Organizing an overseas move is a challenge. It is important to realize that just like yourself, your pet requires a lot of organization before moving. You cannot just decide on the spur of the moment to move your pet. Typically, moving a pet overseas requires months of planning.  Depending on which country you move to, there may be a certain time frame for vaccinations. For example, sometimes your pet may need his vaccinations 3-6 months before arriving in the new country. Once you have researched the requirements, meet with your vet to discuss a potential timeline. When you are deciding whether or not to move your pet, take into account that he may not be able to move with you as soon as you are ready. Airlines have different policies regarding pet travel. Start contacting airlines to ask about the specific qualifications for traveling with your type of pet. For example, some airlines may allow your cat to be stowed under your seat in a carrier. Others will require him to travel in the cargo area.  Ask the airline whether they practice pet-safety policies. These policies include always keeping animals in a climate controlled area, making sure that pets are the first ones off the plane and the last ones on, and a promise to never leave animals sitting on the tarmac. If you decide to travel with your pet, purchase the travel crate well in advance. Give your pet a chance to get used to being in the carrier. When you have decided to move, you need to investigate your new home from your pet's perspective. Research local vets and contact one of them to ask about his practice. Also, consider what type of home you will have. Does it have enough room for your pet to be comfortable?  If you have a dog, consider whether your new home is dog friendly. Will you have a yard? Or is there a dog park nearby where your dog can play? Ask your current vet to help you find a new vet.
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One-sentence summary -- Figure out a timeline. Investigate travel options. Explore your new city.


For example, one set of parents realized their son had a reading problem when he was unable to complete a short kindergarten homework assignment: to read a list of rhyming words to his parents. Following the instructions provided by the teacher, here is how that exercise went: Parent: All the words on this list rhyme with at. Say at. Child: At. Parent: The first word on the list is bat; bat rhymes with at. Say at, bat. Child: At, bat. Parent (moving finger to touch each word): What's next? at, bat… (touching cat). Child: Cot. Parent: No, it needs to rhyme … at, bat, c— Child: Cake. Parent (getting frustrated): You need to focus! At, bat, CAT. Sound it out: c-a-t. Child: C-a-t. Parent. Now what comes next? At, bat, cat, f— Child: Friend. Needless to say, they never made it to hat, mat, pat, rat, sat, or vat. While the classic association with dyslexia is one of a person who "sees" letters and numbers backward, what's really happening is more intense and has to do with how the brain works.  A child with dyslexia struggles with “phonological decoding”, which is the process of taking apart and putting together words by chopping them into their individual sounds while connecting those sounds to the letters that represent them. Because of the way their brains translate letters and sounds back and forth, children with dyslexia tend to read slower (less fluent) and make more mistakes (less accurate).  For example, a little boy reading a book sees the word dog but doesn't recognize it on sight. He tries to sound it out, which is taking it apart and translating the letters into their sounds (dog=d-o-g). Meanwhile, a little girl writing a story wants to spell the word dog. She says the word slowly then tries to translate the sounds into letters (d-o-g=dog). If these children have no reading disabilities, chances are good that both will be successful. But, if they have dyslexia, the translation process—from sounds to letters or from letters to sounds—doesn't go well and a dog may become a god. Sadly, many people think children with dyslexia fail to read because they aren't as intelligent or don't try hard enough, but scientists comparing brain patterns report that these problems happen the same whether children have high or low IQs.  Dyslexia isn't a sign of low intelligence or not putting in the effort. It simply is a difference in how some brains operate. Parents and educators need to be extremely patient with students with dyslexia. Impatience, frustration, or giving assignments far above a student's capacity can all lead to a student giving up on schoolwork. It is hard enough to have such difficulty processing this information, and having no support or encouragement makes it much worse. Psychologists use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders to diagnose psychological disorders. This manual describes dyslexia as a neuro-developmental disorder in which a person has a coding difficulty. The person struggles with figuring out the relationship between word spellings and pronunciations. Dyslexic people have a problem matching written letters to their sounds (a phonological awareness issue). In short, dyslexia is a reading disorder that can't be explained by low IQ, lack of education, or problems with eyesight. It has nothing to do with how smart they are or whether they are trying hard enough. New studies show that dyslexia is a genetic condition that can be inherited. If it runs in the family, a child has a higher risk of developing dyslexia. If a child has other language-related issues, like delayed language, the risk of dyslexia increases. Dyslexia usually develops in young children, but could also develop if the brain is injured. Dyslexia is actually pretty common. Statistics show that 10% of school children have been identified with dyslexia, but it is believed that another 10% remain undiagnosed. Boys and girls appear to develop dyslexia at equal rates while a higher ratio of left-handed people are be identified as dyslexic. If not caught at a young age, untreated dyslexia can have serious consequences. Many dyslexics become juvenile offenders (85% of America's juvenile offenders have reading disorders), high school dropouts (one-third of all dyslexic students), functionally illiterate adults (10% of Americans) or college dropouts (only 2% of dyslexic college students graduate). Fortunately, the people are getting better at spotting and diagnosing dyslexia.
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One-sentence summary --
Watch for your child struggling to complete reading assignments. Learn how the dyslexic brain works. Understand that dyslexia isn't a problem of intelligence or effort. Learn how psychologists diagnose dyslexia. Understand who is most likely to have dyslexia. Realize the importance of diagnosing dyslexia.