Help For Children with Dyslexia

Author Justin Clark, Dyslexia Tutor

How to Help Children With Dyslexia

If you have already browsed through my website and read some of the pages, blogs and reviews, you will know that there is help and hope for children with dyslexia. The help for children with dyslexia comes with the provision of being taught in a different way, helped differently in a manner that facilitates the way that they learn. You can find more information on how to help children with dyslexia on this on these pages, Dyslexia Tutoring, Teaching Students with Dyslexia to Read and Reading Comprehension and Reading Difficulties.

Dyslexia and Poor Self-Esteem

When trying to help children with dyslexia, one of the biggest obstacles is not the dyslexia itself but the low self esteem of the student. This low self esteem is brought about because some children with dyslexia consider themselves ‘stupid’ or have exhausted themselves with little results. They may also have been teased at school or even bullied. Some children even find being pulled out of class for extra support embarrassing and demeaning.

Thus in order to help children with dyslexia, I often have to address the manifestations of this poor self esteem. There are a variety of ways that children express their frustration and despondence. One is work avoidance which is at best is the ‘class clown’ type of behaviour and at worst is total refusal to engage.

The only way to overcome these types of behaviours is to be patient, supportive and try and find an area of interest that is engaging for them. With each child I need to find ways to break down these barriers. There are two reasons why this can occur.

The first is that I will engage them during their learning on topics or subjects that they are interested in. Most dyslexic children have strengths as well as weaknesses that dyslexia brings in terms of learning basic skills such as reading and writing. Having strengths in particular areas provides a vehicle for children to be able to learn and if they are good at something then this provides a feeling of empowerment.

The second reason is that by teaching them in the way that they learn best will ensure that they have a much greater chance of success. This sense of accomplishment will also provide a growth in their self-esteem.

Building Self-Esteem for Dyslexic Children

Building self-esteem for children with dyslexia also needs to come from the family and ideally the school as well. One very simple way to provide hope for your dyslexic child is to let them know about all the famous and successful people who have dyslexia.

Successful and Famous People with Dyslexia

Knowing that successful and famous people can have dyslexia too may help children with dyslexia see their learning difficulty as not as much of an obstacle towards what they can achieve.

Thus In the aim of providing hope and help for dyslexic children you may want to share with your dyslexic child the list below of famous and successful people who have dyslexia and they may also be interested in some of their quotes, also provided below.

Entrepreneurs
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple
Richard Branson

Actors/TV Presenters/Producers
Tom Cruise
Keanu Reeves
Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribean)
Jamie Oliver
Steven Spielberg Walt Disney

Inventors
Albert Einstein, Will Smith
Leonardo da Vinci
Alexander Bell

Royalty
Princess Beatrice of York

Dyslexia Quotes

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Jobs

“My childhood was extremely lonely. I was dyslexic and lots of kids make fun of me. That experience made me tough inside, because you learn to quietly accept ridicule.” – Tom Cruise

“I always felt a bit alone and isolated from other people…I did a lot of pretending as a child. It was my way of coping with the fact that I didn’t feel like I fit in.” – Keneau Reeves

Hope Tutoring led by Justin Clark specialises in tutoring students with learning difficulties. Contact us today if you are looking for a Tutor in Brisbane or someone who can do remote tutoring.