Dyslexia

Dyslexia is a common condition, yet it’s also one of the most misunderstood.

One in five children has dyslexia. That’s twenty percent of our school-wide population. This means that in any given classroom in America, there will be approximately seven children suffering from dyslexia.

Yet…very few of these bright, verbal children receive appropriate interventions to help them read and spell. Instead of offering kids with dyslexia a reading program that meets their needs and cater to their learning styles, these kids are forced to learn in a way that works for mainstream children.

The Definition of Dyslexia

By definition, dyslexia is a learning disorder marked by impairment of the ability to recognize and comprehend written words. According to Wikipedia, dyslexia is a reading disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one’s age.

No matter what the definition, this troubling condition can affect both a dyslexic child’s reading and spelling as well as bleed over to other learning disabilities like dysgraphia (type of writing dyslexia) and dyscalculia (type of math dyslexia).

It’s Not a New Condition!

Dyslexia has been around for a long time, yet there are very few programs available that understand how children with dyslexia learn as well as provide these children with services that meet their specific needs.

Dyslexia was discovered all the way back in 1877! The reading and spelling difficulties we still see in kids with dyslexia were first identified by Adolph Kussmaul, a German Professor of Medicine. Back then, they coined the condition ‘word blindness’, thinking the problems stemmed from an ocular deficit.

It wasn’t until 1963 that dyslexia was recognized as a real learning disability and the term became a household name. Still, on a regular basis, children with dyslexia fail to receive proper programs, appropriate instruction, and the understanding they desperately need.

Children with dyslexia are smart, frustrated, and highly perceptive. Yet they desperately struggle with reading and spelling skills. They become caught in a failure chain…one where a day at school can feel like a lifetime.

The Dyslexic Child at School

On a daily basis, children with dyslexia are failed by an archaic school system that doesn’t teach to the kinetic or hands-on learner. Dyslexic children need to touch to learn. They need to move!

Instead, they are told what to learn. They must sit in long lectures – even in kindergarten and first grade now – with rigorous curriculum they don’t understand. Not because they aren’t bright but because it’s taught in a way they can’t comprehend.

These kids are expected to copy information from the board to learn, a system that might work for others, but evades these kinesthetic learners.

Even if these kids do qualify for special services at school (Special Education), they rarely receive targeted activities that will help them systematically learn to decode for reading and spelling success. Instead, they are given the same curriculum that meets the needs of their peers – only watered down.

Is it any wonder that 48% of our prison population is dyslexic?

Why Traditional Reading Programs Fail Children with Dyslexia

Public schools are geared to offer help to struggling students in the form of Special Education where an IEP (Individualized Educational Program) is offered. Usually, in order to qualify for Special Education where this IEP is given, a child needs to be two years behind academically. From there, a psychological exam is given to see if the child qualifies for the IEP.

However, since one of the symptoms of dyslexia is high intelligence, kids with dyslexia often don’t qualify for special services – even if they are more than two years behind in reading.

Traditional reading and spelling programs make little or no sense to kids with dyslexia!

Kids with dyslexia need a reading system that works for them, not against them. They need specific, research-based decoding strategies that are taught through brain-based learning and gross-motor movement.

They need to be taught via their primary learning sense, which is touch and movement.

Most kids with dyslexia are hands-on or kinetic learners. This means they learn best by doing something – not by seeing it or hearing it. Movement is their jam! Forcing them to use a program geared for a traditional learner is like pouring hot oil on a fire.

Flames are going to erupt – one way or another.

Often, parents are frustrated and confused. They know their dyslexic children are smart and usually so verbal that they’re disappointed when those first report cards come out. It’s no wonder that the homeschooling population is on the rise!

The need for their child to get hands-on learning was cited by 35% of parents as the purpose for homeschooling them.

The Sensory Component of Dyslexia

Most dyslexic students are kinesthetic or hands-on learners. This is because they have weak or compromised visual and auditory learning systems. What this really means is that they have to “do” to learn. They need to touch, assemble, and move in order for learning to set in.

