As many as one in five people suffers from dyslexia, a learning difference which affects the ability to parse text when reading and writing. If your child has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia, you probably have a lot of questions. What does my child see when looking at a page in a book? How will this affect my child’s ability to learn and long-term educational prospects? Is there anything I can do to help?
In a recent post on Edutopia, dyslexia expert and advocate Dr. Kelli Sandman-Hurley provides insight into the experience of having dyslexia and clears up some common misconceptions about the learning difference. Parents can gain a much better understanding of their children’s experiences with dyslexia through the thought exercise she includes in the article. She also provides a number of suggestions for how teachers can most effectively help students with dyslexia. While the article is primarily aimed at educators, you can talk to your child’s teacher and school principal about the interventions Sandman-Hurley describes – many of them are easy to implement.
You can read Sandman-Hurley’s article here. And if you’re a parent of a child with dyslexia, stay tuned for Thesis Magazine‘s guide to parent resources on dyslexia, coming next week.