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Dyslexia Help for Parents
Dyslexia Parenting Tips
The crucial first step in assisting a dyslexic child is to pinpoint their particular areas of difficulty. Dyslexic individuals often experience varying degrees of challenges across skills like reading, handwriting, spelling, written composition, math, and understanding instructions.
Your First Tool
An excellent way to begin this assessment is by utilizing our comprehensive Checklist of Dyslexic Problems. This tool will help you identify the specific learning patterns.
Tailored Support Solutions
Once you have identified your child's key areas for improvement, you can then select from Dyslexia Victoria's specialized books, workshops, and assessments. These resources are designed with teaching methods specifically tailored to their unique learning differences.
Witnessing Rapid Progress
You will be amazed at the rapid improvement in your child's skills—including reading, writing, composition, and math—once they receive instruction that truly accommodates their right-brained learning style.
Over the past 4 decades Dyslexia Victoria has developed a unique and effective teaching system for dyslexic individuals, proving highly successful in teaching essential skills for school, higher education and future employment.
Understanding Dyslexia has helped families recognize and comprehend their traits and behaviors. Many readers have had 'ah-ha' moments when they find explanations in our blogs that clarify confusing or annoying behaviors, often bringing them to tears with the newfound clarity.
What is Dyslexia?
The term "Dyslexia" originates from the Greek words "dys" (meaning poor or inadequate) and "lexis" (meaning words or language).
A Learning Difference, Not a Disability
At Dyslexia Victoria, we firmly believe that dyslexia is a learning difference, not a disability. Challenges with handwriting, reading, spelling, composition, and arithmetic are a result of this distinct learning style, not a lack of intelligence or effort from the student.
Brain Hemispheres & Processing
During the learning process, the left side of the brain primarily handles abstract concepts such as numbers, letters, and sequences. Conversely, the right side of the brain processes information in whole, concrete images.
Bridging Brain Hemispheres
For a dyslexic or right-brained student to grasp new information, they require training to convert the whole, concrete images of their right brain into the "language of the left brain"—meaning letters, words, and numbers.
Foundation for New Concepts
Only after this internal translation process can the student effectively think and reason using newly acquired concepts.
Our Proven Teaching System
Dyslexia Victoria has developed a unique teaching system specifically designed to work with this learning difference. This approach has proven to be highly successful in teaching dyslexic children the skills that often pose difficulties in school and later in life.
Dive Deeper into Dyslexia
Click on the links below for more detailed information to enhance your understanding.
Understanding Dyslexia Challenges
Explore the specific Problems of Dyslexia that individuals commonly encounter.
Exploring Dyslexia Characteristics
Learn more about the various Dyslexia Traits that define this unique learning style.
Getting Assessed for Dyslexia
Clarity Amidst Confusion
Many dyslexic individuals, whether young or old, often share a fundamental frustration: they don't understand why learning doesn't come easily to them. While the traditional school system generally functions effectively for the majority of students, allowing them to graduate successfully, it can be a source of profound confusion for others.
The Abstract Learning Challenge
For dyslexic and many right-brained individuals, including visual-spatial learners (for more on visual-spatial learners, explore Linda Kreger Silverman's "Upside-Down Brilliance"), the standard, often "abstract" nature of the school system presents a significant barrier. This inherent disconnect with abstract instruction remains a profound and bewildering mystery for those experiencing it firsthand.
The Power of a Diagnosis
In certain situations, applying a formal "medical term" or label to dyslexia can be exceptionally beneficial. This isn't about labeling the person, but about providing a clear identification of their learning profile.
Unlocking Personalized Support
Once an individual receives a dyslexia assessment, it provides a crucial foundation. Teachers, parents, caregivers, and service providers can then effectively collaborate to develop a tailored and comprehensive support plan.
Relief and Empowerment
For the dyslexic individual themselves, finally understanding the root cause of their challenges brings immense relief. They can begin to comprehend their unique learning style, discover effective strategies for managing it, and even learn to leverage it as a powerful advantage.
