Is the iPad Good or Bad for Dyslexic Children?

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Will the new iPad help or hinder dyslexic children to improve their literacy skills?

This is a good question – a bit of a tricky one to answer – but a good one nevertheless.

At Dyslexic Brian we love any technology that encourages dyslexic children to develop their literacy skills whilst having fun – and we feel that the iPad will do this job nicely.

A great feature on the iPad is its onscreen keypad that looks so, so, sooooo touchable – who wouldn’t want to tap away all day on those gorgeous looking keys?!

We are going to check out if any touch typing tutorial type applications are available for the iPad – we’re guessing that there are – in which case if you’re dyslexic and lucky enough to have an iPad already, then download a touch typing Application and start learning to touch type in style!

[N.B. from Antonio’s experience as a dyslexia support tutor, and from his experience of overcoming his own dyslexia, he has noticed just how quickly dyslexic people start making significant improvements with their spellings once they have learnt to touch type.]

We feel that every opportunity should be taken to encourage dyslexic children to improve their literacy skills using tools that are up to date and relevant within modern society. Why teach children, dyslexic and non-dyslexic alike, to learn to write using pen and paper anyway, when they most probably will never come into contact with these antiquated tools again by the time they leave school?

Shouldn’t we, within the context of the supper charged IT era that we live in, be teaching children to read and write using cutting edge technology (i.e. on iPad’s and/or anything else that is equivalent to it)?

In fact, there have been some suggestions that ‘rather than view the iPad as something between a laptop and a smartphone–something people have potentially little need for–Apple should position its new device as ‘the actual replacement for paper.’  Click here to view source

Unfortunately, we can’t see pen and paper being replaced by advance technology for a very long time to come.

Ok that’s enough of a rant about current educational practices for now!

Let’s get back to the question in hand…

We believe that using an iPad will, without a doubt, help dyslexic children to improve their literacy skills – providing – that they are encouraged to play an equal amount of literacy type games to the fun type games that we are sure the iPad has in store for us.

And, one of the great features of the iPad is the iBook application where you can buy books, read them and then put them away on your very own bookshelf – it looks really good and will hopeful encourage children to read more – well that is if the books aren’t to expensive to download.

All in all we love the iPad and hope, now that we have sang lot’s of praise for it, that Apple will send Dyslexic Brian one in the post tomorrow – please Apple please!!!!!!!

Click here to watch a good video review that we came across on Youtube – its funny!

Fun Brain Website – Great Resource for Dyslexics

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Dyslexic Brian loves this website – and not just because its got the word ‘Brian’ in it

We love it because we think that it’s a great resource for dyslexic people who want to improve their literacy skills whilst playing games…

Click here to check it out… and please let us know what you think of it

Confidence Building in Dyslexic Children

The majority of dyslexic children have come to the conclusion that hey are stupid!

Build Confidence in Dyslexic Children

The Basics

In any school in any week of the year a dyslexic child experiences a huge amount of failure. With sequencing difficulties, any form of writing or math/s is going to present severe problems, and the dyslexic child cannot fail to notice that almost all of the other children are able to do the work which he or she finds so hard. Why can’t he read and spell? He must be dumb, thick, stupid. It’s the conclusion that anyone would reach in similar circumstances, and it badly needs changing before any corrective teaching is going to be effective.

However good our methods with phoneme awareness, finding interesting books and word games are, this basic foundation for each child of a secure self-confidence has got to be addressed before any real progress can be hoped for

The difficulty with dyslexia is that it is not visible. If the child had a broken arm, everyone would be rushing around giving extra consideration. ‘Of course he can’t write – his arm is broken! There’s nothing wrong with his intelligence.’ But no-one ever says ‘Of course he can’t spell – he has inherited a different pattern of brain circuits! There’s nothing wrong with his intelligence.’

Teachers, parents and the dyslexic child himself come to the clear conclusion that he must be slow-witted.

What I am suggesting is a little cognitive therapy by the teacher, if possible in conjunction with the parent! Not as hard as it seems. The assumption in the child’s mind – that he is stupid – is inaccurate, and it needs correcting if he is to re-establish the self-confidence he needs to learn. This is not going to be achieved simply by telling him that he’s as intelligent as the next person. Well-intentioned people have been telling him that for years to no effect. He needs evidence, and he needs to re-construct the picture he has of himself in his own mind. Only in this way can he see his difficulties as a dyslexic learner in the proper context of a person – like anyone else – who has both strengths and weaknesses. Most dyslexic people have great strengths in the areas of physical co-ordination and/or creativity and/or empathy with other people. His strengths may lie in some of these areas, and he will know that lots of other children are weak in exactly these same areas.

