Supporting Your Neurodivergent Athlete at Home: Building Confidence and Success

My son never enjoyed school. After the Davis® program, academics became easier and his self-confidence improved—but he couldn’t help comparing himself to his older brother, who naturally loved books, reading, and learning.

Then he found sports.

Everything changed. He loved it. I truly believe his confidence and resilience today stem directly from this athletic foundation, though being a dyslexic athlete came with bumps. He was physically gifted—he dominated on a pure athletic level—but the vocabulary, the plays, the coaching language? Sometimes that confused him. And when he hit middle school and experienced coaching transitions, new coaches brought different teaching methods and terminology he had to decode all over again.

That’s when I realized: what happens at home matters just as much as what happens on the field.

The hours between practices and games—how you prepare your child, how you respond to setbacks, how you reinforce learning, and how you interact with your child during and after the game—can be the difference between a child who thrives in sports and one who gives up.

This isn’t about becoming an assistant coach or turning your backyard into a training facility. It’s about creating a home environment that builds on what’s happening at practice, can rebuild confidence when it wavers, and helps your child develop the resilience that will serve them far beyond sports.

Let’s talk about how to do that and where to start.

Self-Regulation Tools

Before your child walks into practice or steps onto the field, they need to be ready—mentally and physically, that’s where self-regulation tools come in. These are simple techniques you can teach your athlete to get their brain and nervous system into the optimal space for learning and performing.

If you’ve already completed a Davis® Program, you have an excellent focusing tool for academics and learning—keep using that as is. For sports, however, you might want to introduce a sports-specific focus point that works better for athletic performance. For many field sports athletes find a focus point located directly above the forehead works great, as it gives them a wider view of the playing area and helps with quicker reaction times.

If you haven’t completed a Davis® program and don’t have the Davis self-regulation tools, don’t worry. Here are three essential self-regulation tools every neurodivergent athlete needs:

A Focusing Tool: The String Method

A sports focus can often be located directly above the head—about six-inches to a foot above, between the crown and their forehead. Here’s a technique you can teach your child to find and maintain that focus point:

Step One: Find Your Balance

Have your child stand up straight and shift their weight onto one foot. They’re going to balance on one leg—it doesn’t matter which one. The act of balancing requires their brain to orient itself. You literally cannot balance while disoriented. This simple physical act is the foundation.

Step Two: Imagine the Strings

While balancing, have them visualize that there is a string holding them up. Picture a string attached to the crown of their head, gently pulling them upward. This invisible string is holding them in perfect alignment. This visualization gives their brain a clear, physical reference point—something concrete to focus on rather than an abstract idea.

Step Three: Place Your Focus Point

Now have them imagine a dot floating about six-inches to a foot above their head, and just forward of the string maybe in inch to two forward. This dot is their focus point. It’s not moving. It’s not complicated. It’s just there, steady and clear.

Step Four: Return to Your Dot

Whenever they need to refocus in practice or a game have them think of that dot. Imagine the feeling of the string holding them upright and aligned as they see the dot in their mind. If they have a moment, actually balance on one foot. If they don’t have time for that, just mentally picture the dot and feel the strings holding them upright.

Your child will need to experiment with this focus point as they play their sport. If it doesn’t feel quite right or they can’t get into the zone, they may need to shift it slightly.

For example, a baseball player might try it while catching and again while stepping up to bat. The softball and baseball athletes I’ve worked with all really liked this focus point. One soccer player told me he felt much quicker reacting with it, and a hockey player said he could see the court better. If your child swims or does martial arts, this particular focus point might not be the best fit—but the principle still holds: finding a focus where their body feels grounded and in alignment will serve them well.

Once they find the right spot, it becomes a quick mental reset they can use anytime—before stepping up to bat, before a free throw, before taking the field. It is important to practice using this new focal point. After using it intentionally overtime it will become second nature.

A Calming Tool: Nervous System Reset

When your child is feeling anxious or overwhelmed—waiting to bat with everyone watching, or after a frustrating play, they need a way to calm their nerves. Teach them a simple breathing technique: slow, deep breaths in through the nose, and longer exhales out through the mouth. This signals to their body and mind that they are safe and helps release the anxiety that builds in high-pressure moments.

