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How We Helped our DYSLEXIC Son with Diet and Exercises is a post about our process with home schooling. We implemented some dietary changes and adopted exercises that helped our son to overcome major obstacles in reading, writing and sports.
Dyslexia, and the gut-brain connection
Is someone you love dyslexic?
A child’s inability to use both hemispheres of his brain, often manifesting itself in dyslexia, is a common side effect of the gut-brain connection, a failure in the gut’s overall health. This means that diet is a key piece in helping someone with dyslexia.
My son is dyslexic, and there are two awesome tools I’d love to share with you: 1) the GAPS Diet and 2) the book pictured below, the other key piece in the progress we’ve made.
A grain and refined-sugar-free diet
We started the GAPS Diet now many years ago, largely motivated by helping our son with dyslexia. His older sister practically taught herself to read and was devouring chapter book series repeatedly when she was 5. The stark contrast gave me pause.
On was no, won was now, 6 was 9 and so on. And my son had NO inclination to want to learn to read.
Yet he was and is excellent at visual and auditory memory, learning that can be right-brain dominant. He excels at card games (he’s unbeatable at Memory), chess and can learn the lines to a song or movie after only hearing them once, repeating them back animatedly word-for-word.
So in one area this kind of kid is shockingly impressive and in other areas he lags behind and needs a breakthrough.
Enter my Step 1: the GAPS Diet.
We went grain-free, sugar-free to help his gut heal, thus helping his brain.
According to the GAPS Diet’s founder, Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, when the body can’t digest and absorb food properly it leads to nutritional deficiencies that affect brain function.
In someone who is right-brain dominant and specifically dyslexic there are connections between the left brain and the right brain that aren’t being made. Short term memory input, such as the alphabet or a word being introduced, does not get stored in long term memory. No amount of drilling affects this breakdown of function.
What kids with right-brain dominance do really well is store pictorial images in the right brain. I remember all the years of reading books to our son and how he’d notice things in pictures that no one else would and make startling insights accordingly. What a fun kid to have by my side.
I thought his astute observations would one day translate to his recognition of letter shapes. But it turns out that color and more object-oriented pictures were needed for his brain to store an image.
Enter Step 2: Dianne Craft and her insights about how to change the brain’s process so it would store the short term memory information.
THE BOOK
Dianne Craft, the author educator who spent 30 years working with kids similar to my son, understands all of this from a brain function standpoint. She evolved her therapies during her years of working with kids, making observations and meeting their needs to accomplish progress in them.
In those days, students with learning disabilities, even small ones, were sent out of the main classroom to meet with a specialist several times a week. This was Dianne Craft’s position in her school. She was the specialist who met with kids, from elementary to high school age, who were behind in reading.
I read as much as I could on the Dianne Craft website before ordering some of the materials. They’re not overpriced but they are expensive; so I first bought four items and then in receiving them, and liking them, saw I needed two more. Those final two ordered ended up being the most important.
Dyslexia and sports
Here’s where it gets exciting. Craft tells a brief story about a mother who implemented the physical exercises (outlined in one of the books) with her son and who, a few months later, saw her son’s basketball game improve markedly.
I believed this testimony and put my hope in it. My son, like the woman’s son in the story, loved basketball; but it seemed his brain was holding him back. He was timid on the court and his eye-hand coordination was impairing his will to succeed.
When our son and I started the physical exercises (what I also refer to as occupational therapy) laid out in Craft’s book, there were tears. One of the exercises is physically awkward (you have to hold your ear against your shoulder and do a sweeping figure 8 motion with your arm;) and it takes dedication to stick with it. It almost feels demeaning, especially if anyone is watching who isn’t your mom.
I told our son, one day, about the boy’s basketball game, hoping it would inspire and encourage him. And just as I believed Craft’s story, our son believed my retelling of it.
It gave him motivation. From that day forward he was driven and determined to do that exercise; and he got good at it. So it no longer felt awkward.
