Children With Dyslexia: Powerhouses Of Inner Strength, Dignity, Diligence And Intelligence.

They can teach us a thing or two...

In the past, the term dyslexia was always more of an abstract to me and something one reads about only now and again. Life has a habit, that is if we are fortunate enough to be open to it, of showing us traits in others that we can aspire to. Or at least be aware of.

There are two boys that I am privileged to do extra English lessons with them. As you might have guessed, they both have some form of dyslexia. They have to really make an effort to put some of the letters in the correct order to form words.

Homework for them is not a quick thing. It takes time and hard work for them to finish their homework, but here's the thing, they finish it even if it is late at night.

Exams of any kind ( except the verbal ones ) are a fearful and scary thing to deal with. Yet, they do them and if they achieve a pass mark, that is a huge achievement. Not everyone can be an A grade student. One of the boys moved up a grade from fail to pass and I was so proud of him and awed at his persistence and jolly hard work.

Most parents are aware of the huge work load schoolkids have nowadays. When they come home from school, often almost buckling under the weight of their schoolbags, they have a quick lunch and then get cracking on the numerous homework assignments they get each day.

Now, imagine doing all this homework, where just reading through the assignments and material saps all your energy? Never mind having to learn for tests...and by the way, why do they put major tests in various subjects together like book ends? Dear teachers, have a care!

The irony of all this is, that contrary to popular belief, a dyslexic is highly intelligent, even brilliant. Yet, other kids in their class often make fun of their spelling mistakes or their taking more time to learn and often being in that group that skirts around the school abyss of not passing a test, exam or school year..

Einstein is of course the most famous dyslexic, but alas, a lot of kids nowadays aren't aware of who he was. But, I have found my secret weapon....

I asked both the boys, whether they had heard about the man who had invented the iPhone
( yeah, that got their attention )? Well, I told them, the man who invented the iPhone, was also a dyslexic who had the same problems at school as they have...and look what he achieved!

and you know, I know that the two boys will go extremely far in life and not just because they are intelligent, but because they are learning those all important ingredients of success. Diligence, hard work and persistence.

Anyone who has to go through school dealing with dyslexia has my utter respect. We can all remember how cruel our classmates could be if we looked different, dressed different or spoke different...imagine how many young kids have to face the ignorance of their classmates when it comes to being different due to dyslexia?

Biggi