Rebecca Bush Offers a Pathway for Parents with Newly-Identified Dyslexic Kids

Debbie:
Hey, Rebecca, welcome to the podcast. 

Rebecca Bush:
Hey Debbie, I’m happy to be here.

Debbie:
So when I was thinking we should start with, was looking over my notes before we jumped on the call and even in your bio, you say that you’re a licensed dyslexia therapist. And I was like, that’s a, I actually haven’t heard, I’ve heard of coaches and so I, could you kind of set the stage and, and explain what you do as a licensed dyslexia therapist and maybe as part of that how or why or both you got into doing that work.

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, and that’s a great question because it’s a term, we’ve been around for a long time, it’s nothing new, but a lot of people don’t really know what we are or what we do. So I’m also what’s called a certified academic language therapist. So those two titles kind of go hand in hand, it depends on who’s calling you what. But really what it is is I have years of training in understanding the academic language acquisition process. So we’re looking mostly at reading and writing. Right, and reading, that’s obviously where dyslexia comes in, but it’s a deep dive training into everything that’s needed to have reading and writing at an academic level. So basically what we need to be successful in school. So being able to understand what that process looks like, identify when, you know, maybe we’re not going as expected and then how to support that. So with interventions, whatever it might be. I also do a lot of work with other therapists outside of my scope of practice. So, occupational therapists, all of that. But yeah, I basically started down this path as a classroom teacher for eight years. I was mostly in first grade. I kept trying to move out, but my principals were, was like, no, you’re too good at it. You got to stay there. So I did. And I loved it. I love that age. But I just kept getting these kids that were struggling to learn to read and I didn’t know what to do about it. And I’m not one to just kind of sit by and let things go. So I just kept studying and I ended up with two master’s degrees and then the specialist program.

Debbie:
Wow. And you know, when you trained to be a teacher was learning disability as part of your studies, like how did that factor in?

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, not really. And I took what’s called an alternative certification program to teaching. So my undergrad, actually nothing to do with teaching, it’s Spanish and Portuguese and art. And I actually was working in the music industry all during college, I thought that’s what I wanted to do, got to graduation. And I was like, okay, don’t want to do this. Great. Now what do I do? And so I just, I actually just stumbled into teaching. I was with a nonprofit that’s based in New York, but they partnered with schools in Honduras. So I actually taught in a rural Honduran village school for two years. I did pre-K and kinder to start, and that’s kind of when I started teaching. So at that point, I didn’t really have any teaching experience, any teacher training, but then I then came back to the U S and did my program and I was a bilingual teacher. So I’m here in Texas, bilingual for us means Spanish, and it’s a really high needs area. So if you are speaking Spanish and you’re willing to be in the classroom, they will take you and they will train you. And that’s what I did.

Debbie:
So I just have to say, this is nothing to do with our interview, but you’re clearly a multi-passionate person. The musician, Spanish, Portuguese, art, and then teacher, now being a dyslexia therapist and doing this academic language therapy, and now you’re an author. So anything else on your big bucket list of things you want to do?

Rebecca Bush:
I would add horses to the list. So that’s not something I talk about too much in my professional life, but I actually, I also teach equine assisted therapy and I love horses and, and animals. So yeah, there’s, I remember even when I was a kid, my mom was like, Rebecca, you just, it’s great. You’ve got so many passions, but maybe just pick one. So I’ve yet to take my mom’s advice.

Debbie:
Well, you fit in well with the audience of this show because a lot of us are into a lot of things. So that’s very cool. So we are going to be talking about your book. So your book, which is just coming out in September, it’s called Dyslexia and Your Newly Diagnosed Child, Parenting Essentials, Tips and Strategies to Help Your Child. Let’s start with your why for this book. You know, there are other books on dyslexia out there. I had a chance to read yours in advance and I was really excited about what it was adding to the conversation, but tell us about the why and what you were hoping to do with the book.