A phonics worksheet does not meet their specific learning needs, because there is little movement involved. Fluency building where they are forced to read faster and faster without a sure system of decoding does not fit their needs. Being given difficult comprehension questions on text they don’t understand only serves to frustrate them further.

And they continue to get caught in an academic failure chain that isn’t their fault!

Did you know that a child with dyslexia can perceive a single image in forty or more different ways? Because of this, information that was previously learned and mastered suddenly seems like new information. This frustrates and confuses parents and teachers, who often think these kids are “messing” with them or just being lazy to get out of doing work.

Can you imagine what it would be like to learn that the letter “d” faces to the left and then suddenly it moves – suddenly facing to the right? Or it might flip flop the other way, suddenly upside down and looking like a “p”.

Reading and spelling might be difficult for you, too, if this happened on a regular basis!

Dyslexia is a Processing Problem

Kids with dyslexia usually struggle with visual processing skills because of this. They suffer most with visual memory, which is the ability to hold a visual image in the brain after the image is gone. Most likely, this is because the images they take in are not constant. Instead, they are constantly moving!

Reading and spelling are primarily visual activities. Can you see the connection?

It’s not just visual…

Long ago, dyslexia was thought to be primarily a visual condition. But newer research reveals there is an auditory component as well.

These kids might hear a small sound in the back of the room loudly, like a jet engine. Or the scraping of a pencil on paper might send the dyslexic child through the roof, obviously making it difficult to concentrate.

The auditory information comes into a student’s brain, becomes jumbled, and the output isn’t what it should be.

Warning Signs of Dyslexia

The student engages in:

pushing hard on a pencil when writing
making circles upside down or not starting at the top in a counter clock-wise movement
tilting the head when doing school work
slumping, poor core control
having a high vocabulary but cannot translate it into reading and writing
above average intelligence
seeming to be in a “fog” a lot of the time – spacing out or daydreaming
writing and reading letters or words backward (reversals) after one full year of instruction
having an unorganized desk, backpack, or room
having a difficult time learning to tie shoes
having a difficult time understanding an analog clock or “time” concepts
having an excellent long term memory, but can’t remember simple instructions or details
exhibiting extreme discrepancy between ability and achievement
having a family history of dyslexia or other learning problems
learning to read by memorizing words instead of sounding them out
spelling phonetically or inconsistently
having a difficult time with two to three step directions
having a difficult time reading small sight words such as “for” or “saw”
displaying poor decoding skills when reading aloud
skipping lines when reading
having a difficult time with directions – left, right, up, down
having a difficult time with rhyming
hating school or feeling dumb
processing information excessively fast or slow
acting out or withdrawing in response to difficult learning and school pressure
having messy handwriting and/or artwork
gripping pencil tightly when writing
having a difficult time copying from the board
having a difficult time copying from a book to paper

Myths About Dyslexia

kids with dyslexia only see things backward or upside down
kids with dyslexia can’t read
children with dyslexia are not smart
dyslexia is rare
you can outgrow dyslexia
more reading practice will help a child with dyslexia master the skill of reading
schools will help a student with dyslexia overcome this problem
dyslexia is primarily a visual problem
if you work hard enough at academics, dyslexia will go away

