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                                                               Jeannette from Virginia asks:


What to do when nothing works
     
                                   "Thanks for your time!  I am also a reading specialists but I've
                                    run up against something I've never seen before in a student
                                    and could use some additional insight.  This student was
                                    progressing very will until the end of her second grade year when
  progress seemingly came to an abrupt halt.  In third grade she began
                                    receiving special education services.  Now, in 6th grade ... she still
                                    has not progressed passed that end of second grade level.  I've never
                                    seen a student have such an abrupt and long lasting gap in their
                                    learning.  Do you have any insight on this situation?  Thanks again,
                                    Jeanette"

   
Dear Jeanette,
Thanks for writing.  How discouraging that must be for the student and everyone who’s worked with her, including you.  I've only had one student in 36 years like that, and it's when I so wished I had a magic wand and could make the problem go away.  NOTHING seemed to help, and I tried everything I could think of.

In my student's case, there was a clear hereditary thread of specific language disabilities.  His father was/is very dyslexic - a super bright guy, but struggled mightily to learn to read.  The boy I'm working with is also very bright; if you spoke with him you'd think he was much older than he is because of his vocabulry and knowledge base, but give him something to read and he struggles mightily.

Is dyslexia in your student's family?  She sounds very much like mine, and progress above a 2nd-3rd grade level has seemed to be impossible.  Once he reached middle school, I began looking for ways to help him survive in school.  I didn't want him to become overwhelmed with the amount of required reading, nor let the dyslexia stand in the way of his other many skills.  Intellectually he could fully handle the content, but reading through the texts was impossible.  That's when I added books on tape.  Did you know that READING FOR THE BLIND AND DYSLEXIC www.learningally.org, have hundreds of textbooks in audio form, and that they try to have all of the current ones that schools are using.  By listening to the assigned textbook reading, he's been able to do OK.  Maybe something like that would help your student at some level, too.

I wish that I had the "secret" to kids like these which I could share with you.  I know in my brother's case, his struggles came from development dyslexia, and when he became 17, he could suddenly read.  It was totally amazing to see.  I'm still hoping that will be true for my student, and I hope that's true for yours, too.

If I come across ANYTHING that might help, I will save your email address and share what I find.

Best wishes, and keep up the good work,
Deborah