9 and ½ FAQ for parents whose children have been confirmed as dyslexics July 28, 2016 11:44
The list below is a few very common questions that parents have when they know their child has already been confirmed as dyslexics:
Q1: I know my child is dyslexic what should I do next?
Q2: What can I do to support my child?
Q3: Do I need to take my child to any other specialists/doctors? These are optional recommended to get overall development, educationally and physically.
Q4: How fast can my child overcome his challenges in 3R (reading, writing and maths)?
Q5: What do I do at home in terms of teaching?
Q6: How to improve my child’s focus?
Q7: What should I ask teachers on my child overall development in school?
Q8: How can I explain to my child that he/she is dyslexic?
Q9: Will my child be able to go to cope with schools years?
Q9A: Will my child eventually go to University?
Q1: I know my child is dyslexic what should I do next?
A: Step 1: Read up as much as possible about dyslexia, there are many good sites around the world such as http://www.parentchampions.org.uk/resources/understanding-dyslexia-booklet/, http://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/dyslexia.html, https://ldaamerica.org/,
A good book recommended is Overcoming Dyslexia: A New and Complete Science-Based Program for Reading By Sally Shaywitz, M.D
Step 2: List down all your childs strengths and weaknesses. When teaching takes place we need to focus on child strengths, while also helping child to reduce weaknesses over time.
Step 3: Either send them for one to one tuition or even better results the best teacher would be the parents themselves. No one would teach their child better than the parents themselves. Invest and dedicate your TIME to teach your PRECIOUS child.
Step 4: Meet with your children teachers, explain to them your child is a dyslexic, get regular feedback from teachers on your child progress in school (3 times in a year is sufficient)
Step 5: Meet an educational psychologist and work out an appropriate IEP (Individualized education program), lesson plan or timetable or get tips and tricks to overcome your child learning difficulties.
Step 6: Invest in appropriate tools which would help your child to learn faster.
Q2: What can I do to support my child?
Emotionally à Always listen to their complaints, worries, fears and their story telling and be emphatatic. (Put yourself in their shoes)
Psychologically à Always talk positively about their strengths to build their SELF CONFIDENCE.
Physically à Spend time with them on outdoors activities “Play is our brain’s favourite way of learning” and give them regular HUGS.
Educationally à Get proper resources of books, teachers, IQ games, timetable (lesson plans) and educational tools according to their abilities.
Q3: Do I need to take my child to any other specialists/doctors? These are optional recommended to get overall development, educationally and physically.
See a paediatrician or development doctor -they will probably first give your child a physical examination to rule out troubles with hearing or vision and other sources of developmental delay.
They may then refer you to a child psychologist, a speech pathologist, education psychologist or occupational therapist for an evaluation of your child's intelligence and ability to process language.
A child psychologist will help assess your child intelligence level as well as assess if your child has any other psychological difficulties, speech pathologist will help children with difficulty with speech and pronunciation, an educational psychologist will help you build a Individualized Educational Plan for your child and occupational therapist would assist your child to overcome writing and other related physical challenges.
Q4: How fast can my child overcome his challenges in 3R (reading, writing and maths)?
These are factors to be taken into consideration in order to see the child’s progress.
i) Is your child mild, moderate or severe dyslexic
ii) How early was your child detected? Age 5/6/7/8/9? If you can get the child to read early enough you can make him a better reader as well as change the brain as well. Brain images of dyslexics changed after intensive, focused intervention to help them read better. (Shaywitz)
iii) Family Background? Single Parent? Staying with extended family?
iv) Are you able to teach your child? “Parents are the best teachers for their children, because they know and love their children better than anyone else”
Q5: What do I do at home in terms of teaching?
i) Create a Timetable – plan ahead and never give them last minute notice and rush them to complete the work
ii) Small Steps and break it down into smaller chunks – can teach each subject only for 20 min as they get bored, zone out or day dream.
iii) Note down all activities (inc day and time) in a book so that you can keep track of your child’s progress.
iv) Create a journal to allow him to draw, color, and write his ideas and thoughts on paper. (no spell check here, let his ideas flow)
v) You can write family rules (put your toys away, brush your teeth before bed) on colorful poster boards and tack them up where your child will see them.
vi) Set up a whiteboard in your child's room ( I got mine from IKEA) so he can practice drawing or tracing letters; get colored markers to make it fun.
Q6: How to improve my child’s focus?
i) Be CREATIVE in teaching, do your homework and plan before teaching, keep away your mobile phone and other gadgets, if you give 100% attention, your child will give 100% attention in return.
ii) You need to keep your emotions and expectation low or better still no expectations, enjoy the learning process rather than being focus on results and exam oriented. When the child relaxed he will absorb faster.
iii) Always allow for question answer session, because dyslexics learn through discussions and story telling or some through drawing and coloring, regard of subject (Bahasa BI, mandarin, tamil maths, Arabic, science).
iv) Always give them short break in between 5 minutes between 15 minutes interval 5 minutes is the parents need to be glued to the child rather taking the time to do other things like making phone calls. Otherwise the 5 minutes will end becoming 1 hour before you know it!!
Q7: What should I ask teachers on my child overall development in school?
A: Ask on their behaviour, are they responsible, do they have friends, do they get bullied, are they a trouble maker, too silent, too talkative, always zone / blur, always smiling, cheerful, short tempered, love drawing, enjoy arts class, extra activities in school that teachers can recommend
Q8: How can I explain to my child that he/she is dyslexic?
From my experience, children who are 7 years and below do not really need know that they are dyslexics. Young children won't understand dyslexia or reading disorder, so focus on things your child knows he has trouble doing, like learning the alphabet or remembering the name of his street.
You might explain dyslexia as an individual difficulty that he can overcome. You can say, "You know how it's taken Adam longer than you to learn badminton? Well, you are going to take longer to learn letters and numbers. You're just different person with different skills."
Encourage your child by explaining that he may need more time to do certain things, like draw a picture or know his phone number by heart, but that he's perfectly smart and his abilities will improve.
Finally, let him know that you love him and will help him to overcome his dyslexia, just as you would help him with any other challenge.
Q9: Will my child be able to go to cope with schools years?
Q9A: Will my child eventually go to University?
A: Insyallah, it would be very, very possible, in fact many dyslexics are described as late bloomers. As mentioned above, the early intervention, full acceptance and support of parents for the child to succeed is crucial in the journey towards future success.