teaching techniques

[tschock]

My third oldest son has Tourette's and also has some learning issues.
He can read, but he can't spell/print.
No matter what we try he just can't seem to grasp spelling/printing. I'm talking serious spelling/printing issues...he can hold a pen or pencil but then his brain seems to "get stuck". He knows how it works, but his brain to hand communication seems to be lacking.  I know there is nothing wrong with the nerves/signals etc as he has total control when it comes to eating, etc. he just can't spell/print.

He's now over 18 which means that he can't see his pediatrician anymore, and all of the help that was once available is now gone. The pediatrician he had was dedicated to special needs children and suffers from Tourette's himself, so I know he was in the right hands.
He could never figure out though why it was that my son could not spell/read. He did say that he knew it was not a mental block because through talking and testing he could tell that the willingness to learn was there.

He really wants to learn so that he can get a better job than flipping burgers or pushing a broom.
Has anyone else ever seen this?  If so, what techniques seem to work? If it were a matter of just learning to read, I could help, but...
I have tried holding his hand and guiding it while printing out the alphabet etc, but this does not seem to help.
My family seems to suffer from "literacy problems"...my brother learned to read by looking at comic books...he was 16 when he finally figured it all out.  
Any help would be appreciated.

[paperclip46]

Have you tried setting the words to music.  We teach the alphabet through song and phonetics. I know there are some on-line websites they may be able to assist with this but you will have to do a bit of research to find them.

[Samanthab259]

Dyslexia is a broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and spell,[1] and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, and/or rapid naming.[2][3] Dyslexia is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction.[4][5] It is believed that dyslexia can affect between 5 to 10 percent of a given population although there have been no studies to indicate an accurate percentage.[6][7][8]

There are three proposed cognitive subtypes of dyslexia: auditory, visual and attentional.[7][9][10][11][12][13] Although dyslexia is not an intellectual disability, it is considered both a learning disability[14][15] and a reading disability.[14][16] Dyslexia and IQ are not interrelated, since reading and cognition develop independently in individuals who have dyslexia.[17]

Accomplished adult dyslexics may be able to read with good comprehension, but they tend to read more slowly than non-dyslexics, and may perform more poorly at nonsense word reading (a measure of phonological awareness), and spelling.[18]



My son has this. They have a machine that can help with this. Try looking at this website http://www.dyslexia-add.org/

[wondrrwomyn]

I don't know if this will help, but maybe he's experiencing a ton of anxiety and it's "paralysing" his ability? Have you talked with a therapist about Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)? Here’s a link with more info. http://www.abct.org/Public/?m=mPublic&fa=WhatIsCBTpublic

I hope this helps!

[littlered278]

I need help finding printable safety signs for the community. I teach mentally and physically special needs adults in a sheltered workshop. I have a gentleman who needs to be able to recognize community signs. He does not read, so I need to teach him what the signs look like. Could anyone recommend a web site I could find them in and print them off. Any help would be greatly appreciated. My e-mail is ***@****. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Judy