LYHH

Thanks for the kind words! I've taught kids as young as 7 and as old as 18, but as a general rule, I'd say those 9 and above benefit the most. That's when they are able to tap on their ability to create mental imagery—a crucial skill needed not just for RPGs, but for writing too.

On the second question, I've definitely had kids who didn't enjoy the programme (or certain parts of it like RPGs). Typically, they didn't get as much fun out of fantasy, make-believe settings as their peers did, or putting them in dangerous situations in-game made them feel anxious. In such cases, I would either tweak the story to make it less threatening or switch to wargaming to get that "narrative" fix.

I would go with Risus first. You can get your boy to do some writing with Risus (e.g. writing simple phrases to represent his cliches), then use it as a form of bedtime storytelling. Later on, Hero Kids is a great choice until they reach 9 or 10.

When I finished a Savage Worlds campaign with a class of 3, and the ending was nothing short of epic (they'd stopped an elder god from consuming the entire world). Everyone was all smiles that day. That campaign took us close to 2 years to complete.

After I left my first job, I joined the Dyslexia Association of Singapore as a trainee educational therapist and was simultaneously trained in the Orton-Gillingham (OG) method by the DAS Academy. Got my specialist diploma afterwards while going through on-job training (so I juggled two to three classes while going for my dip). We don't need a license/registration like OTs and psychologists do, though we have something called the Register of Educational Therapists in Asia. I'm not licensed through state boards in that sense, but fully qualified.

Since I do the OG method, a typical therapy session for dyslexics will include teaching a couple of new reading/spelling concepts or phonograms, a revision component to revise past concepts (this will include flash cards, reading, recalling sounds, and spelling), and afterwards some activities related to exam skills. However, over the years, I've learned that the kids don't always absorb when things get too overwhelming. Hence, I tend to swap out certain components in favour of ones that may engage them better for that session (for example, skipping reading and exam skills and just working on vocabulary based on a previous RPG session, or even just doing an RPG session for the entirety).

I'd have managed my finances better. I knew nothing about setting up a business except that I needed to set aside a pool of money, and it turns out that that pool should have been bigger. That being said, I don't regret any of it. It was a great but humbling learning experience.