In general, I like to observe how different mothers experience their children’s success or struggle in sports. We innately want our kids to do well but it isn’t socially polite to get too excited, because we are really rooting for their moral development and not wanting to exalt physical excellence in our society over effort or moral fiber. And yet, this mama is sitting in the bleachers swelling with happy thankfulness as I see my son succeeding physically, especially because I know he earned it, day in, day out, with hard work.
What about his reading?
He is doing wonderfully. And his writing!
As Craft lays out, these right-brain, sometimes dyslexic learners, will vary slightly from one another in their processing of data. Some have auditory limitations. Some struggle with verbal expression or organizational issues.
The book I have pictured above, Brain Integration Therapy Manual, includes diagnostic exercises so you can see where your child’s limitations lie and then focus accordingly with the exercises that correspond.
Regarding auditory skills, this is one area in which dyslexic children often need extra attention. If this is the case with your child Craft has exercises that help with back-to-front processing in the brain, meaning the back receptive part of the brain with the front expressive part.
She also addresses kids that aren’t very verbal; the exercises help kids become more expressive.
Craft’s body activities additionally help integrate the top and bottom parts of the brain, targeting kids who struggle with disorganization and messiness.
Writing struggles: dysgraphia
Lastly, and this one applied very much to our own situation, many right-brain dominant kids have trouble writing. This is called dysgraphia.
Part of the reason I loved Craft’s material when I found it was she opened my eyes to this struggle in our son. She put a name to what I observed every day. He hated writing. It brought him to tears. He didn’t mind learning cursive but having to write sentences that required composition or original thought was like being asked to do something preposterous; it was like a horrible, irrational request was being made of him. Poor guy!
So when I read Craft’s description of this phenomenon and her name for it, I was encouraged. There was an answer, a method that would help our son out of the fearful, struggling place in which he existed.
Also, when our son saw this curriculum that was just for him, that thousands of kids before him had used, I think he began to know for the first time that he wasn’t “stupid”. Struggling students notice, of course, that they’re behind in certain subjects and, as Craft corroborates, they don’t “understand that it is just an integration problem”. The curriculum shows photos of even high school kids doing these exercises. Our son began to see how “normal” his problem was and that we could help him. He became less emotional when he struggled; and, of course, we’ve seen impressive, measurable improvement since we started using Craft’s books and methods.
Conclusion
Well, the rest of the story is each of ours.
I will press forward with the path laid out before us; and our son, God-willing, will keep improving in his abilities to read, write, spell and compose at grade-level. (Update: Our son is now 17 years old!, a straight-A student, flourishing. The hard moments we put in to the occupational therapy were well worth it.)
I hope this diet and curriculum review will help you, too, as you metaphorically hold hands with your kiddo, guiding them to an improved way of processing, storing and conveying information.
Here’s the link to the book I most recommend, although there are other materials on the site you might find helpful as well. Perhaps it goes without saying but I don’t know Dianne Craft or benefit in any way if you purchase this book. It’s just mama love, sharing with you what’s worked for me and hoping it will help you too.
To any of you who are extra open-minded and want deeper healing than you’re currently able to achieve, I recommend pursuing and learning more about the Vitamin A Detox diet (VAD). Our family is currently using this diet for all kinds of deep gut healing, including mental health. VAD can be done in conjunction with GAPS or other healing protocols.
Please feel free to comment below with any questions you may have regarding mental health, gut health, dyslexia or diet.
Anna @GreenTalk says
We did this too. I have 4 dyslexic kids. All boys. LindaMoodBell was a lifesaver since they were unable to read. We did more therapies than you can think of including brain integration therapy.
Megan says
Thanks so much for sharing, Anna!! Wow, cheers to you, hard working mama! <3
Megan Stevens says
Wow, Anna, what a mom, so much loving work, 4! Thanks for sharing LMB with me too! 🙂
James Baker says
I am Dyslexic. I am 28 years old and I struggled at school because of the way our society chooses to pass on information (words and text). I struggled because my brain isn’t equipped to process information in this way – simple! Its not because I need to be ‘healed’. Your post made me incredibly upset, no child with the gift of dyslexia needs ‘healing’ nor can someone be healed from dyslexia. A good diet is just common sense, and every child would benefit and show signs of improved cognitive function from a good diet.
