:: Wrapping It Up ::

Throughout my time blogging, I began learning facts about my topic in a new light. This new perspective I gained was from the view of the parents’ side of the situation. I selected the topic of dyslexia and how it affects the child, as well as the family. I quickly discovered that one idea presented in a blog could quickly branch off in another direction. It is like the branches that stem from larger branches, which stem from the trunk of the tree. It all leads to one main idea or concept. It is my job as the blogger to decide which way to take my reader. Even though I was blogging to my professors and fellow cohortians, I liked to pretend that my audience was the parents of a child with dyslexia. What would they like to see posted? What information can I uncover that would be beneficial to them and their child? What resources would be helpful and supportive of their endeavors?

While I was blogging, I discovered that there is some information that you really have to dig for! Some days I would sit down to blog about a certain aspect of dyslexia, and it became more of a challenge than I was initially anticipating. This made me realize just how hard it would be as a parent to try to look for various ways to help my child. There is no easy way to find everything I need. I realized that parents have to find a variety of reliable sources. For one of my posts, I had the chance to interview a master teacher. She was such an excellent source of information and had a wealth of wisdom in the area of dyslexia. I think that parents should not forget to turn to a variety of teachers for input and information. As I was blogging, I also found that there are SO MANY different places that parents can connect with other parents facing the same circumstances. I was able to locate quite a few sites that contain support groups, along with information about what all the support groups entail. Blogging about dyslexia improved my “researching skills” that I will need as a teacher in the future. When I am a teacher, and I have a child with a disability in my classroom, I am going to need to do some work to see what my role is and how I can help the child. Knowing how to research and where to look for information will be key in the future, and I think that this is excellent preparation for the future. I will admit, it was not necessarily a fun activity for me, but I understand the value of knowing how to blog and how it can help parents. I was hired to help at a preschool with their camp this summer, and they put me in charge of the blog. I was able to confidently take on the task because I was already blogging for this course, and I knew what parents would like to see and read about. It was fun to instantly apply something that I was learning in one of my college courses in a real-world situation. Awesome!

Overall, the blogging challenge has been beneficial –though at times the thought of it made me cringe. I learned an assortment of ways to help children with dyslexia and their parents/families. I learned to take on a new perspective when I see a child with a disability. There is more going on than just the child. There is stress on that parent that most people might overlook. I am excited to see what challenges await me as I begin to take on students with disabilities and their families.