WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – A Dyslexia Awareness Month event – “Why is My Child Struggling to Read?” – will help people “In Understanding the Challenges and Solution.”

Organizers said the purpose of the program, Oct. 21, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties, 700 S. Dixie Hwy. #200 in West Palm Beach, is to guide teachers and parents in learning strategies and resources for understanding their students or children and providing better help for them.

“We need to know that there are different ways of providing service to our students,” said host and educator Tamika Taylor, “and from my experience, we are not where we should be to teach our students how to learn.”

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that is characterized by difficulty reading, Taylor said, but “It’s not what people think it is. The first thing they say is someone who reads backward. That’s not dyslexia.”

Taylor said she I did not realize until obtaining her master’s degree that she had a form of dyslexia. She had struggled as a student who studied hard, she said, but would forget the information. So she developed different study habits to keep up with what was going on.

“Just because you don’t know how to pass the SAT doesn’t mean you can’t be successful, that is the key.” Because dyslexia makes it challenging to perform academically, the other side of the brain activates more intelligence, Taylor said.

“By finding out in my college years and being an educator, it makes me more effective in a classroom.”

One of the lectures will be about how the brain waves of dyslexia are different from a brain that is functioning properly and the science behind the two.

Another will be the therapeutic side of it, and one who’s been in the education side who’s a parent with a kid who goes through it.

This event will feature keynote speaker Tara C. Wallace, Ed.S, talking about her experience as a parent of a child having dyslexia. Also, Wes Beach, a therapist who works on the scientific study of attention deficit hyperactivy disorder (ADHD).

Another presenter is dyslexia therapist Felicia Smith, who tutors students regularly, Taylor said, and also teaches teachers. Taylor will be taking that course to become certified as a dyslexic therapist.

“One thing with dyslexia or any learning differences is you have to be organized in your brain,” said Taylor. “It has to make sense to store the information and train yourself well.”

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