Update on teaching Russian to a Dyslexic student

[LINDA SPECK]

Dear Laura,

Is the student in question an older student?  If so, I can understand why she 
would not have been diagnosed earlier.

If not, I am really curious about how she has gotten this far in school without 
being officially diagnosed -- unless her situation is like that of a former violin 
student of mine.  From my vantage point, I could see that she was having touble 
reading, and her mother said that indeed she was, but that she really  just 
needed to work harder.  

In subsequent conversations, it became clear that the mother  didn't want to 
face the possibility that there could be something wrong with her child.  She 
didn't want her labeled in a negative way.  So, to my knowledge, the reading 
problems were never addressed, and she continued to struggle at the violin.  

At some point, the family moved, and I never knew what became of her.   Maybe 
she's the very one you're working with now!  Or, much more likely, her situation 
is similar.

In any case, I am sure your student is grateful for all the help and support you've 
given her.  With any luck, she'll build on it.

Take care --

Linda

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:53:33 -0400
>From: Laura Kline <klinela at COMCAST.NET>  
>Subject: [SEELANGS] Update on teaching Russian to a Dyslexic student  
>To: SEELANGS at BAMA.UA.EDU
>
>Dear Seelangers,
>Thank you again to all those who gave me information and advice about
>helping a dyslexic student learn Russian. Some of your ideas were very
>helpful, especially the use of oral repetition and breaking down words.
>Several of you suggested that I have her get officially diagnosed, which I
>attempted to do, but the university office that deals with that is so backed
>up that she has been waiting for an appointment for over 4 months. This is
>particularly unfortunate because she will be done with her formal language
>study before we have the information to help her. Next time I will get the
>student on the testing list asap so as not to lose time. Unfortunately, this
>means I don't have much helpful feedback on this issue so far.
>Thank you again for your help!
>Best,
>Laura
>
>Laura Kline, Ph.D
>Lecturer in Russian
>Department of German and Slavic Studies
>Wayne State University
>443 Manoogian Hall
>906 W. Warren
>Detroit, MI  48202
>fax: 313-577-3266
>
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