The Importance Of Providing Opportunities

One of the main reasons I have chosen to continue to be a full time stay home mum is to provide the extra support one of my sons needs. Spencer was diagnosed dyslexic when he was in grade 1. The specialist looked at me and said "the school will not teach him to read". "Your son has a normal IQ but he learns differently".
As you can imagine this terrified me at first and then I asked well what can I do about this.

Over the last year and half with guidance from an educational psychologist, I have been teaching my son to read. I have used a program called "The Reading Reflex" and adapted it to our situation.

My teaching degree, has provided me with a respect and an interest in education. But as I have found out, general classroom teachers are not trained in educating children who don't fit the "majority mold". I estimate that within every group of 20 children in school, 3's educational needs are not being met. Those 3 children are not being taught in the best way for them to reach their potential. A sad state of affair I believe.

That's why Spencer and I work together 4 out of 5 mornings. It is time consuming, frustrating, but so worth while. As we all know if something is difficult we tend to avoid it. Spencer is very "street" smart and on many occasions has tried to convince me why he didn't really need to read at all. But his hard work is paying off. We still have much to achieve but we continue to make solid progress.

My commitment like any loving parent's, is to help Spencer to reach his potential, providing him with opportunities that will help him grow into a well rounded person. This commitment is no different to what I strive to provide for my other 2 beautiful children, it's just more complex :))