During the elementary school years, you may find that you need to constantly monitor your child at home and intervene at school to help your child along. At home you may be in the habit of doing many things for your child, such as reading aloud to him or writing things down for him; you know that your child needs extra help, and you are happy to give it. There is a tendency for parents of children with learning disabilities to become overprotective; partly it simply becomes habit for you to anticipate your child's needs and try to help him, and partly you have become conditioned over time to expect problems unless you take action to prevent them.

As your child moves into adolescence, it is critical that you begin to let go and begin to transfer responsibility to your child. That means that over time, you have to guide and encourage your child to take responsibility for keeping track of his own books and supplies, remembering to do his own homework, advocating for himself with teachers, and making his own academic choices.

Your child may or may not become a good reader, and he may or may not achieve academic success; but he certainly will grow to adulthood and some day need to be able to take care of himself and hold down a job. Your child with dyslexia has the potential to develop all of the skills he needs for these life responsibilities, and like all children he needs to your support and guidance to make this transition to adulthood. The more difficulty your child has with academics, the more important it is that you equip him with the social and emotional skills he will need to become a productive member of society. For many young people, college is a four-year-cushion between high school and the responsibilities of adult life. If your teen does not enjoy or do well in school, then he will not have that extra time — he will need to be prepared to enter the work world in his late teens. His educational limitations do not need to stand in the way of gainful employment; there are dozens of vocational skills that a young person can learn that will lead to employment in environments where high-level reading and writing skills are not necessary, and many young people do well in positions in retail business and sales. What your child does need is emotional resiliency and values like a strong work ethic, persistency, and reliability.