Mommy Guilt

I have discovered that moms of special needs kids carry a certain amount of mommy guilt. We all wish we had discovered an issue sooner and/or done something about it earlier. This certainly applies to dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, and other learning disabilities. It is like our gut told us something was wrong but we allowed other professionals. friends or family to tell us things like:

You are imagining it.

There is nothing wrong with your child.

If you would just read to your child more they would be reading by now.

Your child is just lazy.

Your child is unmotivated.

You need to work with your child more.

Your child is a late bloomer.

Your child needs to read more for practice.

On and on the list goes.................................

I have some good news for you because none of those things are true about your child, but you already know this deep down. Other people may have said some crazy things to you about your child and you instantly knew they were wrong but they were the professionals. You may have even gone against your gut and believed them. You may be feeling so much guilt about what these professionals said to you. They may have even blamed your parenting for the cause of your child's learning issues.

You may have tried every phonics program out there and nothing worked. You did your best but nothing seemed to stick. You may have even stuck your head in the sand and tried to ignore dyslexia hoping it would go away. You may have done everything right and your child still can't read, spell or write well. They may be in high school and still struggling. Whatever is going on in the present you can let the past go. You don't have to feel any more guilt about your child's learning differences. You are not the cause of your child's learning differences. You did what you could do at the time. You can start today! You can:

Hire an Orton Gillingham tutor or use a good Orton Gillingham program.

Hire a good speech therapist.

If you homeschool you can find the best curriculum for your child.

If your child is in the public school system you can find a parent advocate to attend IEP meetings.

There is so much you can do!
You can give your child accommodations such as Learning Ally, text to speech, and so forth.

No matter what, never give up! You can do this! Some days will be hard. Some days will have learning victories. Some days you might not want to get out of bed. Your child may need to review a concept for what feels like the millionth time. It is ok because you got this! You can let the guilt go and keep pressing on!

You are awesome,
Beth