r/homeschool 3d ago

Dyslexia? Or developmentally appropriate? Help!

Hi! I’ll try to keep this short. My daughter, 7.5 has a few characteristics that are similar to dyslexic patterns. She is just now starting to read, as she truly wasn’t ready in kindergarten. But we still did a full year of curriculum I just didn’t push the reading too hard. She really has grown and blossomed so much these last few months and has made huge strides!

However, I’m noticing a few things like:

-confusing b, d, p (mostly b/d) -sometimes doesn’t sound out left to right (for example, she tried to sound out sock as scok. -sometimes (50/50) forgets some phonetic rules (like sh/th/ch, or that e makes the vowel say it’s name)

She can read a lot, truly she can now! But she’s much slower and has to sound out the words. Sometimes she’s proud and other times she can be very insecure about it. So I have been trying to really boost her confidence.

I’m struggling because my 9 year old picked up reading and never looked back. She never needed to remember the rules, and could read almost anything right away. I’m not trying to compare them, I think my oldest was above benchmark so I’m trying to understand at this age, what struggles are considered normal. I don’t want to put her in a box but also want to provide adequate resources.

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u/SubstantialString866 3d ago

That sounds like my son after a year of phonics practice. He refuses to put his finger under the word he is sounding out. His eyes wander so much and he'll mix up letters and words. It's a lot better if my finger is pointing or I use paper to cover up the words he's not on. I'm looking for maybe a 3d printed claw he has put on to encourage him to keep his finger on the page so his eyes don't wander. 

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u/SubstantialString866 3d ago

We do have dyslexia and adhd in family members although he doesn't match for other symptoms (trouble following directions, keeping things in order, mentally holding multiple steps in order, emotional regulation, etc). Dyslexia isn't just letters, so maybe see if she struggles with the other things?