Supporting adults whose children may be dyslexic

Don't forget their needs says Katrina

Cochran

Much is written about what we can do to support a child with dyslexia, but what if the adult supporting the child is dyslexic also? If your child comes home with reading that is a struggle for the parent to follow or maths sums that are a mystery, what can the parent do? Support for adults is even rarer than that for children, but hopefully this article can help signpost a little.

In my experience as a Specialist Assessor. the parent with dyslexia may not have been identified until their child is assessed. Often when filling out the pre assessment questionnaire, the parent will mention that they had problems at school, and ask if they might also have dyslexia. Many may have gone into jobs where little writing was required and so could mask their dyslexia until offered the chance of promotion. At that point, more report writing or reading of technical manuals may be needed and It may then be suggested that their difficulties are investigated.

Parents who avoid parents' evenings…

We know that identification of children with an SpLD was even worse twenty or thirty years ago and many went undiagnosed at school. When I was a classroom teacher, there were many parents we never saw at Parents Evening, and I realise that it was probably due to the fact that their school experience was so terrible, that they didn't want to relive that experience again with their own child. Lockdown had some negative stories about homeschooling but also some positive outcomes. An adult recently told me that she had been able to teach herself phonics by teaching her child during lockdown.

Last year I was fortunate to be invited to the House of Lords to celebrate the 50th year of the BDA. The main Dyslexia charities are all celebrating their 50th Anniversaries this year—the British Dyslexia Association, Helen Arkell and Dyslexia Action were all formed by mothers. Those pioneers sat around kitchen tables