Quest For Dyslexia

[Emir Ballard]

Kidscan learn where they struggle with working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual sequencing memory, auditory sequential memory, and visual memory. As they climb to the top of the Yeti Mountain, they go through six skill-based areas: remembering numbers forward and backward; listening to directions as they have to swipe, spin, and pull various objects; typing letter sounds; and so on. Each task requires kids to pay attention and listen to the directions given by the Yeti Master. Though Dyslexia Quest does not directly instruct around any particular area, it helps kids identify where they struggle and gives them targeted practice to improve.

Parents need to know Dyslexia Quest is designed to help assess your child's memory and listening skills. It is divided into six areas that each take about 10 minutes to play. If you have a child who struggles with distractibility, it may be best to play this app in increments to get the best results. Activities are divided into three age groups: 7 to 10, 11 to 16, and 17 and up. The goal is to assess working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual sequential memory, and visual memory. Upon completion of each adventure, you're given scores and details about your strengths and weaknesses. Kids can continue to work within the app to help improve any areas of weakness.

DYSLEXIA QUEST uses games to assess a child's strengths and weakness in the following areas: working memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual sequential order, auditory sequential memory, and visual memory. Clear directions are given by "Yeti Master," who takes kids through each quest and leads them to the top of the mountain where they can collect each Yeti. Progress through each game is tracked through a series of coins: A coin flips over when each question is answered, right or wrong. When a kid gives an incorrect answer, the answer turns red and gameplay continues. Score reports show kids' strengths and weaknesses with an explanation of each category, and the reports can be emailed to a teacher or therapist. Upon completion of the six areas tested, the child can go back and practice weak areas.

Dyslexia Quest covers quite a bit of cognitive territory for a variety of ages, and the games are challenging, though they can run a bit long. The Yeti Master is a fun, creative guide, and the three adventures will keep kids' interest. Play is fun, it's easy for kids to follow along, and the reports allow parents to see kids' areas of strength and weakness. If you need an informal assessment tool or want kids to practice specific skills, Dyslexia Quest is a comprehensive and engaging option.

Families can talk about following directions and have kids practice following them in the order given. You can give your kid a short string of age-appropriate instructions and see how many they can remember without a reminder -- for example, put your shoes away, hang up your sweater, and wash your hands.

The screener was developed at the Bristol Dyslexia Centre and was first released in 2011. Results are based on the tests of educational psychologists, mirroring the output that they would assess to determine the likelihood of dyslexia.

The International Dyslexia Association, Inc. (IDA) is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) charity, organized and operated to provide advocacy, resources and services to teaching professionals, advocates and individuals and families impacted by dyslexia and other related learning differences.

The information on this website is intended for general informational purposes only, and is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of a health care professional. IDA and CERI do not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

If you have a child with learning differences like dyslexia, this is a must-listen-to episode, as Elisheva gets personal and shares her story of her own childhood of struggling to reconcile her passion for learning with repeatedly being told she was learning disabled. Luckily for the rest of us, Elisheva has channeled the pain of her own childhood journey to helping families raising kids with learning differences help their kids feel empowered and confident about who they are, while also knowing how to advocate for them in school. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Lastly, if you are so willing, I encourage you to leave an honest review for the TiLT Parenting Podcast over on iTunes. Reviews are very important for helping podcasts find their audiences, and we would love your support in helping us find ours!

Every camper is special, and each one learns differently. That means our diverse and highly trained staff work one on one with campers on a skill-enhancing program that is personal & individualized, sometimes even going outside the box / classroom to help youth ages 6 - 17 strenghen and grow in their reading & language skills. We use an Orton-Gillingham language-based teaching approach, which is the most effective and beneficial method to teaching dyslexic children.

We start by giving every camper comprehensive standardized diagnostic tests before and after camp to help guide where we should begin the tutoring program, and to support the parents with a report of our academic recommendations when camp is over so that every child is able to continue the progress made at Quest Camp.

Each day is also filled with a variety of fun and exciting outdoor activities on property that are designed to help campers with their creativity, self-esteem, confidence, & encourage positive attitudes. There are also weekend camping field trips to some of the most unique and highly regarded destination attractions, right in our own back yard.

