In an instant—everything changed.
It was at a meditation class shortly after Remington’s diagnosis, when it dawned on me. I could show up in a bigger way. By using my own voice, and a mother’s fierce love, I could make an impact. I could make sure my child, and any other, never felt broken or unworthy because of their diagnosis. There was an unshakable feeling down to the very last cell in my body that I had to do something. I had no idea, in that moment, what that would be. But I was determined to allow that new light inside of me to grow. It took months of soul searching, journaling, reading, podcasting, and the ability to sit in the unknown to finally come to the how and the why of my future.
Even now, it seems a little bizarre to me. I’ve been a stay at home mom for the last seven years. I really hadn’t considered going back to work until that moment in class. But that “I can do more” thought just wouldn’t go away. It’s interesting to turn the switch back on into a business mindset. The reality was, there was no going back after that light went on. I had done, and still do, so much research on dyslexia in order to understand and help my son, (and potentially yet to be diagnosed children). The quest to help my son set me on this path of discovery and gave me information, along with the rest of my life’s experiences, to share with the world. If you are just getting started on your journey to understand dyslexia, I wanted to share my top three books and why you should listen/read them. These books lay a very healthy foundation for understanding dyslexia as well as not scaring the shit out of you that your child is doomed. For me, I had a fear that he might never be successful academically or be able to attend college. I was worried he would literally never be able to read and therefore could never excel. I could see all my dreams and aspirations for him washing away. Fear makes us irrational. I find the only thing to calm a fear is more information and action. Hence, all the research and starting with a Barton tutor right away. So here is the list of books I’d recommend starting with and the order I’d read/listen to them.
I think, by far, the best book is The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan by Ben Foss. This book is so down to earth and informative. The information is easy to digest. He is dyslexic himself and gives a clear picture of what it’s like to live with that type of brain. I would highly suggest listening to this book before any other. It was a perfect introduction into the world of dyslexia. He addresses some of the fears you may be experiencing with a recent diagnosis for your child. It was immensely helpful for me to have my fears validated, but also be given hope through his responses. To be totally honest, there were times I cried. This book really help carve the path to understanding and believing that my son was going to be okay. He still has, with the proper interventions, a real opportunity for a successful life. But embracing his dyslexia versus shying away from it was how he would get there. There is a lot of encouragement, research, guidelines for setting up your child’s accommodations at school, emotionally supporting them and helping them thrive.
The second book I’d recommend reading is The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock Eide, M.D., M.A.and Fernette Eide, M.D. They also have an amazing website, https://www.dyslexicadvantage.org/, that I spend a lot of time on. This website is seriously a treasure trove for those of you who like to read studies, get scientific research, and really understand things in depth. Again, this book takes a very positive stance on the dyslexic brain but is backed by their own research. By the time you get through these two books, you’ll be a little sorry you aren’t dyslexic yourself. 😉 They share a lot of examples on how dyslexia impacts our culture and helps move us forward because so many great thinkers were dyslexic, i.e. Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Leonardo di Vinci. It’s because of their different brain connections that they are able to think so far out of the box and enhance society’s beliefs.
Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf is the third book I’d recommend. I will be honest, it is very dry. (I listened to it on Audible.) What’s very interesting about this book is her detailed research into how we learned to read, not just individually, but also as a collective society. Her explanations give further proof that it’s not the dyslexic brain that is damaged, it’s the ability to fit into a highly literate society. We place an extremely high importance on being able to eye read (read visual text) over ear read (listen to books). This wasn’t always the case. In the not to distant past, eye reading wasn’t as prolific. In that society, those with dyslexia had no struggles. They would have been viewed just the same as everyone else, because no one could eye read. For me, it really just puts it in perspective that it’s up to parents and educators to find a way to integrate the dyslexic child, as fully as possible, into an eye reading world.
A bonus fourth book I’ll mention is Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz, M.D. This book is a old standard that people recommend for understanding dyslexia. It wasn’t my favorite because it talks about dyslexia as if they are broken. She uses the term “dysfunction of the brain” and it just hit me wrong. The reason this book is so highly recommended though, is she was a pioneer for dyslexia research. She includes picture of brain scans of dyslexic versus neuro-typical, which again just show that they use different brain connections than a standard brain. It shows how much harder the dyslexic brain has to work to make sense of visual text. The book also offers an introduction in to phonemic awareness and how sounds are broken down.
There you go! I’d love to hear what you thought of these books. How have they helped you to better understand and connect with your child? Leave a comment below and/or share for others who need a starting point.
All the best,
Jen
