What To Do After a Dyslexia Diagnosis

At first, a dyslexia diagnosis might be devastating for parents and students. There is plenty to take care of: filling out paperwork and figuring out the best approach to treatment for your child. However, a dyslexia diagnosis is not necessarily a negative thing; In fact, being aware of dyslexia can be quite empowering. Once a child has been diagnosed with this specific learning disability, it allows families to unlock the best ways to help. Getting the right solutions for a child’s dyslexia can lead to discovering strengths, interests, and skills—in academics and beyond. 

After a dyslexia diagnosis, families can gain a better understanding and acceptance of how the dyslexic brain operates. Armed with a diagnosis, you can turn your focus to finding targeted support, developing a personalized learning plan, and improving academic performance. As a parent or family member of a student with dyslexia, it can be helpful to have some guidelines for what to do to best help your child. It can also be helpful to get pointed in the right direction to a solution like dyslexia therapy. Read on to learn about what to do after a dyslexia diagnosis.  

Learn more about dyslexia from the experts. One of the first things to do once you’ve gotten a dyslexia diagnosis is gather information. Dyslexia on Demand is a provider of dyslexia therapy, but they also provide recommendations for great resources about dyslexia. Learning about dyslexia helps parents to become advocates for their children in the classroom and beyond. One recommended resource is the National Center on Improving Literacy (NCIL). Another is the National Center on Intensive Intervention (NCII). Check out Dyslexia on Demand’s resource page for more information. 

Reach out to your child’s classroom teacher. Be sure to let your child’s school know about the recent dyslexia diagnosis. It is helpful to inform not only your child’s teacher but other important school staff. While outside help is so beneficial to students, you want to be sure that they are taken care of during their school day as well. Schools can help students by providing different accommodations and interventions. It might be necessary for your student to have an individualized education plan (IEP) at school. The team at your child’s school can work with you to develop an IEP that will outline the specific services and accommodations that will best support your student. Integrating dyslexia therapy from Dyslexia on Demand into a school day for homeschooled students is a great option for students who are home schooled or attend an alternate schooling program. 

You can get help from home. No matter what your child’s learning ability level is, reading aloud with your kids at home is always a great practice. Creating a comfortable study space and consistent routines can always be helpful for students with dyslexia. What’s even more helpful is the establishment of a consistent and convenient dyslexia therapy program for your student. Your student can work with Dyslexia on Demand from the comfort of your home, as all sessions are done one-on-one through online meetings.

Seek help from true dyslexia experts. If you want to have the best, most effective support for your student with dyslexia, choose dyslexia therapy. Certified Academic Language Therapists, also known as CALTs, specialize in dyslexia; they’re the highest level of trained dyslexia professionals. With CALTs, you’re in good hands. At Dyslexia on Demand, CALTs work one-on-one with students to administer dyslexia therapy sessions. The interventions that they implement are tailored to each individual, and they include strategies that work to improve phonics, fluency, phonological awareness, comprehension, and vocabulary. Dyslexia therapy is also focused on multisensory approaches that involve multiple senses for students. 

Use a trusted program. At Dyslexia on Demand, students work with an Orton-Gillingham based reading program; these are the gold standard for dyslexia interventions. The Take Flight program builds a high degree of accuracy, knowledge, and independence for students. It was developed to enable students with dyslexia to not only improve their overall reading skills, but to smoothly make a transition from working in dyslexia therapy to succeeding in the real world. 

Make sure that progress is monitored. As you and your own dyslexia support team work to help your student be sure to celebrate all of the wins—big and small—along the way. Dyslexia on Demand takes data very seriously, using both formal and informal measures quite frequently in order to ensure true individualization and prescriptive decisions for each child. This helps to measure progress and growth and success of each student as they develop skills through dyslexia therapy. 

Are you ready to start dyslexia therapy? Dyslexia on Demand is on a mission to make this kind of help available to students all over the nation. Our online programs can be life changing! Help your student to develop not only a renewed interest in reading, but a stronger sense of confidence by giving them the tools needed to succeed. You can book a free consultation with Dyslexia on Demand, or just check out our website for more information.