Teachers at school tried to ‘heal’ me and make me ‘fit-in’, so much so I dropped out of school with resentment for education at age 13. I later went on to work full time in a number of jobs until I was age 17, at this point I had decided to return to vocational studies, studying engineering. I was fascinated by engineering and studied day and night for 7 years until I achieved my 1st class Masters degree in Engineering. No healing needed, just a subject my dyslexic brain could handle.
I now earn a 6 figure salary upwards and live in New York and have worked on projects all over the world. I still can’t spell properly and I still can’t read too well either, but who cares. I can communicate in sketches and with numbers.
Every child should be encouraged to do what they love, and they will succeed. Telling a child they are being healed is wrong.
If you judged a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it would spend its whole life believing it was stupid.
This article has a good heart and intention, but it’s totally a load of BS.
Di says
At James. I love your inspirational story. We are all unique and a different piece of this worlds puzzle, we just need to find our ideal fit. I agree, the article has good merit and holistic living should be a general focus of the human kind to enable our biological. intellectual and physical self to operate at peaks levels. I recently had a rather frantic mom wanting help with her ‘dyslexic’ daughter and am going to share your story with her and then walk a road with her daughter to encourage self-belief, healthy lifestyle and focus for her uniqueness. Take care and happy contributing to the world around you.
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
Thank you for sharing this. I love that GAPS was used for healing … it’s amazing how healing a diet can be. Sounds like a wonderful book too. Thanks for the resource.
Megan Stevens says
🙂
Sarah McLain says
This is so great!! I love hearing stories of hope and healing like yours 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing your journey and the resources that were helpful for you!
Megan Stevens says
Thanks, Sarah. 🙂
Jessica David, CHC says
Looks like I need to set some time aside to better understand GAPS. It keeps coming up (or maybe I’m paying more attention to it) because a friend asked for some resources. Do you have a post that breaks down the diet ‘how-to’? Thanks!
Megan Stevens says
Sure, Jessica. There are several on my blog on GAPS but here are two that would be great to start with: http://eatbeautiful.net/2014/05/29/the-essential-gaps-introduction-diet/ and http://eatbeautiful.net/2014/03/05/three-diets-compared-and-contrasted/ Thanks and I hope they are helpful!! 🙂
linda spiker says
Wow. Fabulous post Megan. What a fabulous mom you are. Your children are so lucky!
Megan Stevens says
Thank you, Linda, so sweet indeed. <3
Chloe says
This is wonderful! It is so great to hear the success you have had. I will be saving this for if anyone asks me about dyslexia.
Megan Stevens says
🙂
Günet Eroglu says
My son -WAS- Dyslexic. And we have been on GAPS diet for 6-7 months, had Neurofeedback and he plays basketball for 2-3 years. Now, he does not have any allergies, and he is very good at school. We have overcome that problem as well. Good to hear that other moms are on the same track. I am doing my PhD on this area. am happy to share info.
Megan Stevens says
This is GREAT to hear!! Thanks so much for sharing your story! I’m glad, too, that you found a good Neurofeedback practitioner! Awesome about your PhD! Blessings and yes, please share anything you feel would benefit. 🙂 Cheers!
Günet Eroglu says
Dear Megane, I am also so glad to meet a responsible mother like you, and am happy to see we have done similar things. I became my own Neurofeedback practitioner! GAPS diet is great, but you know it takes a while for the body to recover (like 1 year or so). Meantime it is good to have NF, and it also works. Now, I am doing my PhD how to make Neurofeedback easily used with simple head gadget and mobile applications. Because, I had to leave my career to learn Neurofeedback and GAPS diet and look after my son and the cost of doing that was too high. There are so many people out there who can not do it. and I am hoping to help them. and your work and web site is very much appreciated to cook different meals according to GAPS diet…
Megan Stevens says
I wondered if you would say that!~ that you learned NF yourself! I’ll love to see the work you do. How awesome to make that kind of learning and knowledge available to more moms…!!
