<p>impressive that he got the one capital and period in there. They are so conceptual, no?</p>
<p>I am laughing so hard I can barely type.</p>
<p>My favorite is that my daughter misspells the same words the exact same way every time. I mean, what??? Her freshman comp teacher pointed this out to us at PT conferences. He said, “She actually spells perfectly, just not the way we want her to.”</p>
<p>Spelling- That’s how we found out that my D had dysgraphia. If you asked her to spell a word, verbally she was fine. If she had to write it down in a sentence (a more complex demand), there were letters missing, in the wrong order, etc. Typing made it better (but not perfect). In fact, the ACT folks called the h.s. re her score because the CR score was so different from the other English part. She literally can’t see what is wrong with a sentence, even if she would not write it that way because she knows it isn’t right. The dr’s that evaluated her said it is a specific type of dysgraphia is some how closer to dyslexia than some of the other types that are closer to executive functioning issues.</p>
<p>Smiling as I read this re spelling. My college-age son finally learned that “had” is not “hade” and last year his english teacher asked on a paper he turned back whether his spelling vain as veign was covered under his 504 plan. It follows some spelling rules…just not the right ones. Just like your kids, if I ask him how to spell a work, he can usually tell me, but it just doesn’t show up that way on paper.</p>
<p>My S can misspell the same word 4 different ways in the SAME sentence! He has no diagnosed learning issues but can’t spell to save his life. Fortunately, it has not hampered him academically or professionally to date and he has learned to love spellchecker. :)</p>
<p>By the way, one of my dear friends’ father is dyslexic. He is a full professor and has a PhD in educational curriculum. He has written curriculum for math & science for many decades and it has been adopted all over the world. He is president of my board of directors and one of the most brilliant people I know. My friend’s H is also a dyslexic. He has started a small alternative energy company and is doing very well. He has a masters degree in physics.</p>
<p>If there were no need to disclose in the application, I would not do so. I do not believe that most colleges will see this as a positive. They’ve got enough good applicants and many will see this as a potential problem rather than evidence that your child is a great candidate because she’s been able to surmount this difficulty. I would disclose upon acceptance but before deciding where to attend to get a sense of (or in my kids’ cases) commitments about the support that would be offered. </p>
<p>We did disclose in the case of my son. ShawSon is an extremely bright kid who is severely dyslexic. He is determined, goal-oriented and highly ambitious (e.g., wants to have the highest grade in each course). To help him learn to write well and to enable him to go faster in math than the HS permitted, I negotiated a partial homeschooling arrangement with his HS. He also did not take a foreign language. His high school record is thus rather unusual and needed an explanation. As such, he did disclose. He also wrote about his dyslexia not in the main essay but in an essay that talked about other stuff you should know about me. He had gotten the highest grade in Harvard Summer School’s version of the expository writing class Harvard requires of freshman and was working to complete a novel and had scored 99+ percentile on reading and writing parts of the SATs, so there was evidence that he could write. But, he does get and does need accommodations.</p>
<p>He got into quite a number of the top schools in the country and wait-listed at a few. He was rejected at my alma mater (which has a strong preference for alumni kids) despite a pretty impressive record (as well as at another Ivy), but I had advised him that it would not be a good fit (distribution requirements that would make it hard to avoid classes with 400 pages of reading per week). I thinks some of the wait-lists and the two rejections were probably influenced by the disclosure.</p>
<p>He chose a very highly ranked LAC that has no distribution requirements over an Ivy at the end of the day and has done well. He won a prize for academic performance after his freshman year and was contacted by the fellowships office as a sophomore to think about fellowships. </p>
<p>ShawSon applied to a lot of schools and got into a lot, but he did triage to three and we visited them. At each, we met with the dean of disabilities services, presented his testing info (emailed in advance) and asked specifically what they would do for him in terms of accommodations and what the overall process was. The different schools were quite different in their approaches and one (the Ivy) dropped from first place to second based upon how they handled my son’s situation.</p>
<p>ShawD is ADHD and not dyslexic and only applied to two schools. Upon acceptance, she visited each and asked for commitments. She had not disclosed in her application, but with the right documentation, the requested accommodations were supplied (plus additional support).</p>
<p>On spelling, ShawSon’s spelling/proofreading have improved markedly, but this requires a lot of effort. He also has a speech delay (takes him longer to get his thoughts out) but by virtue of choosing to compete in Moot Court in HS and the debate team in college, his speaking has improved markedly and the delay, while still there, is not noticeable.</p>