An Energy Tool: The Dial or Lever

In Davis® work, we call the energy tool “your dial.” If your child hasn’t learned this yet, think of it as an energy lever they can actively control and adjust based on the activity. The energy needed to listen to instructions is very different from the energy needed to sprint down a football field or explode off the line. Teach your child to consciously adjust their internal lever before each activity—turning it lower for focus and listening, higher for explosive movement and intensity. They’re in control of dialing in exactly what they need.

These three tools—focus, calm, and energy—work together to prepare your athlete’s brain and body for success.

Pre-Teaching Vocabulary and Concepts

When starting a new sport or going back to a sport for a new season, vocabulary can change, when this happens, it can be very helpful to pre-teach vocabulary and concepts at home to help reduce the cognitive load your child faces at practice.

When your child walks into practice and hears unfamiliar terminology or new concepts for the first time, they’re trying to do three things simultaneously:

1. Decode and understand the words
2. Grasp the concept being explained
3. Figure out how to execute it physically

That’s a lot. For a dyslexic that often processes language more slowly, it’s can be too much and they have disoriented or fall behind and miss information. For a kid with ADHD, following the sequencing and timing of a new play can cause some disorientation, resulting in missing understanding.

When you pre-teach vocabulary and concepts at home, your child arrives at practice already familiar with the language and basic ideas. Now they can focus their cognitive energy on execution and refinement rather than basic comprehension.

Ways to Pre-Teach Effectively

Get the practice schedule or curriculum in advance

Ask the coach: “What will you be working on this week?” or “What plays or skills are coming up?” Most coaches are happy to share this information, especially when you explain it helps your child prepare.

Introduce terminology in a low-pressure setting

A few days before practice, casually introduce the terms:

“Hey, I heard Coach is going to work on ‘pick and roll’ this week. Want to see what that looks like?”

Then show them a short video clip (YouTube is full of examples) or demonstrate with household objects.

Use visual aids and or physical demonstration

Don’t just define the term verbally. Show it:

• Watch professional athletes execute the skill
• Watch a YouTube lesson on it.
• Walk through the movements
• Have fun:
  • model it in clay
  • Draw a simple diagram or
  • Use action figures or toys to demonstrate a play

Make it interactive and playful

“Okay, you be the defender, I’ll be the offensive player. I’m going to show you what a ‘give and go’ looks like.”

Learning through play removes pressure and makes the concept stick.

Keep it brief

Five to ten minutes is plenty. You’re not teaching them to master the skill—just familiarizing them with the concept and language so it’s not brand new when the coach introduces it.

Real-World Example

Your child’s soccer coach is introducing “overlapping runs” next practice.

A few days before practice:

• You watch a 2-minute YouTube video together showing overlapping runs in professional soccer
• You walk through it in the backyard: “You dribble here, I run past you here, you pass to me here”
• Have them teach it back to you.

At practice:
When the coach says “We’re working on overlapping runs today,” your child thinks, “Oh yeah, I know what that is!” Instead of disorienting, they experience recognition and confidence.

The Confidence Multiplier

Pre-teaching doesn’t just reduce confusion—it creates a powerful psychological advantage.

Your child walks into practice feeling prepared and competent. When the coach introduces the concept, they might be one of the first to understand it. They might even demonstrate it successfully on the first try.

Suddenly, they’re not the kid who’s a step behind. They’re the kid who is a step ahead.

That feeling is transformative.

Ongoing Support

Learning-Focused Conversations After Practice

Instead of “How was practice?”—which usually gets a one-word answer—try asking questions that help your child process what they actually learned:

• “What did Coach teach you today?”
• “Did you learn anything new?”
• “What was the most interesting part of practice?”

These questions shift the focus from performance to learning. They give you real insight into what stuck, what confused them, and what might need reinforcement at home. Plus, they help your child recognize their own growth instead of just worrying about whether they did it “right.”

Build a Highlight Reel

Keep a running collection of your child’s best moments—video clips, photos, or even just a written list of wins big and small. You’ll miss recording plenty of moments (especially during practices) and that’s okay. What matters is having something to pull out when you need it.

