Mothers, metaphors and dyslexia: What language reveals about the challenges of a child’s learning disability

Dyslexia can affect children's reading, writing, spelling, memory and organizational skills. damircudic/E+ via Getty Images

Alarm bells. Red flags. A labyrinth.

These are just a few of the metaphors that mothers of children with dyslexia use to describe the journey from noticing their child’s literacy challenges to receiving a diagnosis and then advocating to secure services to help their children succeed. By paying attention to the images used in these metaphors, teachers and administrators can better understand the difficulties parents and children face and learn to be more responsive.