The following exercise has a great effect on children, and can be carried out by a parent, or a teacher, or, if at all possible, both together with the child, who needs to be on his own (not in a group situation). Take a sheet of paper and make two columns: in one column put ‘Things I am good at’ and in the other ‘Things that I am not so good at’

• Things that I am good at
• Things that I am not so good at

Take about five or ten minutes of discussion with the child for you to write a list of things that the child is – from an objective point of view – successful at. These will include such skills as swimming, sports, caring for pets, making a collection, dancing, drama, singing, art, painting, drawing, and so on. In the ‘Not so good’ column let the child tell you the things like spelling and writing that he really finds hard. The list will look something like this, depending of course on each child’s interests:

• Things that I am good at
  • swimming
  • diving
  • basketball
  • looking after my rabbits
  • drawing
  • painting
  • collecting stamps
  • getting on well with other children
  • clearing the table
  • making people laugh
  • softball
  • being friendly to grandpa
  • knowing about space and the planets
  • etc.
• Things that I am not so good at
  • spelling
  • reading
  • writing
  • math/s

The evidence is staring the child in the face: there are far more things that he is good at than things he has difficulties with. He can’t possibly be stupid. He is clearly a successful person.

But he may well say that the things he is weak at are the things that matter in life. If you can’t spell, how can you pass exams and get a job? This is the stage at which you have to argue – not tell – and say such things as ‘What do you value people for – because they are good at spelling? Of course not. You value people for all sorts of qualities, especially their ability to be friendly, get on with you, consider your needs, think of other people before themselves and so on. It’s up to you to keep the argument going until the child can really begin to see himself in a new light – as a successful person who just happens to have been born with a small handicap. Like being color-blind. It’s not his fault. It’s not because he doesn’t try hard enough (as, unfortunately, many teachers will have told him).

Seeing himself in a new light can be a turning point for the child – whatever his or her age – and this new-born self-confidence can lay the foundation for the special kind of learning he needs to build up the spelling and writing skills that his fellow pupils find so much easier to acquire.

But it’s not an over-night change, and it needs carefully nurturing over the coming month. The list should be carefully preserved and pinned up at home in the kitchen for all to see. He needs praise, gold stars, credits, and certificates over the coming weeks for things he does in school – of a non-cademic nature – which are commendable: helping a new pupil to settle in, co-operating well in a games session, coming up with a fresh creative idea for art, and so on. The certificates he receives for these valuable activities may be the first he has ever received in his entire school career.

John Bradford
June 2001

Confidence Building in Practice

I began this activity by talking about a new session my learners would be having with me, which is Positive thinking. I modelled on the board my list and the children called out ideas. At the beginning of this activity this particular learner said, ‘I’m not good at anything’.

My reply was ‘Yes you are. You are good at football’. This made him realise that – yes – he can do things. With some discussion he managed to make a list.

Things that I am good at:

• Football
• Running
• Drawing
• Helping my friends

Things that I am not so good at:

• Reading
• Writing stories

At the end of the session he felt quite confident about the things he isn’t so good because I was able to bring to his attention that he can read just not as well as he is wanting to at the moment. We talked about books he had read and group reading activities where he sometimes helps other children with words like they help him.

The following day it was group reading. He put his hand straight up to be the first to read and he read steadily and more readily accepted help from the other children. (S. B-W., Somerset, UK)

Recognizing low self-esteem

A J is the typical 14-year-old boy—great athlete, “cool” with the girls, and loves to clown around when the pressure is on. I believe that underneath that façade what he projects is fear of failure in the eyes of his peers. During class he appears to pay attention but, when he is called upon to answer something that he is unsure of, he pretends not to have heard anything in the past five minutes.

This elicits a classroom response of giggles, especially in English or history. Science is a totally different matter, where he is truly interested, and is the first to answer or ask questions about an experiment. History and English are difficult, so he is frequently forgetting to complete assignments on schedule without constant reminders. He wants his peers to believe that he is just as carefree as everyone else and that school doesn’t offer any extreme challenges. (Lisa Landers, Texas)

Praise for non-academic achievements

Dyslexic children rarely receive certificates, merit points or stars for academic achievements. To compensate for this, non-academic achievements can easily be recognised and rewarded. Examples of such instances include:-

• Helping in class by handing out/collecting in work;
• Demonstrating to rest of class in P.E.;
• Showing good effort (regardless of outcome);
• Keeping desk tidy;
• Being organised with own equipment for lessons;
• Showing kindness to others;
• Willingness to participate in discussions;
• Sitting quietly and attentively;
• Good table manners at lunchtime;
• Helping to put out equipment or tidy up;
• Being polite;
• Setting a good example to younger pupils;
• Willingness to become involved in all aspects of school life (productions, clubs, trips, fundraising activities, etc).

