Positive Ways to Correct Your Child

Dyslexia is a frustrating and confusing disorder for children to deal with during the formative school years. They may develop some confidence issues, issues that should not be solidified by his or her parent. A parent’s job is to encourage a child to do their best, not to highlight what they do wrong.

That being said, don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t worry about menial tasks that they do not complete with ease, their job is to focus on their reading and spelling skills, not their coloring skills. Examples of tasks you should leave alone are erasing pencil markings completely, using scissors correctly and coloring inside the lines.

These tasks may seem like they are important in elementary school, but you know that they won’t matter much in the real world– and they will figure it out when they need those skills. Chances are, you will be correcting your child more than you would an average student; so be mindful not to overwhelm them with instruction.

That being said, the way you go about corrections is very important to your child’s educational career. Here are some helpful replacements for phrases you may feel you need to use.

• “This is easy” —> “I know you can do this”
• “Get it together and just learn to do it” —-> “Let’s take a brain break and try again in a few minutes”
• “You are not applying yourself” —-> “Can you explain your process to me?”
• “Try harder” —-> “Take your time, I’m proud of your effort”
• “You knew it yesterday” —-> “Let’s think about how we did this yesterday”

Though your intentions may be coming from a place of love, you still have to be careful how you talk to your child when helping them with their homework. You may forget what you say by the next day, but your child will likely carry it with them to their next tasks.

Lexercise therapists are great at partnering with parents to give them tips on how to support your child throughout the week. You can schedule a free consultation with one of our therapists to learn more about our therapy program.