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, so obviously there are resources for dyslexia out there. We’ve known for decades what it is, but surprisingly, there’s actually a big gap for resources specifically for parents. So there’s a lot of stuff for teachers. We’ve got programs, you know, like all the ones I’m trained in. But when it comes to having in your hand, what am I supposed to do now, information for parents in one place? There’s nothing out there. And so that was kind of my why I do. So in my private practice, I work directly with students, but I also do a lot of parent coaching, just helping them understand what’s going on, what you need to say, who you need to talk to. Cause it’s, it’s overwhelming. And, and even for me, I, I mean, this is my area of expertise. I really know what I’m talking about. And so for me, you know, I can glance at a report and know exactly what to say. But when you don’t have that understanding and when it’s your baby, right, and you’re already feeling all the emotions around that. So every time I had these conversations with parents, every single parent was like, well, why didn’t somebody tell me this sooner? So I wanted to write the book so that they could find out as soon as possible what’s going on and what they need to do.

Debbie:
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that’s what I liked about it so much is, and I have read many books on dyslexia. I’ve featured many authors on this show and your book. I understood everything and that, you know what I mean? Like you, really broke it down. You have great visuals in there. Like it was just presented in such a kind of clear way, that I imagine would be really gentle and supportive and comforting for a parent who has just found themselves looking at this diagnosis and not knowing where to start. So I actually want to ask, because you said you do work with parents in a coaching aspect when they’re trying to grapple with their kid’s diagnosis, when they first come to you, what are the things that come up for them the most and what are they struggling with?

Rebecca Bush:
A lot of times it’s just this kind of overall feeling of overwhelm. And I think a lot of that comes down to just not understanding what’s going on. There’s still a lot of myths out there about dyslexia. A lot of times we hear that label and our brain automatically goes to, my kid’s not gonna read, they’re gonna drop out of school. All of these sort of doomsday feelings start to bubble up. But just being able to hit pause, take a deep breath and understand we know exactly what dyslexia is and we know exactly how to help. So if we can get started and get a kid with intervention on the right path, they’re not only gonna be fine, they’re gonna do incredibly well.

Debbie:
And I imagine that there are people who feel, you know, in addition to the overwhelm, confusion. Also, we know that, you know, similar with ADHD, that learning disabilities can be largely genetic or hereditary. And so is that part of a parent’s experience like feeling like, crap I passed this on to my kid or they feel bad about it or maybe they feel bad because it took them so long to figure out what was going on?

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, I mean, what you’re speaking to is that sort of guilt that can come with it, right? And you’re absolutely right. I think there’s many pieces to that. Dyslexia does have a genetic component, like a lot of these neurodiverse conditions. We actually think that if parent has it, there’s about a 50-50 chance that the kid is gonna have it. It’s that likely. It’s also super common, right? I mean, about one in five people have some form of dyslexia. And then there’s also that, well, why didn’t I do something sooner? Like, I thought there was something wrong. Why didn’t I push harder? Why didn’t I do this? And, you know, we all have those feelings, right? No matter what it is we’re looking at, but it’s like this, you know, who was it? I think it was Maya Angelou right? Like when we know better, we do better. So as soon as we know what’s going on, we just need to release those feeling, recognize them, right? Know that, yes, this is how I’m feeling. And then know too, at the end of the day, every parent does everything they can at every point to help their kid, right? And so we just need to know that that’s enough, right? And here we are and we’re in a good place and let’s just move forward.

Debbie:
Okay. So I would love to better understand both kind of the ages of some of these signs that parents might recognize as being like, maybe there’s a learning disability going on here, and then what those things might look like.

