Our guest, Suzanne Meyers is a powerful advocate for following your own intuition even if all the messages around you are polar opposites. Like many of you, Suzanne has a child with special needs - in this case dyslexia. We know that one reaction to having special needs children is often shame because we feel responsible for these differences; however, after focused reflection, Suzanne realised that self-judgments were a waste of time because her daughter needed her to find solutions.
How she faced her daughter's needs contrasts with how she herself was brought up, so don't miss Suzanne's heartfelt introspection of how the teacher-centred education and upbringing she received affected her in the long-term. When her daughter's school system was dismissive and uncooperative, she explains how she finally had to become the expert on dyslexia to find the solutions her daughter needed . We're going to hear how the education she chose for her daughter and the practices she used in her teaching classes - was 180º from her own schooling.
I believe that you parents listening will trust at your own instincts more faithfully and you teachers will perhaps be more open to partnering with parents for the benefit of the children. I think you're going to be amazed at the journey this mother had to take because of her daughter's challenges, and the incredible job of modelling she did which now results in a grown professional who is her own best advocate and instead of seeing her dyslexia as a hinderance, sees is as her 'secret weapon'!
A Suzanne explains in the podcast, one essential way to help children with dyslexia have more ease in reading is by concentrating on individual letters. This scaffold is one way to make this focus entertaining while including critical thinking at the same time. Find it here as a free download:
You can find more conversations like this one at Doorways to Learning with Donna:
https://mailchi.mp/scaffoldingmagic/sign-up-for-doorways-to-learning-podcast
If you like this episode, treat Donna to a veggie burger! - or a couple of bites of one!!
