Welcome to the
Kinesthetic learning, also known as hands-on or physical learning, is a learning style often suited to children with dyslexia. Learning Pathways Our senses—touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell—are how our body captures information about our surroundings. For example, scent is
Self-care tips often drop to the bottom of a parent’s to-do list, yet author Maree Davis wants this to change. I write this in October, near the end of the school year here in the Southern Hemisphere. When my son
Which hand do you eat with? Write with? My son Harry has dyslexia. He also is mixed-handed (he doesn’t have a dominant hand), so is there a connection between dyslexia and hand dominance? I learned someone could use a different
Why did we have to wait so long for the audiobook about dyslexia? Finally, my audiobook about dyslexia is available. Here is a teaser. The cost of hiring a voice artist and creating the finished audio ran into thousands, so
Parents, worried about encouraging their children to use audiobooks for ear reading, sometimes ask me if using them is cheating. I assure them audiobooks are fantastic for people with dyslexia, and their children are definitely not cheating. However, there are
What jobs should your dyslexic teen be considering? My son, Harry, is fifteen and getting him out of bed in the morning to go to school is like prizing a limpet from a rock. There are many reasons for this
“I don’t want to go back to school.” What do you hear from your child at the start of the year? In the 11 years Harry has been a pupil, the beginning of the year has always been stressful, so
How to teach reading and spelling in 30 minutes a day I didn’t homeschool my son Harry, but I used a multi-sensory dyslexia programme to teach him reading and spelling in only 30 minutes a day. Before Harry started school
Finding your child’s strengths is the key to getting through school and setting them up in a career they will enjoy. This is a big week in our household. Harry turns 18! Many of his extended family (Harry is adopted;
You may have heard about the Davis Dyslexia Correction Programme. Some say it isn’t an evidence-based dyslexia programme, and I mentioned in my book that it didn’t help my son Harry. However, I recently read that the structured literacy approach
Hi, I’m Melissa, Beth asked me to explain how going gluten-free made a difference in our household. I have a daughter and two sons with varying degrees of dyslexia. Going gluten-free improved our family life by 80%. So how did
Does your child have reading fluency? Is it easy to understand them when they read aloud, or do they read too slowly or in a choppy tone? What is Reading Fluency? According to Marie Rippel at All About Learning Press:
A post about leaving school may seem irrelevant to you if your child is much younger, but believe me, they will be there before you know it. For my son Harry, leaving school was a relief. Coming after pandemic lockdowns,
What was your child’s first word? At eighteen months, my son said ‘Dad’. We were thrilled and encouraged his baby babble, hanging on to his every pronouncement like it was from an oracle. At birth, a child’s brain already has
When my son Harry started school in New Zealand in 2010, his teachers followed the balanced literacy approach. It worked for children who, like my daughter, would learn to read no matter how they were taught. However, it was a
Emotion coaching isn’t just for toddlers. As I found out this week, teens also need it. Harry is no longer my wee boy, in fact, he’s now 6 feet 8 inches tall (over two meters!), and next to him, I
Good things take time Plants flowering at separate times in a garden is a source of pleasure, yet when it comes to our children, we can become frustrated if they lag behind their peers. In wanting them to catch up,
By Shelli Squires Hi, my name is Shelli, I have three children who have dyslexia, two of them are also on the autistic spectrum. It has been a struggle helping three children with dyslexia, but I hope my story will
It’s 4 AM and I’m going over what happened to Harry at school yesterday, wondering how best to help. My mind goes into overdrive and then other questions overwhelm me. • What will Harry do when he leaves school? •
Informative and inspiring, heartwarming and heartbreaking, are some of the words I’d use to describe ‘Dyslexia. Wrestling with an Octopus.’ I found myself laughing and at other times I was on the verge of tears. Why? Because this book is
Children with dyslexia need a way to anchor facts in their memory to stop them from floating away. Teaching multiplication tables using stories helps anchor these tricky facts. In a school staffroom, I heard a teacher say to a colleague,
When scientists scanned the brains of people engaged in listening or reading, they discovered the same areas handle both activities. So improving your child’s listening comprehension skills may also help with their reading. Have you ever asked your child a
My sixteen-year-old son, Harry, loves music. He enjoys playing instruments, listening to songs, even singing, but he absolutely hates writing about music. Last night he tried to finish his music homework. The assignment required him to write about a Beethoven
I first asked, could this be a sign of dyslexia? when my son, Harry, was five years old. Harry couldn’t spot his name on the coat pegs at school, but because he was so young, I didn’t worry about it
