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Sam's
story of life with Dyslexia
Sam K. is like a
lot of kids: he prefers sports to studying. He says that he is especially
good at baseball, but he enjoys all sports. So his hero must be Cal
Ripken, Jr., or maybe Michael Jordan or Troy Aikman, right? Not even
close. It's Albert Einstein, and a poster of the famous scientist
decorates Sam's bedroom wall. Why Einstein? "Because he had dyslexia, too," says Sam.
Dyslexia (say:
dis-lex-ee-uh) is a name for a learning problem that involves reading and
writing. Sam has trouble reading and remembering what he read. It doesn't
mean he is not smart. (Einstein had dyslexia, and everyone knows he was
very smart.) Most people with dyslexia have average or above-average
intelligence. Sam, who is 8, has taken a lot of tests, and he knows that
he has above-average intelligence. He's really good at math, science, art,
and (of course) gym. So why is it hard for him to read?
It's the way the
brain is organized in people with dyslexia. Sometimes the messages the
brain is sending get jumbled up or confused. Kids like Sam may be able to
see and hear perfectly well. But what they see and hear looks different or
sounds different than it would to most people.
Seems confusing?
It is. It's hard to explain, but some examples may help you understand
what it's like having dyslexia. Try reading these:
Would you want to
read if everything you read looked like these examples?
At first, Sam's
teachers were not worried because he was doing well in most of his
schoolwork. But gradually, reading became more of a struggle. "We
knew something wasn't right," says Sam's mom, Karen. "For a
child as smart and creative as Sam, his reading skills didn't match
up." Sam's parents found a specialist in learning disabilities who
gave Sam a series of tests. The testing showed that Sam had dyslexia.
"We're glad we found out when we did," says Sam's mom. "We
wouldn't have wanted Sam to go through school frustrated and feeling bad
about himself."
Once they knew
about Sam's dyslexia, his parents went to work getting him the help he
needed. That included going to a special reading therapist. The therapist
taught Sam more about the sounds that letters make, and the way he uses
his mouth to produce them.
When most
children learn to read, first they learn how each letter of the alphabet
looks and sounds. Next, they begin to figure out what the letters will
sound like when they're put together to form words. It's a learning
process that comes naturally to most people, but for kids with dyslexia,
it's not that easy.
In Sam's case, he
had trouble telling the difference between certain sounds, like
"p"and "b." The reading specialist taught Sam unique
ways to remember sounds. For example, he learned that "p" and
"b" are brother sounds - they are both "lip poppers."
"P" is the quiet brother and "b" is the noisy brother.
It's a whole different way of learning. Now, when he sees letters, Sam
thinks about sounds and the shape his mouth makes saying those sounds.
That strategy has helped him improve his reading. Other strategies people
with dyslexia use include making flashcards to learn new things and audio taping
lectures and homework assignments instead of writing them down.
Sam gets extra
help with reading in school, and his parents help him at home. He is still
behind in his reading abilities, but both Sam and his parents feel good
about his progress. "Sam doesn't like being in a lower reading group
in school," his mom says. "But he feels pretty good about
himself, because he knows there are lots of things that he does
well."
"I used to
feel dumb sometimes," says Sam. "Reading was hard. But it's
easier after you know the sounds. I know I have a good brain." Just
like his idol, Einstein. "When Einstein was a kid, everybody thought
he was dumb," says Sam. "He would stand outside for hours
looking for God on top of the clouds." And dreaming up the Theory of
Relativity, no doubt.
The good news
about dyslexia is that it doesn't have to keep people from achieving
things. Ever heard of the MONA LISA? It was painted by the great master -
and dyslexic - Leonardo da Vinci. Authors Agatha Christie and Hans
Christian Andersen had dyslexia. World leaders Winston Churchill and
Woodrow Wilson were dyslexic. So was the man who built a cartoon and theme
park empire, Walt Disney.
Famous people of
today who have dyslexia include entertainers Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg,
and Cher, and sports heroes Nolan Ryan, Greg Louganis, and Bruce Jenner.
Thomas Edison, the great inventor, also had dyslexia. When he was a boy,
Edison's teachers told his mother that he was stupid and slow. Furious,
she took him out of school and taught him at home herself. She believed
her son was intelligent and encouraged him to think and experiment. It
just goes to show what encouragement will do. "If you see dyslexia as
a gift," says Sam's mother, "there's no limit to what you can
do."
This article was reprinted
from the KIDSHEALTH.ORG website
produced
by the Nemours Foundation . This
article is found at:
http://KidsHealth.org/kid/normal/dyslexia.html
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