Hello dolphinlovertwo,

"Dyslexia" is a global term that means "problems with print".  If we define a child as having dyslexia, this just means that we need to find out exactly what difficulties the child is having.  And then we have to design a tailor-made program to teach the student the skills they need to develop.

Is your child having difficulties learning the sounds and the letters of the language?  This type of dyslexia means that we need to give your child more information about how sounds are made and how those sounds are connected to letters and letter sequences.  Your child might have a phonological awareness difficulty, which means that he/she doesn't hear, exactly, how sounds are made and manipulated to form words.  This isn't a hearing problem in terms of the ears, but a hearing/perceptual  weakness in the brain.  You could look at my website:   www.dynamicreadingandwriting.com, to find out how to develop this weakness.  If this weakness isn't addressed early, then students have difficulties analyzing and remembering words throughout their lifetime.

Is your child having difficulties memorizing words?  Then you will want to develop memory skills.  You might look at techniques from Neuro-Linguistic Programming sources.

Is your child having difficulties comprehending what he or she reads?  Then you will want to teach your child how to visualize information, so that he/she can connect imagery to language.  This is a powerful way to develop comprehension.  You might look at Nanci Bell's book "Visualizing and Verbalizing for Language Comprehension and Thinking".

Is your child having difficulties learning how to write down on paper what he or she is thinking orally?  Then you can sketch ideas in organized drawings or thinking maps or graphic organizers, before the child starts writing.  That way, their thinking is done before they begin to write.

Have you had your child assessed by a reading specialist?  This person will be able to discover, specifically, what difficulties your child has with print.

If you secure a tutor, make certain that this person teaches your child how to learn in the most effective ways for him/her.  Some programs are one-size-fits-all, rather than tailor-made for each student.

If you place your child in a special education setting, or have him/her taught in a smaller classroom group for part of the school day, make certain, again, that the school is teaching your child in the most effective ways, and is not using a prescribed program that's not necessarily the best fit for your child.

I've spent nearly forty years working with dyslexic students, from age five to sixty, and have learned over and over, that having dyslexia does NOT mean you can't learn to read and write and spell successfully.

The very best to you.

Sylvia HS
Reading Specialist, Author