Dyslexic teen

[Anonymous]

Anyone else have a dyslexic teen who has begun calling themselves dumb/stupid as their peers track into more accelerated classes or finish their homework quicker? My DS is also comparing himself to his non-dyslexic brother, who breezes through school. On the one hand, I am trying to assure DS that he is in no way dumb. At the same time, there is no mistaking that school is easier for some kids, and now he's seeing it firsthand as kids split into diff classes, and I can't deny that to him - yeah, his peers are doing AP. He has plenty of educational support; I'm more worried about his self-esteem. He also wants to know "why" he is dyslexic since nobody in our family is. This only began coming up with the start of school this year (high school) and I am really struggling with how to buoy him.

[Anonymous]

I have a dyslexic teen boy. He has felt like that on and off. He has to work harder.

He’s in 10th now and he’s been struggling but then he sees his classmates grades and those grades aren’t always awesome either. He has to keep at it, stay in contact with his teacher, and don’t fall behind. He always takes the retake if possible.

I think those feelings will fluctuate. If he can work through it, he’ll be better off in the long run.

[Anonymous]

Why has he linked being dyslexic to not being able to take AP classes? Do you think he is capable of understanding the material but the classes would be too intense? What areas are his strengths?

[Anonymous]

I decided to remove my child from public school. It has been so much better and self esteem has already improved. I do think public school is very damaging to dyslexic children. If you don’t have that option, I would spend a lot of time with the child’s strengths but I’m sure you know all of that. I’ve always talked to my child about her specific learning strengths and that they aren’t always measured in public school, also that she will always have the opportunity to use resources to support her learning style and the memorization, rote recall won’t be measured like it is in school.

[Anonymous]

My now-teen dyslexic asked those “why me” questions earlier, because that is when they struggled most. The answer we gave was essentially “everyone gets some crap in life. This is one of your doses of crap. Look around you and you’ll see everyone has something, and those that don’t yet have crap will eventually. It isn’t fair, but that is life.” I do think it helped to see dyslexics in the family - I am dyslexic and you can trace the path back through aunts/grandparents etc. who had a rough time in school but made their way.

It is possible if you look at your family tree you’ll see people who probably were dyslexic. Artists, entrepreneurs, tinkerers and creators - people who took a different path. It may help to know that most people with his profile struggle in school but find their way.