My 16-year-old son has been struggling with reading since elementary school. At age nine, we found a place that used the Orton-Gillingham approach, and we used that for several years.

Over the years, we have supplemented his curriculum with tutors for English and math, taking online classes. (He really did not like that format and didn’t make substantial gains). We also had a skills coach the last half of the school year.

He’s an amazing, funny, young man who loves video games, music, and computers. When he finds something that interests him, he can focus for hours. 

His struggle with executive function, prioritizing tasks, time management, awareness of next steps is an ongoing problem, but he hasn’t responded well to schedules, charts, lists, alarms, etc. I’m struggling trying to find ways to help him retain information like basic math facts and grammar rules. 

When we learned of the Orton-Gillingham approach for reading, it made such a huge difference. My hope is that there are things out there that have been developed to deal with his other challenges that I just haven’t found.

I’m so sorry that your son continues to struggle. I understand how this goes as these students get older. They have had such a challenge as they have moved through the grades, and many can get defeated from all of their hard work that tends to not pay off. It sounds to me that you have pulled together a good team to help him.

I’m hoping that he has either an IEP or 504 Plan so that he has the appropriate accommodations to succeed. For example, some students benefit from math formulas written on a note card that they can bring into an exam, so they do not have to remember the formula, but can demonstrate that they understand how to solve a problem using that formula. 

At his age, leveraging technology to help him access material (via audiobooks and text-to-speech software) and to help him demonstrate his understanding of material (speech-to-text software, editing software) will be important. I’m hoping that the coaches have worked with him to use his smartphone for tasks (e.g., make to-do lists, set alarms). He’ll also need to learn how to manage his time and predict how long it takes to do a task (and then reflect on that). Here is some information on assistive technology https://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/tools/software-assistive-technology/.

There are text-to-speech conversion tools that could be helpful as well (e.g., Balabolka (www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm), Capti Narrator (https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site/), Kurzweil (www.kurzweiledu.com), Natural Reader (www.naturalreaders.com), Read and Write Gold (http://www.boundlessat.com/Learning/Writing/Read-Write-Gold-for-Windows), or Read Please (www.readplease.com). 

For grammar and spell checkers, Ginger and Grammarly  are both good and free options. Ghotit is both a good spelling prediction tool as well as a promising reading and writing assistant specifically developed for individuals with dyslexia. Speech-to-text conversion tools are now built into most tablet and computer systems. However, DragonDictate, while not free, is a speech-to-text conversion tool that improves its transcription accuracy over time. Inspiration is an excellent tool for pre-writing and organizing information.

Your son will likely need to work with someone to learn to maximize whatever programs/tools he opts to use. We can’t expect that students just automatically know how to use these programs/tools.

He also might benefit from some direct instruction in reading comprehension strategies. https://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-and-intervention/reading-comprehension/helping-students-learn-how-to-learn-from-written-texts/

And, depending on his coursework, there is a lot that can be taught relative to writing. https://dyslexiahelp.umich.edu/professionals/dyslexia-and-intervention/writing/more-on-writing/

There is a lot more on the side bar under the above tabs as well.

I wish him the very best as he continues to navigate these waters.