<p>poetgirl, audiobooks are a savior for ShawSon as well. ShawSon’s school also supplies him readers and notetakers if he requests it. His school has been fabulous. Dragon is less exciting as he has to read what it is producing to make sure that it doesn’t go off-track. He’s learned to type reasonably well.</p>
<p>poetgirl and amtc, ShawSon has similar auditory recall. He can repeat verbatim the last paragraph or so that you have said to him even when he appears not to be listening (to the great dismay of his mother, who has on numerous occasions chastised him for not listening and then he actually does repeat back exactly what she’s said). Better still, he can listen to an audiobook and do math homework or amazingly read another book and have complete recall of the audiobook. He can recall minute details from things he’s listened to long ago. Someone who studies the neurology of reading sent him to MIT so that they could do fMRIs of his brain to see what it was doing.</p>
<p>On the other hand, he cannot think if music is playing. He used to hate music (it gave him a headache) although now he likes some kinds of music when he is relaxing (he’s gone to Bonnaroo a couple of times). And, he puts the capital T in Tonedeaf. He cannot hear if the notes are getting higher or lower and listening to him sing would not be the high point of one’s existence. (Imagine his Bar Mitzvah). Remarkably, even his singing has improved.</p>
<p>My son had some extensive speech therapy very early, age 6 and 7 maybe into age 8. We didn’t really “get” why they had recommended this but I think in retrospect it helped enormously. Early intervention is key I think. S3’s auditory recall is amazing, I think the brain compensates because they are trying so hard to learn phonics (which is still the predominant “way” most teachers try to teach reading.) they become very adept at listening for cues. Books on tape or whatever they call it these days have helped greatly. I wonder if they have “textbooks on tape?”</p>
<p>Also interestingly mine seems to read better/quicker/whatever if he listens to music while reading. I know I can’t have too much noise at a certain decibel level when I’m reading so it fascinates me. He says it helps him focus. </p>
<p>It’s fascinating to read stories with others who have kids with dyslexia.</p>
<p>shawbridge–</p>
<p>My daughter never uses dragon, anymore, for papers. She does use it for in class essays, just because of the time issue. But, it is amazing how much better she has gotten as a writer over the past year or so. I had read that this commonly happens with dyslexics around the age of 20, but I wasn’t counting on it. It’s been a nice bonus.</p>
<p>Momofthree-- You can get textbooks on tape through the center for the blind and dyslexic. they’ve got everything. My daughter really did not read a word til she was 12. She had everything on tape. Then, in one week, at twelve, she was reading at a college level. strange but true.</p>
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<p>Wow! we got ours up to 45th percentile comparably about age 12 which is good ‘enough’ … and then started on the writing. He actually started reading words in simplistic “baby” books around 4th grade if I remember correctly. The retention of information factor these kids have is amazing. And once they are able to read they do seem to keep improving albeit not as fast as your D! I’m glad to hear that textbooks are available, I will share with son. He will be thrilled. I’ve had significant contact with our local center for the blind for/with my father who has macrodegeneration and is now blind, but never thought about them in terms of text books. Also the writing comment is interesting…the learning curve is definitely not linear. We had explosions of growth off and on through the years.</p>
<p>poetgirl, that’s a fabulous outcome (and really rapid improvement).</p>
<p>When ShawSon was about to enter HS, the head of Special Ed tested him and said he read at the 18th grade level but at a speed that suggested he was seeing each word for the first time. Progress since then has been significant in terms of speed, but stamina is the real issue.</p>
<p>momofthree, the place you get audio textbooks used to be called Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBD) but it has changed its name to Learning Ally ([Accessible</a> materials for individuals with visual and learning disabilities | Learning Ally, formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic](<a href=“http://www.learningally.org/]Accessible”>http://www.learningally.org/)). Publishers offer it for some of their texts, but typically the universities have to purchase it. Not sure why, but that was our experience. And, they need lead time.</p>
<p>It is painful listening to some of the audio textbooks because the reader has to describe an elaborate graphic to a blind person. </p>
<p>Anyway, I think disclosing is necessary before deciding to accept but may not be advisable when applying for admission unless it is needed to explain the kid’s record.</p>
<p>Yes, the reading was a stunning turn around, but the stamina can be an issue, and, as she would tell you herself, she still has what she calls dyslexic days where it’s not going to work well no matter what. She’s learned to just shrug it off like a bad knee, though when she was younger it used to panic her a little…</p>
<p>Sorry I got that name wrong, it’s been a long time since my daughter didn’t deal with that herself.</p>
<p>As for the disclosure issue, I just left that up to her. I had no real opinion on it one way or the other, and so I probably would take shawbridge’s advice, if you don’t need to explain something dramatic.</p>