The Roving Mind’s Eye: How Your Dyslexic Child Sees Words Eliminate Confusion by Using “Go to The Spot”

This exercise is for you - the parent: Do this if you want to understand how your dyslexic child often reverses letters and sees them upside down or backwards. You should note that your experience will likely be much less intense than what the average dyslexic child or adult experiences.

To complete this exercise, you should first set your own “The Spot.” You’ll quickly see the benefits of this for yourself and for your child. Please click on the link below for an instructional video on how to ‘Go to The Spot’.

(Note: If you are getting resistance from your child when they are told to "Go to The Spot”, do the following exercise with your child to show them the importance of keeping their “Mind’s Eye” on The Spot.)

1. Now that you can position your Mind’s Eye on The Spot, this exercise will help you notice what happens each time your Mind’s Eye moves off of The Spot while you read.

2. Look at a clock face on the wall and imagine the word “was” in the middle of it.

3. You are going to move your Mind’s Eye counterclockwise to the numbered positions (shown below) on the clock and view what the word in the middle of the clock looks like as you change viewing positions.

   

   

4. Start by moving your Mind’s Eye below 6:00 o’clock on the clock on the wall.

   1. What is the first letter you see?

      1. w

   2. What is the second letter you see?

      1. a

   3. What is the third letter you see?

      1. s

   4. What does the word look like on the clock?

      1. was

5. Move your Mind’s Eye beside the 3:00 o’clock position.

   1. What is the first letter you see?

      1. s

   2. What is the next letter you see?

      1. a

   3. What is the next letter you see?

      1. w

   4. What word do you see now?

      1. was

6. Move your Mind’s Eye above 12:00 o’clock From this position, look down at the word “was” on the clock... Notice that you are seeing things upside down (from top to bottom) with your Mind’s Eye.

   1. What does the letter “w” look like now?

      1. m or w?

   2. What word do you see now?

      1. sam?

7. This is an illustration of how some children with dyslexia process the words and letters on page. This “confusion” occurs naturally and more intensely than you have experienced, and it happens all the time. You now understand the frustration experienced by your dyslexic child. Move your Mind’s Eye back onto The Spot. What do you see when you look at the word in the middle of the clock?

   1. Okay! You have seen how you can see words and letters upside down and in reverse.

   2. Whenever your child gets interrupted or becomes confused about what they are reading. They can stop and “Go to The Spot “...and then look again at the word or symbol.

For those of you who may have been a bit skeptical of the concept of Go to The Spot, hopefully this exercise will have demonstrated how applying the concept can benefit your dyslexic child.

Learn to Read, so you can Read to Learn. ™