Jump to content

dyslexia programmes


Jomo
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi,

 since moving over to French speaking Switzerland last year we have discovered that our daughter is dyslexic. ( we had suspected this for several years back home in Scotland but the school principal  told us she was just a mediocre student and wouldn't be anything else- despite us asking for a proper assessment which never happened). Anyway we have moved out here now and she is in a French speaking school. Does anyone know of any French dyslexic software programme, reading programmes and also any programme games , either English or French to improve her working memory and dyscalcula.

We are not sure now if we are here longterm we have decided to give it one more year then we'll see how she is getting on. She is 11 years old. If we had known before coming out here I'm pretty sure we would never have moved, but now we are here I'm just trying my best to support her. She is getting some help from a logopediste at school.

Thanks

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi

My son is Dyslexic and I am Dyscalculic. There is a Programme called "Word Shark" which is good for Dyslexia and helps improve reading and spelling(have used this with son as it was recommended by SENCO). It should be readily available on Internet (sorry I did not check). Unfortunately Dyscalculia is not recognised in Cheshire where I was educated and now work in education. Do not know what to suggest for that as I understand how hard it is to remember tables and formulae myself. Dependant on the age of your child Paired Reading may be helpful in an evening when they are relaxed.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If my memory serves me correctly there was a series of previous threads a few years ago on dyslexia and the French educational system. I think one of the main contributors based on the experience of her own family in France was a very active and missed member of the forum called 'Teamed Up', who lived in France with her family for many years, but returned to the UK about a year ago. Anyway, the gist of the posts was that the French educational system was not as well geared up to dealing with dyslexic students as compared to the UK, in that it had limited provision for specialist tuition and a rather old fashioned prevailing attitude amongst some of the educators.

Whether matters have improved since I do not know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Although I currently live in France, I am chairman of the British Dyslexia Associations New Technologies Committee, which seeks to help dyslexic people make use of technology.

There are many good programs which might help your daughter, although I do not know of too many in French. PenFriend  is a tool which will help with writing since it offers text-to-speech and predictive typing and there is a French version. It will help to encourage her to learn to type efficiently. I don't know how receptive her school might be in terms of allowing her to use a computer for writtne work. I fancy the French schools are much less flexible in this respect. 

Likewise the french maths curriculum seems to be much more rigid in imposing methids than the UK numeracy strategy. You will find programs such as NumberShark should help with basic numeracy skills anyway.

There are many programs to help with spelling and reading in English. Should you decide to change schools to an english speaking one I can recommend many titles. Have a look at www.dyslexic.com which is the website for an excellent

company selling the whole range of technology products for dyslexics

and also the information sheets you will find on the BDA website. Please contact me directly if I can be of further help.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi,

 thanks for the replies. I am actually in Switzerland, the French speaking area ,but looking for any French computer software ( or written programme games) to help my daughter learn French. I think that the school might be willing to let her use a computer , they are piloting them in the older classes for dyslexics. I had thought of one of those pens and will certainly get her one.

Just returned from UK today and come back with the Nessy, Wordshark and Toe to Toe programmes (In English). I feel its important for her to maintain and improve her English but  will this confuse her while she is learning the French?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Jomo"]

Hi,

 thanks for the replies. I am actually in Switzerland, the French speaking area ,but looking for any French computer software ( or written programme games) to help my daughter learn French. I think that the school might be willing to let her use a computer , they are piloting them in the older classes for dyslexics. I had thought of one of those pens and will certainly get her one.

Just returned from UK today and come back with the Nessy, Wordshark and Toe to Toe programmes (In English). I feel its important for her to maintain and improve her English but  will this confuse her while she is learning the French?

[/quote]

Nessy and WordShark should certainly prove useful..Whether she will be confused by trying to master both languages will depend on the nature of her difficulties. The most common problem for dyslexics tends to be phonological i.e. merging sounds together to read and hearing different sounds within words for spelling. She will need to grasp two differents sets of vowel sounds for the two languages which could be very confusing.

There are various online resources, notably on the BBC website, which might be worth a look.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jomo, I am originally from near Neuchatel, and will be going back to the area soon. PM me if you live around there- I've taught in the UK for many years, although a I've little experience of dislexia- and would be happy to help her with her French when we move. Bonne chance

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like all of us, we can only answer from personal experience.

My daughter has been here since she was 7, she is now 24 and doing her masters at Uni.

She was diagnosed when she was about 9, and regularly had assistance from a Orthophonist. It was the Orthophonist who compiled the dossier and submitted it to Rectorat at Montpellier. Eventually she got a document from them that allowed her a third more time in every exam.

This facility was the greatest help and enabled her to pass exams in college, Lycée and now at Uni.

It gave her the confidence not only at exam times but the fact that all teachers knew her disability and actively helped her in lessons and so did her class mates.

It is not a easy road for her or us as parents, but we all had excellent support and has given her the confidence to discuss her problems openly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
Have you thought about boarding school in England?  If you require more information regarding dyslexia or dyscalculia I would be happy to help (although my knowledge of help in France is zero, we do have 3 French/Swiss students).  Send me a pm.

Marc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...