In this Tea & Tips video, we suggest strategies to help kids with Dyslexia accept support and remediation for reading.

Elaine:
Okay, we have a question that came in to us from a parent of a kid who has ADHD and Dyslexia. She said that her child is feeling humiliated by remedial remediation that has to happen in school.

Diane:
So the child is having to take some steps backward.

Elaine:
Because the child is reading at grade level, so he's feeling like it's making him feel stupid to have to do this remediation, but he has Dyslexia, so he needs it to be able to move forward as work gets harder. So she's saying, "My kid is reading on grade level, so what do we do because he's feeling humiliated?"

Diane:
Yeah. I think the first thing with any of this is to show compassion. Because it makes perfect sense. You're a smart kid, and you can't get part of your brain to work the way that you want it to, so you're having to do baby work or whatever-

Elaine:
Acknowledge that's a real experience. He probably feels justified in feeling embarrassed by it or feeling like it's below his capacity.

Diane:
Yeah. Then the second piece of it is about normalizing. I think that the language I would use is, "Everybody has things they're good at and things that they're not so great at, and you're like everybody else, and this just happens to be your thing." Spend time focusing on the things that they are good at as a balance, then also normalize that we all have things that are hard, and if we want to change, we've got to take some extra effort.

Elaine:
Then the last thing I would add to it is to really get their buy into the process. Help them see: What's the value to them getting this remediation? What's in it for them for the long haul?

Diane:
How's it going to help them?

Elaine:
Right. Because really, if they see the value, they'll have a very different experience with it.

Bottom line:
To help kids with Dyslexia accept support and remediation for reading: show compassion, acknowledge what’s going on, normalize their experience, and focus on buy-in.