a wide range of emotions in short spans of time…. love, pride, love,
impatience, love, anxiety, love,
protectiveness, love, vigilance…..
And more.
All within thirty seconds or less.
We all worry about our kids’ futures……
Who among us doesn’t
panic from time to time over what the next few decades
will reveal for our babies?
The academics, the spiritual, the interpersonal, the careers, the homefront…..
We teach, guide, build foundations.
We hope. We pray.
But when you parent a dyslexic child, these ‘normal’ concerns steamroll
into daily avalanches of fear.
Dyslexia takes so many shapes, manifesting itself in a myriad of ways.
It “looks” different from person to person and even within one individual from day to day.
At seven, your child may have the oral/aural vocabulary of a college student (mine did)
and at eight, he be able to memorize with ease 200+ lines of unabridged
Shakespearean script for his roles as three different characters in
A Midsummer Night’s Dream ( again, mine did)
yet cannot read Dr Seuss or Magic Tree House without
repeated stumbling and requests for assistance.
And interminable hours.
These kinds of tasks may seem insurmountable to many but,
the thing is, extraordinary, seemingly creative endeavors
are the “norm” for dyslexic individuals.
When he finds a book or a series he loves and flies through it
( and by the way a dyslexic’s definition of “flying” through a book is not a
non dyslexic’s definition of flying through a book)…
well that’s wonderful but this level of accomplishment might not “last.”
Text conquered masterfully yesterday may look alien today…
or even in fifteen minutes.
Dr Blake Charlton, medical doctor, author and a dyslexic,
speaks to this specifically in a NY Times op-ed piece, Defining My Dyslexia,
when he ponders if dyslexia IS a diagnosis at all.
Is labeling dyslexia “pathologizing a normal variation of human intellect?”
Further, for insight into cognitive strengths that accompany reading difficulties
Mathew Schneps’ research in Scientific American, The Advantages of Dyslexia is the place to start.
As for the practical aspects, though, of intervening during youth, to develop,
own and master reading and writing skills, I’ve found the following materials invaluable.
I’d love to share them with you.:
~ 1 ~
There’s a listening/dictation, writing component as well.
This book is touted as following an Orton Gillingham model of remediation.
I agree with that to a point. I do add in my own “version” of the multisensory component
in a variety of ways, such as the tracing of each letter or whole words in sand,
with colored/chalk/markers on a chalkboard/whiteboard.
In this way phonemic patterns are learned through VAKT
(visual, auditory, kinetic, tactile means)
We spent ten minutes every day on activities in this book
~2~
struggles with the processing of print.
By the way, here are a few other posts in a series I’ve written around our dyslexia journey,
if you’d like to click around~
October is National Dyslexia Awareness Month~
The Face of Dyslexia & Myths Around the Gift of Dyslexia
Homeschooling and Dyslexia:
Part 1 National Awareness Month, Research, Myth Busting
Homeschooling and Dyslexia:
Part 2: What Dyslexia Isn’t
Does Your Child Have the Gift of Dyslexia?
Here are 40 apps for Kids Who Struggle with Reading Disabilities~~
Thank you Jenna and Jessica xoxoxoox