Some time ago, I heard a quote by Katherine Paterson. She said, “A dream without a plan is just a wish.” Later in life, as I studied the art of goal-setting, I learned that writing down my goals, creating a plan by breaking it down into steps, and taking action to follow each step is key to accomplishing that goal.
That sounded simple enough. But at times, I found I didn’t know enough to develop the steps, so I got stuck in a spiral of incomplete plans, thus unachieved goals.
My inquiring mind sought answers, so I began to ask questions and pay keen attention to answers to the same question from various people.
This practice began my journey to the three secrets I outline in the video below.
Children who are characterized as dyslexic thrive when they can see meaning in the concepts and things they need to learn.
How can you use my three steps to help your dyslexic child achieve his desired outcome?
Albert Einstein is credited with the statement, “Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Do you have a child who does not seem able to carry out simple directions you give her yet appears brilliant in many ways? This may be perplexing, but there is a reason.
One day, I was brainstorming ways of solving a problem and didn’t realize that I was thinking out loud. All of a sudden, I heard a suggestion that would resolve the matter. Simple yet logical. I whipped around to find my 8-year-old daughter nearby.
“Wow! How did you know that?” Without skipping a beat, she replied, “God told me.” That response became the norm whenever she provided answers to my audible questions. Her little mind could not explain how she so easily perceived solutions that were taking her mom so long to figure out.
Not long after that occasion, I directed her to carry out a task. When I went to check, she had done something totally different from what I intended.
This was not the first time she had not followed my directions. And it did not seem intentional.
I became more and more perplexed by the frequency with which this occurred. Thus, began a search that led me to studies and discussions that described what my daughter may have been experiencing.
Dyslexia Australia explains the phenomenon quite simply in the video below.
I did my best not to be a screaming and condemning mom, but as I reflected on frequent occurrences of her misinterpreting my instructions, I realized that my tone of voice may have caused my child to think she was stupid.
In our conversations today, we often reminisce about her school years. Although she is now a successful young adult, she still carries many painful memories of statements made by teachers who did not understand that her brain worked differently from her classmates.
It pains me to think that there are hundreds of thousands of children who are misjudged, maligned, and even mistreated because they think and learn differently from the majority of their classmates.
That’s why my passion is to help parents of dyslexic children decrease the frustration, cut the overwhelm, and move their children from struggle to success…in school and life.
If you know a dyslexic child who’s challenged by being taught in an educational system that does not acknowledge her different way of learning, share some of the difficulties she is experiencing.
Every year, on January 1, many people set New Year’s resolutions for the upcoming days of that year. Unfortunately, for most of them, those promises are forgotten by January 31 of that same year.
Recently, I learned to think about my productivity for each quarter, rather than for the entire year. Somehow, that makes setting and achieving my goals less daunting.
July marks the beginning of the third quarter, and the middle of the year. So, if you did not achieve your goals for the past two quarters, this is a great time to start over.
As I reviewed the first half of 2020 and thought about what I would do differently, I resolved to resume my blog posts.
To hold myself accountable, I am committing, publicly, to write one post for every day in July 2020.
In my endeavor to help parents of dyslexic children decrease the frustration, cut the overwhelm and move their children from struggle to success – in school and life, I will be sharing aspects of my journey with my dyslexic daughter, through my writing.
If you’re wondering what dyslexia is, I’d like to tell you, first, what it is not. It is not a disease, so another child cannot “catch” it, nor can the dyslexic child be cured of it. It is not the result of bad parenting, poor schooling, laziness, or any other social or psychological deficiency.
Researchers have attributed the characteristics of those identified with dyslexia to different brain activity patterns. Because of this, they are excellent at seeing the big picture while struggling with the details.
Regrettable, the first things they are expected to learn are details like the alphabet, spelling, reading, and math computation. Learning concepts come much later, and many times, are bogged down and judged by their challenges with the details.
As she tells her story in the video below, Kendi Kamanja Oketch gives a riveting account of her experience as a dyslexic child in school and the workplace, before finding out why she struggled with simple things but excelled in some complex areas.
If you know of or have a child who struggles in school, is called lazy by his teachers, and told he needs to work harder, it is very likely he is dyslexic. Be encouraged. There is light at the end of the tunnel, and if you stay tuned here, I’ll illuminate the path with some of the lamps I used with my daughter.
What exceptional non-academic abilities have you seen in your child who struggles with school work?
A loving, persistent parent as advocate is the dyslexic child’s best ally. He doesn’t have to end up on the scrap heap of humanity.
According to Gabrielle Coppola, “The ability to grasp the big picture, persistence, and creativity are a few of the entrepreneurial traits of many dyslexics.” They make exceptional entrepreneurs and inventors, among other accomplishments.
Today, I administered the state English Language Arts examination to 4 students who receive speech-language therapy from me.
Their academic accommodations require them to be tested in a small group, a separate location, with minimal distractions. Two receive additional time; two do not.
Twenty minutes into the test, JR, an 8-year-old boy, folded his arms on the table, then put his head down onto them.
As I watched him, his face became flushed. A few minutes later, he burst into tears.
Sir Ken Robinson
(Flickr.com)
I Love to Listen Day
Today is “I Love to Listen Day.”
This is a day when you honor the people in your life by listening actively to them.
Here are 5 suggested activities you can do today. You will find more at the I Love to Listen website:
Stop what you are doing and listen to someone.
Organize a party and play listening games.
Send a card / letter / email thanking someone who listened to you.
“Within your student’s brain, a biochemical process of learning is occurring, that parallels the classroom experience. Making connections, finding meaning, and solving problems are learning tasks that require lightning-fast electrical impulses between areas of the brain.”
~ Philippa Norman MD, MPH
In her article, Dr. Philippa Norman talks about how nutrition and hydration boost learning thus equipping the brain for academic success.