Truths About Dyslexia

dyslexia impacts 20 percent of people, about one out of every five
dyslexic kids will usually plateau academically by third or fourth grade, if not sooner, if they don’t receive proper intervention
9 out 10 dyslexic students will not receive the help they need
48 percent of the United States prison population is dyslexic
40 percent of dyslexic kids are also diagnosed with ADD/ADHD
a pill or medication will not make dyslexia go away or cure it
dyslexia is more complex than just a reading and spelling issue
dyslexia will not just go away on its own
the sooner you get help for a dyslexic student the better the outlook for academic and life success
there is a genetic component to dyslexia
with proper reading activities, kids with dyslexia can learn to read, spell, and decode
dyslexic kids usually have a “gift” that accompanies their learning disorder, whether it’s artistic, intuitive, the ability to think on one’s feet, the ability to debate, mechanical, or spiritual
people with dyslexia can live productive lives, often surpassing others when it comes to success, ingenuity, work ethic, etc. if they don’t lose self-esteem and self-respect along the way
the symptoms of ADD/ADHD mirror those of dyslexia; since there is no definitive test for ADD/ADHD, then the symptoms of dyslexia should be treated first
phonemic awareness is a critical component to helping students with dyslexia learn to read and spell successfully
the process of helping a dyslexic student includes ups and downs
most kids with dyslexia are hands-on or tactile learners
traditional reading programs and methodologies don’t work for kids with dyslexia
There are degrees to the severity of dyslexia
dyslexic students rarely receive the help that they need

So…What Exactly is Dyslexia?

it is classified as a language processing problem
dyslexia can be diagnosed as early as one year of age but typically requires one year of academic instruction
it is difficult to get a clean, clear diagnosis and treatment plan for a student with dyslexia, especially through the school system
dyslexia is a learning disorder that has been studied for years, yet few people have proven results that will fully cure it
there is a 50/50 chance that a child will be dyslexic if someone in the family also struggles with dyslexia or another learning disability, diagnosed or un-diagnosed
the brain structure of someone with dyslexia is different than others
kids with dyslexia process information differently than others
children with dyslexia are smart
dyslexic students struggle with a multitude of different issues that are difficult to pinpoint and treat

Common Learning Differences Exhibited by a Dyslexic Student

directionality issues, such as left, right, up, and down
a tendency to look at the shape of the word and not the word as separate letters coming together to create meaning
the use of the same first and last letters with the same shape, such as “gril” for “girl”, “who” for “how”
pulling down other letters from lines being read, especially l’s and r’s. For instance, if the student is reading and an “l” is in the line above the word “bow” the word might be read as “bowl” or “blow”
reading multi-syllable words but struggling to read, one syllable sight words
difficulty with spelling words in a sentence, even though that word was previously learned and thought to be memorized in a spelling test
difficult time pronouncing multi-syllable words like “helicopter”, “hippopotamus”, “elephant”, “cinnamon”, “aluminum”, or “consistency”
mixing up the pronunciation of words; “aminal” for “animal”, “ephelant” for “elephant”, “ambliance” for “ambulance”, “pasgetti” for “spaghetti”
visual and spatial issues – avoiding puzzles, mazes, hidden pictures at an early age
avoidance of reading, writing, and spelling
using trial and error learning to read words
verbal but this skill doesn’t carry over to reading, writing, and spelling
higher level thinking skills but lower level academic achievement
poor phonemic awareness
relies on picture clues instead of sounding out words
reluctance to play memory games
weak or lacking in decoding skills
the ability to recall and retell a movie in great detail but can’t recall simple, basic information that was recently presented
guesses at words when reading
poor test taking skills
spending hours on homework or other academic assignments when less time is needed
memorizing words as a strategy to read

Strategies that Don’t Help the Dyslexic Student

telling the student to try hard
calling the student lazy
having the student do repetitious activities, like phonics worksheets and flash cards
“drill and kill” worksheets
putting more pressure on an already exhausted learner
adding more homework or academics to the learner’s plate
allowing self-esteem to suffer
waiting too long for interventions
thinking that it is something the student will outgrow
allowing hours of homework on top of an already exhausting school day
failing to acknowledge the student’s strengths
holding back positive things, such as a sport or extra-curricular activity that the student is good at due to poor grades
disciplining and basing the student’s worth on report cards
telling her to practice more
giving more reading time without instruction or help; this only sets in poor reading skills

