August 2010 - Reading Horizons Newsletter

This newsletter has been created to inform and educate people about current findings that can help a struggling reader. We also hope that the content of this newsletter will inspire those who struggle, that there is hope.

Those who struggle with reading experience varying degrees of stress at school, doing their homework and with any activity that involves reading. It is hard for them to understand why they have such a difficult time with something that appears to come so easily for everyone else around them. The signs of stress in children are well known nowadays: embarrassment, anxiety, withdrawal, not wanting to go to school, tiredness, irritability, headaches or stomach aches, difficulty sleeping, lying, thumb sucking, fingernail biting, or loss of appetite.

When they are feeling anxious about something like reading or taking a test they could use these strategies to help them cope:

Teach them to slow their breathing down. Count to four slowly for breathing in and breathing out. They will find that their body begins to relax and they can release some of the anxiety.
Have them imagine what would happen if they did fail the test—would they get kicked out of school? Would they die? Of course not. Help them put their fear in perspective by rating it from 1-10: 1 being someone bugging you, a 10 being someone you care about getting hurt or dieing. Most issues fall around 2-4 in reality.
Get them into a reading program that they can see quick gains and success so that they know they can improve and find real success in reading. The program should be researched based and should be systematic, explicit and sequential in its approach. See how the Discover Intensive Phonics Reading Method (link) fits these requirements.
Read with your child so they can have a positive experience with reading to draw from.
Praise your child often. Notice and acknowledge all their amazing strengths.

This section spotlights a famous person who has been reported in the media, on the web, and in books as having some form of dyslexia or struggling in school.

In school, the young Edison’s mind often wandered, and his teacher, the Reverend Engle, was overheard calling him "addled." This ended Edison’s three months of official schooling. He recalled later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me; and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint." His mother then home schooled him. Much of his education came from reading R.G. Parker’s School of Natural Philosophy and The Cooper Union.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed “The Wizard of Menlo Park” by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory. Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

"I am confident that you will be more than pleased with the results. I have already received more than my money’s worth in seeing the success it has brought my daughter."