I'm horrible at determining I am going to keep the blog current and then life takes me away. This happens when you have ten munchkins.
Lots of work with Don Juan and his dyslexia. He's determined to beat this. We've started Go Phonics, he does as much Nessy.com as he can, and now we have added the Barton System of Reading and Spelling. It's working. Slowly, he is becoming phonemically aware. That alone is huge. He is writing words phonetically and without having backwards letters. There IS hope for dyslexic kids. the biggest thing I see going well for him is self-confidence. He isn't in the least ashamed of his issue. And he refuses to see it as a disability. That's one thing we discovered at the Susan Barton conference we attended-dyslexics have so many amazing ABILITIES that "normal" people don't. More brain mass, an ability to see solutions in different wants, better memories, literal 3d thinking....he can go far, if we give him the tools. I've always been determined to give my kids the chance to be who they are called by God to be, so he will get those tools, if it kills me.
His biggest delight was in the discovery that he can still be a paleontologist. Dyslexia doesn't have to hold him back from that dream. We were quick to point out famous people that have dyslexia, to build him up. It reached a point of frustrating for him, but we didn't realize that. One day, he blew up at me, which surprised me.He's usually such a mellow kid. He yelled "Mom! STOP! Look, I'm super glad for that Keanu guy, that he got famous and acts in crazy movies.(Keanu Reeves is dyslexic) What I wanna know is DID HE GO TO COLLEGE??" We researched and discovered that he did not go to college. This depressed my son for a time. he wanted to know if anyone with dyslexia had gone to college and become a "dino doctor". I had no answers.
When we went to the Susan Barton conference, it struck me that I should actually search for dyslexic paleontologists. And lo and behold, we found one! Dr. Jack Horner, of the University of Montana! AND...he is the paleontologist who advises on the Jurassic Park movies. Ethan was super excited. We sent Dr. Horner an email that night. The very next morning, we received a reply of encouragement for Ethan from Dr. Horner! New hero, instantly.
Dyslexia is not a death sentence. Find a qualified tutor in the Orton-Gillingham technique. There are several systems out there, from Go Phonics, to the Susan Barton method. Get testing, encourage your child. Support their dreams, and watch them beat it ! It IS possible!
