25 Feb Parents Guide to getting Help for Dyslexia
Where to Start and What to Avoid When Seeking Help for Your Child’s Learning Difficulties
As a parent, embarking on the journey to assist your child with dyslexia or other learning difficulties can feel overwhelming, particularly when you’re confronted with mixed information online. The complexity of navigating assessments, treatment options, and the varying advice on how to best support your child can be daunting. At Global Education Testing, we’ve encountered countless parents who share a similar experience; uncertainty on where to begin and concern about making the wrong choice.
It’s important to understand a few key truths about dyslexia and related language difficulties, so you can approach this process with clarity. Dyslexia is a neurobiological disorder that affects how the brain processes written language, including reading, spelling, and writing.
Dyslexia exists on a continuum, ranging from mild to severe, and primarily impacts phonological processing, or the ability to break down and manipulate the sounds of language. It can also affect orthographic processing, making it difficult to remember and retrieve written words. These challenges lead to poor decoding and recognition of words, making reading a slow, labor-intensive task.
The Importance of Evidence-Based Assessments
It’s vital that you pursue a specific, evidence-based assessment for dyslexia. The right identification process should uncover your child’s unique challenges, such as difficulties with accuracy, fluency, and working memory, and reveal how they affect comprehension. Without a proper diagnosis, it’s nearly impossible to implement the targeted interventions necessary for progress in reading, spelling, and writing.
Unfortunately, some assessments can be vague, poorly structured, or simply too generic. Reports that include irrelevant jargon, lack a clear action plan, or fail to provide specific recommendations are unlikely to help your child or their school understand the full picture. At Global Education Testing, we emphasize the importance of Tier 1 Dyslexua assessments, ensuring that the findings are rooted in current research and tailored to the specific needs of your child.
Identifying the Best Approach to Instruction
Once dyslexia has been identified, the next step is understanding how to provide effective instruction. This instruction must be evidence-based, tailored, and delivered by trained educators who understand how to teach children with dyslexia. Regular monitoring of your child’s progress is essential to ensure that the teaching methods are working and that the necessary adjustments are made over time.
It is also essential for parents, teachers, and schools to work in tandem to support a child with dyslexia. In many cases, accommodations such as extra time on exams and tailored classroom modifications can help bridge the gap and ensure that your child can meet academic expectations despite the challenges they face.
12 Key Ways to Help Your Child with Dyslexia
- Implement multisensory learning techniques (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic approaches)
- Provide structured, systematic phonics instruction
- Use assistive technology like audiobooks or text-to-speech software
- Practice regular reading fluency exercises to improve speed and comprehension
- Encourage extra time on exams and assignments to reduce pressure
- Foster a positive, supportive learning environment to boost confidence
- Work with a qualified educational psychologist to tailor learning strategies
- Ensure your child receives individualized learning plans (ILPs) from their school
- Incorporate games and activities that focus on word recognition and phonics
- Break tasks into smaller, manageable steps to avoid overwhelming them
- Provide consistent, positive reinforcement to encourage progress and resilience
- Encourage frequent breaks during study session
Pre-Assessment or Full Dyslexia Testing?
While pre-assessments can offer a basic glimpse into your child’s learning challenges, they are often insufficient when it comes to unlocking the maximum resources and securing the highest accommodations, such as extra time on exams. Schools and examination boards require full diagnostic dyslexia assessments conducted by licensed educational psychologists to grant maximum accommodations.
Only a comprehensive assessment provides the detailed insight needed to make formal recommendations that schools and exam boards can act on with certainty. If you want to ensure your child receives the necessary support and accommodations, including maximum extra time in exams, skipping the pre-assessment and opting for a full assessment is the most effective route.
Avoiding the Secondary Effects of Dyslexia
Left undiagnosed or untreated, dyslexia can have secondary effects that go beyond academic struggles. Many children begin to lose confidence in themselves and their abilities, leading to low self-esteem, anxiety, or even avoidance of learning altogether. By addressing dyslexia early on, you can minimize these risks and give your child the tools they need to succeed academically and emotionally.
Getting Schools Onboard
The key to securing proper support for your child is presenting high-quality, research-backed reports. Schools are more likely to act on recommendations that are clear, actionable, and specific to your child’s needs. At Global Education Testing, our reports are designed to help schools understand the steps they need to take to support your child. We work closely with parents and educators to ensure that the findings are understood and implemented correctly.
Full Reports for Comprehensive Support
Parents often run into problems when reports are vague, filled with jargon, or lack a clear action plan. A quality report should outline exactly what challenges your child faces, why those challenges exist, and what needs to be done to address them. At Global Education Testing, we ensure that our assessments and reports are not only thorough but also specific and actionable, providing clear next steps for both parents and schools.
By pursuing reliable, research-backed assessments and collaborating with qualified professionals, you can ensure that your child receives the support they need. Whether through pre-assessments or full diagnostic evaluations, taking action early can help prevent the challenges associated with dyslexia from becoming barriers to your child’s success.
Alexander Bentley-Sutherland is the CEO of Global Education Testing, the leading provider of Learning Development Testing tailored specifically for the International and Private School community worldwide.