Education Revolution

I have never attended this but it looks like great resources are available:

http://www.edrevsf.org/

The Whole Child

All of us are made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. It’s good to remember this as you work thru issues with your children. You are not just working on the mind. You are working on the development of your child’s spirit, body, and soul (emotions).

Often parents of kids with learning disabilities spend so much time focused on getting the child to learn, that they lose focus of the rest of the child and the abilities associated in those areas.

Take the time to step back and have a “come to think of it” moment. For example, as you step back and look at the total person who makes up your child, you might say, “Come to think of it, he is so perceptive to other peoples needs.” Or, “Come to think of it, he is having fewer ‘meltdowns’ when struggling with a new concept.” Or, "come to think of it, he really rocks it on the soccer field."

Not only is it important to just recognize these different "parts" of your child, but you should also realize that your child’s energies may be going toward the development of another, less academic area right now, and that’s OK. Spiritual, emotional, and physical growth is just as important as academic growth.

Keep your end goal in mind and you will begin to see that those non-academic areas definitely have their place.

Celebration Time

My daughter is receiving an award next month for kids who have overcome tremendous obstacles to learn! She is the only child in her school who is receiving this award. It is a great culmination of years and years of hard work.

We are going to make a big deal over it - award ceremony, special gift and dinner out!

My Dyslexia Diagnosis

http://dyslexia.yale.edu/Stu_HopesStory.html

This is a great story and a great website.

A good resource

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/learning_disabilities_treatment_help_coping.htm

I wish I had seen this nice concise listing of tips 6 years ago.

If I can point out any of these as most important, I would pay attention to looking at the big picture of life with a learning disability - this is not something that can be cureed, but something that you must live with, so accept that and learn strategies for dealing with the challenges you have.

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month

Frequently Asked Questions About Dyslexia

What is dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia refers to a cluster of symptoms, which result in people having difficulties with specific language skills, particularly reading. Students with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing, and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a person’s life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for a student to succeed academically in the typical instructional environment, and in its more severe forms, will qualify a student for special education, special accommodations, or extra support services.

What causes dyslexia?

The exact causes of dyslexia are still not completely clear, but anatomical and brain imagery studies show differences in the way the brain of a dyslexic person develops and functions. Moreover, most people with dyslexia have been found to have problems with identifying the separate speech sounds within a word and/or learning how letters represent those sounds, a key factor in their reading difficulties. Dyslexia is not due to either lack of intelligence or desire to learn; with appropriate teaching methods, dyslexics can learn successfully.

What are the effects of dyslexia?

The impact that dyslexia has is different for each person and depends on the severity of the condition and the effectiveness of instruction or remediation. The core difficulty is with word recognition and reading fluency, spelling, and writing. Some dyslexics manage to learn early reading and spelling tasks, especially with excellent instruction, but later experience their most debilitating problems when more complex language skills are required, such as grammar, understanding textbook material, and writing essays.

What Are the Signs of Dyslexia?

The problems displayed by individuals with dyslexia involve difficulties in acquiring and using language--reading and writing letters in the wrong order is just one manifestation of dyslexia and does not occur in all cases. Other problems experienced by dyslexics include:
Learning to speak
Organizing written and spoken language
Learning letters and their sounds
Memorizing number facts
Spelling
Reading
Learning a foreign language
Correctly doing math operations

Journey into Dyslexia

We watched the documentary and WOW - it was powerful! Here were my take aways:

* LOTS of super smart and super creative people with dyslexia.

* We have only been reading as a culture for the last 5000 years. Before that there were people with dyslexia and it did not matter because they were not asked to use the part of the brain that is best suited for understanding symbols that turn into words. They were probably the leaders of those times because they could see the big picture!

* Dyslexia can be seen in brain scans - a complete different part of the brain lights up when people with dyslexia read.

* No two people have the same kind of dyslexia - how it affects a person is different in everyone. So there is no one way to tackle the issue.

* Dyslexia is truly a gift if you can learn to manage it enough to make it thru school with your self esteem in tact.