I found out my daughter was dyslexic when she was in grade two back in the 1980's. I thought the school would have a teaching program to sort out her learning issues but became very concerned when they told me there was nothing in their special needs programs to help her. I consequently learned my two boys were also dyslexic. Determined, I started to research everywhere for solutions. We moved to the city close to universities which helped me learn about cutting edge teaching belief systems for dyslexics and a private school that worked exclusively with dyslexics. I found my way to begin understanding my children's learning difference that has become my passion today. Two of my children began to thrive at school graduating with high grade point averages on the honor roll and my youngest who hated school eventually passed grade twelve with a 3.2. They are all avid readers as adults.
What I learned is primary dyslexia (inherited) is a learning difference and most of these children can be successful in school when taught the way the way they process information. Western school systems tend to teach in ways that are hard to process for dyslexics. Due to my success with my own children, other parents were asking for help with their kids and I started tutoring. This wasn't a big leap for me as my mother was a teacher and before I got married I was going to university to become a teacher.
My goal as the parent of 3 dyslexic children is to bring simple, inexpensive and effective teaching methods and accommodations to parents and teachers who don't have dyslexia special needs programs in their children's schools or the availability of a dyslexia school in their area or the money to enroll them in these schools. Over the years I've received many letters from grateful parents of dyslexic students and dyslexic students who have go on to do well in colleges and universities. They thank me for the tools we provided which gave them what I call "the key" to understanding the mystery of letters. written language, numerals, arithmetic, sequences and their need for finding "the big picture" in everything.
My ideas come from:
Two years attending the University of Victoria education faculty, especially a course on developmental psychology by Chuck Galloway, a truly enlightened man.
My first book purchase on dyslexia was mind blowing by a woman ahead of her time and still relevant today; "Unicorns Are Real: A Right-Brained Approach to Learning (Creative Parenting/Creative Teaching Series)by
Dealing with my own dyslexia discovered after having all of our children assessed for dyslexia
Research into dyslexia specialists who are always coming up with wonderful teaching methods and tools
The dyslexia school who helped me with my 3 dyslexic children back in the '80's
Dyslexia workshops I conduct for pro d days at schools (teachers can be full of ideas)
Working with dyslexic children, parents of dyslexics and adult dyslexics who shared their experiences and viewpoints over the last 33 years
Online dyslexia courses have been helpful
Dyslexia organizations
Blogs by dyslexia teachers and dyslexic adults
Dyslexia Victoria Online is offering our "14 Steps" in E-book form. The book is a group of teaching methods common to classrooms but when presented in a certain way can be very powerful. Fully explained with examples; any teacher, tutor or parent can use this manual without any specialized training. These methods are perfectly appropriate for Dyslexics and students experiencing ADD/ADHD.
Some of the methods explained in the manual are:
* We like to say that many of the methods are basic old fashioned concepts but when used together they are a very effective and powerful approach for the right-brained student.
* We have explained in the manual how Dyslexic children think and process information from a "big picture" point of view and need concrete examples of words to be able to retain and understand them.
* We explain "boxing words" and how it can help Dyslexic students actually see the words in their minds and retain those images to help with their spelling.
This is a method used by many Dyslexia specialists and psychologists that also use it with gifted children.
* We show the parent or teacher how to connect words with images to help the children remember how to spell them.
* We demonstrate how with the right image and sentence Dyslexic children can finally remember how to spell the little words like "then, is, would, been, and".
* We describe a reading method that focuses on improving fluency through practice reading rather than constantly decoding and not retaining the words read.
* The methods can be incorporated into homeschooling programs and used in conjunction with regular public and private school homework.
* The methods do not require expensive materials or aids.
* We provide a list of resources for more research on Dyslexia, ADD/ADHD and gifted Dyslexics who are visually spatial.
HERE IS A SAMPLE FROM THE MANUAL:
