It is inevitable; a child with dyslexia will sooner than later be “tagged” in a regular school as a student with problems by both the school staff and his classmates. The school staff will tag him as “problematic”, as he will require additional assistance, access to assistive technology solutions, extra exam time etc. His classmates will tag him as different, from the first time that he is requested to read out loud in the classroom. The child with dyslexia will most probably make such reading mistakes which will result in laughter or degrading remarks by other children. Within such an environment a dyslexic child’s self-esteem will be negatively affected.

So the question arises:  How can parents assist their dyslexic child’s self-esteem within a system that clearly marks a dyslexic child as a person with problems?

(Note: I am not a professional educator or psychologist, only a dyslexic person who studied within regular school systems and who was tagged early in school as a student with problems.)

These are couple of suggestions I believe that may improve the self-esteem of a dyslexic child:

1)      Try to help establish for your child a strong social standing. This is more applicable for younger students, but I believe that parents can definitely influence a young students’ social standing. Try to identify two or three potential friends that have a strong social standing, and that the child has good communication with, and be proactive in joining your child with these children. As a parent of 3 children, I have witnessed the fact that parents of young children can definitely influence the social standing of their young child. Initiate communication with these potential friends’ parents, invite these kids over, and make sure that they have a great time when they come over. Initiate fun and unusual activities that will make your child’s potential friends very eager to come over, spend time and get to know your child as the wonderful potential friend that he really is. Connecting your child with well liked children in school, will help him network with other children, establish his social standing and lay the foundation of a secure social base.

2)      Assist your child in identifying and demonstrating his unusual thinking. Research has demonstrated that people with dyslexia are “out of the box”, innovative, problem-solving thinkers. This may be a key differentiating characteristic for a dyslexic person, and as such should be leveraged and mastered in school. If your child is interested in unique topics, then encourage this unique knowledge, and work with him how to demonstrate/boast of this knowledge in class. Volunteer as a parent, to present to the class, together with your child, his unique topics of interest. For example, if your child is especially interested in aviation, and has above average knowledge on this topic; build together a presentation/activity that displays this knowledge. Let the other kids know that your child is very knowledgeable on these “cool” subjects. When your dyslexic child is older, encourage him to take classes in areas that he can boast of his unique way of thinking. Encourage your child to take the time to assist other children that are experiencing challenges in such topics (just as a side note – I met my wife in University when I offered to study with her a Macro-economics class – a subject that to me came very easy, and which I could very logically explain). By helping his schoolmates, he will not only feel good about himself, but he will be appreciated by his school peers.

I would love to hear your insights on how best to assist your dyslexic child’s self-esteem within a regular school system? Love to read your comments…

(FYI – Webster’s definition of self-esteem: “a confidence and satisfaction in oneself”)