He's Doing It

B is dyslexic.  One of my hopes for sending J to a charter this year, was to free up some space to get B some reading help.  However, financially, I am completely unable to get him outside help from a reading specialist.  So, it's just B and I working through auditory skills together.  I'm continually educating myself on what works for him and what doesn't.

This year, I was still picking up readers from the library easy reader section for him, thinking that if I kept his reading work a level below where he actually was, he'd be encouraged by what he could do and not discouraged by what he couldn't do.  Self-perception is so important and if he begins to believe he's a reader then that will help him push forward. 

He stumbled through them all and read ever so slowly.  I was a tad bit discouraged that they were too hard and looked at the budget again to find a way to eek out a couple hundred dollars a month to bring in more help. It turns out that they may not have been too hard but perhaps too boring and maybe offensively easy.

I tried a different tactic.  I picked up a Magic Treehouse Chapter book. He's been reading them to himself for a few months.  I'm not sure how successfully he's read them but at least he appears to understand them and enjoy them.  He also enjoys the audio versions and this might be the key to his success here.


When I sat down with him to have him read a chapter to me.  He flew through it and because he's reading it faster he's understanding what he's reading a little more.  Because he's already familiar with the characters he gives them a wee bit more expression and because he's reading a chapter book aloud to me he's stinkin' proud of himself.

I'm not afraid to push my dyslexic son anymore.  As long as he's enjoying what he's reading he's willing to do the work to get through it.  He's doing it.