Günet Eroglu says
Thank you for your support Megan. You must know the feeling we all faced, when we discover our kid’s situation and not finding any instant and easy solution…and blamed ourselves… it took me too much time to learn and apply these…and more moms should know and apply both GAPS and NF
Angie Kusek Kingery says
I really need help with my 9 yr old. She has dyslexia and bad working memory so aight words etc are tough. Very inconsistent. I myself have gut issues and idiopathic chronic hives. I want to do the GAPs diet but don’t know how to start and keep it going for a long time? Also what therapy is best to do? Does this book help?
Günet Eroglu says
Yes Angie, GAPS diet helps. But you need to change your life style and adapt to it for the rest of your life. When you start it, it seems very difficult, but keep your faith. Start with eating meat stock for 2 weeks. I have been on GAPS diet for more than 4 years now, if you look at my pictures, you would see how I have changed , renewed and look much younger dramatically. I also suggest you should use neurofeedback. Please check out http://www.autotrainbrain.com. You can apply neurofeedback at home. I have also tried that and it has helped a lot. Keep your faith. It works. All the best,Gunet Eroglu. please reach me at [email protected].
Tina says
Can you tell me about NF? I have looked into it but do not know anyone who has tried it. Sounds very good.
Günet Eroglu says
Dear Tina, I have learned and applied NF to myself and then to my son when he was 9. His grades were around 65-70 over 100 before that, and after 2 months his grades jumped to 85 over 100 and above. After 2 years of that, I have discovered GAPS diet, and it also increased his success. Now, I am developing an app for dyslexia based on NF. please visit http://www.autobraintrain.com. You need to find a good therapist for doing that, check their references, and make sure they have license and cured dyslexic people beforehand.
Yanka Ivanova says
Hi, Megan. My son is 10 and is dyslexic. He also has very dry skin and exsema on his hands, itching of the hear, and is very “easy crying”. A month ago we first heard for GAPS and I’d like to start the diet. Did you started with the introduction diet or the full GAPS diet? How did your children react to your decision for “no sugar, nor grain”. How long did it take to your son to see some results like reading better, easely writing or better coordination at sports.
Megan Stevens says
Hi Yanka, thanks for your questions. We started on the Introduction Diet. It is a powerful stage for healing. But we added things like bacon fat to the soups to make them more satisfying, the first time around. It was very hard the first time (we did Intro twice), but doable. We ALL did the diet, so there was commiseration, and we were in it together. The children complained, but they knew the decision was firm. We focused on bonding and loving them well: reading aloud to them, outdoor time, lots of happy family stuff, to help. The process of healing was slow. We also did the physical work I mention above, from Diane Craft. Sports improvement took years. Our son is still different than other kids in so many ways: how he learns to spell, his approach to writing essays etc. But the difference is profound. I expect you would see certain improvements immediately and others will take longer. I also recommend methods of detoxification to assist the process- like being in a sunny climate, swimming in the ocean, dry brushing, detox baths, asking a practitioner to help you with homeopathics and/or B vitamins etc. Many blessings. The GAPS Diet is well worth the effort it takes. Hugs!
Yanka Ivanova says
Thanks a lot, Megan. Your story inspired me very much. We live in Bulgaria, Europe. The climate is very hot in summer, we use to swim in sea every weekend then. And I really see the kid feels better. But its winter now, cold but dry. Plus difficulties in school all this reflects to his skin. Today I did our first bone broth. The taste was quite “fatty” for me, so I added some winter sqwash and called it soup. My son tasted it and said it’s all right. So we will try the diet. Wish me good luck.
