Neva Holladay is a math teacher in Arcata, California who is passionate about teaching mathematics and helping all her students find equal success in their academics. Below, she helps readers understand how dyslexia affects students in school and discusses when evaluations should be made to determine if the condition is present.
Neva Holladay has helped children for years take control of their education, and today empowers their studies as a passionate math teacher in California. Working with a range of students and learning to meet their individual learning needs, she has become an expert on specialized teaching techniques. Here, she explains how children with dyslexia are at a unique disadvantage, but how the condition can help them grow to be strong, resourceful students and individuals. Neva has learning disabilities, including dyslexia.
“There are millions of cases of dyslexia in the US each year, proving that it’s not a rare condition by any means,” says Neva Holladay. “Unfortunately, dyslexia can be a real struggle for students as it impacts their ability to read and communicate with confidence. The challenge lies in discovering the ways each student learns best at an individual level so they can work around dyslexia.”
Neva Holladay tells us that students with dyslexia are most often faced with challenges in the areas of reading and writing. These difficulties can have a significant impact on a student’s academic progress, but it also can affect their social and emotional aspects in life, as well. Being unable to express yourself through language as eloquently as you’d like can often leave lingering feelings of low self-esteem.
Although the child may not feel this way, Neva Holladay says symptoms of dyslexia are not at all a reflection of a child’s individual intelligence. Unfortunately, it’s also not something that they can grow out of, meaning that the sooner they can determine what helps them learn best, the better equipped they’ll be for any struggles with the condition throughout their life.
Dyslexia appears in children at various ages, but often as soon as they are tasked with reading and writing. School districts can perform evaluations to determine if children have the condition, but usually not until the child in question is at least six-years-old. However, certain schools encourage parents to wait until the child is in third grade to determine if an intervention is actually required. Many doctors simply ask that parents seek out an evaluation as soon as there’s an evident gap between reading skills and intelligence level.
Neva Holladay says that there are plenty of professional resources today to teach kids with dyslexia how to overcome their condition and learn methods of education that fit their individual needs. Above all, she says that the goal should be to make these children comfortable reading and communicating and to teach them never to doubt their abilities or self-worth.