Strategies that Work for the Dyslexic Student

telling directions in more than one way, slowly and clearly
positive encouragement for activities, life skills, etc. that are achieved
a goal oriented project, sport, or program where the student can start with achievement and success
organizational charts, calendars, color coding
hands on, tactile methods of learning
an individualized plan for success – not gauging the student’s success as compared to others
a skills mastery program where the student doesn’t move up until a skill is mastered, from there build upon the skills already achieved
when the student is old enough, introducing mazes, cross word puzzles, puzzles, word search puzzles, find the hidden picture, and other similar activities to help build visual skills
using color, rhythm, music, and movement in conjunction with academics to drive in skills that are weak
getting a diagnosis and understanding of dyslexia so that you can help the child
role playing or acting out social or academic skills that are weak
teaching the student cursive, since this method of handwriting flows with the brain and is difficult
giving directions one step at a time until auditory memory skills are built up
a strong phonemic awareness based program to teach reading and spelling rules
a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and spelling skills
limited video and computer time; this just feeds into their already right brain dominant systems

teaching the student cursive, since this method of handwriting flows with the brain and is difficult
giving directions one step at a time
a strong phonemic awareness based reading system
a multi-sensory approach to teaching reading and spelling skills
limited video and computer time

Gifts Portrayed by the Dyslexic Child

often extremely athletic
often very artistic
many are gifted and talented thinkers
many are musically gift
highly developed social skills
very sensitive and caring
extremely curious
many are highly intuitive
mechanically gifted
creative thinkers
uncanny 3-D visualization skills
global thinkers
are able to problem solve

Predictability, Color, Pictures, Phonemes, Brain-Based Learning, Gross Motor Movement, Auditory and Visual Cues…and More!

Kids with dyslexia need ways to decode words they don’t know when they come across them. Without firm strategies in place, they end up guessing at words, and usually, they guess wrong.

They also try to use memorization as a way to read, which is exhausting because we have over one million words in our language! It’s simply too “clunky” to try to try to recognize this many words when trying to read.

Another tactic kids with dyslexia engage in is using trial and error learning to read. They lack strategies to decode words, so they randomly guess at ways to get to the correct word.

Usually, they are wrong.

Random Success is the Real Killer

But…as trial and error learning happens…sometimes, they’re met with success. And that’s when problems crop up. This encourages kids with dyslexia to keep using this unreliable and weak strategy of reading!

These three methods that dyslexic children engage in are called the Three Pillars of Poor reading. They are really just bad habits that kids with dyslexia engage in.

Bravo! Reading fixes this problem by giving these kids sound strategies through gross-motor movements, multi-sensory, and brain-based learning.

Even if your child’s habits are deeply ingrained, habits can be relearned through practicing in a way that makes sense to them. Even better, when your child or student is having fun, then it’s a much easier buy-in to learning and reading!

Learning should be fun! Reading should be fun!

Movement, color, pictures, auditory and visual cues, a multi-sensory approach, phonemic awareness, the use of dot dabbers and markers, crossing the midline of the body, and predictability are just a few of the fun and engaging activities Bravo! uses to help the dyslexic reader master decoding skills.

Patterns and predictability are Key to Helping the Dyslexic Reader

It’s confusing enough to be a child with dyslexia – trying to navigate not only a classroom, hours of confusing homework, and even life – without a confusing reading program. Something needs to make sense in a dyslexic child’s world, and when the light bulb turns on, then reading becomes a joy.

New worlds open up to avid readers, and children with dyslexia can be avid readers!

Whether your child is an emergent reader or an older, struggling reader who is having a hard time with reading and spelling, don’t despair. If you teach dyslexic students to read by providing research-based and field tested strategies, then reading can be a breeze!

That Horrible Homework Monster!

Sadly, a poor reader, such as a child with dyslexia, will usually struggle in almost every subject area, because strong reading skills are necessary to make good grades. This, of course, directly affects the ability to do homework independently. If reading skills are not at grade level, then it’s going to take a lot longer to get homework completed.

