Joy-Anna Duggar Reveals Diagnosis for Son Gideon: It’s Genetic!

Concerned Duggar fans worry when Joy-Anna Duggar talks about having more kids.

It often seems like she has her hands full with the kids that she and Austin Forsyth have already brought into the world.

In fact, Joy-Anna just offered an update on 5-year-old Gideon.

After a series of evaluations, Gideon now has a diagnosis. It’s a genetic condition — and he might not be the only Duggar kid with it.

Taking to her YouTube channel, Joy-Anna Duggar spoke about her son, Gideon.

In fact, he appeared in segments of the video — flashing an adorable and toothless grin. Expressed his excitement about learning to read.

Joy explained that he has been struggling with counting numbers and with “the order of the letters.” She didn’t mean alphabetical order, but with the process of reading words.

Gideon has undergone an evaluation in the past. But this time, they were able to get a helpful answer.

“We had him evaluated again,” Joy told her subscribers. “This time by a dyslexia tutor.”

That would certainly help explain someone struggling with those very specific skills with numbers and letters.

“Something I didn’t know is that dyslexia is genetic,” Joy admitted.

“I’ve got it on my side of the family,” she revealed. “Austin has it on his side of the family.”

Joy-Anna then went on to confirm that: “Gideon has a high probability of having it.”

“It’s not like a bad thing. It’s just different,” Joy correctly acknowledged.

You know, it shows considerable growth in our society when even a cult member acknowledges this. Just a couple of generations ago, adults were routinely punishing left-handed children for using their dominant hands.

“They learn differently,” Joy explained on YouTube. “People with dyslexia use the right side of their brain, more than the left.”

“If you just use a standard way of learning how to read,” Joy detailed, “it tends to get a lot harder and longer process.”

She shared that her boy will spend one-hour sessions with a dyslexia tutor a couple of times a week in the immediate future.

If everything goes smoothly, she hopes that Gideon will be able to “start reading in about six to seven months.”

Taking to social media elsewhere, Duggar fans and critics alike delved into the topic and Gideon’s probable dyslexia.

“I do give Joy credit for acknowledging it. Gideon would be so much better off in school where he can get help,” one wrote.

Another chimed in: “Kudos to Joy for paying attention to Gideon’s learning differences and finding him some extra help. The earlier, the better!”

And another commented: A third mentioned: “Michelle [Duggar] is a mother. And this affects her also. If Josie got tested, Michelle would find out she has it also.” 

Another speculated: “I wonder if Joy is getting pushback from who within that family over this?” 

That commenter added: “There is no shame in this, but I hope her family isn’t praying it away, and that does no good.”

“I can’t imagine what it’s like for Gideon and Josie in school,” another commenter wrote. A seemingly misinformed commenter.

“I hope they don’t get bullied by the schools,” they wrote. “And their parents get their children the help they have a legal right to.”

Unfortunately, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar homeschool their children. And so, too, do Joy-Anna and Austin. A dyslexia tutor may be one of Gideon’s few glimpses into the real world beyond the walls of the cult.

Obviously, a lot of the fan replies are speculation. Josie doesn’t have a diagnosis. And it doesn’t sound like Gideon has a formal diagnosis just yet.

We hope that this tutor works out for him. People’s brains work differently — some more so than others. We all deserve accommodations so that we can grow and thrive.

Of course, no amount of tutoring can match the enrichment that Gideon could receive at an actual school. His parents are not giving him his best shot at life.

Joy-Anna Duggar Reveals Diagnosis for Son Gideon: It’s Genetic! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.