CLOSING THE GAP VS. MAKING PROGRESS

Whenever I interact with parents and ask how their children are doing, they will usually reply, ‘making progress’.

If you have an option, would you want your child to be making progress or closing the gap? Can you see the difference shown in the graph above? If a child is making progress, he or she may still be falling behind.

The phrase ’making progress’ is misleading and should be very concerning to parents who hear this description of their children. Children with dyslexia cannot be just ‘making progress’.

Many parents have the misconception that their dyslexic child is dealing with some complex learning difficulties that will need long term interventions and that they will not do as well as their peers. This need not be the case. It is possible for your child to close the learning gap and eventually catch up with his or her peers.

It is important to recognise the cause of the dyslexic symptoms and to remove that cause. In other words, the starting point is not to teach a child how to learn but to remove what is preventing their ability to learn. Once that obstacle is removed, then easeful learning can take place.