Thursday, July 2, 2009

Dyslexia

I am dyslexic. So is my father. He was told by his high school guidance counselor that he was too stupid to even attempt to graduate. I wish that guidance counselor could see him now, a sucessful teacher who not only graduated college, but even worked most of the way through a Master's degree program and has written Bible studies that have changed hundreds of lives, including many men that went into full time missions work after sitting under Dad's teaching!

While we have yet to have our child tested, I am seeing signs in 1 of our 3 that lead me to believe this one may also face the same struggles in learning. So to my brave father, to my beloved child, in thanks to my mother for helping me survive my own learning challenges when schools ignored it or refused to lend aid, and to anyone who has ever been told they are too dumb to learn, I want to share these touching videos I happened upon at YouTube. My story is much like the first one posted here (though my mom hooked me on reading with Janette Oke Christian romance rather than monster murder mysteries).












2 comments:

Kelly L said...

I had no idea what Dyslexia really was. Thanks for explaining.. Awesome post.

Love,
Kelly

Jeanne said...

Jenni,

Wow... powerful videos!

I had a childhood friend who struggled through school for years and finally got diagnosed with dyslexia in about 4th grade. She went on to get a Masters Degree.

My husband never got a diagnosis for what he has but I suspect it's dyslexia. He was held back in 4th grade, called names, etc. He is one of the smartest people I have ever known. He finally started to feel more comfortable with school as a junior in high school. He went on to college, completing his 4 year degree in just 3 years (in electronics engineering). The hands-on learning style he thrives on was simply not used in the schools he attended in his younger years. He now works as a Network Systems Engineer and is responsible for over 300 servers at work. He fixes computers and designs solutions to complex problems, works on contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and helps other people understand things. It's a good thing he didn't listen to the many who insulted him as a child!

As a student teacher, I saw many children with a variety of learning disabilities. I witnessed teachers in the faculty room making unkind remarks. It broke my heart.

Your child is blessed with a mother who is paying attention and knows what to look for. That is a gift.

Great post!

Jeanne