Narratives From Mothers of Children with Dyslexia : Our Stories for Educators

In today’s educational space, no student who struggles with reading should be denied a fair and equal education just because teachers are not trained to understand the implications of dyslexia. Failing to learn to read is not failing to learn. It merely means that the orthodox methods of whole-language reading instruction have not favored those students who need specific multisensory instruction. In Narratives from Mothers of Children with Dyslexia: Our Stories for Educators , mothers share personal stories of pain in navigating educational spaces for the success of their sons and daughters who are dyslexic. Despite resistance from within the PreK–12 academy, these mothers have become warriors for education. The narratives in this text are global ones, from Singapore, India, Kenya, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States, and are in local "dialect." The mothers use a variety of terms to describe their experiences, but the differences in language only prove that the language of experience is universal; we can understand everyone, even if they use different terms or names. We understand what they have learned through the challenges and struggles of serving as the backbone of their child’s education. We can easily translate that experience into the global, universal expression of a parent’s love for their child. Cover Table of Contents Foreword (Rick Smith) Acknowledgments Introduction: Mothers of Children with Dyslexia: Their Voices (Shawn Anthony Robinson) Chapter One: “When Is the Self-Hatred Going to End?” (Paula Juelich) Chapter Two: The Patient Race and Small Victories (Alicia Tan) Chapter Three: From Guilt to Hope: A Mother’s Journey (Christina Reynoso) Chapter Four: Moving to Singapore and the Challenges of Transition (Deborah Hewes) Chapter Five: Bittersweet Findings (Krissy Seeley) Chapter Six: Raising Dyslexic Children with Resiliency (Rei Wang) Chapter Seven: On the Bubble (Candice Hansen) Chapter Eight: No Perfect Journeys—We Can Only Make Them Happy (Rashmi Wankhede) Chapter Nine: “The 6-Year Wait” (Debra Lafler) Chapter Ten: Mario’s Journey: How My Son’s Dyslexia Led to a Game-Changing Breakthrough in Spain (Montserrat Garcia) Chapter Eleven: Mother’s Intuition (Kara M. Gonsowski) Chapter Twelve: He Is a Different Learner, Not Slow Learner (Phyllis Wamucii Munyi-Kariuki / Nancy Muringo Munyi) Chapter Thirteen: Failure Turned into an Inspiring Entrepreneur (Shanthi Chandrasekhar) Chapter Fourteen: Educating the Educator: A Journey through Dyslexia in the Private School Sector (Alissa Birkenholtz) Chapter Fifteen: Fighting Dyslexia by Building Circles of Support (Lakshmipriya Somasundaram) Chapter Sixteen: A Star Is Born (Michelle Myers-Glower) Postscript: I Don’t Have Any Strengths; I’m LD! (Teri Wegner / Tonya Hameister) Conclusion (Paula Moraine) Afterword: Sharing in the Experience (Tonya Hameister) Contributors As Children with Dyslexia: Narratives from Mothers Around the World reveals, mothers share their pain navigating educational spaces for their success of their son or daughter who has dyslexia.