This week is #mentalhealthawareness week. What’s the link with dyslexia and is it being taken seriously enough?

So last week I announced to the subscribers of the Studying With Dyslexia Blog that I have started my own therapeutic counselling practise in Cambridgeshire. A four year course coupled with 100 hours of delivering counselling on a placement, a personal bereavement and a pandemic resulted in becoming accredited after a six year process. I knew I wanted to do this course but I put it off for four years because I didn’t believe I could do it. For me to study anything, I have to push beyond some strong self-defeating beliefs that tend to grind one down. I have invested in lots of self-development including counselling and I have strategies to connect with how I want to feel as well as strategies for understanding what I am really feeling and knowing how to show myself some love.

Apologies for the ‘over-share’ but in the ten years that I have worked with clients who are neurodiverse, the theme of poor self-esteem is always present. I believe that it doesn’t go away even if there is dyslexia intervention. Poor self-esteem is a strong, deeply engrained narrative.

In a survey that I conducted a few years ago, 89% of parents taking part (1300 participants) said that their child experienced poor self-esteem related to dyslexia.

A lot of children with dyslexia will see how their attainment compares to that of their peers and as a result will have strategies to cope with the educational and social consequences of having to exist in our Education System. Some kids ‘kick off’ to divert attention from their dyslexia and some blend into the background and hide it (especially girls). Sadly, kids often get labelled in reference to their behaviour with descriptions such as ‘naughty’, ‘lazy’, ‘not engaged’, ‘chatty’, ‘stupid’ (yes a teacher did call my daughter that despite them being aware of her dyslexia) etc before the adults in their lives notice what is behind that behaviour.

Children can feel unsafe in school as they navigate managing the expectations of others rather than being allowed to be themselves. If a child feels unsafe, then they are not going to be focused on their school work and so the challenges with learning become even greater.

Understanding about dyslexia from parents and teachers is, of course, extremely helpful, but I believe that there is a pertinent need for emotional support for children with dyslexia. They need to feel listened to, but more importantly they need to feel like they have the space to understand their feelings before poor behaviour sets in. Being able to recognise when feeling defensive and then be able to ask for help with a challenge would go a long way to supporting greater attainment.

In my work supporting young people and families, what we uncover in sessions regarding self-esteem is not a surprise to my clients. They know about their poor self-esteem but they don’t perhaps get the opportunity to really talk about it, understand it and articulate what they want that their self-esteem holds them back from.

My advice to everyone in our dyslexia community?

Let’s help our kids to talk more about how they feel.

Want to know more about my counselling practise?

I would love to hear from you if you would like to know more about how Therapeutic Counselling could help your child. Click here to find out more.

What are your thoughts?

Has this blog article been useful to you? Do you agree with what I have suggested? Do you disagree? I want to hear from you. The more we as parents talk about this the more we can work together to get the education system to provide our children with the support that they need to be the best version of themselves. Please pop a comment in the comments box below and if you want to join my Parenting Dyslexia community then click here.