How to help dyslexic children

Parenting |

When Glynis Kozma’s son was diagnosed with dyslexia she could not have been completely surprised.

The condition is hereditary and Mrs Kozma’s husband is also dyslexic.

However, on discovering she had a dyslexic child the teacher said she “had to fight very, very hard to get support for my son when he was in primary school”.

According to Glynis latest research suggests that “one child in 5 has an element of dyslexia. Within your average classroom there may be five or six children who have dyslexia.”

Childhood dyslexia is often perceived as the inability to read - this is a narrow perception of the condition. It affects many aspects of behaviour, including short-term memory, organisation, sequencing skills, speech, language skills and motor skills

Children who are dyslexic can often have a problem with concentration.

You can start to pick up the signs of dyslexia when your child is a toddler.

Glynis Kozma told My Baby Radio:”When children start to learn to speak they often muddle their words and they grow out of it but children with dyslexia may not, they also have trouble with rhyme. They are held back a little bit with their speech development.

On the physical side they have poor co-ordination. They also often miss out the crawling stage.

Dyslexia is inherited so maybe a little alarm bell should start to ring if anyone’s had any problems in the past.”

If you’re concerned about dyslexia you should have your child assessed by an educational psychologist but Glynis said she would not rush and in her personal opinion she would allow them to settle into their first year at school.

Most children can cope in school if they are given support.

“There’s no correlation between dyslexia and intelligence. There are lots of high flying people - Richard Branson for instance - who are dyslexic,” said Mrs Kozma.

She added: “It’s very important that parents overcome the feeling that there’s something wrong with their child. Children don’t know what’s wrong with them and they immediately think they’re dim.”

So how can a child with dyslexia be helped in the school environment?

“The school can invite experts in and those experts can advise the teacher on the best way forward to deal with your child.

The main thing is that the child should tend to sit at the front of the class. The teacher needs to be aware that dyslexics find it difficult to follow what’s on the board,” advises Glynis.

For any parents who are concerned and feel they need more help then The British Dyslexia Assocation runs local support groups.