Reading David: A Mother and Son's Journey Through the Labyrinth of Dyslexia

I am a teacher and have had close contact with families who have had dyslexic children. This author does a great job of communicating the emotion, questions, struggles, and fears that a mother has. Her son also writes vignettes at the end of each chapter expressing his own point of view and struggles and fears. She weaves into the story enough clinical information to define dyslexia, explain its symtoms, and discuss ways to deal with it. But the main impact is the author opening her heart to the reader.

The book, Reading David, by Lissa Weinstein helped me deal with my own son's struggle with dyslexia. Lissa and David touch the emotions of both mother and child through the unique, overweleming journey of dyslexia. The reader experiences the triumphs and struggles of everyday living. This book taught me that my son is a very bright, unique individual who desires to fit in. I felt someone was feeling what I was feeling and that it was okay to be angry one day and joyful the next because living with dyslexia is such an up and down rollercoaster.

Reading David has been a very emotional experience for me. My son, the same age as David, was diagnosed with a Learning Disability. I have only been reading a few pages a day as I cry with every emotion expressed that hits home - and they all do. What Lissa Weinstein has been able to write about has been cathartic for me. Her advice and the feelings expressed by her and her son will help guide my family through this Labyrinth. Thank-You for writing this book!

This is a terrific book, a virtual roadmap for anyone interested in dyslexia, or learning disabilities in general. Weinstein is a clinical psychologist and university professor, with a depth of experience in dealing with childhood learning disorders that is challenged when she has to deal with her son David's dyslexia. As a mother, she understands and conveys the dynamics of dyslexia in a way that illuminates both the helplessness any parent may feel when faced with a child's reading difficulties, and as a psychologist, she offers real self-help, insight, advice and solutions (all with a minimum of jargon) for dealing with a multi-faceted problem that does not go away just by adding some tutoring or changing the curriculum. The passages describing her dawning awareness that her own son has a serious learning disability, and her own feelings of guilt, are especially poignant. The real reward in this book, however, is the voice of her son David - whose words, taken down verbatim by his professor mother, reveal with astonishing directness the hurt, bewilderment, and courage of a child who just doesn't begin reading along with his classmates and the strategies he employs both to try to learn and to hide his failures. The book is a must for anyone dealing with learning disabilities, in the classroom or the home.