Diverse Strategies for Success
While the precise definition of dyslexia can be elusive with many differing viewpoints, numerous methods genuinely help individuals. It's important to remember that no single approach works for everyone; exploring a variety of strategies is key to finding what resonates.
Uncovering Individual Learning Styles
Modern testing procedures can identify a range of learning and processing issues, including an individual's unique learning style—visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. This understanding is universally helpful for designing effective learning plans, extending beyond just dyslexia.
Simple Changes, Big Impact
Once a student's predominant learning style is established, straightforward accommodations can be implemented that lead to a significant positive difference in a dyslexic person's life.
Real-World Accommodation Example
Consider the impactful example of driver's license (DMV) tests in some parts of the USA and Canada, which now offer auditory options for adults who struggle with written exams. This simple concept demonstrates how understanding learning styles can revolutionize teaching tasks.
Tailoring Instruction to Strengths
For an auditory learner, for instance, a vast array of pictures, charts, and diagrams may hold little value, whereas a spoken discussion on the topic will be highly beneficial to their learning and comprehension.
The Evolving Definition of Dyslexia
The definition of dyslexia often varies, depending on who you ask—some see it solely as a reading or writing problem, others as an inability to grasp complex concepts or instructions, and so on.
Demystifying Daily Challenges
Dyslexia encompasses many facets, most of which remain profoundly mysterious to the dyslexic person who constantly grapples with seemingly simple mental tasks.
Discovering a Superior Way to Learn
By understanding that there are diverse ways to process information and learn, many individuals we work with experience powerful "Ah-Ha!" moments. They not only begin to realize they can learn in their own way, but also often discover that their unique method of processing information can actually be a superior strength.
Triumphs of Dyslexic Minds
The extensive list of famous and successful dyslexic individuals from all walks of life—from entrepreneurs to artists and scientists—would likely agree with the notion that their right-brained approach is a distinct advantage.
Your Journey Starts Here
If you suspect that you or someone you care about is experiencing any kind of learning difficulty, we strongly encourage getting an assessment.
Clarity Leads to Solutions
Even if solely to understand "what is wrong," gaining answers provides clarity. This understanding forms the foundation for addressing the problems and developing a clear plan to solve or minimize the challenges, paving the way for success.
Dyslexia Victoria Teaching Approach
Dyslexic individuals, and even famous dyslexics typically learn more effectively when educational methods embrace whole images and real-world examples. These approaches help connect tangible visuals to the abstract skills and concepts essential for academic success.
The Challenge of Sequential Learning
Our teaching approach was developed from a core realization: dyslexic students primarily think in whole, concrete images and often struggle significantly with sequential learning and decoding. Traditional school settings, particularly for reading and spelling, heavily rely on sequential methods, which can create significant academic hurdles for them.
Right-Brained Strengths Drive Solutions
The inherent strength of their right-brained thinking, which processes information through complete, concrete images, directly informs the specific teaching solutions needed for their learning success.
Shifting Perspectives in Education
For educators to become part of the solution for dyslexic students, the first step is understanding that these learners process information through whole, concrete images, not primarily through words and numbers.
Bridging Wholes to Parts
Translating whole concrete images into printed words demands a distinctly different teaching approach for dyslexic students. Even seemingly obvious learning tasks often need to be explicitly pointed out and demonstrated. This is because dyslexic minds grasp complete wholes and struggle to inherently perceive the individual parts—like words and sentences—within them.
Dyslexic students are often highly intelligent and intuitive. This means they can sometimes unexpectedly "fill in the blanks" on assignments. This can inadvertently mislead teachers and psychologists into believing these students are performing adequately, thus overlooking their need for specialized accommodations.
1. Concrete Image Thinking
Dyslexics perceive everything in wholes, such as an entire page of printed words. Utilizing concrete images in teaching helps them to visually grasp and remember what they are learning more effectively.
