Each letter of the alphabet is a steadfast loyal soldier in a great army of words, sentences, paragraphs, and stories. ~ Vera Nazarian
Starting today and for the next 25 days, I will discuss something pertaining to reading and learning difficulties beginning with a letter of the alphabet… going from A to Z.
Today’s word is ALPHABET.
Writing can be a difficult challenge for children with dyslexia.
Up to 300,000 children in the US alone are affected by a lazy eye.
In the first 12 years of life, approximately 80% of all learning comes through the visual system.
Most dyslexic children do not want to get out of bed on a school day. The younger ones may still be tired after a long night completing home work. In addition to that, the older ones have social issues – being called dumb or lazy, being stared at or whispered about behind their backs.
Follow Henry through one day at school.
Has your child ever pretended to be sick to avoid going to school?
What did you do?
In 1967, Johnson and Myklebust stated that “a child who cannot read cannot write.” That makes sense, since some researchers, in their 2010 and 2011 studies, found that “reading and writing rely of related underlying processes.”
Just as they do with reading, most children with dyslexia have trouble with writing. This is demonstrated in a number of ways, for example, poor spelling, illegible penmanship, narrow vocabulary, weak idea development, and a lack of organization of thoughts.
You may hear a dyslexic child say, “I know what I want to say, but I just can’t write it down.”
Marianne Mullally, an Australian educator, explains it simply:
Just like their reading can be improved with time and various strategies, the writing of dyslexics can get better with explicit instructional strategies.
Keep in mind that reading must be worked on first. Michael Clark gives parents some tips and tricks to help their dyslexic children with their writing skills:
Now, here’s a fun activity. If you are non-dyslexic, do this exercise to experience what it is like for a dyslexic to take notes:
How did you do? Please share your thoughts with us.
Every year, on January 1, many people set New Year’s resolutions for the upcoming days of that year. Unfortunately, for most of them, those promises are forgotten by January 31 of that same year.
Recently, I learned to think about my productivity for each quarter, rather than for the entire year. Somehow, that makes setting and achieving my goals less daunting.
July marks the beginning of the third quarter, and the middle of the year. So, if you did not achieve your goals for the past two quarters, this is a great time to start over.
As I reviewed the first half of 2020 and thought about what I would do differently, I resolved to resume my blog posts.
To hold myself accountable, I am committing, publicly, to write one post for every day in July 2020.
In my endeavor to help parents of dyslexic children decrease the frustration, cut the overwhelm and move their children from struggle to success – in school and life, I will be sharing aspects of my journey with my dyslexic daughter, through my writing.
If you’re wondering what dyslexia is, I’d like to tell you, first, what it is not. It is not a disease, so another child cannot “catch” it, nor can the dyslexic child be cured of it. It is not the result of bad parenting, poor schooling, laziness, or any other social or psychological deficiency.
Researchers have attributed the characteristics of those identified with dyslexia to different brain activity patterns. Because of this, they are excellent at seeing the big picture while struggling with the details.
Regrettable, the first things they are expected to learn are details like the alphabet, spelling, reading, and math computation. Learning concepts come much later, and many times, are bogged down and judged by their challenges with the details.
As she tells her story in the video below, Kendi Kamanja Oketch gives a riveting account of her experience as a dyslexic child in school and the workplace, before finding out why she struggled with simple things but excelled in some complex areas.
If you know of or have a child who struggles in school, is called lazy by his teachers, and told he needs to work harder, it is very likely he is dyslexic. Be encouraged. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and if you stay tuned here, I’ll illuminate the path with some of the lamps I used with my daughter.
What exceptional non-academic abilities have you seen in your child who struggles with school work?
Authors. Scientists. Adventurers…
The story of their lives was the story of my life.
I walked into TJ’s first grade class to pick him up for his speech-language therapy session.
“Come take a look, Ms. Callender,” said his teacher.
“Show Ms. Callender what you’ve done!”
Mrs. Smith walked into my office.
“Johnny said you want to talk to me about his visual processing.
“What does visual processing have to do with learning?
“My child can see…he passed his vision test and has 20/20 vision.”
“Excellent!” I responded, “Now let me clarify my message.”