Create a plan of action. If your child is found eligible for special education and the school can provide it, the next step is to draw up an individualized educational plan. Created with a learning specialist, this should set specific goals for progress over the school year and offer guidelines on how parents and teachers can work together to help the child attain those goals.
Play up his strengths. Don’t let your child become defined by his or her dyslexia. These children need to be encouraged to find other outlets, activities and hobbies in which they can excel and win praise for their accomplishments.
Emphasize phonics. The National Reading Panel, composed of experts in fields of literacy, was asked by the United States Congress to examine the research on the teaching of reading. What the experts found had important implications for phonics: they determined that phonics is an essential ingredient in beginning reading instruction and, without systematic and explicit phonics instruction, students will significantly lag behind their peers. Interestingly, the panel also found that phonics most benefits children who are experiencing difficulty learning to read, such as those with dyslexia.
Stop the Cycle of Fear Surrounding Dyslexia
Foss writes that many of dyslexic children’s battles are a product of the things that people say and the fear this instill in parents. Some of the negative comments include:
“Not every child is college material.”
“My son was reading when he was still in diapers!”
“Your child needs to be in the lowest reading group.”
“I know you didn’t like special-ed classes when you were a kid, but this time might be different.”
Many of these fears come from the belief that being dyslexic means that we are broken (not smart and doomed to fail). Foss challenges parents and the community at large to shift our ideas of dyslexia from a disorder to an identity. Liza, the fifth grader who wrote the poem at the beginning of this piece, said, “For me, dyslexia opens a whole/other door.” If we look at dyslexia this way and play to dyslexia’s strengths, perhaps 1 in every 10 people will live happier and more integrated lives.
