About Us
Life changes quickly when someone in the family is struggling to read.
When it was discovered back in 2011 that my stepson had dyslexia I went from serving Ministers with the Government of Canada to training to be a tutor and then working full time building this website in order to help him and to benefit all those parents, teachers and professionals working to do the same with countless children just like him.
I set out to build the kind of site that I wish had existed when first starting to look for help: A site that will help parents and teachers avoid false starts and mis-diagnosis' and to quickly arrive at that moment when the problem is understood for the first time.
Paradoxically, it's
a moment of great relief when dyslexia is identified. Not
because it leads to a quick fix or a solution (there isn't any) and not
because it's a gift (it isn't), but because it's the moment when you,
your child or your student can begin to better understand who and why
they are the way they are: That they are not stupid, not lazy, not
incapable, just different. And it's the first step toward finding interventions and programs that really work, the first real strides toward
improved reading and all the wonderful benefits that flow from that; most importantly self confidence and a sense of self worth.
It's
also the moment when you discover you've been part of a big community
of people struggling with the same problem, shedding the same tears and
sharing the same triumphs.
The first pages of this site went live on June 3rd, 2013 and it remains a work in progress. I hope you'll help us make it all the better. I would love to hear from you.
Cheers,
Michael
A Story You Know
My stepson was a quick study for playing hockey or video games, but reading didn't come easy. The local schools he attended growing up were caring places, providing individualized education plans and some programming modifications and accommodations, but they didn't help improve his reading - at least not much.
A private 'psycho-educational assessment' helped, but the report did not mention anything about being dyslexic or even 'a specific reading disability', a term sometimes used synonymously with dyslexia. We turned to the local Kumon private school, but it also didn't help much, neither did a private summer school. After having spent years and thousands of dollars without much success a You Tube video on dyslexia changed our life. In an instant we realized that we had been on the wrong path all along.
Falling Through the Cracks
How could his schools have missed his obvious and acute reading problem? Simple: most school boards don't test for dyslexia and wouldn't have the teaching resources it demands if they did. But the biggest problem is simply that most people (teachers, school administrators) don't understand what dyslexia is (especially here in Canada), never mind how to adjust teaching styles or find the right tools. As a result, some people don't discover why it is they are struggling to read until they are adults, or worse, never at all.
Getting on the right path
The good news is that it's never too late to get on the right path. It took a while, but my stepson found the support he needed. Today he is a proud college graduate. He made it and your child or student (or you!) can too. This site will help you take the first steps in the right direction, wherever you live.
An independent source you can trust
The Reading Well will help you understand dyslexia, get professionally assessed and, if necessary, find tutors, programs or schools tailored to your needs, exactly the kind of help my stepson needed early in his education.
The Reading Well does review and recommend for and against certain programs, products, assessors and schools. We do this based on strict criteria including the consensus of existing independent science based research, the opinions of leading experts that we've come to trust and in many cases, feedback from people like you and of course, personal experience.
Good luck and good reading!
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