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 did not have schools for children suffering from this disorder.

Patience

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. Can you imagine how difficult that is for you and I who read words in the so called ‘normal’ manner, if we had to write the words from back to front? Every single time someone says to them ‘write this down’, it must be something that instantly brings forth the ‘fear’ vibration which then leads to such people feeling insecure and not good enough.

Some of us have such people in our families and we find that they are able to recite people’s mobile numbers by heart. Such people are unable to read texted messages in most instances as unfortunately as earlier stated teachers and parents alike simply believed these people were just ‘stupid’ and did not merit investigation into what was preventing them from being able to read. If your child has difficulty copying words or reading words please do not make them feel inferior and call them names. I would urge you to please seek professional help for your child for I believe the reason many are not what others call ‘normal’ is because they have come to fulfil a very different role in the world. Continuous buffing of that calling will result in the calling being lost.  Remember, many see opportunities where others see defeat. Let the ‘light’ in each individual shine as brightly as it can, if you cannot help them, at least, do not hurt them!

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