One very positive thing I’ve learned through all my court battles with the school district is the intricacies of each of my daughter’s disabilities/disorders. I have also learned there’s a whole world of tools out there to help.

LuLu struggles mightily with reading. Perhaps it is this struggle that made her behavior significantly worse when she was sent to a separate classroom for reading instruction each day. Perhaps it was exacerbated by a young teacher and inexperienced parapro. But most likely it was because reading taps a variety of her disability areas, not the least bit which is her visual processing deficits.

I’ll admit I’m still learning about her visual processing issues, but here’s what I know to be true. LuLu doesn’t really have comprehension issues – if she’s able to “take in” the information at the rate she needs to, while maintaining focus, she understands. In fact, the school recognized that clearly enough to put her in the “upper level” of their leveled reading classrooms for special ed children. So she was in a classroom of children up to two years older than her. Socially this was a TOTAL disaster. Yet, she comprehended the reading, even if she struggled through actually reading it.

Because of all this difficulty, LuLu hates to read. Given the ability to prioritize her day (which she has here at homeschool) she will do one of two things, depending on her OCD level. Often, she will opt to read first and get it out of the way. Or she will push it to last in hopes that we skip it.

I know her visual processing issues are real. The school system tries to deny and downplay it. I watch her struggle with tracking from line to line, omit or add endings to words and easily lose her place. I watch her hop ahead and anxiously get stuck on an unknown word.

I have had invaluable coaching from our educational consultant on things to explore when it comes to reading. After all, reading is THE cornerstone of education. She’s gotta do it…right? Well, she’s gotta do it with the right accommodations and supports.

Here are some of the tips/ideas we’ve been given. Perhaps some might work for you to:

1. Co-reading. We do a lot of this. Her reading lesson is often the both of us reading outloud. Sometimes we will alternate paragraphs, sometimes we will take different characters in a dialog. This takes the pressure and focus off of her visual difficulties and puts it back on the content of the reading. She gets a chance to mimic my fluency and inflection.
2. I often ask as we’re reading – “what does that mean?” or “what do you think will happen next?” Again, that focuses on the comprehension and gives me clues into how well she’s understanding what she’s reading.
3. We use a tape recorder. Sometimes I record the chapters for her myself and she follows along. Our consultant has recommended working up to having her record reading outloud herself. This is supposedly a huge help in fluency (something LuLu desperately needs.
4. she uses a ruler or other straight-edge to help keep her place.
5. we pre-identify any new words that might hang her up and talk about them before we start reading.
6. we go over the text, using a variety of these methods, more than once if it’s clear that she has not comprehended it.

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