Source: BeingDyslexic

Dyslexic Friendly Video Email

There’s now a great way for dyslexic people to communicate using video email.  

I came across some great technology called helloWorld that can be used to: 

• Send and receive Audio and Video Emails
• Create Personalised Email Templates
• Broadcasts Live on the Internet
• Store and Manage all of Your Media Online
• Create Video Play Lists for Your Website
• Add Videos to Your Website or Blog

I’ve been using the helloWorld technology for over one year now and have found it so simple to use and dyslexic friendly.

All you have to do is buy a helloWorld email account (it’s similar to a Hotmail or Yahoo account) that costs $9.95 per month (no monthly contract)

Once you have this all you will then need is a webcam to record your video emails with. 

Next you just click on the ‘New’ tab within your helloWorld inbox.

 Then record your video…

 …then press send and off your video goes!

It really is that simple!

Creating a video emails is just so much simpler than having to sit at your computer typing what you want to say – with video you just talk out aloud what’s in your mind.

I’ve been recommending it to all of the dyslexic people that I come into contact with.    

Once you’re all set up and able to send video email then why not send a video email to us to say hi.  

Click here to order your helloWorld account or to receive more information.

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 1

Explore your dyslexia by doing a self-characterisation sketch

One of the techniques that we use at Dyslexic Brian, to assist the people to overcome their dyslexia, is called a self-characterisation sketch*, (or sketch for short).

(*N.B. a self-characterisation sketch is a technique devised by George A Kelly (1955) and used in personal construct psychology)

We have found that using self-characterisation sketch can be a good way for many people to begin the process of exploring their perception of dyslexia.

There really isn’t anything that difficult about doing a sketch. You simply have to write about yourself as if you were an actor in a play about yourself, your life and your dyslexia. You have to write it though from the third person perspective. This basically means that you write it how you think someone who knows you very intimately and sympathetically might write it. For example, if I (Antonio) was to write one today I would start with something like this,

“Antonio is someone who really struggled with his dyslexia in the past. He found it so hard to understand and make sense of his dyslexia and struggled so much to bring it under control. In fact he spent over seven years focusing on his dyslexia on a daily basis before he was able to fully understand it to the point that he was satisfied with. At this point he was able liberate himself from all of the self-imposed constraints to learning that he has placed on himself over the years. He now wants to help others to understand their dyslexia and to overcome it but in a fraction of the time that it took him to do so. He wants to do this by…”

If you decide to write a sketch about yourself or tape record one if that’s what you prefer, then don’t worry about how long the sketch is, about spellings and grammar, or even where about in your life you begin from. The important thing is that you just start writing about what is significance to you.

In the sketch above that I wrote above, I chose to begin writing from where I am at present. The reason for this is that this is what is important to me at this moment in time. If I had written a sketch, let’s say, before I overcame my dyslexia, then it would have been a very different sketch from the one I wrote above. I most probably would have written something along these lines,

“Antonio hates being dyslexic! He hates not being able to express his thinking in the assignments he has to write at college. He finds it hard to accept that he is dyslexic and wishes that he could get rid of it so that he can get on with his life. He spends hours writing his assignments and never gets the grades that he thinks he deserves…”

What to do with the sketch once you’ve done one

Once you have written a sketch file it away, work on exploring your dyslexia more, and then write another sketch. This might sound a bit of a strange thing to do and perhaps might seem to be a bit of a pointless exercise. However, it is the process of writing a sketch that is important as it gets you to really focus on your dyslexia. As you gain more and more understanding of your dyslexia you will notice that the sketches you write will be completely different from the earlier ones that you wrote. In this sense sketches are a good way of gauging your progress and keeping track of it.

If you feel that you would like coaching through the process of becoming more aware of you dyslexia and want help also to find ways to overcome your dyslexia, contact us for information about  our One-to-One or Online dyslexia support service.

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Instructions)

This exercise has been designed to assist you to reduce some of the negative feelings that you might have towards your dyslexia.