2. Adapting Expression Methods
Many dyslexic individuals may find traditional methods like reading, spelling, writing, or mathematics to express their thoughts and answers incredibly challenging. Our goal is to help them leverage their visual learning strengths to develop appropriate skillsets for communication.
3. Distinguishing Parts Within Wholes
It's crucial to help dyslexic learners distinguish individual parts within each whole image. For instance, they might perceive a word as a single image, struggling to see the individual letters that form it. They might spell "cat" aloud or write it but fail to recognize it in a sentence because they've memorized it as an isolated image within a larger, holistic paragraph image.
Importance of Part-to-Whole Understanding
Until dyslexics are taught to clearly identify individual letters and words, and understand what they represent, they will face difficulties in reading material and locating specific information in their schoolwork.
4. Making Abstract Concepts Visual
Dyslexics often struggle with abstract concepts such as numbers, the alphabet, words, parts of words, and their associated sounds because these concepts lack a visual, concrete form that easily translates to whole images.
Hands-On Learning for Lasting Impact
Fortunately, there are effective ways to make abstract concepts more visual. For example, fractions can be taught using physical objects like modeling clay or fruit, which can be cut into halves or quarters. If you can physically demonstrate an abstract concept, they generally grasp it immediately and tend to retain the information.
5. Mastering Sequencing and Decoding
Learning to sequence letters, words, numbers, sentences, ideas, lessons, and instructions presents a major learning hurdle for dyslexic individuals. They consistently face significant difficulty with both sequencing and decoding.
Decoding: A Foundational Skill
Decoding is an essential ability; for instance, it's fundamental to learn phonics. Addressing these core sequencing challenges is vital for their overall academic progress.
Right-Brained Learning Style Can Be a Strength
In most developing nations, traditional education systems primarily teach learning skills that are easily processed by the left hemisphere of the brain. These methods effectively handle the abstract symbols of mathematics and written languages. However, these conventional approaches are often ill-suited for students who predominantly rely on the right side of their brain to interpret information.
What many educators and school officials mistakenly perceive as learning disabilities or brain dysfunctions are, in fact, distinct learning differences in how the right brain processes information. Crucially, these very differences can be harnessed as incredibly powerful tools and personal strengths across all facets of a right-brained individual's life.
This unique ability to perceive concepts in terms of "whole images" allows these individuals to truly "see the forest before the trees." They excel at problem-solving and generating fresh perspectives by first grasping an entire idea, process, or project in its entirety.
Only after understanding the complete overview do they then identify the individual parts and their relationships to the overall vision. When they comprehend all these components and their purposes within the "whole picture," they gain the capacity to expand, enhance, or effectively resolve any situation.
This holistic thinking can be powerfully applied across a vast array of fields. Examples include managing and growing businesses, innovative solutions in construction, pioneering new inventions, strategic marketing of improved products, developing effective time management solutions, excelling in entertainment fields, creating groundbreaking artistic and architectural concepts, driving scientific and medical breakthroughs, and designing impactful self-improvement programs.
Individuals who primarily use their right brain to process information also possess many unique and potent analytical skills. These strengths include exceptional creativity, innate curiosity, profound empathy, keen intuition, advanced problem-solving capabilities, and strong multitasking skills, to name just a few.
Many highly successful and famous individuals, renowned as inventors, managers, CEOs, entertainers, artists, mathematicians, philosophers, outstanding athletes, scientists, and sports figures, predominantly leverage their right-brained processing. Luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, and Thomas Edison exemplify this cognitive style.
These are the individuals who effortlessly perceive the "big picture," consequently generating a wealth of innovative ideas and solutions for any project. They are truly gifted at thinking "outside the box," and without these pivotal right-brained thinkers, our world would be deprived of countless outstanding geniuses.
For an interesting list of famous dyslexics and more fascinating information, please explore our dedicated resources.