Use this highlight reel strategically:

• Before big games to remind them of what they’re capable of
• When confidence dips after a tough practice or loss
• Just to celebrate progress and growth

Here’s what surprised me: my son and I would work on his highlight reel at different times during the season, but when his brother made one set to his favorite music and showed it to him, my son noticed something we’d both missed. His brother (who understands sports more then I do) had picked out different moments than we had. His video showed the screens, the pick-and-rolls, and the passes that led to assists. Not just the flashy moments or the baskets. My son felt a surge of pride realizing his brother could see how hard he was working, not just the highlight-reel plays. That’s the power of this tool: it shows your child what others see in them.

Difficult Experiences

Even with the best coach and excellent preparation, your child will have hard days. They’ll make mistakes. They’ll feel frustrated. They might have a game where nothing goes right or a practice where they feel like they can’t do anything correctly.

How you respond in these moments can really help your athlete build resilience.

What Not to Do

In these moments, avoid minimizing their feelings, jumping straight to solutions, or comparing them to others. All of these responses—whether it’s “It wasn’t that bad,” “Here’s what you should do differently,” “But you did better than your teammate,” or “I’m so proud of you!”—dismiss their experience and create distance.

What to Do Instead

Validate their feelings first:

“That was a really frustrating practice, wasn’t it?” or “I can see you’re disappointed with how that game went.”

Let them know their feelings make sense. Sit with the disappointment for a moment before trying to move past it.

Ask what they’re thinking:

“What was the hardest part for you?” or “What are you feeling most frustrated about?”

Sometimes they just need to be heard. Other times, this helps you understand what specifically went wrong so they can address it. This can help move from frustration to empowerment.

Help them identify one thing that went well:

After they have shared their experience, you can help them identity something that went well such as “I noticed you made a great pass in the second half” or “Your footwork on that one play was really solid.”

This isn’t sugar coating—it’s helping them see that a bad game doesn’t mean everything was bad. It builds the habit of balanced self-assessment.

Reframe mistakes as information:

“So you’re saying the timing was off on that play. That’s really good to notice. Now you know what to focus on in practice.”

Mistakes become data points for improvement rather than evidence of failure.

Remind them of past progress:

“Remember when you first started and [specific skill] felt impossible? Now you do it without even thinking. This new thing will get easier too.”

This builds confidence that struggle is temporary and improvement is possible.

Ask what they could do to make a change:

Here’s where you help them figure out what actually went wrong—and what they can control next time.

Start with: “What do you think you could do differently next time?”

Listen to their answer. They might say “I need to practice that move more” or “I didn’t understand what the coach was asking” or “I felt confused out there.” All of these are valuable.

If it’s a skill gap (they recognize they need more practice):
“That makes sense. That’s exactly what practice is for—building that skill. What part do you want to focus on first?”

This frames practice as the solution and puts them in control of what to work on. You can offer to practice together in the backyard, or ask if they want to watch a video of that play first.

If it’s a self-regulation gap (they felt confused, disoriented, or anxious):
Ask: “Did you feel clear about what you were supposed to be doing, or were there moments where things felt confusing?”

If they recognize the confusion or anxiety, you’ve found the real issue. Then: “Remember those focusing and energy tools we’ve been practicing? That’s exactly what would help you feel more grounded and clear next time. Want to practice that before your next game?”

If they didn’t notice the disorientation, you can gently point it out: “I noticed you seemed a little lost out there. Sometimes when we’re not feeling grounded, it’s hard to focus on what the coach is saying. That’s where your focus tool comes in.”

The key: help them recognize what went wrong so they’re motivated to use their tools next time. They’re not being told what to fix—they’re discovering it themselves.

Offer physical comfort and connection:

Sometimes a hug, sitting together quietly, or going for ice cream says more than words. Physical presence communicates “I’m here with you in this” without requiring them to talk about it.

The Long-Term Vision: Sports as a Resilience Builder

Here’s what you need to remember on the hard days, when you’re wondering if all this effort is worth it:

Sports aren’t just about athletics. They’re about building the whole person.

For your dyslexic child, sports can be the place where they discover something school might never show them: They are capable, competent, and strong.

Sports Build Identity Beyond Academics

In school, your child may be “the one who struggles with reading” or “the kid who needs extra help.”

In sports, they can be “the player with great field vision” or “the teammate who never gives up” or “the athlete with creative moves.”

This alternative identity reminds them—and everyone else—that they are more than their academic challenges.