That’s when meltdowns start and the dyslexic child starts whining and fussing…cajoling and negotiating. One hour spreads into the next. All too often, parents think their dyslexic children are lazy or not working hard enough. “Try harder,” they coach. “Keep working, and it will come.”

If dyslexic children could read at grade level, then they’d already be doing it. Instead of struggling unnecessarily in reading, they need a set of easy to use strategies that can be intrinsically used to sound out words that are unfamiliar.

Dyslexic students are the “word guessers” of reading!

If you have a child who has been diagnosed with dyslexia, or if you suspect your child has this condition, it can make you insane! You know your child is bright, but you don’t know where to turn. Teachers do their best, trying this and that, often out of sheer desperation. But homework battle ensue. Emotions flare. Wear and tear on both you and your child sets in, and often the entire family is affected.

A child with dyslexia can take a toll on the entire family. Because these kids look so “perfect”, it’s hard to imagine that there is something going on inside their brains preventing them from reading.

Bright, Beautiful, and Misunderstood!

Dyslexic students are usually overlooked by schools because they are so bright, verbal, creative, and intelligent. To make matters worse, for most public schools to provide intervention, the student needs to be at least two years behind. Often, kids with dyslexia don’t show this gap until they are well into third or fourth grade, and by then, self-esteem issues enter the picture, muddying the waters.

Even worse, many kids with dyslexia are often incorrectly diagnosed as having ADD/ADHD, since the crossover of symptoms is so similar. Medications are prescribed, and often, the students lose the spark that once made them so special! Once again, the dyslexic child’s self-esteem plummets, and the failure chain locks its ugly jaws onto the entire scene!

The Perils of Having Dyslexia

Students with dyslexia can perceive a single image in up forty different, unique ways. And if they look at a previously learned image at another time, it may be different than the previous day’s. Images move, come in at angles, are upside down, and create massive confusion.

It was once believed that dyslexia was primarily a visual problem, but recent research shows that there can be an auditory component to dyslexia as well. Sounds are distorted or have ringing and buzzing components. Kids with dyslexia can hear words backward or miss pieces of the words. For instance, they might not hear the beginning sounds of words or drop off all ending sounds.

Can you imagine how frustrating that would be? Can you imagine trying to sound out or decode a word properly when you don’t hear sounds properly? It’s amazing that these children perform as well as they do!

A student must hear sounds correctly to read letters, blends, phonemic units, vowel blends, etc. in an effort to decode an unknown word.

Kids with dyslexia often have no place to turn. Their voices aren’t heard, as they are verbal and bright. Expectations are high for them, and when they fail to read and spell, their worlds often crumble.

It’s really a processing problem…

Typically, people think that dyslexia is a learning disability where kids reverse letters or words, but there’s much more involved than that. In truth, dyslexia is a processing problem. We process visual information with our brains but take in light and focus with our eyes. We also process auditory information in our brains but take in sounds with our ears.

The breakdown occurs when the sensory information isn’t taken in correctly. Visual and auditory cues enter the dyslexic child’s brain and bounce off the right or left side of the brain without crossing the corpus callosum. Chaos ensues.

This doesn’t mean that there’s something wrong with the dyslexic child; it means the child processes information differently than peers, and in turn, needs a reading program that fits her own specific needs. Traditional reading programs don’t work, because the information that enters and exits the dyslexic child’s brain is simply done in a different and unique way.

Help Your Child Overcome Reading Issues Kids with Dyslexia Struggle With!

Your child can overcome reading and learning challenges that kids with dyslexia struggle with! The triple combination of the Bravo! Reading System, the “Seeing” for Reading Pack and the Race from Reversals Pack gives your child the decoding, visual, and reversals correction activities that make reading a breeze! Your child’s grades soar when reading skills are strong. Tests are passed with ease. Homework battles cease.

It’s an easy fix!

