Colourimetry for Dyslexia

Following the idea that my youngest might be dyslexic and not being a person to not take action, I have recently spent a great number of hours researching and reading about this problem.  One of the treatments that may help for visual dyslexia is changing the background colour - black on white is one of the most difficult things to read, yet almost all reading is done with this colour combination.

Mini-twinks has revealed that reading is easier and the words move less when the background is either blue or red, so I have been reprinting all of his reading homework from school on blue paper.  I have also been putting in little lines under the middle of each word to help him track across the line.  This has helped him to read with less difficulty and less squinting at the words!

 So last week we went with  Other Twinks for a joly to the UK to get their eyes tested and for him to be tested on an intuitive colourimeter to see if coloured lenses would help.

First of all he had a normal eye test and the recommendation to have a slight correction as whilst he can see perfectly well he is slightly long-sighted and his eyes are having to work a bit harder which may explain his headaches and how tired he becomes.  Then after he'd had a break we moved on to the colorimeter where he looked at a page of script and the optician guided him through the spectrum of colours to see if any made it easier to see the writing.  When he fixed on a colour they moved onto the depth of the colour to the exact best shade for him.  It is quite subjective and at 6 he his quite young.  We spent quite a lot of time reminding him it wasn't his favourite colour that counted but what made it easier to read!  Our optician tested him 3 times to try and remove as much subjectivity as possible.  While I can't be sure that he has the optimum colour for him, what was very clear was when a colour didn't help him.  I think that if they do seem to help then this will be an exercise to repeat in a couple of years when he himself will have a better understanding of the process and why we are doing this.

One week after that by the Grandparent Delivery Service one beautiful pair of blue tinted glasses has arrived.    It is the holidays so too early to decide if they really will help.  I can't wait for him to go back to school to see how he adapts to wearing them in class and to see if his teacher notices any difference over the next term.

it could only happen to him ....

Well after a couple of months when mini-twinks reading was slow, but not dramatically bad it has all come to a head and action has been called for.  His teacher put a note in his homework book about some of the written mistakes he had made that day including some dramatic sound and letter reversals.  Not one to sit doing nothing I googled "sound reversal" and not surprisingly (but was to me at the time) stumbled on sites for dyslexia, which threw my world upside down in the blink of an eye.



Like most people I thought dyslexia was purely a problem with reading and writing - not so.  The more I read up on the symptoms the more I saw a portrait of my son.  A creative, fun-loving, "meme pas peur" (fearless) and funny boy that makes everyone laugh with his mispronunciations.  I've posted on FB some of his more memorable ones (muffins for puffins and meringue airplane).  A boy that at 6.5 doesn't know his left form his right and has no real notion of time  "mummy is it today?" is still a common question in our house.

I cried.  And then I cried some more - as all I can see is a momental journey ahead, dealing with literacy in not one, but two languages.

Then I told myself off and got down to some action.  First a chat with his teacher who agreed to take him into "soutien" (after-school help) after the holidays to provide extra phonic help.  In under a week he had an appointment with a speech and language therapist and the optician to get his eyes tested (although the waiting list is 3 months for that).  I removed my head from the sand and have now bought a daily calendar for him to change and he is fed up of "Simon Says" with integrated left and right!  I have researched colourimetry and experimented with different colours of paper for his reading.  He seems receptive so next week we are off to the UK for the day to get his eyes tested both for prescription lenses and coloured lenses if they may help.  His french eye test will be maintained to see if he would benefit from eye retraining exercises, and to register him with an opthalmalogue so that future visits do not take 3 months to come through.

His speech and language therapist remains non-committal, and whilst not ruling out dyslexia does say that such a diagnosis can only be made over time while working with him.  This work starts next week.  We feel  a little fustrated as we would like to know, but pleased that he has been able to get started with a therapist a couple of weeks after his teacher raised the alarm.  This is rare - normally it takes about 3 months to have the first evaluation carried out.  We feel lucky.

Who knows what the future is going to hold for him and I expect to become and expert on dyslexia, but at least he is getting the support  and understanding he needs straight away and for that I am grateful......

to be continued....

Carpe Diem!

A few weeks ago on one of the rare nice days Twinks asked me if we could put up the swimming pool (glorified paddling pool would be more accurate!), which we duly did and the boys had a nice time splashing about in freezing water.
Later they took off their swimmies to get dry  and put their pants back on before playing at other things.

I went indoors to start to get things ready for the next day and from upstairs I could hear Mini-Twinks jumping on the trampoline and chatting (a very loose term) to our retired neighbours.  Imagine my horror to hear "mme Favier - regarde mon cul" (roughly translated as Mme Favier - look at my arse) - emerging from the mouth of my 5 year old, as he gaily jumped on the trampoline and flashed his backside at previously stated retired neighbour!!

