When their child is struggling to read, parents often worry that their child might have dyslexia.
Briefly, dyslexia is a term used to describe a condition where a person finds reading difficult, despite having normal intelligence, and receiving normal classroom instruction.
Normal Stages of Child Development
Based on my experiences during the last 20 years, I have found that children with diagnoses of dyslexia share one common thread. Many of the children I have worked with who struggled with reading showed signs that some aspects of early development were still maturing.
Additional tutoring can be valuable, but when underlying developmental skills are still emerging, children may also benefit from support that addresses these foundations.
Child development happens naturally in a specific hierarchical sequence, with each stage building on the foundations of the previous one.
This means that if the lower stages are incomplete, the following ones are likely to be a bit “wobbly”.
Like a Tower of Jenga Blocks
Think of a tower of Jenga blocks. When enough blocks are missing from the lower levels, the tower will eventually topple. Something similar happens when early stages of development are still maturing.
When some of these early foundations are still developing, learning can become more challenging, particularly reading and writing.
When their world becomes too overwhelming, they often act out or shutdown. These behaviours are bringing us a message.
We need to look beneath the behaviour in order to support these children.
The good news is that there are movement programs designed to go back and strengthen the foundations to support all later learning.
Links Between Dyslexia and Development Delay
Over the last 20 years, I have worked with many children who struggled with reading, some of whom had a diagnosis of dyslexia.
In many cases, I found that skills such as listening, visual processing, balance and coordination were still developing.
As these areas developed, many children also showed improvements in reading, writing, confidence and participation at school.
One parent shared:
“We couldn’t keep books away from her. She became settled and happy at school.”
Her teacher noticed improvements across emotional, physical and academic areas, while other parents commented on increased confidence in sport.
Kevin’s teacher rang to say “He is much more organised he is in the classroom. He gets his work out and gets on with it. No more messing around, no more annoying his classmates”.
Parents also reported reduced signs of anxiety and depression. They also found family relationships improved, and found that their children formed better friendships.
Support for a Development Movement Program in Schools to Address Signs of Dyslexia
Many teachers report increasing numbers of children struggling with attention, emotional regulation and learning in the classroom.
Children with delays in early stages of development often find it difficult to learn in a traditional classroom,
Classrooms can be busy places. Many children find the volume of sensations is simply too overwhelming.
They can easily go into sensory overload. The behaviours we see are the response of a nervous system that is struggling to cope.
Some developmental approaches, including those developed by the Institute of Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP), focus on strengthening underlying sensory-motor skills that support learning.
With so many children struggling, perhaps now is the time to create change, and if not now, when?
Supporting Parents and Carers of Children with Dyslexia
Counselling and Parent Coaching offers a non-judgemental space where you can explore options for helping you and your child.
We all struggle at times, and you are not alone. In fact, experience shows that when we address the stressed and tensions in our own lives, the more we are able to be emotionally present with our children when they are struggling.
You’re welcome to reach out if you would like to learn more about the benefits of an holistic approach to addressing symptoms of dyslexia in children.
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👉 Why is my Child Struggling at School – understanding early development and primitive reflexes
