Friday Feeling !!
Today's guest is our American friend Alice O'Donnell.
Alice is dyslexic, this autobiographical story tells us
what it feels like to suffer from this condition.
Today's guest is our American friend Alice O'Donnell.
Alice is dyslexic, this autobiographical story tells us
what it feels like to suffer from this condition.
The Growing Years
The doors of the school swallowed up my tiny body, I froze
as if I was going into a trap. So many times people have tried to trap me with
words and puzzles; so many words. I would sit quietly and hope nobody notices
me. Please, don’t notice me. My mother walked beside me and I try to hide
behind her full flowing skirt but don’t feel comforted. She will tell them to
make me study, she is against me too. Why don’t they understand how hard it is
for me?
As I enter the room there are numbers and words, letters and
faces. The faces that will end up judging me in the end. Laugh and jeer at me
later as I twist my words. How can I stop it from happening? I wish I were
somewhere else and not in this huge room that scares me so.
Years go by I walk down the daunting hall of Junior High.
There have been no answers as to why I am who I am. I just sit and cry. Most of
the kids that I grew up with are here. Years of jeers and laughter weighing
down on me. I sit in the back of the room and hope no one notices that I’m
there.
It was the day I had to stand in front of the class and
speak: My history presentation. It was the day and my name was called. I walk
through the aisles to the front of the class. I try to make myself small,
insignificant. I want to get past this quickly.
My face rises red through body heat. My project chart shakes in my
hands.
I am an academic, social and emotional failure. In my
inability to hold a conversation. I twist my words and phrases to the point of
mutilation. I look away from all of them; make eye contact, that is what they
tell us to do but I can’t. Trying harder will not help. I get frustrated and
aggressive and antisocial behaviour results from these tensions. But I can’t
blame myself. Don’t hate myself. Don’t fight myself. Don’t strike out.
I drop my chart and begin to shake again. I look at the door
and feel trapped. Can I make it to the door without anyone stopping me? Another
girl shakes her head and asks the teacher if we can get on with it.
I
want to take control and tell people. I
want to communicate, if only they can be patient with me. I have something to
say. It’s not my fault. The words jump off the page, it’s not my fault. My hand moves around the paper searching for the words. The words
change on you and go blurry. It’s just not my fault
And to the one teacher that passed back my history grade and
told me in front of the class, marry well in response to my grade for the
presentation. I say, it didn’t kill me and it did make me stronger.
Alice O’Donnell
Thank you Alice - A beautiful heartfelt piece,,,,,,
Interesting Facts About Dyslexia -
- Dyslexia is the most common learning disability. Individuals with this medical condition have difficulty in the areas of language processing
- 1 in 5 people suffer from dyslexia.
- About 70 to 85% of children who are placed in special education for learning disabilities are dyslexic.
- Dyslexia does not reflect an overall defect in language, but a localized weakness within the phonologic module of the brain (where sounds of language are put together to form words or break words down into sounds).
- People with dyslexia are usually more creative and have a higher level of intelligence.
- Those with dyslexia use only the right side of the brain to process language, while non-dyslexics use three areas on the left side of the brain to process language.
- Children have a 50% chance of having dyslexia if one parent has it. And a 100% chance if both parents have it.
- Dyslexia ranges from mild to severe. Around 40% of people with dyslexia also have ADHD. And those with dyslexia use about 5 times more energy to complete mental tasks.
- Dyslexia is not a disease so there is no cure. It’s a learning disability that includes difficulty in the use/processing of linguistic and symbolic codes, alphabetic letters representing speech sounds or number and quantities.
- Dyslexics do not “see” words backwards. The “b-d” letter reversal for example is mainly caused by deficits in interpreting left and right.
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A Very Well Done Indeed, Alice. A difficult decision to tell everyone,very bravely taken.You have done this, as hard as it was to do, but now you have to remember that you have proved to yourself a difficult task can be done! Go forward now, knowing that although a task may be difficult, it will never be any more difficult than telling this one was. xx Nev - thank you for putting on the explanations about dyslexia.
ReplyDeleteThank you Anne.
ReplyDelete