Hi all -- 
I have a student who says that tracking left to right gives her a 
headache, but tracking right to left is OK.  This might be a result of a 
closed head injury:  I have lots of questions about this student, and have 
yet to get her started with a tutor because of other health issues that 
she has.  The learning problems began long before the possible head injury 
a.  I hope to try her with a Wilson tutor.   I'd like to screen her for 
Irlen syndrome but want to make sure she's had a recent eye exam first. 
        Does anyone else have experience with headache in regard to (only) 
one direction of tracking? 
                                Kathie Mcdonald, Tutor Student 
Coordinator, 
                                Project Second Chance Adult Literacy 
Program, Contra Costa County, CA. 



"Josh Hayes" <therealjoshhayes at gmail.com> 
Sent by: learningdisabilities-bounces at nifl.gov
03/29/2007 08:42 AM
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Subject
[LearningDisabilities 987] Re: Looking for expert advice to help literacy 
student






Carolyn,
 
I was very intrigued by your student's strategy.  If this approach worked, 
I would say run with it.  But it seems that the right/left decoding method 
is causing her substantial difficulties.  Using a phonics system for 
instruction is going to require that she not approach the word from right 
to left.  I don't want to diminish her perspective on her reading 
approach, however her inability to discriminate vowel sounds and the 
pattern reversals on some letters suggest sound symbol correlation 
difficulty more than visual processing challenges.  There is no reason why 
a d should be more commonly confused with b or P.  They're all circles 
with lines attached.  She seems to have difficulty with directionality on 
both planes, and she might benefit from multi-sensory practice in 
determining the connection to letter name and shape orientation.  These 
are all things that can be taught.   I would start with phonological 
awareness and segmentation exercises.  What she may be looking for, and I 
say may, is common pattern clues using consonant endings with the vowels. 
Again, if this was efficient, there would be nothing wrong, but you need 
to experiment with other methods.  Wilson is probably a very good match, 
but she needs to replace strategies and hone her ability to discriminate 
sounds. 
I would also recommend that, if possible, she ensure that she has no 
sensory problems, such as poor hearing or vision.  If she sees the page 
clearly head on but blurry in the mirror, that would be the first things 
I'd want to check out. 
 
Good luck,
 
Josh
 
Joshua Hayes
Instructional Coordinator
SEARCH Homeless Project
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