I can see his face ready to blow
he shouts so the whole class will know
‘Sir, Sir I’m stuck, I need more time.’
‘I told you what to do, don’t step out of line’.
I find it hard and embarrassing with him yelling
about my reading writing and spelling.
‘Hurry up, get on with it, I’m not marking this mess’
I say, ‘I need more time, I’m doing my best’.
He tells me little kids can do better than me
‘I’ve seen better from my daughter, she’s only three
where’s your full stops and capital letters?
now go and sit down until you do better.’
It’s hard to do my work I find
I never rest, it’s always on my mind
then I get frustrated, rude and angry
because he doesn’t understand me.
This write up is an attempt to clarify the misconceptions related to the little understood and grossly misused term “dyslexia”. It is also an appeal to the readers to introspect and reflect on the implications the label has on children diagnosed with dyslexia.
The diagnosis of dyslexia is a long process that requires a battery of formal and informal psychoeducational tests and should be believed only if done by a qualified person preferably from an institute of repute. It is a type of specific learning disability marked by problems in reading, writing, math, spellings, attention, memory and fine motor coordination. It can manifest itself in various ways and so each child’s problem may seem unique and different from the other.
Almost all professionals and parents focus on ‘fixing’ the problems related to the all important 3 R’s namely reading, writing and arithmetic driven by the good intentions and the single minded zeal of bringing these children to the level of their peers and of course pass exams. Ironically the actual problems faced by them are buried under phrases such as- “he is just lazy”, or “she is not trying hard enough”, or “she is so smart in other activities”. What parents and educators alike do not address are the underlying causes behind their struggles. For example the child who just sits blankly when the teacher asks her to copy from the board might be overwhelmed by the letters and numbers which appear hazy and as if floating in air. This is called a visual processing difficulty and is only one out of the numerous difficulties that they may face. Most importantly almost everybody around them fail to notice the inherent, natural and special gifts they possess not in spite of the disability but because of it.
The dilemma is that numerous books and websites have pages and pages of research on the special talents the children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties have. They are excellent problem solvers when they are allowed to find solutions in their own unique ways. They excel in the fields of art, music, drama, sports, design and innovation and even entrepreneurship. They work really well in the 3-dimensional world or the real world in which we live but their minds play havoc in the 2-dimensional world of traditional academics.
Here is an example to explain the extreme unfairness with which the adults treat children all their school lives. A person has a bone disease and experiences excruciating pain while running, at the same time he or she is a great artist. In the hope of curing the disease the person is made to practice running hundreds of miles but no time is spared for him or her to do what he/ she loves, that is painting. Making a dyslexic child read and write for hours in the name of remediating his/her problems at the cost of ignoring all the skills and talents he/she has is tremendously unjust and cruel. It deprives the child of experiencing success and every possible thing that contributes to their self esteem and shatters their confidence to pieces.
Today the educational fraternity and parents need to question themselves- whose failure is it? How can we as a society shirk from our responsibility when it is the system which is not able to cater to the different learning needs of every child? A child who learns through multiple modalities and not just visual (which is the dominant mode that our teaching-learning system requires) is simply differently abled. Making a baby fish fly or making a baby bird swim forcefully would be overlooking their skills and making their lives miserable. So it is not wrong to say that it is the system which is disabled not the child. This is an age of a modern technologically advanced world of emails, i-pads and text to speech software. It is high time that we redefine the importance of the 3R’s in the world of the future generations.
The sensible approach will be to let children discover the purpose of literacy (and rest of the education) in their lives. This is possible only when all that they learn has a connection to the real world and show them its functionality and use in their everyday lives. When the children are motivated enough, nothing can stop them from teaching themselves to read and write and do everything else that they want to do.
The adult world is always in a rat race for material gains of fame, wealth, power and ambition. The joy of childhood is the divine, elusive and precious quality that nobody has a right to snatch away from any child!
The world is too conventional in its thinking and almost always people like to stick to the majority’s way of doing things. Any divergence and people are considered abnormal or unnatural. The natural world is so diverse and yet so beautiful…..Similarly among humans too, such a variety is very natural and normal. This understanding will make the world a better place for children with special needs.
(An article for the school newsletter)
