Many children, teenagers and adults with dyslexia struggle with low self-esteem. What are the causes of this, and how can we help them improve their self-esteem? Can a dyslexia tutoring and dyslexia treatment program help in this area?
Individuals with dyslexia often suffer from low self-esteem. This low self-esteem usually comes from the struggles, frustration and loneliness that they have experienced in their lives. Beyond having to deal with trouble at school, a child with dyslexia may also be subjected to ridicule from other children and pressure from adults who do not understand dyslexia. As these difficulties continue, a child with dyslexia may start to believe that their struggles are due to them being incapable and not smart enough, and their self-esteem begins to decline.
This usually occurs in dyslexic students who have not been identified as being dyslexic, and have not received help from a dyslexia tutor or dyslexia treatment program. If a child has their dyslexia identified early, and they are provided with the dyslexia help that they need, this self-esteem drop is often avoided. In such a case, the dyslexic child will have gained such a good understanding of their dyslexia from their dyslexia tutoring, and made such progress, that they will remain confident in their ability to succeed!
What can we do to help a dyslexic child who is struggling with low self-esteem? One of the best and most effective ways to help them is to enroll them in a dyslexia tutoring and dyslexia treatment program. Skilled dyslexia tutors can help a child improve their reading, spelling and comprehension. In addition, a dyslexia tutor can help a child understand what dyslexia is, and that there is no limit to what the child can achieve in life! As a child with dyslexia begins to make progress, their self-esteem will increase accordingly.
Another way that you can help a child with dyslexia increase their self-esteem is to invest in their interests. Consider the things your child is interested in, and encourage them to pursue these areas. If they like art, you could enroll them in an art class. If they like to work with horses, you can check into volunteer activities at a local horse farm. If they like sports, try signing them up for lessons or a team. If you are unsure of what your child is interested in, try having conversations with them about it. If you still are not able to come up with anything, try thinking about things that they used to be interested in. Sometimes, a child with dyslexia will lose interest in things that they formerly loved, just because they feel like a failure and that that they cannot succeed in those activities. If you can think of such an interest, try encouraging them to renew this interest. By encouraging a child’s interests, you will help them raise their self-esteem. The great thing about increased self-esteem, is that if affects all areas of life in a wonderful way! The self-esteem that a child builds by pursuing interests will help them in their academics as well.
I’m 70 and am dyslexic. Went through schooling with no one understanding Dyslexia and was often made to feel left out, treated as low intelligence. Did a test at 40, found I had a reading age of 14. I’ve tought myself to generally work around the issues and actually find the issue gives me advantages in three dimensional analysis, second guessing problems, etc.. I always have problems listening to people – think this may be attributed to dyslexia and its this that effects my self esteem. Any help in improving listening techniques would be welcomed. Word blindness may be part of this
Thanks for your comment and question, Colin. Regarding the issues with listening, you may find the information on the Understood website helpful.
Have a great day,