Awesome Stress Busting Tip # 1 RELAX! I know that sounds much easier than it really can be however if you are stressed your family will be too. Take a ‘time out’, have a coffee and stop beating up on yourself.16 Tips On Everyday Living With A Dyslexic Child so No-one is perfect and no-one can be. It is important to recognise when you are becoming frustrated or stressed and therefore CHANGE whatever activity you are doing. A frustrated mind just can’t cope – it will go into overwhelm.
Awesome Stress Busting Tip # 2 There are some things you can do to make homework sessions easier. Sit on your child’s left hand side. When you talk to you child, talk to their left ear. Read what they have to do to them then ask them to tell you what they need to do. Encourage your child to have a go even if they don’t think they can do it. Tell them that attempting the work is the most important thing; being right or correct isn’t.
Awesome Stress Busting Tip #3 Allow your child some “down time” after school and before homework. Encourage them to play outside, have a healthy snack or talk to you about things that interest them (not anything to do with school). If you can, have some questions prepared for them that centre around the topics of their interests – be interested in their interests! All of these different after school activities will help your child de-stress and calm their mind.
Awesome Stress Busting Tip #4 If you are encountering resistance to homework and / or tutoring, ask your child what they are feeling. Encourage them to share what is going on in their mind. Your child needs to know they can trust you with their inner most thoughts and that they won’t be ridiculed or belittled by you. Sometimes it is useful to share what you are feeling and why – importantly though what you are feeling MUST be positive towards your child not negative. If you open up to your child often they will reciprocate. Often what is bothering them isn’t what you would expect.
Awesome Stress Busting Tip #5 Often a dyslexic child’s bedroom is a disaster zone. Their belongings are EVERYWHERE – usually all on the floor. This can be extremely frustrating for parents. One simple strategy to help control the clutter is to have colour coded boxes for your child’s belongings. The aim isn’t to have everything neatly put away or folded. The aim is to sort belongings by type. This way the clutter and disorganization is contained within a box! Put a photo or a drawing of the types of things that are meant to be in each box on all four sides of the box.
Awesome Stress Busting Tip #6 Place a photo board with regular tasks that your child is expected to perform in a prominent place in your home. Have a photo/drawing of the task (eg brush teeth) and space for your child to tick once the task is complete. Have the tasks listed in order of priority. Remember – your child is actually completing three tasks for each task you list – looking at the board, doing the task and ticking it off. They will need guidance in the beginning until they are familiar with the system. Reward your child with praise for using the system. Start with two or three of the most important tasks and add to them once your child is performing them without prompts and guidance.
Stress Busting Tip #7 – helping your child to successfully complete a series of tasks. When giving your child a list or sequence of tasks to perform (such as eat breakfast, get your things for school, where are your shoes?) remember that your child will most likely only remember the last thing you told them to do. They will be so focused on trying to remember what you just said, that they will forget the earlier items. In the beginning, it is better (and less frustrating for all involved) to give one task at a time, with your child coming back to you once the task is complete. Remember to praise your child BEFORE giving them the next task – this encourages them to do the task well, in order to be praised again rather than yelled at.
My Awesome Stress Busting Tip #8 is not hard to do, but it will have enormous benefits for your dyslexic child. Praise your child and praise them often. Notice them doing little things that make life easier – getting their lunch box out of their bag after school, helping their siblings if they have them, putting something away rather than leaving it lying around, or simply being nice. If you praise them when they aren’t expecting it, it shows them that you care. Most children with dyslexia have low self-esteem. By noticing and praising small everyday achievements, you are helping their self-esteem rise, as they realise that they are decent, worthwhile people. Most of these children are expecting criticism all the time.
Your Stress Busting Tip #9 If you are becoming frustrated, stop, and consider the situation from your child’s point of view. Did we explain ourselves clearly? Did we give too many instructions? Is our child tired/overwhelmed/sad? Often this is easier to do away from your child. Go outside. Go into your bedroom and close the door. Take a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. IT IS NORMAL AND OK TO FEEL FRUSTRATED. It will often seem as though your child is an alien. Once you have considered why you have become frustrated and how your child was responding, ask yourself what you could do differently.
Your Awesome Stress Busting Tip #10 Take time out from your regular routine of homework/study, after school programs, etc, and do something fun with your child. Have a themed picnic (Barbie, Star Wars – whatever your child is interested in) or visit somewhere that is special to you and your child. It is important that your child’s life isn’t filled with work only – they are kids, and kids need to be kids having fun. Often the dyslexic child misses out on fun activities because they take longer to complete tasks and need more homework time than their siblings and friends. Allow regular time-outs that are purely for fun, and are not based on them achieving anything – they are “just because”.
My Awesome Stress Busting tip #11 is – Teach your child to laugh at their mistakes. All too often our children focus on what went wrong – not what is going right! They often place enormous significance on what they did wrong, and classify themselves as “failures”. The best way I have found to overcome this is to point out to my son when I’ve made a mistake, say “oops, did it wrong” then fix it with the minimum of fuss.
My awesome stress busting tip #12 is a few suggestions for making learning fun and different. Remember, your child learns by moving. Instead of doing regular homework, have your child act it out. Play Charades – you guess the word or sound they are acting out. Have your child bend their bodies into the shapes made by different letters. Use alphabet letters to make words and sentences your child gets to eat. No matter what you choose to do – keep it short, no more than 5 minutes.
Your Stress Busting Tip #13 This tip is short and simple. If you have access to some nice grass, get your child to run around barefoot. It is truly amazing how quickly a grumpy, frustrated child relaxes when encouraged to do this simple activity. In a few minutes you can resume homework/tutoring/life.
Your Stress Busting Tip # 14 Make time each week to do something one-on-one with your child. Something special you only share with them. It doesn’t need to be expensive – even having them help you cook dinner once a week can be special time just with them. My son and I enjoy snuggling on a bean bag – I read him a story or make one up just for him.
Your Stress Busting Tip # 15 Play short games with your child. A simple game like eye spy can lighten the mood and bring laughter into your child’s life. Praise often! I can’t say it enough. (Well done! Clever answer! That one was tricky!)
Your Stress Busting Tip # 16 This is not a tip really, more of a reminder. Praise, praise and praise some more! In the beginning your child will be like a thirsty sponge. After a while their self-esteem isn’t so fragile, and they won’t be so needy. While they are needy – resist the temptation to push them away. Continue to look for things to praise.
