Are there different kinds of Dyslexia?

Question

My daughter started kindergarten this year and was the perfect student. Now that they are working with numbers she is very frustrated and is acting up in class. While the other kids are counting to 50 she can't get past 10. The teacher told me the other day that she now believes my daughter has a learning disability. Isn't dyslexia a problem with letters and words not numbers? She is very gifted when it comes to arts (music, drawing, etc) but certain things like math set her off emotionally.

Answer 1

i don't think they do..but  there are different kinds of learning disabilities..like dyscalculia children having difficulty in math and dysgraphia..with spatial difficulties as far as i know

Answer 2

technically, difficulty with numbers is called 'dyscalculia'.  It's awfully early to discuss a kindergartner as having a disability, I mean she's only been in school 6 months.  Formal testing really won't show it, as Kindergartners aren't expected to know much, and formal testing generally begins norming at 6 years.  If you really suspect it is visual in nature, you can take her to a opthamologist for a full work-up.

Also know most of us have strengths and weaknesses, and we have to work extra hard in the areas that are difficult for us.  Girls typically have better developed language skills when entering school, and may have some trouble in other areas.  

This is a case where Response to Intervention (RTI) might help the child.  Before labeling her, the school should to use her strengths to help her learn- can she do counting songs that can help her link the word with the picture?  There are other types of mnemonic programs- I used 'addition the fun way' with second graders who were having trouble with single and double digit addition, and that worked well.  The biggest part of RTI is that the interventions are given to several children, and you monitor the progress of each child.  A learning disability can't be discussed until it is found that a child continues to have difficulty, even with intervention.  

AND they must perform differently than peers.

By the way, 'dyslexia' is a specific type of learning problem.  School are able to provide special education services to children with various learning issues, including problems with reading fluency, word identification, and comprehension; as well as problems with math calculations and reasoning.  Written, oral and listening expression are all areas that can be considered 'Learning Disabilities' if there are significant deficits, as far as the federal government is concerned.

Answer 3

There are many kinds of learning disabilities. Dyslexia is only one of them. The teacher hasn't worked with your daughter long enough and is not the qualified person (a school psychologist is) to diag. either LD"s or Dyslexia. Don't let a teacher speaking out of turn frighten you or prejudice you toward a particular LD.

You're right it is with letters and Kindergarten is too early to tell. The biggest clue is bizzare spelling.

Blessings

Answer 4

I'm not sure if there are different scientific classifications of dyslexia, but often it manifests itself in different ways for different kids.  I had a teacher in high school who was dyslexic and he would misspell words and confuse numbers.  

That being said, I think I would wait a while to actually consider your daugher "dyslexic."  Everyone learns at her own pace and you don't necessarily want to label your child right away with some condition or stigma.  Tell your teacher that you're aware of the problem, that you're concerned, but that you'd rather wait and see if your daughter catches up, rather than declare her dyslexic.

Let her grow and be herself; it might just be a tough topic for her.  I had problems in math for years; people thought I had a learning disability.  In actuality, it was the teacher.  Once I got a teacher who clicked with me, I rocked my math classes.  I still had to go in for extra help, but I ended up in Calculus my senior year : )

Good luck with everything!

Answer 5

you may want to check out this site:

http://www.mindpub.com/art169.htm

The school should also do some testing right away. The sooner they can figure out the issue, the sooner they can figure out the best way for her to learn is! The school may also test her for ADD. There are more than one type of ADD...one is when the child is hyper, the other the child spaces out and daydreaming. Children with dyslexia usually are talented in the arts. The good thing for your daughter is at least she lives in a time that school adjust their curriculum to suit her needs. The more detail you get on this , the better. Also, colleges, by law, have to test a student in a way that suits their learning disablitiy. I hope I helped, good luck.

Answer 6

Letters and numbers are the same thing, symbols that have a directional component to them. That is that don't mean the same thing backwards. (You wouldn't believe how many times I have to use SpellCheck in everything I write.)

I am dyslexic and it is more than left and right but also rotational? (If you can understand that.) Hand-written B, E, 3, M, and W look so much alike I have to concentrate on them sometimes to understand what is written.

I still have no problem remembering numbers but the problem I have is remembering the order they go in. I use the telephone keypad for a visual guide, as if I was dialing a number, my mind traces the pattern my finger would make across the dial and I don't remember the number, just the pattern.  

Your description of your daughter sounds like she might have the same type of problem. Feel free to try my telephone method for her and see if it helps.

(I am a 53 years old physician (or is it 35, or ES,SM, 5W???)