Another Dyslexia Book Recommendation by Dyslexia Victoria Online

In our never ending search for good information about Dyslexia I recommend another book to add to your library. The book is called “The Everything Parent’s Guide to Children with Dyslexia” by Abigail Marshall. This book is in “The Everything Parent’s Guide” series of parenting books.  

What Karey and I like about this book is the vast range of topics this book covers.  It touches on many of the issues we feel are of importance for individuals with dyslexic learning issues in a general manner which makes this book easy to read. Though the book is written without getting too bogged down in jargon, it does give enough information to help parents and teachers make intelligent decisions.

Probably the one thing that impressed me most about the book is the amount of research the author has gathered.  She covers topics like: “Understanding and recognizing characteristics of Dyslexia”, “Dyslexia Treatment Programs”, “the IEP process”, “Strategies for Spelling and Math”, and “making choices for high school and college”. She also covers brief descriptions of other learning challenges such as dysgraphia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, autism and Aspergers.

Much of the book is written for Americans who are navigating American school systems but for the most part it is appropriate for all of North American parents. I also believe this book would be a good resource and starting point for anybody facing the issues of Dyslexia or anybody who just wants a good general resource about the topic anywhere in the world.

I was particularly impressed with was her stand on getting a child assessed as young as possible. Karey and I are about to do an assessment on an eleven year old child because her mother was told by the school counselor her daughter could not get assessed by the school psychologist. The reason for the school’s refusal to assess the girl was that they felt she was too young and that none of the problems the girl was having in school could possibly be due to dyslexia. Unfortunately we have seen that leaving interventions till the child is older only compounds the problems. We have performed assessments on children as young as 4 ½, such as one little girl we worked with who has progressed well with the teaching recommendations made for her parents. She is happier and is doing much better in kindergarten. The author also mentioned that the assessment process need not be the ultimate domain of psychologist or doctors but can also be just as effective from a knowledgeable multidisciplinary team made of learning and other specialists.

“We recommend this book as a great general resource of information about Dyslexia and related conditions described in terms that will help any parent begin to understand these complicated and often misunderstood learning issues.”

It’s even printed in a larger font, which we advocate, yah!

I hope this was of value to you and we wish you good luck on your journey to further enlightenment about all things dyslexic.

Happy trails!
Howie deGraaf
Editor and Consultant for Dyslexia Victoria Online