As a parent of a child with dyslexia, helping my son deal with bullying is an ongoing challenge. I asked U.K.-based Parenting Support Specialist Nicola Bailey if she would allow me to adapt her post on how to give bullying
Mathematics – even the word makes me sweat. Trying to say dyscalculia sends me into a tailspin. At school, I had a very old-fashioned maths teacher who sat his pupils according to their latest test results. Talk about pressure! Maths
Max Hides lives for mountain biking and is a world-class rider. Here’s what helped him overcome his dyslexia and autism to become a champion. In 2017 Max represented New Zealand at the Enduro World Series in Rotorua. He won the
I received this message from Rachel, a subscriber, requesting tips on how to talk with teachers about dyslexia. “Dear Beth, please, can you write a post on how best to talk with my child’s school? I’m having a terrible battle
Researchers estimate a third of children with dyslexia suffer from eyestrain or visual problems.[1] My son, Harry, is a case in point. We had his eyesight tested on several occasions, but he always passed. In fact, he could see better than
TRIGGER WARNING–This post contains material that may upset survivors of sexual abuse. What’s an iceberg got to do with dyslexia and sexual abuse? When I was at school, I learned we only ever see a tiny section of an iceberg;
When my son, Harry, was three years old, we had no idea why he couldn’t sit through a meal like his sister. He had to get up regularly and run around. Then we discovered the benefits of giving him fish
I don’t homeschool my children, but like many, I experienced home education during Covid-19 lockdowns. I must admit I found it challenging. However, many parents relish the opportunity to home school a dyslexic child. I recently caught up with Joanne,
Quality sleep is crucial for dyslexic children because they work much harder than other kids to achieve the same results. Our children may even have to work harder while they sleep because they find processing and storing information more difficult.[i]
Melisa—parent. “Dyslexia affects how a person interprets written language. Beth’s book helped me navigate how this difficulty plays out for my son. The book views dyslexia from a holistic angle, exploring other challenges that he may have. And ‘yes’ it
One request I’ve made every year to Harry’s teacher is to limit, or avoid, timed testing because he freezes under pressure. Things were easier when Harry was in primary school. Now that he’s in secondary school, he comes up against
Teaching a dyslexic child to tell the time is tricky. Even once they master this skill, understanding the concept of time and what they can accomplish in each number of minutes or hours doesn’t come easy. I had the following
Does your child have difficulty starting their homework? Is it hard to get them to make a phone call or to choose what to wear? Everyone has the odd bad day. However, if this is the norm for your child,
Does your child have a poor memory? Are you looking for ways to strengthen your child’s memory? I am. I When my son, Harry, was in primary school, we switched him to a school over the road from our house.
Then Do you ever get sick of nagging your child to do their chores? I love my son Harry but his teen years are challenging. Do you find it difficult to know how much of your child’s lack of follow-through
Do you have a healthy brain? I try my best to have a healthy brain, and I’m encouraging my son, Harry, to ensure he has a healthy brain too. Youth and healthy brains When I was younger, strange though this
Education systems usually have a one-size-fits-all approach, and it is challenging to go against the social norms of a child’s peer group to repeat a grade. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, the school year runs from February until November; however,
Access some of the best free dyslexia resources Anyone who has read my book, ‘Dyslexia. Wrestling With An Octopus’ will know how highly I rate the resources produced by All About Learning Press. In this post, I will give you
What is slow processing speed? Processing speed is nothing to do with any whizzy equipment on your kitchen bench. It refers to the time it takes a person to process the information when asked a question and to provide an
I’m sure you are wondering why I’ve called my blog ‘Dyslexia Octopus’. Like most people with dyslexia, I am a picture thinker. I see dyslexia as a giant octopus: one arm for each area of dyslexic challenge. The dyslexia
Hi, I’m Beth. When I discovered my son had dyslexia, I had a ‘light-bulb’ moment and understood this explained many of my own difficulties. Ever since, I’ve been on a mission to discover the best ways to wrestle, what I like to call, the dyslexia octopus.
Kinesthetic learning, also known as hands-on or physical learning, is a learning style often suited to children with dyslexia. Learning
Why did we have to wait so long for the audiobook about dyslexia? Finally, my audiobook about dyslexia is available.
Hi, I’m Beth. Seven years ago, when I discovered my son had dyslexia, I had a ‘light-bulb’ moment and understood this explained many of my own difficulties. Ever since, I’ve been on a mission to discover the best ways to wrestle what I like to call the dyslexia octopus.
