Real Housewives of Orange County‘s Emily Simpson announced that her son, Luke, was diagnosed with dyslexia.
Luke is literate:
“Just to clarify: Luke can read. He’s not reading at his grade level. He’s struggling with word comprehension, etc.”
“He was also recently diagnosed as dyslexic.”
“I was not aware that he was struggling and behind. It was never mentioned by any teacher etc. He is now attending a new school, and he’s loving it.”
“Please be kind. Just remember that I am learning and dealing with all of these issues in real time. 💕💕”
This isn’t the first time Emily mentioned an affliction Luke deals with on camera:
At first, Emily thought 10-year-old Luke was just a typical picky eater. But when he began refusing food entirely, she sought help from a therapist — where Luke was diagnosed with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder).
ARFID is a mental health disorder where individuals avoid or restrict food intake, often due to sensory sensitivities.
For Luke, that means intense aversions to texture, color, and smell. Emily revealed that he currently only eats white rice from Trader Joe’s, even inspecting each grain before eating.
RHOC fans proposed Emily’s food struggles affected Luke:
“I have to say, I’ve had some people say negative things about the eating disorder, and they’ll make a correlation between me having surgery or me losing weight.”
“This has nothing to do with a child wanting to lose weight or having a body image. This is a neurodivergent disorder that has to do with his brain and how he operates.”
She made it clear that ARFID has “nothing to do with me and losing weight or gaining weight.”
“A school counselor told me this,” Emily recalled. “She said, ‘Emily, you know, it’s not always good to just put a label on something.’”
“I want a label so that I can tell people, ‘He has this, this and this.’ At the end of the day, I don’t know if that’s the best thing. He is what he is, and he is very complicated.”