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah. So a couple of things we need to remember about dyslexia. So it is a continuum, right? It’s going to look a little different for each individual. Obviously there’s common characteristics. So on that continuum, right, we’ve got mild, moderate, severe. That’s the textbook definition. I think it’s way more, not complicated, but there’s more layers to it than that, right? So we may see signs sooner in some individuals than others. But really with dyslexia, it’s reading. So we’re having a hard time learning to read the words on the page. And there’s knock-on effects to that. We may struggle to understand, we may have hard time with spelling, but if we just look at the reading piece and we connect that to listening, speaking, reading, and writing, they’re all connected, right? So if I’m gonna have a hard time learning to read,a nd those are signs that typically are gonna pop up kindergarten, first, second grade, and those are the ones we usually notice, right? They’re not learning their letters, they’re not reading at the same rate as other kids in their classmates, or maybe they are, but it’s still kinda hard for them. But we actually can back up to even look at three and four-year-olds, and that’s where we see it come out in the speaking, right? So, because they’re all connected, so if we, as, I mean… Little kids write a lot of times, they say things and they mix up sounds or they say the wrong word and that’s a totally usual part of speech development. But if it persists longer than we expect, you know, if they’re moving into that three, three and a half and strangers still aren’t really understanding them, they’re having a hard time learning to rhyme when they go into pre-K, all of those things could be signs of something like dyslexia.

Debbie:
And when you say some people may struggle to understand them, are we talking about enunciation?

Rebecca Bush:
So, yeah, so enunciation, the technical term is articulation, right? The way we make sounds that can definitely be part of it. Because really, so what dyslexia is at its root is the way the brain processes language. And then that comes out in reading. But with that processing, maybe, and that’s where a lot of the BD confusion that we typically think of, right? That actually comes back to the base layer of the sounds, B, D, being super similar. So if I close my eyes and I just hear those sounds, they’re very, very alike. And so when we’re first learning to talk, you know, at 18 months, two, three, and the brain’s having a hard time, not hearing, your hearing is totally fine, but it’s just the processing and the understanding of the difference in the sounds that can come out in how we say the sounds. And then if that persists, that can then come out in how we read as well.

Debbie:
And then something I hear about sometimes our parents asked me about in my community is this idea of stealth dyslexia. Do you know what that is? What are we talking about?

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, with that, so I would say in my private practice, in my clinic, I see kids all the time that aren’t diagnosed until high school. And talking with a lot of parents, right, there is that genetic component, their kid gets diagnosed, they look back on their education experience and they’re like, yeah, that’s me too, right? Like I must have it as well. And so it can kind of hide in there. The biggest sign for it hiding is that it’s going to be that even if your kid is performing at the level we quote expect, that their grades are good, they seem to be reading fine, it’s just, it’s really, it’s way harder than it should be. Or, and or, there’s way more anxiety attached to it than there should be. That’s probably a sign that there’s something underlying going on. And so what happens sometimes with this idea of a stealth diagnosis is that maybe it’s a mild, you know, milder case of dyslexia. Maybe they have all of these super strengths that are kind of overshadowing what the dyslexia is doing in their brain. And so they’re able to cope longer without supports. But at the end of the day, if we have dyslexia, we know how to help, right? Even if we get a diagnosis in high school, as an adult, whenever it is, there’s still really great strategies and supports that we can put in place.

Debbie:
So even, it’s so fascinating. haven’t, of course, there’s so many adults who are being diagnosed or identified as autistic today as ADHD. So we know there’s this whole generation of adults who just were not seen for what was really going on with them. And I didn’t realize that also applied to dyslexia. That’s fascinating.

Rebecca Bush:
I can only imagine how empowering it can be. Cause so many of the myths around dyslexia are that you’re lazy, you’re stupid, you just need to try harder, you know, all of these horrible ideas. And to have heard that message your entire life, all the way through school, college, everything, even if you’ve made it to be a successful adult, but to recognize, Hey, there’s a reason why all of these things are so much harder. Right? Like I just, how liberating that would be to have that understanding about yourself. And it’s the same for kids, right? Like when they understand, okay, so reading is hard for me because my brain just works a little different.

Debbie:
Yeah. And then we’ve also done episodes on dysgraphia and dyscalculia. If a child is dyslexic, statistically, is there a higher chance that they would also be identified with one or both of those learning disabilities?

