Learning Difference Network

THE POWER OF YOU Each of Us Can Make a Difference

This cannot be explained any better than with the words of Sally Shaywitz, MD of the Yale Center for the Study of Learning and Attention who says, "The significant adults in a child's life--typically her parents and her teachers--play an enormous role in determining her future outcome. While this would appear to be self-evident, I have witnessed far too many instances where the most loving and well-intentioned parents or teachers have taken an uncharacteristically passive stance and assumed that somehow 'things will work out'. It is not easy to be the parent of a vulnerable child, particularly one with a hidden disability that can escape diagnosis."

Shaywitz goes on to say, " ...the reality is that in the overwhelming majority of cases, the only way things will improve is if a knowledgeable and caring adult takes the lead and actively creates change. Most of the time it is a patient, perservering, and positive 'activist' parent."

"A child with dyslexia is in need of a champion, someone who will be his support and his unflinching advocate; his cheerleader when things are not going well; his friend and confidant when others tease and shame him; his advocate who by actions and comments will express optimism in his future. Perhaps most important, the struggling reader needs someone who will not only believe in him but translate that belief into positive action by understanding the nature of his reading problem and then actively and relentlessly working to ensure that he receives the reading help and other support he needs. Experience has shown me that if a child receives such help, he will succeed."

Shaywitz, Sally. Overcoming Dyslexia. (2003): 173. Vintage Books: A Division of Random House, Inc. New York.

Any type of learning difference could be substituted for the words reading problem and/or dyslexia; supportive, knowledgeable adults can make all the difference.