Retelling the tale to some friends who believe (oh so very wrongly) that Mini-Twinks is the calmer child, it led us to a discussion about the different types of language the boys hear and are subjected to.  Our friends had difficulty in believing that he simply would not have been able to say the same sentence, just as rudely in English but the reality is that, in our house "pants" is a swear word and they boys are not subjected to bad language (except when they go on roller coasters with me, or watch Jonny English). I am not sure how they are going aquire this vocabulary - my husband laughs at the fact that I worry about this!

However, here we have a prime example of the only disadvantage of a small school where 100 children with an age range of between 2.5 and 11 mix - the amount of french swear words my children know is seriously impressive - but it is the same as everyone else.

So here we have the rub - is it better that they have a reduced vocabulary but stand out, or a ruder vocabulary but are the same as their friends?  As ever, for me it is all about balance.  They can know these words it is just knowing when it is appropriate to use them.  Clearly with our next-door neighbours it is not, but  is that is more difficult to teach them what tone and vocabulary is appropriate when we don't speak french with them on a regular basis.

July blues

Last week I was in hospital for a planned ear operation, after which I need peace and quiet - not easy with 2 small twinks running around the gaff, so we shipped them off to Scotland for the longest they have ever been sent away for - 2 whole weeks!!

10 days into it all and I have been comparing how they have dealt with it all..


Twinks (8), and  a bit more aware of life around him (and the fact that he was being got rid of) didn't talk on the phone and ignored us all - that is until he knew I was back from the hospital and then he has chattered on as normal and has even being discussing his University and career options with his Grandma and whether or not he can do it all in Scotland!

Mini-Twinks (6) on the other hand got off to a better start and carried on chatting his "random bollocks" (as his father calls them) happily.  Then we received our postcard  and then finally yesterday he sobbed down the phone that he wanted to come home and missed us all... only 4 more sleeps now!

Café Anglais

Last week mini-twinks and I went for the first time to what was called a "café anglais" in Audruicq - basically a group of people meeting in a café for an hour or so every month and having a chat in english.  Nothing shocking there - except that we live in the north of France and all, bar one other man were french.

I went expecting to  answer more questions than I asked, and I was right, although I do think several people would have liked to quiz mini-twinks in french as well (but that would have been against the rules)  to check my assertions that he was bilingual.  In all it is a mixed bunch of people with mixed reasons for being there.  A couple of people were on the town's twinning committee and just wanted to get more out of the experience.  Another man was interested in local history which is very linked to the UK and he found that he had to go to London at least once a year and felt his english was getting rusty and wanted to bring it up to scratch.  Everyone came just to enjoy some (fairly) random english conversation and a drink.  Noone broke the rules (there are only 2 - don't talk french and buy a drink from the bar) and came with ideas about what to discuss.

Min-twinks had a great time - he didn't speak much but did confide in my ear that one of the women needed to practise more!!  Roll on next month!


photo courtesy of www.freedigitalphotos.net image by Nicholas Tarling
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Positive French Administration

Often expats living in France find the administration system difficult to navigate through.  After recently experienced a couple such experiences (mostly with Mr B's bank - it does have to be said where one person being on holiday for 3 weeks can bring a whole house sale grinding to a shuddering stop), today I received word that fairly cheered me up and restored my faith in the country in which I live.

I'm a member of our conseil d'école and at our last meeting an issue was raised by the head teacher regarding the safety of the children entering school in the morning and after lunch now that they no longer had an administrative assistant.  It was decided that the safest thing was for the children to enter by a side gate.  A decision I wholeheartedly supported.

This was before I tried to take the Twinks to school when I discovered that the zebra crossing did not go to the pavement and in fact the children would have to cross the road directly into a car parking space.  I raised the concern with the head teacher but as the building itself is the responsibility of the mairie I duly trotted off to the mairie to discuss my problem with the dangerous parking.  They were very helpful and promised to tell the Adjoint in charge of Travaux on Monday and get back to me.

Two weeks later when I was in getting cantine tickets I was delighted to learn that he had looked, and my idea for a solution had been voted in by the Conseil Municipal, and the work will be carried out shortly.  I don't think that this would be possible in the UK, either to be so reactive, so quickly or even to feel I'd been listened to.  Bonne soirée..

How did we get here?

in 2003, my husband and I (whilst still not married) were on holiday in the Gironde, and bought a house - as you do, intending to use it as a holiday home and to rent it out.  Five months later we moved into our "Coup de Coeur" and started the long process of bringing it up to a decent standard.  By that I mean having more than one plug in each room.

Since then, we've got married, had 2 chilren, moved house, had jobs, gone back to school and become integrated members of a small community of about 1,200 people in the north of France, and are now building a house in a 500 strong rural community.

It's been hard, but then again what we've done would have been hard anywhere, fustrating at times, joyful at others. We've faced challenges - like bilingual dyslexia, hit our head against the brick wall that is the french banking system but, I wouldn't swap it for the world. The hardest thing is missing family and friends.  We are just a family trying to make a living and enjoy a reasonable work/life balance, and this is how we have faced the challenges and  our ramblings...