Kim Head of Conway founded The Dyslexia Project, a research and advocacy group for families challenged by the learning disability, after wasting time and money navigating the mysterious channels that guide this disorder.

To make going down those paths easier for parents who suspect their child may be suffering from dyslexia, Head offers a simple, cognitive checklist for learning and dealing with the disability:

1. Keep an eye on words. In 4 and 5-year-olds, for instance, difficulty with rhyming, pronouncing words more than three syllables or even tying shoes are potential signals. In 6 to 12-year-olds, parents should note poor performance in spelling, handwriting or math concepts, telling time or finding the words to express themselves.

Any one of these doesn’t automatically denote a learning disability. However, parents who are attuned to such issues as potentially symptomatic are more likely to seek and receive an accurate diagnosis and less likely to aggravate the problem by treating it as poor motivation, rebellion or laziness.

2. Diagnosis is only half the battle. School systems’ first instinct is to shuffle kids into special education programs; however, only about one dyslexic child in 10 qualifies as a special education student. Those who do are generally subjected to one-size-fits-all methodology that isn’t any more helpful than what’s being taught in the regular classroom.

Again, it’s up to parents to ask direct questions about—or, in the case of home-schoolers, to adopt—the correct teaching methodology and tools. Specifically, Head endorses the Orton-Gillingham Method, a multisensory, phonics-based approach to reading. Minor accommodation in the classroom, like having test questions read aloud, is highly effective and can be implemented relatively easily.

3. Go digital. Finally, a wide range of digital tools have been developed, for use with a tablet or laptop, that encourages learning through interaction rather than staring at words on a page or the board.

For more about dyslexia, see the August issue of Little Rock Family or visit The Dyslexia Project's website.