Many students in dyslexia tutoring and dyslexia treatment programs have ADD and ADHD. In my personal experience as a dyslexia tutor, a large percentage of my dyslexic students over the years have also had issues with one of these. For a parent, this can make a child’s situation seem particualarly difficult; they not only have to deal with the challenges of dyslexia, but also of shorter attention spans and focus issues. The format of private tutoring is excellent for dyslexic students with ADD or ADHD, because it provides a quiet, one on one educational environment. In our dyslexia tutoring program, we often find that students who have focus issues are able to focus during their dyslexia tutoring, thanks to the quiet environment and private instruction provided by a good dyslexia tutor.
In a school setting, dyslexic students have a lot of distractions that they do not have during their dyslexia tutoring or dyslexia treatment program. For example, their classroom may be fairly noisy, or there may be a lot of other activity going on that distracts the student. To help a dyslexic student in this situation, arrangements are often possible for the student to do some of their work outside of the normal classroom; in a resource room, for example. In addition, a student with dyslexia can often get extra time on tests and exams, and take them in a quiet room instead of the regular classroom.
There are many little things that can be done that will add up to make a big difference.
Peter
