The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child's Confidence and Love of Learning Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00EA2I4CA | Format: EPUB
The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan: A Blueprint for Renewing Your Child's Confidence and Love of Learning Description
Finally, a groundbreaking book that reveals what your dyslexic child is experiencing - and what you can do so that he or she will thrive.
More than 30 million people in the United States are dyslexic - a brain-based genetic trait, often labeled as a "learning disability" or "learning difference", that makes interpreting text and reading difficult. Yet even though children with dyslexia may have trouble reading, they don't have any problems learning; dyslexia has nothing to do with a lack of intellect.
While other books tell you what dyslexia is, this book tells you what to do. Dyslexics' innate skills, which may include verbal, social, spatial, kinesthetic, visual, mathematical, or musical abilities, are their unique key to acquiring knowledge. Figuring out where their individual strengths lie, and then harnessing these skills, offers an entr?e into learning and excelling. And by keeping the focus on learning, not on standard reading the same way everyone else does, a child with dyslexia can and will develop the self-confidence to flourish in the classroom and beyond.
After years of battling with a school system that did not understand his dyslexia and the shame that accompanied it, renowned activist and entrepreneur Ben Foss is not only open about his dyslexia, he is proud of it. In The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan he shares his personal triumphs and failures so that you can learn from his experiences, and provides a three-step approach for success:
- Identify your child's profile
- Help your child help himself
- Create community
Packed with practical ideas and strategies dyslexic children need for excelling in school and in life, this empowering guide provides the framework for charting a future for your child that is bright with hope and unlimited potential.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 10 hours and 45 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Random House Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: August 27, 2013
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00EA2I4CA
I've worked in the field of learning disabilities education for fourteen years, and this is the first book I've read on dyslexia that provides a roadmap for parents to help empower their children. It is the book I wish I had copies to give to every parent who walks through my door, who has recently learned that their child is dyslexic or that their school is failing them. While components like research, science, and stories of success are woven throughout the book, Foss' main objective is to help parents build a plan for their child, which includes identifying strengths, navigating the school system and legal rights, how to integrate accommodations, including assistive technologies, and, perhaps most importantly, how to talk with their child about their dyslexia. Why is this so meaningful? Most texts on dyslexia provide background; this book provides a path. It's the "What to Expect When You're Expecting" for the parent of a dyslexic child, and it's accurate, meaningful, and sincere because Foss himself was identified with dyslexia at age eight.
Dyslexia is a hidden disability, not just because it can't be seen, but also because many dyslexics, including the author for many years of his life, try to hide it. Embarrassment, shame, guilt, and stigma are all components of why people hide their learning disability. Foss provides great stories, analogies, and actionable steps that steer people away from looking at dyslexia as a disease. As Foss says, "there is no cure because there is no disease." Tools, like the strength profiles map, allow parents, and dyslexics themselves, to begin building a plan for how to leverage their strengths and create an environment in which they will be succesful.
I liked a lot of what Ben Foss had to say in this book. He had a number of good ideas and it is always good to see individual's perspectives on their own experience. I like that the author spoke about the parent advocating for the needs of the child, but as I read through the book I was also struck by some of his limited perspective on many aspects of what is available today for dyslexic children.
I will disclose my own bias - I am a dyslexic and have 3 dyslexic children. As a result, I have read far and wide on the topic and it appeared that at times when the author should have been mentioning more up-to-date research or ideas, he didn't. I think what was holding me back from loving this book is that the goal is a bit more narrow that what the title mentions. This isn't so much a blueprint for fostering an overall love of learning in dyslexic children, but navigating the school system for parents of dyslexic children. Now, this will be the route for the vast majority of parents of dyslexic children, so it will meet their needs quite well. However, if you are a parent who takes a much more hands on approach to your child's education - this won't quite meet your needs.
One example, that has been pointed out by other reviewers, is Mr. Foss' view of homeschooling. Mr. Foss states quite boldly that homeschooling isn't appropriate for dyslexic children. Mr. Foss makes startling statements such as "Being able to socialize with other students and to learn from them is a big part of the adaptive techniques that many students who are dyslexic will use later in life." His assumption seems to be that home schooled students have no opportunity to "socialize with other students" which is completely contrary to what research into homeschooling has shown over time.
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