Sports Teach Resilience Through Lived Experience

You can tell your child a thousand times that struggle leads to growth. But it’s different when they live it—when they practice a skill over and over until they finally nail it, when they lose a game and come back to play stronger, when they make a mistake and figure out how to recover.

That’s when it clicks. Not as an idea, but as something they’ve actually done. And that lived experience of pushing through and improving? It carries into everything else in their life.

Sports Provide Concrete Evidence of Progress

In school, your dyslexic child works hard—but progress often feels invisible. They study, they try, they put in effort, yet the results can feel abstract and slow to appear.

Athletic progress is different. It’s physical and visible. Your child can see and feel themselves getting better in real time:

• “I couldn’t dribble with my left hand at the start of the season, and now I can”
• “I used to be afraid of the ball, and now I’m not”
• “I didn’t understand that play, and now I can execute it”

This visible, concrete evidence of improvement—where effort directly translates to measurable progress they can witness themselves—builds self-efficacy: the belief that focused effort actually leads to improvement.

Sports Create Community and Belonging

Being part of a team gives your child a place where they belong, where they contribute, where they matter.

For children who may feel isolated or different in academic settings, this sense of belonging can be profound.

Sports Teach That Different Strengths Matter

Your child learns that there are many ways to be valuable:

• Speed matters, but so does strategy
• Scoring matters, but so does defense
• Individual skill matters, but so does teamwork

In the real world, people need all kinds of strengths. Speed and strategy. Scorers and defenders. Solo players and team players. School often only values one narrow set of skills. Sports shows your kid that the world is much bigger than that.

The Skills Transfer Beyond the Field

The skills your child develops in sports—resilience, teamwork, communication, handling pressure, recovering from mistakes, working toward long-term goals—are exactly the skills they’ll need in careers, relationships, and life.

You’re not just raising an athlete. You’re raising an adult who knows how to persist through difficulty, who can collaborate with others, who understands that failure is temporary and improvement is possible.

Your Role in the Long-Term Vision

Your job isn’t to make your child a star athlete or to ensure they never struggle.

Your job is to:

• Help them find environments where they can succeed
• Teach them to advocate for what they need
• Support them through setbacks
• Celebrate their growth
• Remind them of their strengths when they forget
• Keep the long-term vision in focus when the short-term is hard

You’re teaching them that they can navigate and thrive in a world that isn’t always built for how their brain works.

The Ripple Effect

When neurodivergent children find success in sports:

Their confidence grows and spills into other areas. They start advocating for themselves in school. They try new things. They take risks. They believe in their ability to figure things out.

The resilience they build on the field shows up in other places of life. The problem-solving skills they develop in games help them find creative solutions to academic challenges. The identity they build as a capable athlete balances the identity of “struggling student.”

Sports become the foundation that supports everything else.

Your neurodivergent child can find joy, confidence, and belonging in sports. They can build resilience that transforms their entire life.

And you—through your advocacy, your support, and your unwavering belief in their potential—are making that possible.

You’ve got this. Your child has got this. And together, you’re building something that will last far beyond any season.

The post Supporting Your Dyslexic Athlete at Home appeared first on Learning Tools.

I have some thrilling news to share with you! Learning Tools has relocated from the beloved Seattle location to a bright, sunny office in Bothell. This move marks an exciting new chapter for Learning Tools, and I can’t wait to welcome you to the new space.

Why the Move?

Seattle has been a fantastic home for Learning Tools, but I wanted a location that offers even more convenience for my clients. The new Bothell office is just off the 405, making it easily accessible for everyone on the east side and the North End. Whether you’re coming from Bellvue, Redmond, Woodinville or Mill Creek you’ll find that getting to to Learning Tools is now quicker and more straightforward.

The New Office

The new office space is a bright, sunny environment that’s perfect for learning and creativity. This is a positive and vibrant atmosphere which is crucial for effective learning, and the new location offers just that. I am confident that you’ll love the new space as much as I do.

Special Offer: 10% Discount

To celebrate the move, I am offering a special 10% discount on any first or second program you enroll in this summer or fall. Just mention this blog post when you sign up to take advantage of this limited-time offer. Whether you’re looking to enhance your reading or math skills or learning concepts for life, now is the perfect time to reach out and schedule yours or your child’s program.

