Rheumatic Fever/Sydenham's Chorea/Increased Decoding Probs

[reverest66]

I'm not sure if this is where I should post this. I have a child who was diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever and Sydenham's Chorea shortly after her 7th birthday (she will be 8 next month). She was already having difficulty reading, but was reading at grade level (albeit with great struggle). Since her diagnosis and treatment for the Sydenham's Chorea, her reading skills have diminished, dropping well below grade level. In all other areas her academic performance is in the gifted to highly gifted range. Her reading comprehension when read to is at a 5th grade or higher level (she's in second grade). She has a HUGE vocabulary. However, she confuses words regularly (and more regularly since her diagnosis) - usually she confuses opposites - warm for cold, rewind for fast forward, close for open. She also has difficulty writing and reading words with blends - like bump - she will write it bup and pronounce it bup, and she depends heavily on the beginning sounds to help her discern a word when reading. Moreover, she inserts letters in words that aren't there - like if she is reading "word", she will read it as "world" - and sometimes "lord". While she was doing this before she got sick, it seems to have been exacerbated by her illness. Sydenham's Chorea attacks the basal ganglia of the brain, which I think is near the area of posterior processing Dr. Shaywitz describes in her book. Has anyone else seen a similar situation, and if so, would the avenues of treatment be the same as a child who is solely dyslexic with no other mitigating factors? Moreover, how do you get the school to do what they are supposed to do?