Friend of the Studying With Dyslexia Blog and educational psychologist, Zoe Pennant shares a personal reason as to why parents should understand the signs of dyslexia in their children.

When I was younger being at school was a drag, I didn’t connect with reading books that I didn’t enjoy and I never did homework, I was a quiet child that stayed at the back of the class and never got noticed.

When I read books out loud or in my head, the writing would look hazy and disappear each time I read a sentence. Despite this always happening I thought it was normal and that everybody else saw words in this way, so I never thought to tell anyone. I left school with no qualifications and no support from school. I grew up continuing to read books with words that would go missing and move around and I would miss out words when writing.

The point I started to become aware of my own dyslexia.

I was 18 years old when my beautiful son arrived, it made me realise that it wasn’t just about me any more I had to provide for my son, I went back to college to start my journey to find my career path and started working. It was at this point when my errors starting to show when completing assignments.

When I had to write reports in my job I found it very challenging.  Remembering to spell words was also a problem but I got through it by taking work home to make sure I had the time to correct any errors that occurred. I still had no idea I was experiencing the condition called dyslexia.

Not knowing about dyslexia had an impact on my son.

By the time I realised I had dyslexia my first son had already finished his schooling experience and followed the same pattern as myself showing signs of dyslexia. Nobody including myself and teachers recognised the signs and he left school getting no support.

Understanding Dyslexia made a difference to my other son.

When my second son came along, I was able to break the cycle as I was able to see the signs and put strategies in place because, by then, I had a better understanding of what dyslexia was. 

As a parent we are not always able to see the signs of dyslexia from a young age therefore we can often miss the struggles a child can be going through from the start of them learning to read and write.

As I learnt more about dyslexia, I was more able to recognise the signs of it in my younger son and that lead to him getting the support that he needed to thrive.

Zoe set up Dyslexia For The Wise, a not for profit organisation supporting families experiencing dyslexia in London with assessments and tutoring. As a part of her work she has developed a short free online course (20 minutes) that gives parents a basic understanding about dyslexia. To take advantage of that course, click the banner below.

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