I get that question quite a lot, especially before an initial assessment, when a parent (usually mum) wants to protect her child from finding out that there may be ‘something wrong’ with them. They may ask me to not mention the ‘D’-word or to make sure that their fragile self-esteem doesn’t get crushed even further.
I fully understand that and applaud the parent for their care. But I also explain that they are missing the point: When I explain to a child how amazing dyslexic people are, that they ‘rule the world’, so to speak and that they would be fortunate indeed to be in such great company with the likes of Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver, Keira Kneightly, Johnny Depp, Einstein…they don’t feel stupid any more. The reason that they are lacking the self esteem is that they are not performing at the same level than their peers and that they have drawn the wrong conclusion from that in the first place. The Dyslexia label replaces their perception of themselves as being less intelligent than their friends. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Here are some great answers in this article.