Today's Parent Choices for Struggling Teens featured Barbara Dianis, MA, ED, an Educational Specialist and the founder of Dianis Educational Systems, who spoke with host, Lon Woodbury about the importance of an early diagnosis of students struggling with reading and writing from the disorder of dyslexia, which is defined as, the difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters and other symbols, but yet does not affect general intelligence.
Barbara, who was diagnosed when she herself was in second grade, found the diagnosis devastating, thinking she would never be able to attend college. Instead of giving up though, she created her own techniques to learn to read and write, using games with flash cards, using the ABC strip of letters to self-correct and to make sure they looked like the ones in the strip.
"For me, there was a lot of checking and going back." Today, there are 10-15% of the school age populace that is dyslexic. With strong compensating skills, many students are not diagnosed with dyslexia until they reach high school, when the stress of academics is overwhelming. In addition, often these kids that are not diagnosed, become a behavior problem in class and will appear as unmotivated or lazy.
For these students, a 'roadmap' for each child is created to help develop the strengths and the key is to make it doable for the student. "These kids need emotional support from their parents and at every turn, praise the small steps." In 'defying dyslexia', it is important to not let it stop you! Work on remediation, everyday, at least for 10-15 minutes a day, after school. I tell these students, Yes it is hard, but it gets easier over time. Do what you can to overcome it.
To listen to the full interview, go to Defying Dyslexia on LATalkRadio.
Also available in Podcast
Lon Woodbury is the owner/founder of Woodbury Reports, Inc. and www.strugglingteens.com. He has worked with families and struggling teens since 1984 and is the host of Parent Choices for Struggling Teens and The Woodbury Reports.
Barbara Dianis has been an Educational Specialist for over 21 years, helping students who are scholastically challenged. She has run an educational tutoring business for the past 20 years helping students who struggle with Dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, Learning Differences and struggling students to achieve scholastic success. Barbara is the CEO and founder of Dianis Educational Systems, LLC and was awarded the Biltmore Who's Who VIP in Education and the Executive of the Year Award.
How to Be Noticed! We are looking for guests and sponsors for our Internet Talk Radio shows. Give a listen on Monday noon PT on LATalkRadio.com and Tuesday noon PT on K4HD.com. Our reach to listeners, in addition to the traffic to strugglingteens.com, include podcast listings on LATalkRadio.com, iTunes, Stitcher Radio and iHeart Radio Network. If you know somebody (including yourself) who would make a good guest on our show and might be interested contact Lon at, lonwoodbury@gmail.com or call, 208-267-5550.
We are excited to announce that we have several openings for on-air sponsorship during The Woodbury Report shows on K4HD.com Tuesdays, and on our other radio show on Mondays, LATalkRadio.com Parent Choices for Struggling Teens. If you are interested in reserving some air time to promote your school, program or services, contact Kristie Campbell at kristie@woodbury.com or 208-267-5550 or Lon at 208-267-7717.
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