Looking Forward

I are incredibly excited about this move and the opportunities it brings. My commitment to providing top-quality educational programs remains stronger than ever. The new location allows me to serve clients better and continue offering the exceptional learning experiences you’ve come to expect from a Davis Program.

Thank you for your support. I look forward to seeing you at the new Bothell office soon!

Warm regards,
Sophia Goebel
Owner & Facilitator at Learning Tools

P.S. Don’t forget to mention this blog post to receive your 10% discount on your next program!

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When we are able to predict what will happen in the future, we are able to plan and prepare for it.  This can help us feel more in control and less anxious.  However, when we are not able to predict what will happen, we may feel helpless and powerless.

One of the main reasons why people may not be able to predict the future is due to uncertainty.  If you are neurodivergent and you have missed key life concepts or lessons when you were young (due to being unfocused/disoriented/dreamy/inattentive) you might really struggle with prediction. That predictive ability and skill come into account daily in the choices we make.

Imagine your life without this ability, little decisions we make every day can affect how we feel throughout the day. Do I need a coat? If I go into that classroom what will happen to me? Is that person dangerous?  Why is there so much noise, will it ever stop? When will I eat again?

Learning Tools can help with prediction and thus anxiety.

In a number of the Davis Programs provided here at Learning Tools, we master the core concepts that are needed to predict.  The Davis Programs are brilliant in their simplicity and ability to get at the root cause of an issue.  The concept of consequence (something happening as a result of something else) is pivotal in one’s ability to predict.

Understanding the concept of consequence allows one to understand the potential outcomes of a particular action or decision. This understanding can then be used to make predictions about future events or situations, as one can anticipate how different actions or decisions may lead to different consequences.

For example, if a person knows that a particular decision is likely to lead to a negative effect, they can predict that this outcome will occur if that decision is made.  In this way, understanding the concept of consequence can help one make better predictions about future events, as it allows one to anticipate the potential outcome of different actions or decisions.

Consequence inherently contains the concepts of change, cause, effect, before and after; these concepts clarify the meaning of consequence.   These concepts are core to problem-solving and predicting.  The better you understand them, the easier it is to create the change (cause) that you want to take place (effect).

Predicting requires an educated guess of what will happen. Life experiences provide learning for us, but if the concept of consequence and all those it includes are not clear the learning hasn’t been able to provide an experience that can be decoded and remembered for the future.  People often feel they are victims and have no control.

Learning core developmental concepts gets at the root cause of many executive function activities and can address the issues of anxiety around confusion or not knowing how to predict.

The Davis Concepts for Life and Davis Autism Approach programs both go even further into root concepts providing 40 concepts that also look address motivation, responsibilities, and relationships.   If you want to learn more, I encourage you to give me a call or visit https://www.rdautismfoundation.org/.

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Spring News Letter 2020.

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My domain name has changed from Learning Tools Dyslexia to Learning Tools For Life.

I made this change for a number of reasons:

• The first reason is that I’m adding on the Davis Autism Programs and a Parenting Skills program to my services.  The “For life” addition to Learning Tools is broader and encompasses the new programs instead of just being known for Dyslexia services.
• I also feel that once you learn the “tools” in all of the programs I offer, you or your child will use them in everyday life, all the time.. and I’m going to imagine I will keep using them my whole life. 
• Lastly, one of the Davis programs for autism is called “Concepts for Life” so the “for Life” just seemed like the perfect fit. 

My email has changed as well, I am now using info@learningtoolsforlife.com, so please update your contacts/address book as needed. 

The post A Change! appeared first on Learning Tools.

Why do a Dyslexia Program?

A parent recently asked me, “Why should I pay for a program for my son?” She noted that she navigated school and life without such support despite being dyslexic herself, and emphasized that grades matter less than recognizing her child’s intelligence.

Here is my response.

Concrete Methods for Improvement

If your son wants help and wants to improve, a structured program offers concrete strategies to achieve that goal—moving beyond general understanding to actionable skill development.

Restoring Self-Esteem

For many families, self-esteem is the primary concern. I pursued a program for my son because it pained me to hear him call himself “stupid” or compare himself negatively to peers. After completing the program, this behavior diminished significantly. My son began recognizing his strengths and took pride in them—a pattern I consistently observe in follow-up conversations with other parents.

