Did you know that one in five children are Dyslexic? Dyslexia is more than reversing letters. It is a learning difference where children have trouble with letters and sounds. It typically runs in families. The medical profession actually can see the differences in brain activity between non-dyslexic and dyslexic brains. Children experience letters jumping around the page when they read. However, it is considered an invisible disability. What children see comes out in other ways, such as hyperactivity, depression, or disruptive behavior. Parents and teachers want their children to succeed but are helpless when it comes to solutions.

Now that children are returning to school, I think back to the stress of starting the new year for our family. Everyone is excited, but the teachers are not always familiar with their new students. They may have received notes from the prior year’s teacher, but not in our case. We moved around the country when the boys were little. Our boys had a different school (and the teacher) almost every year from 3 years old pre-school until sixth grade. These were critical years to learn to read. But teachers want their students to flourish and support those who work hard to achieve success. It wasn’t until our oldest son was in fourth grade that he started failing at school. Teachers thought he was lazy, but he was actually dyslexic and gifted too.

When our oldest was born, I quickly started him on a path toward the love of books.  Just weeks old, I would prop him up on my lap to recite Dr. Seuss’s, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish.  We progressed to Good Night Moon where I would point out the kittens and the mittens to identify objects in the room.  By the age of two, he could “read” the Polar Express word for word.  Barney was never part of his repertoire; however, Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurs became part of his vocabulary early on.  As a proud parent, I highlighted his precociousness to family and friends.  He soared through his preschool absorbing the educational play time like a sponge. When he started kindergarten, he quickly became the teacher’s pet. In first grade he was one of two students in his class identified for the gifted program.   Dreams of a doctor, lawyer or engineer became part of our expectations for his future.  But our hopes vanished as he entered fourth grade, the turning point in his education.