto.

When succeeding we ask her if she is proud of herself. Since 2nd grade started I have heard heart wrenching comments like "I am dumb" "I am horrible at math" you don't love me because I can't learn this" no amount of reassurance has helped so I turned for other ideas/advice. These are a few things that I picked up.....

 One person suggested having a list handy of famous people who were also Dyslexic and talk about what they have accomplished..ie;  Albert Einstein, Agatha Christie, Tom Cruise, just to name a few. At Cindy's age she has little reference to most of these people but will be handy for later.

I got another suggestion from a website and tried it. It seemed to be successful at that moment.
She was frustrated with math and said "I can't do anything!" and threw her head down on the table.
I pulled out a small whiteboard and made a line across the top and one down the middle. I put "good at" on one side at the top and then wrote "harder" on the other.

I had her tell me things to write on the "I am good at" column. We listed everything from art to playing piano to getting herself dressed in the morning. Some were silly, some about school, some about everyday things.
Then she had to write on the other side what was harder for her. There were only 2 things listed...math and reading. She couldn't come up with any others. I was worried she might write more but that was it. Then we talked about it. Wow, did it make a difference. I haven't had to do it since but will use it again when needed.

Tools - pencil grips



Rubber pencil grips

 This grip is hard to get a good picture of. I bought this because she has a problem holding her pencil incorrectly. She holds the pencil loosely and has little control of the point. It added to her poor handwriting and letter spacing. We have been struggling with this since Kindergarten. I have tried the triangle pencils, bigger pencils and different grips. After she had been writing while holding the pencil  correctly she would complain about her hand hurting.
The owner of the teacher store suggested this one. It is a mushy type of rubber and is a little flexible. You basically put your fingers in the "pockets" like you are pinching it. The thumb and pointer finger are tucked in the "pocket" and have nowhere else to go. The back side is a comfortable place for the middle finger to rest flat on. Her handwriting has improved and she said it makes it easier & is comfortable to use...yeah!

See-N-Read tool

Another great reading tool- Paragraph style

Also found this great reading tool at our local teacher store. It was $3.00 and it is called
"SEE-N-READ"  a MEMORYMARK series . 
http://www.see-n-read.com/

It is gray with a clear strip and is 5.5" x 3". This blocks out more of the page and seems to work better for Cindy when there is a lot of text on a page with a smaller font size. The clear strip helps her focus on one line at a time and keeps her from jumping ahead to the next line too quickly or skipping lines.
The package says "Mental effort is spent on "what" is being read (content) instead of "where" it is on the page".
Thanx B & K for telling me about these....What a difference it has made already!!

Neat tools

Reading Guide Strip

Bought several of these awesome strips at our local teaching store. 

They were only .99 cents and the see thru strip comes in pink, orange, yellow,green and blue. I bought several to see what color would work best. They seem to all work the same. This was a small book, so the strip is actually about 6" wide. We have already lost 2. I forgot to label them and we forgot one in a library book we returned...glad they were only .99 cents.

How I started & Little Hints

I am still learning and struggling with the fact that my child probably has a form of Dyslexia. I am learning how to help her and give her the tools she needs in order learn. In the last 6 weeks, I have talked to many people and have done a lot of research. I thought I would create an avenue or outlet for other parents that are learning or struggling with teaching children with Dyslexia or as I like to call it the "Dys-ies".  A place to post tips, advice or lessons learned in order to share and help our children with learning. A friend once told me we were "advocates for our children" and I now embrace that fact instead of apologizing for it. For the purposes of security I have changed her name in this blog to Cindy. As I am not a very "techie" person, I apolgize in advance for any mistakes ;-)


It was the little things in the beginning that just didn't make sense....  You know, that intuition that Moms have that there is something going on with your child. Something wasn't adding up. Why was my 7 year old still having problems with reading, simple math, handwriting even though she is very smart? How come she can read a word like "anticipated" quickly and easily and then struggle with the next word "that"? Why is she still writing words like they sound not as she has been repeatedly taught? Why is she saying she is "dumb" when she has the vocabulary of a 12 year old? Am I just neurotic, over protective and just need to chill out?

These questions and many more have plagued me since Cindy was in Kindergarten. She is an only child and  has always attended private pre-school and a private school with a well-rounded, excelled curriculum. Her parents, family and our friends are all educated. It was puzzling to me that none of my friends children were continuing to have the same difficulties year after year.

She was always a very focused child, no Hdhd or hyperactivity. Somewhat shy but very outgoing when she was comfortable with someone and her close friends. It wasn't until one of her classmates was diagnosed that I started to learn more about it. I am a big "Googler" and read several things and that is when things started to make sense.  I have had several "Ah Ha" moments in the last 5 weeks and this blog is about my journey.

I am one of those people that has always loved to read, I learned before I hit kindergarten. School came pretty easy for me with little effort.  I have had several successful careers and have run my own business for the last 13 years. I learn pretty quickly,(of course as I get older, my memory isn't always the best) Like many people I was under the misconception that people with dyslexia just reversed numbers or letters.

For the last 3 years, when I posed any of my concerns or questions to her teachers and other parents, I always got the standard answers: kids learn at their own pace, it will click, all kids at this age do this,etc.
All most inevitably, I would hear the advice to read to your child every night. Are you kidding me? Books were in my her crib, they are every where in my house and just as common as toys to her. We go to the library regularly to check out tons of books, she sees me read for enjoyment, even her grandmother is in a book club. I or my husband have read to her every chance we get and reading to her as part of her bedtime routine is required by her, not .

 Now at least I have a name to put to the problem and some answers to the questions.  Like anything there are as many labels under the "Dyslexia" umbrella as there is in any "diagnosis". I call  them the
"Dys-ies". There is Dyscalculia  Dysgraphia , Dyspraxia just to name a few. It is a smorgasbord of symptoms and difficulties and a child may have some or all. More later....