Rebecca Bush:
Yes, yeah. So dyslexia is reading, dysgraphia writing, dyscalculia math. They all kind of go together. You can have one without the other. We do sometimes see where dysgraphia can be missed or misdiagnosed because a lot of practitioners are going to go to dyslexia first. But the overlap, there is some overlap there. So dyslexia can impact spelling right, as a knock-on effect of reading. But yeah, as far as statistics, I mean, first of all, any learning difference, it’s pretty rare that they’re gonna go by themselves. There’s usually something else swimming along in there. So if you have dyslexia, you know, the statistics kind of vary a little bit, but it’s pretty likely about 50-50 that you’ll probably have dysgraphia as well. Dyscalculia we know a little bit less about, so maybe one in four, I would say dyslexia to dysgraphia. You can have all three, you can have just one, you know, take your pick.

Debbie:
So let’s talk about what support looks like. You you said we know what works, you know, and you’re trained in these modalities or approaches that support dyslexic humans, dyslexic students. So what are the approaches that parents need to know about to get their kids the help they need?

Rebecca Bush:
So we want to start intervention as soon as possible, right? We know early intervention is going to have your biggest impact, your biggest bang for your buck. What that’s going to look like, and you hear a slightly different term, so OG is going to be the biggest term you hear. That’s Orton Gillingham. It’s two researchers from back in the 20s and 30s. And they were the ones that first came up with this idea of what we now usually call structured literacy. So…the thing with dyslexia is that there’s parts of the written language that don’t just automatically make sense. So we’re going to break it down piece by piece and explicitly teach how the English language or whatever language you’re talking about, but how the written language works. and So that’s going to be OG based. We now also hear this term science of reading, which is largely based on OG research. It’s kind of all the same. The difference is going to be the intensity. And one of the key factors we want to think about with any learning difference is what we call multi-sensory.

Rebecca Bush:
So what we’re doing with multi-sensory, right, if you think of your five senses, but the three we typically go for would be your touch, speaking, and hearing. So if I can see it, I can say it, and I can move it all at the same time or in a quick succession, I’m actually connecting different parts of my brain to create this stronger map and the stronger network around the area that’s not as strong as I want it to be. So when I think, you know, if I’m going to spell, I don’t know the word cat, right? I need C-A-T, so I’ve got to break down the sounds. When I have more pieces of my brain doing that together, it’s going to come together more.

Debbie:
Yeah, so even just the way you’re explaining that, it’s making sense to me in a way that it hasn’t in the past. And so we’re literally rewiring the brain by doing this work. It’s not just learning some tricks or strategies to do this where you’re changing the neurobiology of the brain.

Rebecca Bush:
Yes, 100%. And that’s why early intervention is so much more effective, right? Because we still have that neuroplasticity in place, right? Little kids have neuroplasticity too, but little kids’ brains are just so much more malleable, for lack of a better word at that age, right? And that really carries on until, you know, that six, seven, eight range. So ideally, if we, even at three or four, if we see some things popping up in speech, work with a speech pathologist. I work really closely with a lot of speech therapists because they’re gonna be kind of your first port of call whenever you see any of these issues pop up. But again, like I said, even in high school, I get a lot of high schoolers that come through. That’s where we’re gonna be more strategic. There’s certain buckets of skills that often are missing in someone with dyslexia and that’s phonological awareness. That usually has a big kind of bang for your buck effect. So if we can hit that hard and get that in place, even in high school or as an adult, we’re basically, I kind of think of the brain as like a computer, right? And if we are trying to read, we have all these tabs open, because I have to recognize the letter, I have to attach it to the sound, I have to hold onto those sounds and put them together. I then have the meaning and everything else. So if we can, like a computer, right? You got too many tabs open, you’re going too slowly. But if we can make certain tabs so automatic that they close, then I got more brain power to understand and do all the things that I’m supposed to do with my reading. And phonological awareness is one of those tabs for most people with dyslexia is going to run super slowly, but it’s also very responsive to intervention. So we can hit it hard, we can get those skills in place, and then you basically have more brain power to understand what you’re reading, which is the ultimate goal of reading anyway.

