Why Arts and Sports Are So Important For Dyslexic Kids!

We hear over and over again how important non-academic subjects and activities are for our dyslexic kids, and today we want to delve into this a little bit more and figure out, like, why is that? Why is that so important?

It got me diagnosed when I was in third grade, and it was the most relieving day of my life because I finally had, like, kind of a place to hang my hat and say, see, I told you, I'm not lazy, definitely not stupid. I just learned differently, like, that's totally okay. We were dyslexics, we were often, you know, just set up for failure because, you know, we were given books and tasks that really are not appropriate for the level that we were at.

So, how do you expect anyone to be open to learning when their entire relationship with reading, with learning, is physical pain? Wish I had understood when I was younger that the fact that my brain worked differently than people meant that I would be good at things in ways that other kids were not going to be good at. Just assume, I can't be dyslexic because letters don't jump up and down for me.

Dyslexia is not a disorder. It is not a disease. Once you sort of own it and embrace it, then you can have the power to deal with it. It's sort of empowering and also enriching to the whole community. To those who don't understand what dyslexia is, that it's not a negative, it's not a problem, it's, like we keep saying, superpower. Hey everyone, we're Nick and Sonja and this is Dyslexia Journey and today we want to talk about arts, sports, these non-academic topics or activities that can be so important for our dyslexic kids.

As I said in the intro, because we do a lot of interviews with people, we hear this over and over again about how essential these can be in the lives of our dyslexic kids. But we wanted to go into it a little bit more specifically because, you know, I think there's sort of an age-old general feeling about like, okay, should we concentrate on the three R's, reading, writing, arithmetic, you know, that kind of thing.

Or should we, you know, have more arts type things and, you know, specials in schools, they call it different things at different schools, specials, or sometimes it's just called electives. But in any case, and, you know, we, of course, have to do this emphasis on reading, particularly for dyslexic kids in these special ways where they might have to have the extra time and, you know, different kinds of methodologies. So there is going to be this really big focus, but, you know, we feel strongly, you know, from what we've heard and our beliefs about it as well, that these non-academic subjects are also crucial, right?

So even as we're working with the reading, you know, in particular in writing for our dyslexic kids, that it's really important to make sure that these other activities and topics are parts of their lives in whatever way fits best for them. But there, you know, other, rather than just having sort of a general feeling about that, there really are actual reasons for this. And so that's what we wanted to cover today.

So it's not just sort of this general idea out there, but like, why is this? So that we can, we can tease out like why it's so important. Yeah. And when we're talking about these specials, these extracurriculars, electives, we're going to focus today on two categories, which is arts and sports. And when we're talking about arts, we mean sort of traditional fine arts, painting and drawing, as well as 3D art, sculpture, et cetera.

And also music and theater are important types of arts that dyslexic kids can really benefit from. And then when we're talking about sports, we don't just mean the typical team sports, basketball, football, baseball, et cetera. So things like dance, martial arts, fencing, some of these more individual sports that we hear over and over again from dyslexic people we talk to and from people involved with dyslexic people that those types of individual sports can be really good for dyslexic kids.

Right. And I want to say just off the top here, we really do mean in the sense of following the interests of the kids here. We're not going to like really get into that in this particular episode, but we don't mean it in the sense of like pushing a kid towards a particular top sport or something like that. This is more in terms of following what are these non-academic interests that they have.

And then, you know, from there, trying to make sure that the time is carved out and the space is carved out for them to do to do those activities. Exactly. And that really leads into our first benefit of these types of activities for dyslexic kids, which is that it gives them an area of strength. And so for dyslexic kids in particular, a lot of school subjects are really challenging for them. So they're going to need extra remediation in reading and writing, obviously, but the struggles with reading and writing are going to make, because almost every subject requires some amount of reading and writing, it's going to make the traditional academic subjects more difficult, more stressful for them as a general rule.

And so that's why it's actually important for them to have an area of strengths, something that they enjoy and that they feel like they are good at. Right. So this will affect, you know, things like self-esteem, of course, but it can also bleed into other areas, too. So often it has the effect when a dyslexic kid is good at something like that, that it can help sometimes their academic performance as well, simply just because of that confidence and, you know, feeling like they're good at something that can translate into, you know, better academic work as well, potentially.

Yes, because just psychologically, when you feel like you're excelling in one area, that just naturally gives you overall confidence. Right, right. That feeling that you can be good at something. And I do want to add in here, because, I mean, obviously the subject of this is the sports and the arts and those types of things. But it can be true that a kid's particular extra sort of topic is something that feels more academic.

Maybe they just really love history. You know, they just know everything you like about history and they know all these random facts and things and all the trivia you can think of. So it's not that they can't have a strength in a traditional academic topic, but typically, especially towards the beginning, like especially if they're not reading as fluently, some of that may potentially be harder to do, you know, well in, particularly in school, right?

