My Why
I never considered how children learn to read. I think I assumed it just came naturally for everyone, as it did for me. Much of my childhood was spent reading, anywhere and everywhere. Outside, in the car, in my closet, under the covers, in class especially in math class!). Books were my first best friend.
Imagine my surprise when my kids really struggled to read.
When my oldest child, Kiley, was kindergarten age I decided to home school. I still had my love of reading and read all of my favorite children’s books to Kiley and her sister, and we brought stacks of books home from the library every week. I was recommended a book titled Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. Ha! The book seemed to be working - until it wasn’t. Kiley would read a word on one page, then we would turn the page and it was as if she had never seen the word before. Kiley also had difficulty identifying colors and shapes, which struck me as odd because she was highly verbal, as well as very creative and curious.
I had friends that were teachers and I explained our difficulties to different ones, and they each just shrugged their shoulders.
So we kept on, and learned to modify how we approached learning, to a degree. Still, lurking under the water like a shark was the shame of not being good readers.
Kiley’s sister needed intensive speech therapy, and her speech therapist gave me the greatest gift that I still carry with me to today. The speech therapist told me that because Laurel had speech issues that reading skills would likely be delayed or difficult to acquire. I am so grateful that she shared that with me because it took away a sense of urgency around reading. I also remembered her advice when I started researching what could be going on with my kids a few years later.
Fast forward a few years, to living in a new city with three children. At 11, 9, and 5 the kids were full of adventures and endless energy. . The five year old was in preschool, and his teacher told me that while he was very bright, Spencer writes backwards and with both hands and had difficulty with the alphabet. At the same time, my 9 year old daughter was truly suffering with reading and while her sister was reading fluently, math was nearly impossible for her. I felt like a failure and did not know what to do for my kids.
Out of desperation I called the school we were zoned for and reluctantly shared how hard reading was for my kids. I cannot express how difficult this was for me to do. My biggest fear was that I would be told it was my fault.
Instead, what happened was that the school counselor told me that my kids sounded normal, and that I was probably just an ‘anxious homeschooler’.
Taking matters into my own hands, I went to the library and found the learning disability section. When I found the book Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz and read through the list of symptoms I actually cried. Then I took my stack of books home to my kids and read the list of symptoms to them. It was transformative for us, truly.
This gave me the courage to talk to the pediatrician and get a referral for an evaluation for the three oldest kids. That’s a story for another day!
I didn’t get everything right, and I still don’t. In those days I learned by listening to my children, who intuitively knew what support they needed to learn. I received training in the Orton Gillingham Method, Barton Reading and Spelling, and have completed over 100 hours in continuing education. I am truly passionate about learning as much as I can about supporting students with dyslexia and other specific learning disabilities.
My why for many years was my own children, and now it is any who cross my path. No one should go through life believing that they are not capable of learning, that they are broken, or that they are lazy.
Nothing will ever compare to seeing a student go from feeling hopeless to hopeful.
Hopeless, to hopeful. That’s my why
