Keiki Success Spotlight: Meet Jordan!

Jordan is a 4th grader diagnosed with ADHD, dyslexia and dysgraphia. His parents knew from early on that something was not right. While Jordan was extremely social and friendly, he had an explosive temper that flared up at the most unpredictable times, causing him to lose many of his friends. He couldn’t sit still, and he didn’t understand personal space. From kindergarten through 3rd grade, Jordan’s report cards were well below (WB) the average for all language arts classes.

Although he was diagnosed at age five with ADHD, the pediatrician and psychologist attributed his challenges with reading and writing to a lack of focus – not dyslexia. According to the article “Risks of Not Identifying Dyslexia” by SciLearn.org, “The effects on academic performance and learning are logical consequences of a difficulty with reading.  Less obvious for many parents is their child’s avoidant or camouflage behaviors. Learners with dyslexia may avoid written assignments for fear of being seen as unintelligent. Being aggressive or playing the role of the class clown are other distraction strategies a learner with dyslexia may consciously or unconsciously employ as a means of camouflaging their reading and writing difficulty.”

(You can read the full article here: https://www.scilearn.com/blog/how-identifying-dyslexia-can-benefit-my-child?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=921406&utm_campaign=0)

Jordan’s parents tackled the ADHD issue first. They didn’t want medication, which often comes with side effects such as headaches, sleep problems, a lack of appetite and stomach pains. They came to Learn 2 Focus and we started Interactive Metronome (IM) for three months. We all saw that his attention issues greatly improved.

Then, in 2nd grade, with attention issues better controlled, Jordan was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. His psychologist referred him for Orton-Gillingham (OG) tutoring. Unfortunately, he saw virtually no improvement even after going through weekly O-G tutoring for almost one year.

That’s when Jordan’s parents inquired about our Wilson Reading System (WRS). We scrapped everything he had been taught in O-G, and started fresh with Fast ForWord for one month of intense prep, before beginning WRS. We worked on reinforcing phonemes sequentially and introduced syllable types and spelling rules until Jordan mastered them and became fluent. Using guided visualization techniques, Jordan quickly learned to first picture, then "run a movie” in his head of what he had just read.  After just three months of WRS, Jordan's report card improved from WBs to DP (developing proficiency).  After 10 months of weekly WRS sessions, Jordan has caught up to the rest of his 4th grade class in reading, spelling and comprehension and his latest report card is a mix of MP (meets proficiency) and ME (meets with excellence) in Language Arts and Science.

Jordan’s Keiki Success Story shows the importance of not quitting, and also the importance of being correctly diagnosed and finding early intervention. Many children are not diagnosed, or are misdiagnosed. This can lead to barriers to independent learning, chronic stress, low self-image, limited academics and career options and difficulty to develop other skills to compensate for those areas of weakness. Jordan was identified with dyslexia in second grade, and his parents immediately sought out solutions. This allowed him to gain appropriate support to become an independent learner and discover new abilities, talents and strengths. I am incredibly proud of Jordan’s hard work and his parents’ persistence in finding a solution for him to overcome obstacles! If you’re interesting in learning more about Wilson Reading System, or any of the other programs we offer, contact us at susi@learn2focus.com.