dysTalk Bilingual And Dyslexic - Dyslexia - Forum - dysTalk

Hello,

my son was born in the US, and started to speak in English even if we are Franch natives and speak French at home. For reasons too long to explain we had to go back to France for a few years but are returning soon to the US. Once in France it was clear that our son had a very hard time speaking French, and reading and writing it (besides many other common issues like pedaling and tying shoe laces...). He has been diagnosed a few months ago with Dyslexia and probably Dysgraphia (he is entering equivalent fo 3rd grade), we are lucky in the fact that his speech doctor was a friend of the best neurological doctor specialist in learning disabilities in France/Paris who is now taking care of him . She however says that dyslexia was aggravated by the fact that our son is bilingual and she says that tests show that he probably remains bilingual even if right now it seems that English is far away (doesn't speak but quite well understands). Now our problem is: we shall go back to the US in about 9 months, and therefore our son will need to 1-switch back to English , and 2-enter the American education system. So I am seeking advices from people with dyslexic bilingual kids and also for some advice on how to school a dyslexic child in the US (Southern CA will be our landing place).

Thanks!

29/09/2009 16:48:33
Anne

All my dyslexic students speak at least 2 languages. Most of them speak and read in three languages.

It is rather unfortunate that both the languages that you son learnt are orthographically inconsistent.

I believe, he will not have a problem learning to read in an orthographically consistent language.

09/05/2010 00:30:20
Luqman Michel

We live in Italy and all three of our children learned English as a first language despite being born here. We spoke only English at home (I'm American). No all three are perfectly fluent in both English and Italian (they've gone to Italian school since the age of 3). My Oldest son, 7, was just diagnosed with dyslexia and I'm not sure how to proceed. We meet with his school next week, and I don't want to keep confusing him by trying to teach him to read in two languages but at the same time I don't want him to loose his ability to fully participate in American Culture - I:E Study in the states when he's older. What do I do now?

03/10/2010 07:08:24
tonysmom (Member)

My daughter (now 12) was born in Poland and attends Polish school but we speak English at home. She was diagnosed with dyslexia almost a year ago. Although she is bilingual and reads fluently in both languages, she mixes up grammatical structures in both English and Polish when she speaks and writes. None of my other three children do this, but neither do they have dyslexia. Her spelling (surprisingly) is very good, but her schoolwork is affected by her difficulties in expressing her thoughts.

12/10/2010 12:03:03
Angela

My daughter (now 12) was born in Poland and attends Polish school but we speak English at home. She was diagnosed with dyslexia almost a year ago. Although she is bilingual and reads fluently in both languages, she mixes up grammatical structures in both English and Polish when she speaks and writes. None of my other three children do this, but neither do they have dyslexia. Her spelling (surprisingly) is very good, but her schoolwork is affected by her difficulties in expressing her thoughts.

12/10/2010 12:04:35
Angela