DYSLEXIA IS A READING DISORDER

Sir, 

Dyslexia, also known as a reading disorder, is characterised by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence. Different people are affected to varying degrees.
Years ago I sponsored a child who attended one of the rural schools and he had to repeat Grade II some seven times resulting in him being teased by younger and older children alike. He was constantly targeted by teachers who were ignorant of the disorder. The result was that the pressure became so severe that he eventually decided to inform me that he would discontinue schooling. At the time I wondered if the teachers had recognised that he was not stupid, but he was dyslexic. There was, however, nothing I could do as Eswatini does not have schools for children suffering from this disorder.

Brilliant

Because dyslexic children are especially brilliant and because people tend to lose patience while teaching them, people suffering from this disorder tend to memorise the words in their reading books so as not to disappoint whoever is tutoring them. These children are excellent at problem solving and are very gifted with their hands. They are creative and see the world very differently to the rest of us. They are able to ‘repair’ gadgets including complex engines without reading manuals. Some ‘figure out’ how things work as the right side of their brain is more active than the left side.

Judge

However, if we are going to judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will always ‘believe’ that it is stupid. Too many people vocalise the word ‘stupid’ too freely and thus the reason many actually end up believing they are stupid. These people are just exceptionally special and have difficulty recognising words and their meanings and they find it difficult to spell them. Some of them write or even read words from the back to the front.

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