The exercise is made up of seven simple steps – these are outlined below to give you an overview of what it will take to do this exercise:

1) Make a list of all the things about your dyslexia that you feel negative  
     about

2) Prioritise your list

3) Write each heading from your list on separate pieces of paper

4) Explore the negative aspect of each issue

5) Write down how you would like things to be regarding each issue you
     are focusing on

6) Start working out how you would bring about changes to create the
     way you’d ‘ideally’ like things to be

7) Write an action plan and act on it

Click here view the instructions for step one

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step One)

Step one: Make a list of all the things about your dyslexia that you feel negative about (and/or wish to overcome)

Make a list of all the things that you are feeling negative about towards your dyslexia; a few words will do. Don’t worry too much at this stage where you start from as you will prioritise them in the next step of this process. For now simply list all the things that are making you feel negative about your dyslexia. Write down anything that comes into your head!

You don’t have to show this list to anyone so don’t worry about the things you list being silly or trivial. Keep adding to the list until you have run out of anything else to include. (You might prefer to make a list on audio tape or to draw a series of pictures). 

Here’s an example of a list created by Antonio several years ago:

Being dyslexic

Writing letters

Memory problems

Filling in forms

Reading out loud

Going blank

Poor spellings

Click here view the instructions for Step Two

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Two)

Step two: Prioritise your list

The next step is to put the things that you have listed into the order that you feel you would like to tackle them. The simplest way to do this is to number them, as shown in the example:

Being dyslexic (1)

Writing letters (4)

Memory problem (5)

Filling in forms (3)

Reading out loud (2)

Going blank (6)

Poor spellings (7) (Back to top)

Click here view the instructions for Step Three

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Three)

Step three: Write each heading from your list on separate pieces of paper

The next thing to do is write down the first heading from your list on a separate piece of A4 paper, or open a new page on your computer.

You will end up with something that looks like this but obviously with your heading on the page:

Being dyslexic (1)

Click here view the instructions for Step Four

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Four)

Step four: Explore the negative aspect of each issue

The next thing to do is to start exploring the issue you have decided to focus on by looking at why you feel the way you do about it.

A good way of doing this is to write about the issue from the third person perspective, in other words as if someone you know really well was writing about you and the issue being focused on. The reason for doing this is that it will help you not get too bogged down with the negative emotions that may be attached to the issue.

Here is an example of what Antonio would have written several years ago:

Being dyslexic (1)

“Antonio hates being dyslexic. He hates not being the same as other people at college who can write assignments without putting in so much effort. He hates how some of the people on his course treat him differently because of his dyslexia….”

The trick here is to write down as much as you can until you can’t find anything more to write about. When you have finished this move on to the next one and do the same. Do this until you have completed each sheet.

Click here view the instructions for Step Five

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Five)

Step five: Write down how you would like things to be regarding each issue you are focusing on  

The next thing to do is to write down how you would like things to ideally be regarding the issue you are focusing on.

Here’s an example of what Antonio might have written several years ago before he overcame his dyslexia:

“Being dyslexic (1)  

“Antonio would love not to be dyslexic. He would love to be the same as the other students and be able to write assignments without having to spend two weeks on each one.”  

Click here view the instructions for Step Six

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Six)

Step six: Start working out how you would bring about changes to create the way   you’d ‘ideally’ like things to be

Now here’s the tricky bit. Start writing down how you would bring about the changes needed to create things the way you outlined in step five of this exercise.

Here is an example:

 “Being dyslexic (1)

“Antonio really needs to start focusing on his dyslexia. He needs to find someone to support him with his assignment writing so that he can learn to structure his writing better and save loads of time writing each week.”

Click here view the instructions for Step Seven

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 (Step Seven)

Step seven: Write an action plan and act on it

The final step is to write an action plan that you think will help you bring about the changes that you wrote about in step six. Once you have written your plan put it in to action and see if it gets you the results that you are after. If it doesn’t then review your plan and rewrite it if you think of a better way of bringing about the changes you want.

It’s important to try not to take things to seriously. If things don’t work out the way you want them too, stay positive and try again.

A good tip is to try to imagine that you are a scientist and that your plan is a set of instructions for an experiment that you are going to conduct. If you get the results you are after then stick to the sort of action plans that you already coming up with.

If, on the other hand, your action plan doesn’t bring you the results you want, then amend it just like a scientist would if they were carrying out an experiment.

With this sort of approach you will hopefully not give in until you create an action plan that brings you the results you are after.

