Yes! The Day I Realized She Was Dyslexic Changed My Life

problem-3303396_1920.png   222.png

Yes, The Day I Realized My Daughter is Dyslexic Changed My Life

In my last blog post, I shared with you the day I discovered that my daughter is dyslexic. That was the day that changed our lives forever.

That was the day we began our challenging journey together that turned out to be more rewarding than I could ever have imagined.

I knew we had our work cut out for us, but I never doubted that my daughter would successfully learn to read, write and spell!

I could not allow myself to doubt.

I became passionate about my research to learn how to best help struggling readers - in particular, dyslexic readers. I was not just learning for my students; now I was learning and mastering that knowledge for my daughter.

More than ever, I diligently asked my students and my daughter questions such as:

“What helps you learn to read, to write and to spell?

What did I do today that helped you learn?

What did I do that did not help you learn?

What made sense to you in today’s lesson?

What confused you in today’s lesson?

Are you still confused?

How can I teach differently to help you?”

I meticulously poured over all their answers, reshaping my reading, writing and spelling teaching strategies to meet the way they were learning.

As I reworked and reworked the way I was approaching my teaching, I began to see sweet success in both my daughter’s and my students’ learning.  I had shifted MY teaching to better meet ALL of their needs by teaching the way they learned.

Their answers to my continual questions, my research, my desire for their success, and my restructuring of my teaching guided my writing of Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” to become the reading program that meets the need for a precise, sequential, language-based reading program ensuring that ALL children will develop automaticity and fluency in reading, writing and spelling by the end of second grade.

It took me years to learn what I have learned about teaching readers, writers and spellers with learning differences, in particular dyslexic readers! My daughter struggled through those years with me.

But all those struggles were worth it. I wouldn’t change a thing, because now Phonetic Reading with Silent Elephant “e” is here with longitudinal data of the success of profoundly dyslexic readers, ELL/ESL readers and others with learning differences.

Silent Elephant “e” is here ready to engage the children you love to learn to read, to write and to spell quickly and in a way that develops their knowledge of their own individual talents and frees them to learn the way they naturally learn!

If you are questioning whether someone in your life is dyslexic and you’re not sure what to do, feel free to contact us.

Linda Katherine Smith-Jones                            Nina Henson