What should you do when you find out that your child is dyslexic? How do you feel about that? What are your concerns and where can you get dyslexia support? This post takes a look at that.
Greetings from London!
One of the things that I love about my career is meeting with people. Different people. People who all think differently. People who all have something to contribute to us all.
I am writing this article sitting in a coffee shop overlooking the Thames in London and today I am feeling grateful. I don't always feel grateful. I often take life for granted but today is a sunny day and I have an hour to spend before I deliver a coaching session which will be focused around what dyslexia means to us as parents.
I remember when my wife and I first suspected that our daughter was dyslexic and the concerns we had about dyslexia support, her education and what the future holds. At one point, I even thought about my daughter's dyslexia as something that was wrong. I was naive then, I didn't know a lot about dyslexia. I am no expert in dyslexia now, but what I do know is that dyslexia, whilst it is challenging to have whilst going through education, is not a death sentence, it is an indication that your child is likely to have some huge strengths and some weaknesses. But hey! Do we all have that?
I don't see dyslexia as a bad thing, some people call it a gift. That's a very positive way of viewing having dyslexia and it is lovely if you are Richard Branson and can claim that Dyslexia made you. Many people won't feel like this and if your child is dyslexic in school then they probably won't feel like that. It is likely that their self-esteem will be low as they try to catch up in those classes that require lots of reading and processing information.
The way I see dyslexia, right now, as I sit beside the Thames, is that it is something that gives a person a different perspective on life. In my own neuro-diversity, I notice that I watch people, I try to understand people, I try to connect with people. I work in the moment and I am a terrible planner who gets distracted a lot.
For my daughter, the classroom was a nightmare. It was difficult to remember stuff or copy from the board. The pace of the classroom was often much faster than her pace of processing information (that's the same for me too). Yet, she found a way with the right support to get through GCSE's, through sixth form and is now studying for a degree on a topic that makes her so excited and so totally uses her strengths. She is living in the 'zone' now but her dyslexia made the journey to this point a challenge but she is the better person for it.
If you are a parent who has just found out about your child being dyslexic, or you have suspicions then you are likely to be looking for dyslexia support and wondering what it means having dyslexia in the family. You may even have an experience like mine where it took my daughter's diagnosis to set off a light bulb in my head about my own challenges at school.
Welcome to this worldwide family of parents making sense of what dyslexia means for their children.
I set up this blog to share information and inspiration to supporters of dyslexic learners. Please check out the menu at the top of this blog as there are r
which you can explore.
John Hicks - Parenting and Neurodiversity Coach
I would also like to tell you that from time to time I
post events that are focused on dyslexia
from across the UK, there is a page for that too.
Whilst I am known as 'Dyslexia Blogger' on Twitter, I am a parenting and neurodiversity coach who
supports parents and young people who want to make sense of dyslexia and how it affects their confidence and self-esteem. If you would like to know more about that then please check out www.parentingdyslexia.co.uk.