The GIFT of Dyslexia

In our journey in schooling our son, we realized he was dyslexic. His early years were filled with the struggle to read and write. He could do these things, but they would take more effort than others and his spelling was atrocious. Teachers and I worked with him and tried every strategy, but his reading comprehension and spelling never got any better. He started off in public school for the first few years. Then he was homeschooled using an online public school curriculum. I thought working alongside him and giving him individualized attention would help. In reality, it did not help. He was still frustrated and even though we worked hard on the spelling each day, it did not improve. Tired as I was trying to teach my son, we both agreed he needed to go back to school. He gave it a good go. I know he learned there, but his test scores did not improve. The school did have one resource that was extremely helpful. They gave him Barton Tutoring twice a week. This did improve his reading and a bit of his spelling, but it is a slow process and will need to continue for a while to get the full effects.

Through much searching on the internet, I came across the book, "The GIFT of Dyslexia". While reading this book I felt that there was some hope. Another thing I realized is that he wasn't the only one of my children with dyslexia. Since dyslexia shows up differently for everyone, my other children didn't have it show up in their school work the same way as him, but it showed up in different areas of their life. I knew they could all benefit from using the tools in this book.

"The GIFT of Dyslexia" includes the resources to be able to go through the orientation process with your children yourself using script. I was amazed at how easy it was and how well they responded to this. Each child was able to get themselves to their orientation point using methods in this book. When they did, I could see the smile on their faces and see that "Aha" moment. Through this process they have learned to bring back their focus to what is going on at will. This requires some practice, but since they've got this far, it should come easier each time. What really impressed me is that my son, who has a hard time engaging in anything, was responding exactly how he should and was able to visualize this easily. Since it is summer, we still have yet to see how it will help with school work, but he has the tools. It is up to him to use them.

Right now we are in process of completing this. We have done the orientation process and coordination process. Now we are up to the point where we are working on letters and symbols. This is the most timely piece. Throughout this he will continue his Barton tutoring. My hope is that this will help him focus better through the Barton tutoring. This fall we plan to homeschool him following my own plan. This will give us some more flexibility and allow me to see how he is using these processes while he is learning. I am highly encouraged by this book and can't wait to see how it benefits my children.