Me at three.
I remember this day clearly. I insisted on dressing myself. Mismatched mittens and wrongly buttoned sweater — it didn’t matter. I was pleased with the results. My father took this photo, a celebration of his fiercely independent child.
Me at three.
Happy, free, loved, accepted.
My life before school. At home with a mom and dad who let me be me.
All that changed, I changed, when I entered the Ontario school system.
When my copy of Secret Code Actions™ — Parent Edition arrived, it barely fit into my mail box. That’s a good thing. At 370 pages, it’s wonderful weightiness is matched by the depth and breadth of its content — it is the ultimate guide to understanding and deciphering the English alphabetic “code.”
I’m a child and this is how I learnt to read or you could say how I didn’t.
When you think about giftedness you think that reading would be like a first sense, but it’s not. I didn’t learn the way the school teaches, here’s the summary:
Teacher: “Here kids this is how to pronounce the alphabet, now go read.”
Me (in my head): “teacher, WHAT ARE YOU DOING, that was so vague TEACH ME!”
As a parent, I struggle daily to ensure my daughter gets the help she needs to learn and be happy at school. Some days I succeed, other days are a miserable failure. It hurts to see her suffer needlessly.
More than 200 parents, students, educators and advocates attended the first Canadian dyslexia conference on Nov. 12, 2016 in Toronto. If you missed it, here’s a chance to see what the day looked like:
Annette Sang, a founding member of of Decoding Dyslexia Ontario and Elaine Keenan, president of the Ontario Branch – International Dyslexia Association, set the tone for the day with a powerful opening statement: “It’s a human right to learn to read.”
The student panel at the 2016 dyslexia conference in Toronto blew the audience away with their eloquent and inspiring presentation (if Richard Branson is looking for future executives, look no further!). By sharing their stories, they are helping to empower a generation of children and youth. Thank you! Continue reading
After spending most of my life living in the shadow of undiagnosed dyslexia, I am starting to feel really hopeful about increasing dyslexia awareness and support in Canada.
This–the first–video by Decoding Dyslexia Ontario is a sign of the changing times:
“These are the faces and wise words of some of our young people in Ontario who are spreading the word about dyslexia and helping us understand what we can do to help them succeed in school and in life.” ~Decoding Dyslexia Ontario
Understood.org is a helpful and trusted source of information about learning and attention issues. Their website is full of easy to use, helpful tools and resources created by experts.
In September 2016, just in time for back-to-school, they launched a public service campaign called “Two Sides”. The goal is to help parents identify and understand their child’s learning disability:
“It’s no accident this campaign is launching early in the school year. As schoolwork ramps up for kids, signs of learning and attention issues can become more noticeable. The goal of the campaign is to help parents understand these signs so they can seek out the right support for their kids.”~Understood.org
Does any of this sound familiar? 🙂
