Tips for Parents

Parents often ask how best they can help their children once a diagnosis of dyslexia has been given. The following is offered as a result of the experience of many parents over the years:

1. Don't feel guilty. You did not cause your child to have dyslexia and you could not have prevented it.

2. Don't blame anyone else - the child, the teacher, the other parent. Dyslexia is a fact of life - accept it and think of positive things you can do.

3. Talk to your child about dyslexia and explain how it may affect the child and what you both can do to overcome it.

4. Read to your child - as often and for as long as possible. The benefits of this are enormous. The child will:

• develop a larger vocabulary
• hear words pronounced properly and punctuation marked
• learn to enjoy books
• keep up-to-date on books peers are reading
• enjoy an activity without pressure

5. Read with your child. Paired Reading is a wonderful technique which encourages reading for pleasure and meaning.

6. Talk to your child - about this and that, everything and anything, just chat. So much of family life is taken up with organising - getting meals ready, collecting and delivering children from activities, that time for chatting can get lost. Just as adolescents need time to sit and talk with their friends, it is important for them also to have time to chat with parents. If this chatting is not part of the younger child's life then it certainly will not happen in teenage years. It is very important to keep in touch with how a young person with dyslexia is coping, because dyslexia affects the whole personality, not just schoolwork.

7. Listen to your child. Learn to hear what the child is saying and note what is not being said. Pick up on tone of voice indicating possible worries. Ask open questions, e.g. "How do you feel about that?" or "What do you think of that?".

8. Play games together - from "I spy" with your young child, to memory games, draughts, chess, and monopoly. With younger children saying nursery rhymes, tapping out rhythms, singing memory songs (e.g. Old McDonald Had A Farm) are all very useful. Never underestimate the amount of learning a child does simply by being with you and observing. Parents are the most important teachers of their children but not necessarily in formal teaching - the informal teaching is equally effective.

9. A good method to help with the learning of spellings is the SOS Spelling Method. It is a good multi-sensory approach to learning spellings, which incorporates a lot of over learning, and is very effective.

10. Make visits and take trips. You do not have to take a child to the museum to provide a learning experience. A walk through a field or by a river, in a shopping centre or round to Granny's can be just as useful as a formal session. Grandparents are a great source of support to children with SLD as they may have more time to chat and to listen or read.

11. Watch TV together and discuss what you see.

Helping with Homework and Providing Support

1. Help with homework by being close at hand to answer questions and to ensure that the child stays on task. In general it is best to let the child decide what help s/he needs from you and provide just that amount.

2. Don't take charge of the homework or feel that you have to teach the child. That is the job of the teacher and while the child will have many teachers s/he will only have one Mum and Dad. That relationship is much too important to risk by getting into a teaching role.

3. Limit homework time for younger children. The class teacher will tell you how long homework should take, and if it is taking much longer than normal then it should be possible to work out an arrangement with the teacher as to how much will be done in any evening.

4. Keep in touch with the school and keep teachers informed of how things are progressing for the child.

5. Keep yourself up-to-date of any developments which might help. A good way to do this is by becoming a member of the Dyslexia Association, and becoming involved with your local branch.

6. Using a computer, particularly a word processor, can be a great help to a student with dyslexia. If possible, encourage your child to learn to touch type. This could be done over the summer months and need not be a chore.

7. Explore your local library for books which have a higher interest level than reading age. Check out abbreviated versions of classics which are designed for students learning English as a foreign language. Librarians are very willing to help, so do ask.

8. Students with dyslexia find schoolwork more tiring than other children do, so it is important for them not to take on demanding part-time jobs during school term, particularly in exam years.

9. If your second level student has not yet developed good planning and organisational skills, it would be helpful for you to do some timetabling. You can help him/her to map out their week on a wall planner, and keep track of important dates, e.g. when projects and essays are due. You may have to be more pro-active with a student with dyslexia than with your other children.

10. Plan ahead and look to the long term. When a child has dyslexia it may be necessary to think of ways round access to courses and qualifications. Be aware of the many Post Leaving Certificate courses, and how they can build up to diploma and degree status. Other parents who have been through the process are often your best source of advice.

11. Finally, enjoy your child and let them know that you love having him or her around. Remember - it may seem like a lot of work when you have a child with a specific learning difficulty, but they grow up fast.

DAI Parents' Courses

The Dyslexia Association runs a course for parents. The aim of the course is to help parents develop a better understanding of dyslexia, and how to support the student with dyslexia at home.

This course is run several times each year, in various locations around the country.

The next DAI Parents' Course will be held in Cork in May 2010.
For further information, see the News/Diary section