Dyslexia:Unwrapped – Discovering James

Was sharing videos of James reading on Instagram and figured that I should start penning down my journey in understanding my son.

With the encouragement of majority…

I figured not many would know what Dyslexia is (although Google can give you the answer)and how it is like raising a child with Dyslexia.

But again, I’m not alone. There are many parents out there who has a child with Dyslexia.

That very first time…

The word Dyslexia was not familiar to me until my aunt told us that my cousin is dyslexic.

Google was my best friend.

I didn’t explore further, only found out that it was a learning disability and many successful people are dyslexic.

Here are a few that would pop up every time you read about dyslexia.

Source: http://www.dyslexiaonline.com

When we discovered that James has dyslexia, I have to admit that I took comfort in a few things:

1) There are famous and successful people who are dyslexic

2) Dyslexia is genetic

3) People who are dyslexic are intelligent

Yup, I do worry that my children are not intelligent at times.

But as I unwrapped more about Dyslexia, I finally realized that it didn’t matter that if there are successful people with dyslexia, if it was my genes or the husband’s, if every child with dyslexia is intelligent.

What matters most to me now is understanding how my son copes being dyslexic and how we as parents can keep encouraging him to find his own way of learning.

Reading was the only way I knew how to learn and I thought that we should “fix it” like the game “Fix it Felix!”.

As soon as I’ve accepted that it is not something that we can just use a hammer and nails, to mend things, I realized that reading is not the only way to learn.

From the book “The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan” by Ben Foss (whom is also dyslexic)…

Here’s a comparison of how a dyslexic person and non-dyslexic person’s brain looks like.

And no matter how you enforce reading and spelling to a person with dyslexia, how his/her brain functions would not change.

The glitch would always remain a glitch.

(too much Wreck-it-Ralph)

My next challenge would be knowing what works for James.

It is after reading more about Dyslexia that I truly put more effort in knowing what works for him.

He is better at reading now, perhaps because he was taught how to do so when we sent him for a course at Dyslexia Association of Malaysia.

I posted this video of him reading and one of my follower’s said she can’t tell that he’s dyslexic.

Yup, if I didn’t point out that he is dyslexic, you won’t know it.

Just like any other child/adult with Dyslexia, you can’t tell. Most people would assume that they are just incompetent/lazy/stupid/slow.

After watching this video,if you know of a child who can read at 9 years old, and then you would be able to tell that my son doesn’t read like any 9 year old would.

How do I feel about this?

Am I embarrassed? The answer is NO. And I pray for my child to feel the same way too.

A child is innocent and he/she does not know what shame is until the society/parents taught them so.

Hence, it is important for us as parents to give him the assurance that being dyslexic is not embarrassing.

Did I ask.. why does it have to happen to my child? I didn’t cos I believe that God would never give you what you can’t handle.

This journey will not be easy. I won’t and wouldn’t protect my son from the world and instead prepare him to face the world.

And one of the ways is for him to understand Dyslexia and the difference between him and another child who can read and spell normally.

The above is James’s writing.

You may find similarities watching this video.

I hope this introduction would give you a better understanding of Dyslexia.

Dyslexia is pronounced as dis-lek-see-uh. This post is written to document my journey, raising a Dyslexic child. Please do not use the content as research or clinically proven as true. Most importantly, respect the child mentioned and understand what is written does not apply to every child/adult with Dyslexia.