Hmm, please, please don't take offense but if I were you I would take a step back, take a deep breath, dont panic and rethink how you see Dyslexia.
Your Daughter is not doing poorly, she is coping with the tools she has at hand to aid her. Try to think what a fire fighter might do if his hose is broken and all he has is a thimble to work with. That's not doing poorly that's doing the best you can with what you have. Some would walk away in frustration, give up or get angry and some would use the thimble and hope !
Secondly what your Daughter struggles with is Arithmetic and not necessarily complex Maths, two different things entirely. Think what an amazing thing she has achieved by not giving up but using her fingers as a concrete medium to access and visualise a problem, 1+2 =3. Humans are amazing.
Now replace those fingers with another medium, like coloured wooden blocks, beads, sweets and you have an alternative method of visualisation. Each number becomes a colour, the colour takes on a meaning. Red = 1 Blue = 2 + them and you get Green which always = 3. Green and Red together become thirtyone ! It is a case of finding the visual medium that works for your Daughter.
Use of magnetic numbers to feel the shape and visualise in 2D and 3D and thats another medium. Use Multi Sensory Medium to learn and the brain body dynamic will pick out the alternative mechanism that suits for its self.
Research all Multi Sensory approaches,learn the techniques and help your Daughter to access them. Schools tend to vear towards teaching a one method fits all approach in mainstream education and then promtly do so again with SEN Children. Badger the school to implement Multi Sensory Education for your Daughter.
Dyslexia is a word to describe a complex set of issues. Our Daughter could not read, write or spell. I could not read, spell or do Arithmetic. With Multi sensory learning we both found coping strategies and methods of learning that really worked for us.
Spending money on dore programmes and such does work for some, but not all by any means. Many of the excersises can be done without spending thousands of £ or $ by investing in brain gym books or active 8 packs, costing a neat $10 or $20.
Spending Christmas and Birthday money on things like Word Shark and Number Shark for the computer will reap more long term benefits in confidence and fun. A white board to do blind and whole body writing is a great tool. Wooden letters to play around with and feel the shapes of letters.
I could go on and on about the many methods that do work, but it does come down to researching, trying out and patience. Expectations must be altered because Dyslexics learn by alternative methods and not by the Norm. Give them the right tools and access to the their areas of interest and you will have a child who can think so far out side the box it is awesome.
An example of the positive outcome of multi sensory education. Our daughter could not spell the word thumb.
After Multi Sensory Education she has worked out how to visualise the sequence to suit her. She firstly writes the h then the u, she looks thinks then goes back and adds the t at the begining then she will put in d, relook, rethink rub out the d and replace with b. What is written at the end of this complex process is the word thumb. Does it matter that the way she did it was awesomley complex, uhm no, she got the correct result at the end. This is called the make and break method of writing.
Will this alway's be the case yes, but as a Dyslexic she will be given extra time in any assessments and exams to make up for her complex strategy.
Now a few words of encouragment. I have an excentric and large group of Autistic Spectrum Friends. One being a Cambridge Don, teaching Maths and Chemistry, but for the life of him he could not tell you what 1+2 = . He would have to use his fingers !!!!!!!!!!
Another is a Research Geologist, who can't write a phone number down in the correct sequence without a computer. His fingers know where the numbers are, but his brain can't sequence them in the written form!!!!!!!!
A computer whizz who works and runs a complex network within government, but can't pass the civil service exam, even though he does the job. It is not the Dyslexic at fault it is the perception of society that all things must be done in a set way and there is no other.
To finish I recommend you try frantically to get hold of a copy of
Removing Dyslexia As A Barrier To Avchievement by Neil Mackay
ISBN 978 190384205-8.
It will give you a path and understanding on how to start helping your amazing Daughter on her wonderful journey and how her alternative way of learning can be uncovered.
Many,may best wishes. Luv Winnie.xx