Debbie:
Right. It’s like, you know, I’m a runner. So I think about when you’re running, you know, I can still hear my coach saying, drop your shoulders, relax your arms, like just trying to be as efficient as possible. So I have more energy to run. So we’re wanting to do the same thing with our brains.

Rebecca Bush:
Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of my private students, it’s fun kind of figuring out how to get them on board with what we’re doing. And a lot of them are athletes. And so using that sport analogy, like, okay, this is remember when your coach has you run sprints, so you build your stamina, right? We’re going to run a sprint right now. Or we’re going to practice catching the ball or whatever it is, but being able to connect it, just like you’re doing, connected to something they know, then they understand, even if they don’t fully understand, but they kind of understand why they’re doing it. And then that buy-in goes up as well.

Debbie:
I was gonna pivot to talking about school supports, but before I do that, you just talked about, especially when you’re working with older students, getting them on board, can you talk a little bit about when you work with kids who have just discovered their dyslexia, whether they’re young or older, what is that process like in helping them kind of integrate that information?

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, and this is how, first of all, it comes down to parents’ choice. I always communicate with the caregivers. If they don’t want their child to know the diagnosis, then I’m going to honor that. That’s their choice. I’m going to counsel them to share it with the kid because like I said earlier, I do think it’s just so empowering to understand why this is hard. But a lot of it, it just comes down to using whatever age and stage they’re at, but using language that they can understand. Right? So we all know we have a brain in our head. We all know it helps us do different things. Usually by the time the kid gets diagnosed with dyslexia, they are well aware of the fact that reading and probably writing is really hard. And so we can kind of connect all of those pieces and just say, look, you have something called dyslexia. I know that’s kind of a big weird word, but basically what it means is that the parts of your brain that help you read are working a little differently than maybe some of your friends. So here’s this new teacher, you know, reading therapist or whatever you want to call them, that’s going to be helping you learn to read in a way that works for your brain. And I can tell you I’ve had, I mean, we know anxiety pretty much goes hand in hand with learning differences. So I’ve seen all kinds of sort of social emotional things with kids in my practice, especially those first couple of sessions, right? That wall is sky high, especially the older kids that come in, right? Like they don’t want anything to do with me because they know this is really hard. They’ve probably worked with other tutors and teachers at different points. They’re like, yeah, here’s one more lady that’s supposed to help me, right? But when the door gets closed and those couple of sessions in and they see like, okay, first of all, this lady recognized, like she sees me, right? Like she knows this is hard, she’s here to help. And they see that it’s actually working. It’s a game changer. They’re back to like being the beautiful little people that they are and that they’re supposed to be, right? So, and that’s one of those moments that I just truly love is seeing that relaxing.

Debbie:
Yeah. Yeah. It’s a gift. I can imagine it’s very satisfying. So let’s talk about school for a few minutes, because this is where like the rubber meets the road with so many of our listeners and trying to get the supports we know our kids need in school can be challenging in the best of times. I, my imagine, you know, my hunch is that things are getting more complicated now with what’s happening, especially in the US with the Department of Education, which we can or cannot talk about, kind of generally speaking. What should parents expect and what would we want them to know when it comes to aligning with or collaborating with the school to help their kids get the dyslexia support they need?