Megan Stevens says
Yes, I do wish you good luck!!! You did perfectly!: blending in winter squash with fatty broth is perfect! Fresh or dried herbs, and sea salt are also great and helpful! As are fresh ginger at times and/or black pepper.
Croblaze says
To be away from such type of serious health problems, we should include enough fruits and vegetables in our daily diet.
Shelly says
Approximately 15 years ago, my husband and I spent money we didn’t have to travel over a thousand miles in order to have our son evaluated by Dianne Craft.
We followed her recommendations in an attempt to help our son with language-based “glitches” (as she calls them) including dysgraphia.
There was zero improvement. We could have just as well spent the money on lottery tickets.
Incredibly disappointing and it only served to embitter him against any further hope.
Megan says
Hi Shelly. I’m so sorry for your experience. I hope you have found other paths more helpful. Much love. Often we, as parents, must try several modalities until we find what works for our child or children. It’s worth it to keep looking because there is always a cause, therefore there is always an improvement that can be made.
Nicola says
Hi , I’m going to look into this but my son is a strict vegetarian- self imposed as he loves animals .
I give him an omega supplement but it’s vegetarian.
Will look and see if I can do this for him .
Great reading all your stories very inspirational ?
Mike says
Hmm good info, I just was told by my sister i was diagnosed as a young child with dysgraphya adhd.. I alawys thaught they said dyslexia but never the less i locked it all away.. So so much makes sence now at the age of thirty from social issues to learning and fine motor skills. Any recommended resorces for adults struggling with this issue?
Thank you!
Gid bless!
Megan says
Hi Mike, you’re welcome and God bless you too! 🙂 You might look into SOI: http://www.soisystems.com/contact.html They’re a wonderful organization that works with both adults and kids. SOI is not just for those with dyslexia, but meets you where you are and helps you improve in areas of deficiency. We’ve loved working with them.
j smith says
Dear Megan, thank you for sharing about your jounery with having a dyslexic child. I too was diagnosed at the age of 9 and struggled on to become a Doctor. I find the tone of your website upsetting suggesting dyslexia is a problem to be healed! This is so often the case, when a person(s) without dyslexia thinks they understand and know more about this disability than an adult with dyslexia.
As an adult with Dyslexia, it is not an illness to be cured. The dyslexic brain thinks differently to the 95% percentile of humans and therefore does not fit into the social norms of learning, interacting etc. This causes dyslexic persons to be labelled as disabled, illness to be cured etc…. This is not the case, Take Richard Branson, Tom Cruise, Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Jim Carrey and Albert Einstein for example, would you say they need healing too given their achievements with Dyslexia?
Dyslexic persons primary way of thinking is in images/pictures and spatail awareness of them. Often a dyslexic person will not have an inner voice in their head. This means a dyslexic child will need help in learning how to relate to a world populated by humans that predominatley think in a different way, but this is not healing them, you can’t. They need help learning neural tools, mechanisms as I have, to relate and function in the world around them.
I know from experience, diet can play a part as some Dyslexic persons can have a permenant brain fog which can be helped by changes in diet. However, this is not a cure as when diet reverts back to the norm the original behaviours etc will come back. Healing / cured etc suggests the matter has been dealt with for ever that is not the case. If your born dyslexic, you are always dyslexic. Please, please stop this way of thinking that dyslexic is a problem to fixed / solved etc.. it does not work.
I wish you all the best with your efforts to help your son to learn the tools he needs to relate, function and suceed in this world; as my parents have done for me.
Megan says
Hi and thank you so much for sharing all you did! I apologize for using the word “healing”. I wrote this post many years ago and have needed to update it for some time. Your comment reminded me of that, and so I followed through this morning. The updated article may not meet with your complete agreement, but I believe you will agree with it more now. I appreciate your insights and am so glad I finally took the time. As you might imagine, I have hundreds of posts and am always in the process of improving older ones. I am thankful that an important wellness topic like this one is not misleading to readers. Blessings and best!! Megan