Blog: School Struggles, Learning Disabilities & Other Kid Stuff

It’s December.

We’re into the second quarter of the school year.  The dance is in full swing.

All across America each evening  this dance is being played out in millions of homes.  It’s the “Don’t You Have Homework To Do?….”No I Did It in School”  dance.

dys·lex·i·a [dis-lek-see-uh] noun Pathology .

Any of various reading disorders associated with impairment of the ability to interpret spatial relationships or to integrate auditory and visual information.

Much of my professional life is spent trying to explain dyslexia to parents.   It is hard to shake the hypnotic messages that have been hardwired into their belief system - you know the usual ones about “upside down and backward reading.”

Those of you who have read my stuff or know of the work that I’ve done with kids over the years,  know I can be a bit “decoding obsessed.”  This is primarily because I have witnessed the legions of struggling decoders (usually dyslexics) who find school to be extremely challenging as a result of their ongoing decoding and reading fluency issues. 

Other Side of Coin

Miller Time:  “After a long hard day's work you come home, grab a Miller Lite out  of the fridge and enjoy a few cold ones.”

That’s what the Urban Dictionary defines as “Miller Time.” 

If you are old enough to remember the Miller beer ad campaign, you know that the slogan reminds us that you earned the right to enjoy a cold brew.  You could put your feet up and relax knowing that you earned it.