Empowering Student Control

When students understand their own learning process, they gain genuine control over their education. They learn to recognize when they are disoriented or confused and can adjust their approach accordingly.

Many dyslexic students excel at concentration, yet heavy concentration without proper focus often creates confusion, increases effort, and can be frustrating. Understanding the distinction between focused learning and unfocused concentration is transformative—when students learn to focus effectively rather than simply concentrating harder, learning becomes more efficient and less painful.

Recognizing Strengths and Potential

When students grasp how their brain works, they often become energized by new possibilities. They may discover excitement in their creative abilities, their capacity to see problems from different angles, or their talent for noticing patterns others miss. This shift—from viewing themselves as slow or challenged to recognizing their unique strengths—is profound and lasting.

Efficiency and Long-Term Value

A Davis® program works with an individual’s natural learning and thinking style, teaching students to leverage this style to their advantage. Traditional tutoring, by contrast, typically reteaches school material using the same verbal, repetition-based methods employed in classrooms, often at a slower pace.

While some tutors employ multi-sensory approaches, these methods frequently require years of ongoing sessions, ultimately costing equal to or more than a comprehensive program. A structured program aligned with how your child actually thinks delivers faster results and better long-term value.

Tags:Alaska, Davis Dyslexia, Davis Methods, dyscalculia help, dysgraphia help, dyslexia program, dyslexia tutoing, Reading help, seattle, stop the struggle

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Fall 2019 NewsLetter

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Spring News 2019

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Below is Jamie’s account of the day:

• Start off the morning with a check-in, how we are feeling about being there, did we sleep well, do we need a snack or to do some stretching – make sure we are set up to be successful for the day.
• Then we take time to check and make sure our focusing tools is where it needs to be and do any fine tuning if need be. This is as easy as 1,2,3, balance.
• Then we play around with koosh balls (a type of rubbery stringy ball).   From there we are really focused and ready to do some reading.
• We only read for 5-10 minutes depending on how one is feeling. When we work on reading comprehension it might be longer and a good discussion of “the movie” that we have visualized while reading.
• Next, we would do clay work to master words. We talk about the “trigger words”, look it up in a dictionary (it is amazing to see how many different meaning one of these words can have), make all kinds of sentences until that word is really clear to us, then we get to create a model of the word in clay. Creativity is welcome here, but simple models work great. So for the word “on”, while Sophia modeled a child who rode “on” the camel, I modeled a boy flew “on” the plane. This was a bit more challenging then I had thought it would be – but I was happy with the model in the end. {“on” definition used “used as a function word to indicate means of transport“}
• Then we take a break, maybe a 10 minutes break, maybe 15 – just depends on what we together think is needed. “I love how I get to help make the decisions, ‘it is your program, after all, Sophia says’.
• We end our break with koosh balls or start our work session, however, you prefer to think of it. Koosh balls help to ensure we are focused and ready for the next task at hand.
• When we get back to work, we often do another reading exercise. If not reading, we work on spelling words; we tackle another spelling word that has given me trouble in the past. Using the tools, making the word in clay, and then mastering has me spelling the word in no time! The best part is, I remember the word.
• We continue the day in this pattern. The day goes by fast actually, and while it is work, it doesn’t feel like work. The best part was each day I felt proud of the models I did and surprised by how much working with the word helped me, I don’t have problems with these words anymore when I am reading or trying to write and spell them – weird but true.

Spelling word “apologize” learned during the Dyslexia Reading Program.

Clay model showing the meaning of “always” (at all times) done during the Dyslexia Correction Program.

The post A Typical Day with My Dyslexia Tutor appeared first on Learning Tools.

English class has always been a nightmare for me, I was hopeless at writing text, or at least coherent paragraphs.  In grade school, it was spelling and grammar that I hated. Then middle school we were writing about books we read, and while that wasn’t quite as bad (because I could use sentences from books) it was the sequence and organization of what I wrote that challenged me. In high school, I soon had to formulate words to express my own feelings about what we were reading. Writing spilled over into other subjects and whenever I had to write an essay I felt sick. In college, we are supposed to be experts and remember all those things from English class to write intelligent thought-provoking papers for all classes.

