Coping Skills for Dyslexia - The Coping Skills for Dyslexia offers great tips for people with Dyslexia. It is targeted towards school aged children that struggle with Dyslexia and school. It is a great resource for any parents looking for advice on helping their child cope with the daily struggles Dyslexia brings them or any teacher hoping to find some insight on what their student is going through.
The following are just a few coping strategies that I’ve found work for me. They make for a good starting point to find strategies that will work for you or your student.
1. Don’t compare yourself with other people.
Just because someone else got an A while you got a B does not make them “better” than you. Instead compare that B with your previous score of a B- and realize that as long as your grade is improving, it’s a success!
2. Take your time.
As you allow yourself to take your time you’ll end up with a better grasp of the material because, as a student with dyslexia, you’ll be able to see concepts from multiple angles at the same time.
3. It’s okay to be different.
Sometimes you need to sit down for an hour or so to organize your ideas before writing. Also, it’s okay to start in the middle of a project and organize your ideas later.
4. Grades don’t necessarily reflect how smart you are.
Do not allow your grades to put a label on you. Give yourself a minimum grade expectation (i.e. nothing lower than a B) but have your main goal be to learn. You’ll end up getting more out of your education and let go of some of your anxiety and insecurities.
5. Take advantage of high focus intervals.
Some people have a higher quality of focus in the early morning hours. When you’re in the “zone,” take advantage of it and keep working—power through.
6. Chew gum to regain focus.
If you are in the zone and get distracted, chewing gum is a great way to re-set and continue working, especially when you are writing.
7. Find a quiet place to do homework.
It sounds so simple, but having a quiet place to work makes all the difference. It also helps to have consistency in where you do your homework. That way anxiety goes down because you know where everything is and don’t have to reorient yourself to a new environment.
8. Find out the “why.”
When learning new information in school, especially in college, I’d have to trick my brain into thinking that something was interesting in order to absorb that information. Once I found out the “why” it made it much easier to stay on task for longer periods of time and gain a more in-depth knowledge of the subject matter.
9. Stop taking notes on every detail.
People with dyslexia have a hard time filtering information, especially when it comes to taking notes. Stop worrying about taking notes on every little thing and only jot something down if you think you need to explore the topic on your own.
10. Find out what you don’t know.
Often there are tests with answer banks at the end of every chapter. As you begin to understand what you don’t know, you’ll then have more focus as to where you should spend your time studying. If pre-tests aren’t available, you can always pull out your graded tests from throughout the semester and see what questions you may have missed.
11. It’s not just about how hard you study but about how “smart” you study.
Find out what format the test will be in. People with dyslexia tend to think that they have to know EVERYTHING about a subject in order to do well on a test. This can be overwhelming, which is why many students with dyslexia tend to give up and “check-out” before a test. Depending on if it’s open-ended or multiple-choice should indicate the level of mastery needed for a particular test.
12. Rely on logic instead of memorization.
Students with dyslexia rely heavily on memorization, especially during tests. Relax. If you come to a question you don’t particularly remember reading about, use logic to answer the question.
It is targeted towards school aged children that struggle with Dyslexia and school. It is a great resource for any parents looking for advice on helping their child cope with the daily struggles Dyslexia brings them or any teacher hoping to find some insight on what their student is going through.