At Kids & Teen Quest, campers are never bored. We make sure to keep campers engaged in hands-on experiences, learning fun new things, with a variety of outdoor activities on our private 630 acre wilderness retreat.

For our residential campers who stay with us 24/7 for multiple weeks, and meet the age restrictions on relevant activities (alternative options for younger kids), they have the possibility to join our staff in camping outdoors and visit some of these exciting destinations. Weekend Retreats are due to availability, and weather permitting, thus retreats are subject to change/cancel.

Joyce has been a strong support from the early stages of development of our Potter's Ranch Dyslexia Camp, allowing us to visit her own dyslexia camp in Texas while she was teaching kids and having them go through her program. Showing us all the elements that make up the academic and camp program, where we sat in on the 1-on-1 sessions, Joyce freely provided her business model and knowledge for what we needed to do so that as many kids and families could get the proper support they need that a camp like this can provide. We are blessed to have her years of wisdom, experience, and passion for helping kids and their families with Dyslexia, ensuring our program is what it should be.

Holly Hightchew loves watching children learn. It is for this very reason that she selected to homeschool her own three children. It was only after her youngest daughter was diagnosed with profound dyslexia that Holly geared her passion and training to helping children with dyslexia successfully learn to read. She now works with dyslexic students and their parents providing reading assessments and training at The Learning Curve in Union, Ky. She also helps train parents, teachers and tutors to work with children using the Orton-Gillingham method. Holly has logged more than 500 hours working with dyslexic students, including her own. She is a Certified Barton Tutor.

Holly holds a BA in Communication and Business Administration from Northern Kentucky University. She worked as the Human Resources and Public Relations Manager for Gallatin Steel in Ghent, Kentucky. She has served on the Board of Trustees for the Gallatin County Public Library in Warsaw, Kentucky, and has volunteered many summers working as a camp counselor at Happy Hills Christian Service Camp in Carrollton, Kentucky. She and her husband, Bob, have been happily married for 27 years, and along with their three children, live in Warsaw, Kentucky.

Prior to moving to Kentucky six years ago, Mrs. Pam Hurless owned her own tutoring business in Lafayette, IN for over 20 years. As a classroom teacher, she has taught grades K-3, elementary reading resource, and adult remedial reading and math.

She has her BS in Elementary Education and Christian Education from Olivet Nazarene University. Continuing her education through varied programs, she is trained as an Educational Therapist through NILD (National Institute for Learning Development) and is Certified in Orton-Gillingham through the Dyslexia Training Institute. She has also completed the Screening For Dyslexia course by Susan Barton.

Her main clinical specialty areas of language and reading disorders led her to fulfill a two-year vice president position for the International Dyslexia Association-Kentucky Branch from 2014-2016. She is currently an active member of the International Dyslexia Association.

Mrs. Sheila Levi retired as an English teacher after a 37-year career in education. Her career was dedicated to middle and high school students and helping adults to complete their education goals regardless of age.

Upon retirement, she developed a tutoring center called the Learning Curve to serve Northern Kentucky families. While working with many students who were struggling readers, her team learned more about the dyslexic student and best programs to help students succeed.

I saw the Dyslexia Quest iphone app recommended on here the other day. I thought I would get it for DS (nearly 8) to try. He has done a few of the tests (he loved doing them) and preliminary results are average to good in all things apart from phonological awareness which he is significantly lower in.

(I will put a big caveat on the results - there differ significantly from the results of the tests the specialist teacher did ...he scored VERY highly in those tests, but only average in the Dyslexia Quest, but the phonological awareness is an outlier)

What does poor phonological awareness mean in practice? And what can i do to help him improve?

Some background:

He is an excellent reader, but a very poor speller.

He is doing Word Wasp at school already (on SA+) and I am teaching him touch typing to help with written expression, which he finds really hard. He has eye-tracking problems, but we are doing Vision Therapy and he's making good progress. He has been dx with "specific learning difficulties in spelling, writing and fine-motor control"

Thanks in advance for your thoughts x

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