Dyslexia - How Much?

I sometimes wonder whether it was a blessing or a curse being dyslexic in the years before the condition existed. As a child, dyslexia had a different name. Stupidity. For me, tests were the opportunity to fail miserably and be humiliated. In the 1960's teachers at infant and primary school recognised that the best way to get children who were a "bit slow" to improve was to abuse and humiliate them. It worked even better with a liberal dose of bashing them. Did it work. Well I'd spend whole lessons devising strategies for avoiding the certain to arrive humiliation. There were various strategies :-

a) Get someone else to misbehave and then they'd get it instead
b) Pretend to be ill (having a coughing fit)
c) Say your parents had asked for the class to pray for someone (it was a Catholic school and so this was a useful trump card).

These were all examples. Another example was to volunteer to do unpleasant chores. These were always less unpleasant than the alternative. I spent years "sorting out the bean bags" (do schools still have bean bags). Sadly though, all of these tactics only went so far. Most of the time, you just had to cop what was coming. Teachers would accuse me of "not concentrating" without realising that this is a symptom of the condition. Strangely enough, when I first heard about dyslexia, I didn't associate with the symptoms. By then I'd developed a coping strategy and could read. My wife often asks me about which childrens books I enjoyed as a child. The truth is none. The first book I ever read was 1984 by George Orwell aged 12. My sister was doing it as an O level book and it sounded really interesting. I'd long been reading comics. Having pictures and a structure, it was quite easy to get the drift of the story and the words fitted in, as they were either in narritive boxes or speech bubbles. My mother was repeatedly told to stop me from reading them, but figured it was better than nothing.  Once I got the hang of it, I found it wasn't as daunting as I'd thought. The one time this is not true is in church services, where people say what is in the book. I can't keep up. As a kid I thought (here's the Catholic guilt) that it was because I was evil (the teachers had repeatedly told me this). I have realised that it's just because I'm a slow reader with dyslexia.

Anyway step forward 40 years to 2011. The word dyslexia certainly exists now. Not only that, but it's a highly lucrative business. Click on this link to see a few examples :-

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=dyslexic&hl=en&tbm=shop&aq=f&oq=&aq=f#q=dyslexic&hl=en&tbs=p_ord:pd&tbm=shop&sa=X&ei=TikjTp2sKIug-wb99rW_Aw&ved=0CAsQuw0oAg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=3f25acabc71a30e&biw=1069&bih=632

I worry about this industry. I suspect that what the parents who invest in all this stuff want is a child who isn't dyslexic. What I wonder is what should they want? Well I'd say, let's start with a child who is happy and fulfilled. If my dyslexia had meant endless extra lessons and missing out on football or playtime, I'd have become extremely resistant to any help. I believe that mainstream schools fail miserably at giving all but the most average of children a half decent education. As soon as there is someone with issues (not just dyslexia) the model breaks down. Dyslexia is a particularly difficult syndrome to diagnose as all sorts of behaviour issues can mask a diagnosis. What happens? Parents see websites with magic bullet cures. Centres offer all manner of things, including dietary suppliments, exercises and reading aids. Experts constrcut all manner of strategies for bringing the best out of children with the syndrome. If I was an unscrupulous businessman, I'd set up a centre. I'd charge a fortune for all manner of quackery, learning aids and therapy sessions. I'd offer a complete money back guarantee for any child which didn't improve within 12 months. I'd devise a test to show where they are and get them to retake it 12 months later. All kids, dyslexic or not learn, so you'd be onto a guaranteed winner.

I am however, not a rip off businessman looking to make a quick buck. I will give you my advice on how you can get the best out of your children, if they have issues with dyslexia.

1) Never get cross at them when they underachieve at school. Speak to the school and ask what help they are getting to improve.

2) If they persistently misbehave at school, speak to them about specific incidents. Try and understand what they were thinking at the time. I believe that many dyslexic children are badly behaved at school to mask other problems. Ask them to talk you through how they recall the whole incident, start to finish, in a non confrontational way. Often something will have triggered the problems.

3) Look at their diet. I don't believe in "magic bullet" cures, but high sugar drinks, choloclates etc or anything which will make them hyper, can only cause them to lose concentration. Try and ensure breakfasts and lunches are balanced and healthy.

4) Encourage them to read anything. I found comics a good way to learn and I enjoyed them. These days there are all manner of such materials from the traditional childrens comics such as the Beano to highly spohisticated graphic novels.

5) If someone tells you your child has a reading age of 5 when they are 11 (that was my diagnosis), it doesn't mean they want to read books designed for 5 year olds. Try and find the appropriate reading materials - ie books designed for their agegroup aimed at dyslexics - yes they do exist.

6) Inform teachers that public reading is challenging due to dyslexia. Don't put them into stressful situations.

7) Encourage other creative skills - art, music, drama, etc. Strangely enough, many dyslexics are very poetic. I suspect we see patterns where other people see words. These build self confidence and are fun.

8) You may find dyslexic teenagers are a complete nightmare. This is often due to lack of self confidence and self esteem - show them this list - http://www.dyslexia-test.com/famous.html - it isn't a bad club is it.

But most of all find self help groups where you can exchange ideas and support with other parents. I don't have dyslexic children, so that's one challenge I've been spared. I do know many parents who have. What shocks me is how often they just don't get it. The condition is not like a broken leg which will mend. It isn't even necessarily a problem, it just means you may be worse at some things than your peers.

A useful analogy - nothing to do with dyslexia - for me is football. I'd love to play for England, but I used to play for the Hendon School Old boys fifth eleven. I enjoyed this as much as playing for any other team. I had to learn to get the best out of myself within my limitations. Sure I regret not playing for England, but I don't regret playing for Hendon (and I certainly don't think England regret not picking me!).

And one final word. I've written a blog for three years. I think it has been a great thing for me and has made a contribution to the London Borough of Barnet where I live. It has been nationally recognised in all manner of ways and by all manner of people. There have been over 300,000 visits to the blog since it's inception, currently approx 25,000 per month (seems to go up every month). If I can write stuff that finds an audience so can anyone else. A couple of people have emailed me and said these blogs on the subject have helped, I hope this one does.