The following example show a rough outline of the sort of action plan Antonio might have followed:

 

“Being dyslexic (1)

“I need to spend time each day reflecting on how my dyslexia is impacting on my ability to study. I will start keeping a journal and note down how my dyslexia is affecting me each day. I will write half a page each evening just before going to bed. I also need to find a dyslexia support tutor by the end of October 1998 so that I can learn how to structure assignments.”  

Notice how the action plan mentions how the progress being made will be measured, i.e. by writing half a page each evening just before going to bed.

Also, note how the plan is very specific, it sets a date to find a dyslexia support tutor by. Be specific as it will commit you to a start date to carry out your plan.

Try not to put things off for too long. Remember if your plan doesn’t work out the way you anticipated that it would, then amend it or write a new one. Stay light hearted and most of all try and have some fun with your experiments.

If you get stuck then contact us and we will assist you with this exercise.

Also, if you have time let us know how you got on with this exercise. We would love to know if you found it useful and also how you think it could be made to work better. 

Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 2

Keeping a journal about your dyslexia

Keeping a journal about your dyslexia can be an excellent way to focus on your dyslexia on a daily basis.

There are no hard rules about keeping a journal on your dyslexia; it’s up to you how you do it. You might find that it suits you to write a journal, or you might find that you prefer to record a journal on to audio tape, or even make a video diary. These are all suitable formats; experiment and find the format that suits you best. Also, what you write about, or record if the case may be, is up to you too as long as you focus on the theme of your dyslexia. For instance you might want to talk about your feelings towards you being dyslexic or express how being dyslexic is impacting on your life.

The purpose of this exercise is that they will help increase your levels of awareness towards your own dyslexia. The more awareness you have the better you will eventually become at controlling the negative impact that you feel dyslexia is having in your life.

If you feel that you would like coaching through the process of becoming more aware of you dyslexia and want help also to find ways to overcome your dyslexia, contact us for information about our One-to-one and online tuition service.

Dyslexic Brian’s Principles 1

Be clear about which area of dyslexia you are exploring

There are four main areas that are worth exploring if you are trying to increase your knowledge and understanding of dyslexia, these are:

-        The subject area of ‘dyslexia’ i.e. professionals, academic opinion

-        Other dyslexic peoples perspectives of dyslexia, i.e. their opinions, views

-        Non-dyslexic peoples perceptions of dyslexia

-        Your own dyslexia, i.e. how you conceptualise it, how it affects you, and how you are dealing with it

Each of these areas is elaborated below.

a) Exploring the subject area of ‘dyslexia’

Exploring the subject area of dyslexia through reading books or through watching (or listening to) programs on dyslexia can help you increase your understanding of how professionals and academics are seeing ‘dyslexia’. By knowing how the professionals and academics see dyslexia will give you a broad knowledge and understanding of dyslexia. Remember though that there are a lot of different perspectives of dyslexia out there and it can get really confusing whilst you are trying to make sense of them. However, it is worth sticking with, as you will become your own ‘expert’ on dyslexia and be able to ‘hold your own’ in discussions about dyslexia.

A useful tip to bear in mind as you set about exploring in this area is to try and distance yourself as much as you can from what you are reading or watching. There are two main reasons for keeping this in mind. Firstly, it will lessen the chance of you getting sucked into one particular theory of dyslexia over another. We suggest that you avoid this, if you can, as it might stop you from exploring any further. Also, you run the risk of adopting some of the symptoms that are associated with the theory you get sucked into.

The second reason for distancing yourself is that it will help lessen the strong feelings of annoyance that you might feel when you come across perspectives of dyslexia that are not ‘dyslexic’ friendly and use language that is often quite hard to understand or talks down to you as if you were an object.

If you feel a bit stuck by not knowing where to start or feel overwhelmed by the thought of trying to understand lots of different perspectives but feel that it would be a good idea, then contact us and we will do our best to support you.

b) Exploring other peoples ‘dyslexia’

Talking to other dyslexics, especially those who have been exploring and trying to understand their dyslexia (or better still already understand their dyslexia), can help you feel accepted and part of a group. You will probably find that lots of dyslexics who already have a good understanding of their own dyslexia will only be too happy to help you increase your own understanding. And if you’re lucky they might open up on how they have reduced or overcome completely the negative impact dyslexia had in their lives. You might be able to tailor some of their strategies to help you overcome some of your own.