Like maybe they're watching YouTube videos and learning about history so they can have that as like a, you know, a side, a hobby essentially. But when they're pursuing it sort of in depth, like you would in school, usually for an academic topic like that, that's where it could be more challenging. But absolutely, we're not saying that that shouldn't also be supported in whatever way you can support that as well. Yeah, definitely. And also, I forgot to mention when I was talking about the types of sports initially that mind sports as well could be something that your dyslexic kid might be good at.

For example, chess. That is something that requires a lot of visual spatial skills and also is a lot more accessible to dyslexic kids than it used to be with all the like chess streamers now and stuff. You can learn so much just from watching videos. Right. Okay. So let's move on to our second reason why these kinds of non-academic topics can be really important things for your kid to pursue in depth, you know, if that's their interest.

And that is that they can experience mastery. So slightly different from just that they feel like they're good at something and that it's a strength, then they have the chance to really go far with something and take it all the way and have that whole experience of what that's like. And so so mastery is important because, you know, it it involves determination. It involves like really refining a skill. Maybe it's just getting that soccer kick just right.

You know, whatever that is. And and it can show them that may sound like because we're saying it's following their passion and what they're good at in the first place. That may sound like it's just about talent, but really when they're able to to take something they're good at or interested in like that and take it really far, what it can show them is the important how effort can lead to success.

And so that's really the mastery piece is that you're actually taking something in depth so far that you get to that level of the mastery with your determination and effort. Right. And it's important why it's important for them to do this in the area of arts and sports. One reason is that they might be more naturally motivated to put in the effort. So this is kind of the, I guess, lowest hanging fruit, possibly of a way to show your child how putting in effort leads to mastery.

Right. Exactly. And hopefully, again, just like with the strength and that that that experience then can build into other areas as well. And then the third point is simply that when they have this area enjoyment, that can be really, really important when sometimes the extra work they're having to put in for the reading or just the fact that it takes them so much effort, as we've talked about many times, to do things that involve reading.

When that can feel like slice to slog potentially, like it's really important to have, you know, the passion kind of kind of activity that they can do that is enjoyable just as part of their life. Right. So that's that's a very important thing. And a lot of guests have talked about that as well, that we've had just the importance of this of like having something that's enjoyable. Right. I mean, you can't just slog through.

I mean, it can make it easier than to do the parts that don't feel as fun. Right. When you know that that's not going to be all the time and you're going to have other other parts of your day that are going to feel more enjoyable. And so then another point about how it's sort of related to enjoyment, but a little bit different for why, you know, things like arts and sports can be so important for dyslexic kids is to do with just overall well-being, the kind of well-being that these can provide.

So, for example, for sports, we know that can help with mental health. Right. And, you know, having more balance in your day in terms of the kinds of activities can also be good for your mental health. And then, you know, in the arts, you have that balance of what you're doing as well. But sometimes that expression of the creativity can also be really good, good for someone. So so there's that aspect of of mental well-being and life balance that's in there, too.

And that leads into straight into our fifth point for why arts and sports are so important for our dyslexic kids. And this is actually really a more general point about why arts and sports are important for everyone is because it uses a different part of your brain. Well, they not not just yet. There's very different types of arts and sports, but they use different parts of your brain than are used in traditional academic subjects.

And sometimes in ways that have to combine or in fact, in all of these areas, ways that have to combine sort of physical and mental. So when you're playing a sport, you have to be, you know, thinking about your strategy and stuff like that. But there's also these physical movements that you have to learn so well. Same with learning a musical instrument or or or or drawing. It's it's both the physical and mental combined in a unique way that that we don't get in other aspects of our lives.

And it's even possible to experience flow states, you know, in both sports and arts as well. So so that kind of relates as well. And as well, creativity is so important. It's so important for everyone to have a creative outlet. And we don't often talk about sports as being creative outlets, but but they very much are. I mean, when you're when you're playing a sport, you are improvising, you are doing new things that you've never done before in new ways, because every game or match is different.

Right. So it is important to realize like how much the brain is really involved, too. We say non-academic, but it's not like only academic things are useful to our brain. So those are our main points for why it's so important for dyslexic kids to be able to pursue their passion in art or sports or whatever, whatever that is for them. That's this non-academic subject and why it can be so important and influence other areas of their lives as well.

Plus, allow them to experience mastery and strength, their own strength and all these things that we just talked about. We'll probably do an episode down the line where we talk about art and the brain specifically, because there's a book that I've read called Your Brain on Art that really has lots of interesting statistics about how useful art can be in our lives. But we'll save that for another episode. And we'd love to hear about your experiences or your child's experiences with arts and sports.

Email us at parenting Dyslexia Journey at gmail.com. Thanks, everyone.

you