Tuesday, 20 March 2018

Dyslexic son feeling stupid and I don't know how to help


My almost 11 year old was diagnosed with dyslexia back in second grade. He has had a 504 plan ever since.He still struggles a lot with reading and it is really starting to affect him mentally. When my younger son passed my dyslexic son in reading it lead to some negative feelings but they are only a year apart so it wasn't as big of a deal. Now my 7 year old daughter has passed her dyslexic brother and I think that was a gut punch for him. His younger siblings often read things for him to help him out. He appreciates it but I know it also makes me feel stupid since he can't do it himself. He can read but he as to take a step back and take his time.We had him in dyslexia tutoring but had to make a choice between that and one of his sports. His inclusion teacher recommended keeping him in his sport. He is a talented athlete and sports give him a sense of purpose. It gives him something to feel good about and his teacher didn't think taking him out of that to force something he is bad at would be a positive in the long run. I was still not sure about it and my wife was completely against him playing a sport instead of tutoring, but we ultimately made the decision to continue with the sport. I don't know if we made the right decision but he was happy.Now he is really struggling with feeling dumb. He has a project due tomorrow and asked me to help him with it last weekend. I told him to read the instructions first and then I would help him. He got really upset with me and told me he couldn't read it. I told him that he needed to try and sat with him. He sat there staring at the paper and eventually started crying. He kept saying, "I can't do it. I don't know what it says." I told him to take a break. He came back and I told him I would help him read it but he was still very emotional about it and l said "I'm sorry I'm stupid."I'm heartbroken about this. I don't want my son to feel stupid. He often says that he isn't good at school like his siblings. I also have an older daughter who is very intelligent and does great academically. He often feels like his teachers are comparing him to her even though there is no evidence of that. My wife is a college professor and whenever she talks to the kids about college he says that he will never get into a good school. He is such a confident kid until it comes to reading. I'm thinking about dyslexia tutoring this summer even if it interferes with athletics. It's expensive and he is going to hate it but I want him to be able to read better. Not only for obvious reasons but I know seeing some improvement will help his confidence.Is there anything we can do in addition to tutoring that will help? via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/2IEGCUX

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