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, I will preface this answer by saying this section was probably the hardest to write in my book because it just, it’s, it really depends on, you know, if we’re speaking internationally, what country you’re in, here in the U S or wherever, what type of school you’re in, even what state you’re in. It, it just, there’s so many factors that come into it. But a couple of big picture things I always say to parents is first of all, always come in with the best of intentions. I was in the classroom for eight and a half years as a classroom teacher and then I was in leadership after that. I promise you, every teacher wants to do the best that they can for all of their students. I mean, I know when I was in the classroom, I had no idea what I was doing, certainly in hindsight, right? But we all want the best for the kid. That’s why we’re there. The second thing is document everything. So I know here in the US, something has to be submitted in writing for basically the clock to start ticking. So I can speak to the US legally. So we have IDEA, right, which is the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act. There are certain rules, federal laws in place that the school has to follow. But those things only happen if you submit it in writing. So maybe you have that in-person conversation at school, send an email and say, as we discussed, my child’s going to be undergoing their evaluation. The evaluation is called different things in different places. Education in general, dyslexia, world in specific, I wish we could just have a glossary that everyone’s going to agree to. But yeah, get it in writing. And then as far as what each individual school offers, what we want for intervention is highly intensive. So we’re talking about minimum three hours a week, ideally one on one, or if not one on one, a small group, no more than six. And ideally that six, they’re as much as possible. Their needs are pretty similar. Obviously every kid’s different, but the rate of progress through a program is really going to depend on that individual. And that’s where when you’re in a group, it just gets harder. So ideally that intensive intervention is being delivered through school. They should be doing it. We have, like I said, we know all the things we need to do, just for different reasons, sometimes schools won’t or can’t. If we’re talking about private schools, honestly, all of that is out the window. Private schools really don’t have to do anything. But if you are in a private school here in the States, you still can go to your public district to get an evaluation. They still will have to do the evaluation for your kids. So same thing, start that clock by sending the email.

Debbie:
And so we won’t go down too far this rabbit hole, but because most listeners of the show are based in the US and we know what’s currently happening with the proposed elimination of the department of education. I know there’s a lot of concern, especially within the disabilities community, neurodivergent community, kids who need special services in schools. And so I’m just wondering, you know, in this moment in time, we’re talking in September of 2025. Are there new policies or gaps in services or things that parents should really be paying attention to?

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, I mean, obviously this is a big topic. It is scary what’s happening. But I will say at the end of the day, the Department of Education is a relatively new thing as far as US education, but we still have federal laws in place. So IDEA, ADA, these laws are still in place. So even if we dismantle, which as a whole, I have lots of opinions about that, but even if we were to hypothetically dismantle a department, it shouldn’t impact the ability for schools to deliver services because the law hasn’t changed. Now, what it can impact is two things, obviously funding and oversight. And this is where it starts to get a little scary for parents because, and I do a lot of parent advocacy as well, if you get to the point where you’re having to fight the school for whatever reason. Right? It’s like, think of the legal system, right? Or even at work, like you got to keep going to the bigger boss. Well, you’ve got your school, you’ve got your districts, you’ve got your state, and then there’s the Department of Education. So if your biggest boss is gone, then the states, you know, it’s like when the, what’s the saying, when the cat’s away, the mice will play, right? So if there’s no one making them do these things, maybe they stop doing them. You know, so for parents, I would say the law is still in place. Keep going with your getting everything in paper, with your advocacy, with your expectation of supports and services, because until we change the law, schools are still supposed to be delivering what they’re supposed to do.

Debbie:
Yeah. Yeah, that’s super helpful. And I would, you know, I would say too, it’s probably just really important to be not only kind of continue to be that strong advocate and document everything, but also share your experiences with other families because there’s a lot of us, right? There are a lot of parents navigating this. There’s power and strength and numbers. So if, if people continue to talk about it, and challenges that they’re having, feel like that can be helpful.

Rebecca Bush:
Yes. Community is everything, right?

Debbie:
So this is a really random side question, but my brain is needing me to ask it. It has nothing to do with what we were just talking about, but because you used to teach in a Spanish school, you speak Portuguese, I live in the Netherlands, I’m somewhat familiar with the Dutch school system here. This is a language-based and reading and writing-based disability. Is it the exact same thing across all languages? Is that a silly question? I’m just wondering. Yeah.

