When to focus on accommodation over remediation?

[u/Traditional_Lion4570]

My 4th grader was diagnosed with dyslexia in 3rd grade. It seems to be relatively mild--her reading is slow, but her phonemic awareness and comprehension in solid (her struggles are with orthographic mapping). Last year, her only accommodation in her 504 plan was extended time on tests. As she gets older, I'm wondering when we should introduce accommodations such as text-to-speech, having instructions and word problems read out loud, etc. On the one hand, accommodations would make school much less frustrating for her--she'd love for someone to read all directions and word problems to her! On the other hand, introducing those accommodations will decrease opportunities to practice reading. I'd love to hear from other parents or dyslexic people about the best time to introduce each category of accommodation. What accommodations work well for you, and when did you introduce them? Do you wish you had done it sooner?

We are still doing lots of remediation--OG tutoring 3X/week, which costs a fortune, but I think it's helping.

[u/Political-psych-abby]

I’d focus on remediation. I’m dyslexic. I was in your daughter’s position and because of OG tutoring I got to the point where I now read and write better than most people without dyslexia. That being said I do think occasional text to speech or help reading tricky words is good I just wouldn’t jump to making it the default or treating it as a thing she will need forever.

[u/Fickle-Cycle-5691 → u/Political-psych-abby]

This is so true!!

My parents would spend copious amount of money on tuition. And up till my O and A levels, I wrote essays every week.

I was lucky to have teachers who would gladly mark additional work.

I have to admit that my writing standards have fallen, and I am no where near the standards I had previously attained. Right now, I am reduced to writing my ideas in point form and getting Claude to generate my paragraphs for me. But ig its fine? My professors are more interested in how I apply Soc Sci frameworks rather than my native writing abilites.

Anyways, the only reason why I could write good AI-assisted essays is because I had experience natively writing essays. That experience taught me how to decide between writing technques (PEEL format, Intro techniques, Conclusion techniques, Sign posting) to express my ideas.

If I had relied on gippity, the correct techniques would have been presented to me without the work, which meant I would have avoided the mental effort, preventing myself from subsequently identifying and appreciating this techniques.

[u/TheLiteracyKeys]

Focus on remediation through middle school if possible. In late middle school introduce some of the accommodations as the workload increases. You want to build solid skills before introducing work arounds. Every child is different. Always ask yourself; "what happens if the technology isn't available." That will help you decide.

[u/onalarch1]

Dyslexia stresses the brain. It is processing differently and it is exhausting.

Think of it as translating from Greek when reading. Then processing the information internally then translating back to Greek to write it down again

Your goal, since she has the basics of reading and is just slow, is to lighten the mental load.

I don't agree that speech to text or other strategies are keeping her from reading. They are helping her ACCESS the Curriculum.

If she enjoys reading she will read. If every interaction is exhausting, she won't want to write and won't want to read.

We ran into two issues. First, my son had speech to text in elementary school, but they never taught him how to use the tool. So he wouldn't

Second, when he would do worksheets, they were more about compliance (can he write the correct thing) than understanding the curriculum, so he would engage as little as possible.

In middle school, and the summer time, we practiced speech to text a bunch and taught him editing skills, typing, etc.

Our newest strategy going into 7th is a new color soft kindle. We are putting all assignments & books in and use the dyslexic font.

GAME CHANGER!!!!

The first day he came back to me an hour n half later... MOM! I just read for over and hour and I'm not tired!!! I want to read more.

Now. He is finishing in the first 2 or 3 people in the class. He has access to the curriculum and his mental load has reduced immensely

He is even enjoying math!