I’ve been focused on my teenager’s dyslexia for years now. Since I found out they had a reading issue in kindergarten and year 1 respectively, I’ve spent a lot of time educating myself.
I even wrote a lot of my essay’s for university about how I felt when I first learned about their dyslexia. Now, as a Literacy Specialist at the Australian Literacy Academy, I talk with parents about how learning issues affect their children at home and at school.
But as much as I talk, write and think about dyslexia and how kids like my children deal with it every day, I’ve never really walked in their shoes. When I first learned about the Through Your Child’s Eyes simulation of dyslexia, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a go.
It went something like this:
The letters are jumbled. The clock starts ticking. You can’t read the words. You feel stressed out almost right away.
You try to put words into context by reading the entire sentence, but you can’t. You have to decode. But until you flip the letters, you can’t figure out the words. It’s really hard to tell which letters are flipped.
The more frustrated you get, the more you want to give up. Is reading this even worth my time? What is it trying to say? What’s the point? Keep in mind this is only a 75-second exercise and I’m not in school anymore.
And so it hits me. This is what it’s like for my teenagers every time they read.
No wonder.
No wonder the frustration, the excuses and the anger when I ask them to read or do their homework. No wonder as much as they enjoy their reading and math tutor they are completely exhausted at the end of each session.
I may never fully know what they face, but I get it much more now. It’s not just about dyslexia. It’s about what it’s like to struggle with something fundamental.
For my teenagers, being understood means having the opportunity to reach their goals, both big and small. The more I understand about what it’s like to be in their shoes, the more I can help them achieve success.
I even wrote a lot of my essay’s for university about how I felt when I first learned about their dyslexia. Now, as a Literacy Specialist at the Australian Literacy Academy, I talk with parents about how learning issues affect their children at home and at school.
But as much as I talk, write and think about dyslexia and how kids like my children deal with it every day, I’ve never really walked in their shoes. When I first learned about the Through Your Child’s Eyes simulation of dyslexia, I jumped at the opportunity to give it a go.
It went something like this:
The letters are jumbled. The clock starts ticking. You can’t read the words. You feel stressed out almost right away.
You try to put words into context by reading the entire sentence, but you can’t. You have to decode. But until you flip the letters, you can’t figure out the words. It’s really hard to tell which letters are flipped.
The more frustrated you get, the more you want to give up. Is reading this even worth my time? What is it trying to say? What’s the point? Keep in mind this is only a 75-second exercise and I’m not in school anymore.
And so it hits me. This is what it’s like for my teenagers every time they read.
No wonder.
No wonder the frustration, the excuses and the anger when I ask them to read or do their homework. No wonder as much as they enjoy their reading and math tutor they are completely exhausted at the end of each session.
I may never fully know what they face, but I get it much more now. It’s not just about dyslexia. It’s about what it’s like to struggle with something fundamental.
For my teenagers, being understood means having the opportunity to reach their goals, both big and small. The more I understand about what it’s like to be in their shoes, the more I can help them achieve success.
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