Choose the winning combination that turns struggling readers and turns them into Bravo! Reading Sharks!

The Bravo! Reading System was first designed for a child with dyslexia – Lisa Harp’s (the founder of Bravo! Reading) son, Nathan! Throughout the years, the Bravo! Reading System has been refined and taken to new heights for kids with dyslexia. It is an easy to use, research-based, time-tested, kid-approved reading system that works for children with dyslexia!

Although the Bravo! Reading System doesn’t specifically target sensory issues, it does use a multisensory approach, visual and auditory cues, pictures, color, movement, crossing the midline of the body, and a host of other tricks and tips to help the dyslexic reader read in a way that makes sense.

If you’d like to address visual processing skills to help your child with dyslexia learn to read better, check out the “Seeing” for Reading Pack. It targets eight visual processing skills that affect reading and can help your dyslexic child process visual information better so that reading is an easier process.

Help your child overcome reversals issues with the Bravo! Race from Reversals Pack! The activities in the Race from Reversals Pack are geared for kids with dyslexia who love movement.

Each letter or number takes up an entire page so your child can engage in large motor movement to show which way letters and numbers face. Your child uses a dot dabber or bingo marker to trace the letter or number path. With auditory and visual cues, this program is multisensory. Your child will use a stop light system, arrows, reverse buttons, lift buttons, traffic stop signs to internalize which directions letters and numbers face.

Save money with the Complete Bravo! Reading System! It will give you the tools you need to take your child from a struggling reader to a Bravo! Reading Shark! No more stumbling over words. No more guessing and stammering while reading out loud!

The Complete Bravo! Reading System gives you all the Bravo! Reading materials for only $399.99! You will get the following programs to help your child overcome reading struggles involved with dyslexia when you order:

All eleven levels of the Bravo! Reading System (Value: $1059.90)
The Bravo! Beginner (Value: $99.99)
The Bravo! Booster Pack (Value: 69.99)
The Bravo! Super Booster Pack (Value: $69.99)
The Bravo! Decoder Pack (Value: $69.99)
The Race from Reversals Pack (Value: $69.99)
The “Seeing” for Reading Pack (Value: $69.90)

Total Value: $1969.83

Your Price for the Entire Package: $399.99

“It’s not that difficult to target the dyslexic reader’s needs instead of the rest of the 80% of the population,” says Lisa. “With our Silent E Slide and Silent E Shuffle, kids with dyslexia can finally understand how to see the silent e at the end of words. This transfers over to other print and text, giving the child not only a system of success, but helps instill a love of reading because it’s fun!”

Seeing the world differently…

Students with dyslexia view the world differently than others. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when you’re expected to know information that doesn’t make sense to you, then it can be quite frustrating!

The majority of dyslexic children view the world as a “whole” instead of smaller, connected pieces. That’s why bit-by-bit thinking is difficult for them, and most traditional reading programs focus on bit-by-bit thinking. Think of conventional phonics activities where the student must come up with the beginning or ending sound of a word.

Not with Bravo!

Instead, Bravo! Reading presents the word as a whole, then breaks it down into smaller components so kids with dyslexia can learn in ways that makes sense to them. In addition, Bravo! uses nonsense words throughout the entire system, which helps to break the habit of memorizing words, which is inefficient. Since there are over a million words in the English language, this isn’t a sound strategy for reading!

You Don’t Outgrow Dyslexia!

Kids don’t outgrow dyslexia. Sure, some kids figure out how to push through it and come up with coping mechanisms that make a difference, but the bottom line is this – they still have to work harder than their peers.

Waiting for your child to outgrow dyslexia is a long wait. And all too often, wear and tear happens with both parents and children. By the time you seek out help, the reading gap is so large that often feels like it’s too late.

It’s never too late! Although Bravo! Reading is geared toward children, it works for any age!

Kids with dyslexia are smart, and when given a set of strategies to decode and read, they can succeed both academically and in life!