Educating Children with Dyslexia

I know a lot of my readers have struggling children with Dyslexia. I have a friend who just found out why she has been struggling with her child in homeschooling him. She is currently struggling in this area too with her son. As most of you know I am fond of most of  Rod and Staff's curriculum, so I subscribe to their monthly Newsletter. Last month they put a call out to all of us subscribers who have children or who have dyslexia, to write in and tell how they handle it. I, fortunately, do not have to deal greatly in this problem so I had no experience or opinion on this subject. But the other day I received the September Newsletter which had all the emails that were sent into Rod and Staff. I figured I was going to send the article and links off to my parkday group and especially my dear friend who deals greatly in this matter, but there are hundreds more people who have this same problem who read my blog. Why not post it here and share it with all my readers. So here you go. here is the September Newsletter form Road and Staff. I hope that you all can glean one or more things from the information below,

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Educating Children with Dyslexia

Dear Customers and Friends,

We have been very excited about the response we received from the special ed survey we sent out a few weeks ago. We have been given permission to share many of the emails we received, so for everyone's benefit they are now available at our new Learning Difficulties page. The letters have been edited for privacy and clarity.

If any more of you would be willing to share your experiences, feel free to reply and tell us. It has been very intriguing to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages experienced by those endowed with a dyslexic brain.

I (Silas) began the first grade about 1943 during World War II. As far as I know, people were not categorized according to learning disabilities in the "good ol' days." School was just easier for some children than others. The teachers did try to help us slow learners. Having read your responses, I realize now that our teachers must have had some difficult days. I was not classified, but for some reason learning was not easy for me. Somehow I survived the process, and today I am 74 years old and still functioning. Praise be to God. Having been a slow learner myself, I have a real heart for the children who find "school learning" difficult.

One thing which became obvious from your responses and from a little research is that there are many different kinds of learning difficulties. It may be wise in some cases to get professional help to identify what kind problem you are dealing with, yet each child is unique and you will need to tailor your teaching program to his particular need and what works for him.

One of my personal observations is that success in life is not determined by how "smart" a child is in school. Learning to live with one's disabilities is valuable. It helps us to be humble and respect others. Often those who do not do well with conventional "school learning" have special gifts and abilities. This was noted in your responses. In many cases the child may be very talented, and our challenge is how to unlock those abilities in spite of his difficulties with conventional learning. Don't ever assume your child is dumb! I hope what follows will encourage you and give you some tools and ideas on how to unlock your child's abilities.

Continue, and read the ideas for educating children with dyslexia…