There have been myths about dyslexia. I have heard people say that dyslexia is an excuse for not doing well in school. While some people could pretend to have this condition, some others actually have it.
Studies have shown that 1 in 5 persons actually have this condition. Dyslexia can be diagnosed and treated not using medications tho. If someone wants to mimic beings dyslexic because of laziness, their secret will be exposed… lol.
Throughout the course of this journey, I will be giving more update about this condition called dyslexia. The next episode will be due next week so read and enjoy.
In this post, I will be painting a Scenario of a child named Luke who has dyslexia.
DYSLEXIC KID BEFORE SCHOOL
Luke, a very happy boy, the first child of his parents was loved by everyone. A very artistic child with a high level of intelligence. When he spoke, people thought of how someone this young could imagine such incredible things that have not even crossed the mind of adults.
People had high hopes for Luke, they believed that one day, he will invent something unique, they saw him as the next Einstein of his generation.
DYSLEXIC KID IN SCHOOL
When Luke started school, things seemed to be going pretty well in his kindergarten and First grade. By the end of the second grade (7-8yrs), his teacher invited his parents for a meeting.
In that meeting, Luke’s teacher expressed her concern about Luke’s grades. She said he was doing poorly in class, could not read well and was very aggressive, always fighting with his classmates.
His Parents were surprised because what the teacher told them was not what they believed about their son. They decided to get a tutor to coach him to help improve his grades.
Luke was initially excited about the coaching lesson but as time went by, his excitement began to drop. This was because he was not gaining much and saw no improvement. He then became very reluctant when it was lesson time.
After 6 months of hard work, the tutor gave up on him and admitted to Luke’s parents that he was not getting any better.
WAY FORWARD
Luke’s parents became very angry with him. They believed he was not serious and did not want to study that he was a lazy and stubborn child.
His parents believed that if they said all these harsh words to him and gave him some strokes cane that he would sit up. What they didn’t know was that Luke had a condition called dyslexia. He was unable to process information as any other normal child would.
He was unable to read properly because of a missing component which develops naturally in other children and the inability to read resulted in difficulty comprehending resulting in poor grades. This also affected his writing which goes together with reading.
Dyslexia is an inherited condition so, in Luke’s case, there is a high probability that one of his parents has it but maybe the mild form.
HOW LUKE FELT
As time went by, Luke had two younger siblings and this led to him feeling more distant from the rest of the family because his parents paid more attention to them. He felt dejected both in school and at home. His classmates laughed at him in school because they had no idea how someone like this could be so dull. He didn’t have friends and tried to be on his own to avoid any form of ridiculing.
Male children with dyslexia tend to act out because of the frustration they encounter. Inability to read, write like others, poor grades, students laughing at them, parents on their head makes it worse. This frustration then translates into an inappropriate behaviour or one being “stubborn”.
If this condition is not managed well it can lead to a child having a low self-esteem. Self-esteem on its own can lead to a lot of things.
TRUTH ABOUT DYSLEXIA
Parents please if your children are not doing well in school, don’t start abusing them. Most of them are not happy with what is happening to them already, not all of them will tell you what they face in school.
Abusing them or making them feel bad is just adding insult to injury. Be close to your child, set out time for him/her, try to find out what is really going on and then look for the way forward.
Finding the cause of a problem is already getting 50% of the solution.
If it’s a case of dyslexia, something can be done about it. A dyslexic child can become everything a normal child can be and even more ( because of that creative and unique aspect they have). A dyslexic child can still top his/her class.
Their style is different, the way they read and process information is different all the need is the right tutoring. There are people who have been trained in this area and there are programmes that can help educated parents and even train parents on how to teach their dyslexic children.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and don’t forget to spread the love to others.
Till next week, stay blessed.
Chidinma Oluchi.
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