A word of caution, some people are a bit sensitive about their dyslexia being made public knowledge, so play things by ear. If you suspect that someone you know is dyslexic (as the old adage goes. “It takes one to know one”) then it’s probably a good idea to wait till they are alone before you ask them if they are dyslexic. Antonio has found that nine times out of ten that if he says he is dyslexic in a conversation the other person mentions that they are too, that is of course if they are!

c) Exploring non-dyslexic peoples perceptions of ‘dyslexia’

This can be a worthwhile area to explore and can be achieved simply by mentioning something about dyslexia in conversations with non-dyslexics. For instance, you might say something like this to get a discussion going, “I read an article on dyslexia yesterday that said … [fill the rest in with something that you have read]”. You might be pleasantly surprised to find out that for many people dyslexia is no big deal.

At one time there was lots of stigma attached to being dyslexic; many people equated dyslexia with derogatory terms such as ‘thick’ or ‘stupid’ and would express such views in conversations. However, it seems that nowadays things have moved on quite a bit. There are so many people about, from all walks of life that live by the notion of equality, they celebrate human difference and question the social ‘norms’ that created the stigma around dyslexia in the first place. Hearing the views of such people can be rather liberating and can lead, in some instances, to a real sense of ‘dyslexic’ pride. However, be prepared to hear the negative views that some people you come across might hold! Again, if possible keep some distance.

d) Exploring your own ‘dyslexia’

Carrying out some of the exploration into the three areas outlined above will most probably have caused you to focus on your own dyslexia quite a bit. However, there are also few exercises that you can do to increase your understanding of your own dyslexia. We have included two of these in our ‘Bees-Knees exercises’ section.

Dyslexic Brian’s Principles 2

Don’t adopt symptoms from the theories you read or hear about

Whilst you are exploring the subject area of dyslexia you might find that, if you’re not careful you start adopting some of the symptoms that you read or hear about from others. For example, you might read or hear from someone about the theory that dyslexia has something to do with short term memory problems. Then, whilst exploring your own dyslexia you take this theory to be ‘true’ as it helps you explain and understand some of the difficulties you might be experiencing whilst trying to remember things. You then start to believe that you can’t remember anything if you don’t write it down or chant it to yourself for an hour and a half till it works its way into your long term memory. This will most probably limit your learning opportunists as you believe that theirs no point trying to remember things that you have heard as you will only forget them.

This then has a knock-on effect, as you have to spend time and effort in the future to make sense of this when you are exploring your own dyslexia at a higher level. So keep in mind the point made earlier, that there are lots of theories out there and that they haven’t been proven to be ‘absolutely’ true!

Dyslexic Brian’s Principles 3

Be positive about your dyslexia

It is important that you try and be positive and stay positive about your dyslexia. The more positive you are the quicker and easier it will be to overcome the difficulties that you may be experiencing.

A positive mindset helps when tackling any ‘difficulty’ in life as the ‘difficulty’ becomes a ‘challenge’ rather than a ‘problem’ that you are trying to overcome. Challenges can be fun whereas ‘problems’ generally tend not to be.

For instance, seeing reading ‘difficulties’ as a ‘challenge’ to overcome means that you will most probably do more reading each day in an attempt to improve your reading skills. Whereas, by seeing reading ‘difficulties’ as a ‘problem’ will most likely reduce the amount of reading that you do or stop you from reading all together. If you are serious about overcoming dyslexia, then having a positive attitude makes this task that much easier.

We realise that, in many cases, having a positive mind set towards dyslexia, is easier said than done. For some dyslexics (Antonio was one of them) they go through a stage of being quite negative about being dyslexic. This is particularly the case for many ‘late arrivals’ to the dyslexic club who are trying to make sense not only of their new found ‘problem’ but also of all the ‘failures’ in their lives that they now see may have been connected to their dyslexia.

For example, some ‘late arrivals’ look back over there school years and may feel resentment for being let down by the educational system. They feel angry that their dyslexia was not spotted and their needs having not been met. Others may feel the anguish of having been wrongly judged or labelled as ‘thick’ or ‘stupid’ by friends and family. Whilst some people become depressed, feeling that they could have made more out of their lives if they had known earlier that they are dyslexic. In such cases it is neither easy nor realistic to expect that people will suddenly switch off their negative feelings and thinking towards dyslexia.

What you can do to lessen negativity around dyslexia

If you are feeling negative about your dyslexia you might find Dyslexic Brian’s Exercise 3 helpful to reduce some of your negative feelings. You might also find that this exercise helps you to move a bit closer to how you would ideally like your situation regarding dyslexia to be.

(Please note that there is no substitute for professional help from a qualified counsellor or psychotherapist specialised in dealing with the more serious issues faced by some dyslexic people).