Dyslexia - Our Story

I have written this blog a number of times in my head.  Some days it is filled with fear, some days it is filled with anger and stubbornness and other days it is filled with pure amazement for my son.  Our eldest loves books, he loves to listen to them, he loves to read with us, he pours over pictures and listens to audio books for hours, his favourites are kept under his pillow (above was last nights stash) yet he struggles to learn to read.  He is Dyslexic, Dyslexic and gifted............................it sounds like a conundrum but it is actually not uncommon for Dyslexic people to also have extremely high strengths.  There amazing strengths can help them to fox the system, to make teachers think they are reading when they are not and can mean some of them get through to late primary years with no one realising they have been having difficulty.

We are lucky Mr 7 is in grade 2 and over the last 12 months we have been pouring time and effort into helping him learn to read and working out why it is a struggle for him.  It has not been an easy path. At times it has been confronting and emotional.  We have celebrated the successes, there have been many.  I have cried with fear about a system that does not recognise or provide funding for Dyslexia and wondered why our system is reactive instead of pro-active but most off all I have gotten stubborn.

Stubborn that our child who loves school, who loves learning, who has amazing strengths will have all the opportunities he desires. He choices will not be limited because of his Dyslexia.................maybe they will be increased.  That is what we have signed up for and that is what I am determined to deliver for him.  Some days he tells me he wants to be a marine biologist, some days a lego designer and some days a hot wheels designer and I am determined he will be able to make those choices when the time comes.

I don't believe it is going to be an easy road but it will be one that we take together and together we will share the ups and downs, the hard work and the successes, the laughter and the tears.  Together we will thrive.  So from now on 3 Me and Ice Tea are going to be Under The Reading Tree.  I am going to talk about how we are helping our son, what we do at home, how we work with our school, how we discovered he was dyslexic and everything in between.  I am going to attempt to share it all the successes and the frustrations, to be open and honest in the hope that we will connect with others and maybe just maybe help someone else along the way.