This is an exciting day for me. Since I began my online writing almost 3 years ago, I have become a voice for parents of dyslexic kids. I have learned so much over the past nearly 20 years of raising and homeschooling my own kids with dyslexia.
I understand now that I have a unique perspective and opportunity to be of help to others who are not so far along this same path. Our early days homeschooling while not fully understanding dyslexia, and I am still learning, were long and hard but through it all I learned a few things:
Never underestimate the power of a caring, dedicated parent to educate their own child.
Many of us were raised to believe that the schools are the educational experts. While that may be true in some areas, the area of special needs students is not one of them. I would never say such a thing if I had not heard over and over again of the painful misunderstandings among school teachers over the issue of a struggling reader. I get it. My one child without dyslexia is a breeze to teach academics. Classroom teachers are busy people, often responsible for educating 25+ kids. It is understandable that they are unable to provide the individualized teaching that dyslexic kids require.
All people with dyslexia can learn to read, write and spell with the right methods.
It is not a given that a child with dyslexia will fall behind and be miserable during their school years. Early intervention can help a young child with dyslexia to never have to feel the pain and embarrassment of not knowing how to read when all of their friends can. No amount of tutoring with the wrong methods or holding children back a grade will help them overcome their dyslexia. They need to be taught with the right methods.
