It's no secret reluctant readers are reluctant to read, so sometimes y
our child may respond to reading homework with anger, tears, or flat-out defiance
.
A parenting situation that can exhaust even the most tolerate parents.
Thanks to technology you can now re-fresh your parenting well with a large dose, not of sympathy, but of empathy for your dyslexic child's reading experience.
The
understood.org website has launched a new simulation they call, "
Through Your Child's Eyes". It literally helps you see what your dyslexic child sees, but goes even farther. You are presented a series of sentences you must decode while under time pressure. A wrong answer creates an ugly red notice and the simulation cuts off should you fail to complete the exercises within the allotted time. It's actually rather rude.
Frustrating, challenging, and stressful by design.
During the simulation you don't just experience how your dyslexic child "sees" words, you actually experience first hand how stressful learning
to read might feel.
Your parenting brain knows your dyslexic child must learn to read. The simulation reminds you that your dyslexic child also needs you to use your parenting heart.
Next time you feel frazzled, impatient, or even frustrated with your child and their reading homework, pause and remember how you felt during the simulation. How relieved you were when it stopped and you shifted back to easy reading comprehension. Then recognize for your dyslexic child there is no shift, what they feel is not a simulation, it's their reality.
This will give you the parenting strength you need to gently encourage your reluctant reader when they dig in and really become reluctant. Love and patience flow much smoother from a position of empathy.
You know your child must learn to read. Parenting from a position of empathy makes it easier to provide them unwavering support as they progress
along their reading journey, reading tantrums and all.
