How to handle dyslexia

Handling dyslexia

Parents want children who are high achievers. This has caused children to lose their carefree childhood. In India parents are so impatient to send their toddlers off to school they cannot bear to wait till the child can even say its name! Most parents send their children to school at two and a half years of age, some even younger. They want these tiny tots to start learning to read and write and be the best. If a child fails to meet the grade the parents take it as a personal failure and push the child to read and write and score full marks. This may backfire if they do not stop to analyse why the child is not performing well in school.

Dyslexia is common in all children till the age of about 3 years and then it begins to correct itself. It primarily manifests when children start confusing word patterns for example ‘9 with p' or ‘b, d' etc. While this is something that most children do, it is easy to spot a child who has a real problem if you know what to look for. Children with dyslexia usually are sensitive to sound. They cannot bear to hear sounds that are too loud. My little son used to hate the sound of the whistle on the pressure cooker when it let off the steam; he could not tolerate it. He hated crowds. He could not copy from the board, though his eye-sight was perfect. He had a problem with rhyming words. Because he could not differentiate the word patterns and identify letters, I kept getting complaints from his teachers in the kindergarten. He was labelled lazy-child. He hated school. As a parent I found it tough to accept that my little one had a problem, especially as my daughter was really good in school and studies. Moreover dyslexia was just not recognised as a "condition" in India, though the child development curriculum covered it in theory. Not many knew what it was, or how to remedy it. In fact remedial teaching did not exist in 95% of the schools I knew of.

I also knew there was no cure for dyslexia. That is what I had been taught at college, when I did my teacher's training diploma. But I soon found out that it was not hopeless. There is hope for dyslexic children. I've been told that even Albert Einstein was dyslexic. Though a lot of progress has been made with dyslexia, it still remains a mystery in many ways, for example nobody can really explain, even today, what causes dyslexia.

The onus of helping a dyslexic child lies with both, the parent and the school. As a parent, you need to first be aware of the fact that your child may be dyslexic if his performance in school is not up to the grade. Only then can you give your child the help he/she needs.

Signs or symptoms that your child may be dyslexic:

• 1) Dyslexic children typically have bad or untidy handwriting.
• 2) They are usually very messy. They have trouble clearing up clutter.
• 3) They make spelling mistakes and may spell the same word differently each time they write it.
• 4) They tend to spell phonetically. For e.g.- nature can be spelt as ‘nachure' because the child hears the ‘ch' sound in it.
• 5) They have a problem with rhyming words or making words that rhyme. For example; bad, sad, mad, lad, or kit, sit, fit, lit.
• 6) They do not read fluently. They read words instead of sentences.
• 7) The child may complain of ‘dizziness' when he looks at a page full of printed matter and is expected to read it
• 8) The child is very slow in writing and cannot copy from the blackboard.
• 9) The child's note-books are never complete.
• 10) The teacher complains the child day-dreams in class.
• 11) The child may have trouble following complex instructions. Example- go down the stairs, turn left, and then fetch me the blue book from the cupboard you see there.
• 12) The child does not talk too much and suddenly becomes shy and withdrawn after starting school.

Dealing with a dyslexic child

• 1) Accept that your child has a problem, a challenge. This attitude works better than going into denial. It is important that the condition is identified early.
• 2) Know that a dyslexic child usually has a high IQ. These children are usually very creative.
• 3) Know that these children think in images and pictures rather than in words
• 4) Know that dyslexia can be remedied
• 5) Get the child tested for any eye-sight problems, and auditory problems from a good doctor. (Rule out the possibility of bad eye-sight or bad hearing. These children generally have very good eye-sight and hearing. If you do not do this, you may mistakenly label a child as dyslexic, when all he needs is a pair of glasses or a hearing aid!)
• 6) Have the child tested by a good clinical psychologist. They conduct a series of tests based on visual, spatial relations etc. The clinical psychologist should be able to give you a detailed report of your child's capabilities and challenges.
• 7) Know that dyslexic people can be very successful in life. Examples: Albert Einstein, Walt Disney,

Once you have confirmed your child is indeed dyslexic-

• 1) Shower him/her with love.
• 2) Explain that he/she is a normal child.
• 3) Explain that you understand he/she has a problem with reading and writing, but you are there to help him/her through it.
• 4) Meet his/her teachers at school and ‘put them in the picture' about the child's challenge.
• 5) ACCEPT THAT IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILTY TO HELP THE CHILD WHEN HE/SHE NEEDS IT. This basically means making MORE time for the child.
• 6) Read as much information as you can on this subject so that YOU can understand it better. It is only when you understand it, that you can get him the appropriate kind of help.
• 7) DEVELOP PATIENCE.
• 8) Set realistic, easily achievable targets for the child.
• 9) DO NOT COMPARE YOUR CHILD WITH ANOTHER.
• 10) Ask around for people who are remedial teachers. Locate the ones in your area and then enlist their help.

If you just cannot locate any trained person to help you, then here is what you can do:

At home,

• 1) keep the child's space clutter free. Help him/her organise his space.
• 2) Give him games to play where he needs to sort out things depending on color, shape, texture etc.
• 3) To help him read better, cut a window in a sheet of paper so the child has only one sentence exposed to him, instead of the whole page.
• 4) Make flashcards to teach him spellings. Ready flashcards are also available.
• 5) Make drawing sheets. Paste strings on them in the shape of alphabets so the child can see and feel the shape of the alphabet. He thus uses more than one sense organ to learn.

There are many more, you can find various teaching aids for the child at book-stores, online etc.

Some non-conventional techniques I used- and they seem to help:

• 1) Try EFT- emotional freedom technique - read more on this subject on the internet. It is too detailed to write about here.
• 2) Use affirmations and visualization- since these children think in images they find this part really easy to do. But what is tough is getting them out of the low self-esteem rut.
• 3) To develop the child's self esteem- let the child do activities he is good at. Example- art, craft, painting, playing games etc. Offer praise generously.

Some affirmations that you can work with are:

• 1) I am clever. I am intelligent.
• 2) I love and approve of myself.
• 3) I am loveable and capable.
• 4) I can read easily.
• 5) I can spell my words correctly.
• 6) I have a good memory.
• 7) I love my teachers.
• 8) I write neatly and correctly.
• 9) I score good grades/marks in all my subjects.

You can make up more of your own as you go along.