E Dy l xia s

Dealing with D o e s y o u r c h i l D s t r u g g l e w i t h l e a r n i n g a n D a t t e n t i o n i s s u e s ? t a k e h e a r t . y o u a r e n o t a l o n e

Suzanne Lang fondly remembers asking her then five- year- old son, Alec, what he wanted to be for Halloween. “The king,” he said, beaming. So they went to the craft store and picked out red velvet and white fur for a cape. Lang made a sceptre out of cardboard and spray- painted it gold.

“When I put the crown on his head, he looked at me with big eyes, full of confidence and joy,” she says. “Sadly, I wouldn’t see that look again for many years.”

There had been hints back in preschool that something wasn’t right. Alec’s speech was slightly off. He had trouble in kindergarten with letters and words. But at the same time, he was very bright, creative and inquisitive.

In first grade, things began to unravel. Every day, the class would spend time writing in their journals. And every day Alec would try hard but only manage to write one word — and he’d spell it wrong, too.

School became unbearable for him. He began chewing through pencil erasers. He’d come home after school yelling or crying, feeling frustrated and overwhelmed. In third grade, when his school evaluated him, he told the staff he was “stupid”, even though the evaluation found he actually had a very high IQ. “My little ‘ king’ seemed so far away,” Lang noted. Eventually, the Lang family discovered that Alec had dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ( ADHD). These issues aren’t uncommon: one in five children struggle with brain- based issues related to reading, math, writing, attention and organisation.

“Back then, all I knew was that I needed to start looking for ways to help my son,” Lang says. “But I hit a roadblock I never expected; few parents wanted to open up to me about their children’s struggles.”

It’s an uncomfortable subject, after all. It’s also invisible — no one can tell by looking at a child that he can’t read or write. “I turned to the Internet, but it was beyond frustrating. Most websites were full of confusing education jargon. And if I found a site I liked, I kept wondering, ‘ Can I really trust this information?’”

Lang spent countless hours tracking down experts, eventually finding a reading specialist named Margie Gillis. “She helped us understand two very important things: why my son was struggling and how I could help him,” Lang says.

That knowledge marked a turning point for the Langs. They found a middle school that gave Alec the chance to meet other kids with learning and attention issues. This helped build his confidence and gave him a sense of community. “I remember him saying, ‘ I never thought there were so many people like me’,” Suzanne says.

Once he had the kind of instruction and support he needed, Alec started to make progress. By the end of middle school, he even started talking about wanting to go to college. “Even as Alec started to thrive, a sadness came over me,” Lang says. “I thought, ‘ How many other parents are out there looking for answers?’”

That’s when she embarked on a new mission — to help other parents whose children have learning and attention issues. That journey led her to join the team at Understood. org, a comprehensive resource that empowers parents of kids with learning and attention issues.

Its mission is to offer parents clear explanations and prac-