Rebecca Bush:
No, it’s not at all. And yeah, and I speak multiple languages. I spent pretty much the majority of my teaching career in international schools, bilingual schools, and not just Spanish, Portuguese. I’ve been in German and French. I lived in Hong Kong for a long time. So we were looking at Mandarin and Cantonese. So yeah, this is where I get like really nerdy about the answer because the brain is just super fascinating. So what happens with reading is there’s no one part of the brain that helps us read. And that’s because reading and writing, as far as human civilization goes, are actually relatively new concepts. It’s only been about five or 6,000 years that these kind of random marks on a, well now a page or screen, used to be the, you know, the stone or papyrus or whatever actually meant something. It was people that said, hey, if I put these little scribbles together, that means this. And so when we read, there’s what a lot of researchers call a pathway. And so there’s a bunch of different parts of the brain. It’s kind of like watching a symphony. So this one lights up, then that one lights up, but they’re all working together to help us read. And part of that is parts of the brain that are kicking on are based on how the written language works that you were reading, right?

So English, It’s a phonetic language. have letters, a letter or group of letters that represent a sound and we break it apart and put it together. So Spanish is the same, right? Spanish is what a lot of research has called transparent. It’s much more transparent. One letter, one sound. English, because of our history and whole reasons is not as transparent, but that’s how our language works. If we were to think about something like Mandarin Chinese that’s using simplified characters, that’s a picture, right? And then there’s, you know, there’s the radicals and all the things that you can pile on top of each other to make different words, but it’s a different part of the brain that’s kicking in. Some parts are the same, right? Because language is language for everyone, but it’s the written component that changes. And that’s where we can see dyslexia look a little different depending on the writing system of that language. So I don’t know much about Dutch, but I believe they use letters like we do. So it would probably be very similar for someone with dyslexia to have a hard time reading Dutch and English, but they may not have that same difficulty in something like Chinese with traditional or modern characters.

Debbie:
Yeah, Fascinating. Okay, thank you. That was a really interesting answer. And a little side question to that question. Is it harder for dyslexic students to learn second languages?

Rebecca Bush:
Not necessarily. Obviously, this is where each individual is different. It kind of looks, if there’s other diagnoses kind of riding along, perhaps. If we’re looking at sort of an overall language delay or language processing disability, it could be, but not necessarily. Yeah, so if you’re speaking multiple languages throughout the day, Alzheimer’s is perhaps less likely. So really what we’re doing is we’re strengthening the brain. So for somebody with dyslexia, the parts of the brain that we want strengthened anyways are probably gonna be strengthened by speaking multiple languages. Writing multiple languages and reading and writing multiple languages may be trickier, but not necessarily speaking.

Debbie:
Okay, great. Thank you. Thanks for going on that little tangent with me. I appreciate that.

Rebecca Bush:
Absolutely. I could. I love this. I could talk about this stuff all day.

Debbie:
Yeah, I can tell you’re really into it, which is exactly perfect for the work that you’re doing and makes total sense why you wrote this book, because you have a lot to share and you want it to be accessible to everybody, which is great. So as a kind of closing thought, is there something you would want to leave listeners with, you know, if they are already navigating this path with their child or they suspect, you know, maybe they’ve got a younger kid, but they’re like, I know this is in my future. What would you want them to know?

Rebecca Bush:
I think at the end of the day, just remember, we know all this great stuff that’s out there, but you’re a parent, you’re a caregiver, right? So recognize that bond you have with your kiddo, build that, trust your gut. If you’re ever like, this just doesn’t feel right, follow that path as well, because nobody knows a kid as well as their parent does. So even if you don’t have all the answers, you know your kid and just figure out how to ask the right questions.

Debbie:
Yeah, that’s great. That advice comes up a lot, like to trust your gut and nobody knows our kid better than we do. So I love that reiterating of that, but also asking the right questions is great advice. So wonderful. So again, listeners, the book is called Dyslexia and Your Newly Diagnosed Child, Parenting Essentials, Tips and Strategies to Help Your Child. It’s out in paperback in the US on the 30th of September. Where would you like people to connect with you, Rebecca?

Rebecca Bush:
So you can go to my website, it’s leadchanges.com. I’m also on Instagram at dyslexiarebecca.

Debbie:
Dyslexia, Rebecca. Awesome. Okay. So listeners, as usual, I have links in the show notes pages to those places and where you can get the book and Rebecca, congratulations. And yeah, it was so nice to have this conversation with you. Thank you.

Rebecca Bush:
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you.