Living with kids with dyslexia - Part 1

Hi, I'm Sharon and I have four children with high IQ's and dyslexia.

It was relatively easy finding out they had high IQ's but has taken a long time to find out about the dyslexia.

It felt like it all started in 1997 when my 3rd child couldn't read. I battled with the school for 4 years but they told me there was nothing wrong. My little angel was turning into a monster with frustration.  She hid her reading books, threw temper tantrums and was unwell all the time.  Eventually the school tested her using the Dyslexia Screening Test and told me there was nothing wrong!  I thought I was going mad for about 6 months and then paid an Educational Psychologist to test 2 of my children (buy one get one free!).  Charlotte had severe dyslexia to the ratio of 1:10,000 same age children.  This was terrible.  We asked how the school missed it and he said it often happened with children with high IQ. The teachers knew verbally that they were bright so any other problems were put down to laziness.  He then overlooked the 2nd child, who turned out to have a different form of dyslexia called Auditory Processing Disorder and dyscalculia.  She had no feel for numbers and struggled with a number line and basic calculations. If you told her a joke or asked her a questions she was so slow to respond that you could actually see cogs whirring in her brain.   Far from being slow or not very bright she has an Iqof 135 or top 2% of same age children.

It must have been really frustrating for them but as a parent it was a nightmare.  The worst point was when they were 4/7/9 & 13.  Even though I laid out their clothes the night before and got everything ready for school they were always late.  They had no idea of time and no organisational skills.  They stayed awake until midnight singing or playing and disturbed each other to the extent that we paid £35,000 to build an extension. This gave us another bedroom so they had one each and more living space so we could get away from each other!  Children with dyslexia find it very hard to settle to sleep so we sent them to bed early and allowed them to watch programmes I had taped during the day such as schools programmes and documentaries.  It helped them settle, allowed them to increase their general knowledge without having to read and lastly gave Steve and I a much needed break.  We made sure each room had a place for everything so there was no excuse to be so disorganised and it cut down the number of lost items.  One of their worst faults is that they pick things up without realising, walk off with them and put them down somewhere random. It was not unusual to find a garlic press in the bathroom.  Early on I thought my toddler was the one moving things!

Two diagnosed and two to go.