For me writing was excruciating, it was also a barrier to my goal, graduating from college. I was at a small liberal arts college and I don’t’ know if we didn’t have tutors, or if I was just too humiliated to find out. But, because I was determined, I faced the humiliation of asking friends to help me correct my papers. Wow, what a blow to one’s self-esteem after you have rewritten a paper two, something three, times before you show it to someone and then have it come back to you a red marked up mess. I remember fearing what my classmates me thought of me, I had only a trusted few I would ask for help. Now that I am well into my 40’s, I am not quite so vulnerable, my skin has been thickened over the years.   Now it is easier to tell my stories and explain what a nightmare writing can before some, just like reading late can be for others.

Dyslexia: not just a Reading Problem

For me, my dyslexia didn’t show up as much with my reading, I was able to get by, I was really good at asking others what they thought, for listening to others and discuss topics. Understanding what I read could be hidden. What I couldn’t hide was my struggle with writing coherent sentences. I still struggle at times when I feel rushed or do not have a clear picture of what I want to say. When I was young I would procrastinate on the writing portion of homework, but it was because I would not know how to begin. I don’t know how many times I was told by teachers and friends to just start writing and then go back and correct it and make it readable. So much easier said than done. I tried out this method, and since I didn’t have a better solution, I used it, but it was not an efficient method for me.

Writing down anything that came to me actually gave me too many words to deal with. The problem with just putting whatever down on paper is I can ramble and ramble. The sequence of thought and/or the organization of ideas can be all over the place, but beyond that was getting the right words. I have really struggled with getting the right words for what I want to say, I say it so many times and in so many different ways that I confuse myself and my thoughts become muddied OR I don’t’ say enough of the right things because it is too obvious to me and I assume the reader would see it as being obvious as well.

I remember in college struggling and telling a friend that the words are just in a jumbled up in the sky and I can’t seem to pull the ones I want to use down to explain something. I understand this better now, I wasn’t seeing the words jumbled up, I was seeing what I wanted to express as a picture. Ever heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words?” There can be so much to see in a picture, especially one that is evolving and complex. Without a good understanding of the meaning of prepositions, adjectives, and adverbs describing those pictures I felt stumped. I just told my teachers I was stymied, their suggestion was to just write everything I thought and then clean it up – stream of consciousness writing.

Now I understand what the issue was with this method — I am not a verbal conceptualizer, I am not thinking with the sound of words, and this method was trying to help me get the words out. The actual issue I was having was not knowing which word to use because I didn’t have the meaning of high-frequency sight words that make up 75% of the words we use.

Meaning Based Program

The Davis methods are meaning based programs, they use symbol mastery to give meaning to words that cause dyslexics trouble – exactly what I needed.   I remember a moment during the program seeing what made up the trigger words list. I had an “ah ha” moment, I remembered being in German class in high school, getting a test back that was of German prepositions. I was looking at the test where you match a word with a picture. I had done poorly on it and I was confused as to why I got so many of them wrong because I knew the English equivalent. Back then I couldn’t figure it out, now it is clear as day to me, I didn’t have the right meanings of the English preposition to match with the picture on the test.

The Davis Dyslexia Correction Program has helped me move beyond my fears of words. I now understand the meaning of words at a much deeper level. I also have the ability to be focused enough to see my errors. I can clean up my writing to a place where I can be pretty sure it is understandable to others. Before I really thought I was broken when it came to expressing myself, now I see it for what it is.

Writing Text: My Method

My method to write text is a combination of methods.  I use outlining, mind mapping, as well as stream of consciousness depending on what I am writing.  Email start with bullet points.   This writing I started with bullets as well, he is what I had down:

• English class nightmare- Writing hard
• Experience
• Method not helpful
• Why – picture thinker
• Trigger words
• What Davis did

I put this on my page and then wrote a bit under each bullet.   I tried a bit of stream of consciousness, but I am constantly coming back to my bullets to be sure that this is what I wanted to express.  For this writing, I ended up deleting quite a bit because it wasn’t relevant. I then reread it very slowly making sure that each sentence is the picture I want to present. I then put it away until the next day, look at it with fresh eyes.  I still like to have someone else look at it to find things I might have missed.

This method isn’t too different then what some teachers tell you to do, but what is different is me, the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding I have gained through mastering trigger words allows me to see it, reread it, and be present to words in a way that wasn’t possible for me before.

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