My Personal Struggle with Dyslexia

I no longer see having Dyslexia as a burden but as a blessing in disguise. I was diagnosed with a server case of dyslexia in the first grade. It was my father who first discovered i had dyslexia from seeing apart of himself in me. My father had dyslexia and took me to Scottish Rite Hospital to get tested. Before this my teachers and mother knew there was some thing wrong with my reading and writing but did not understand what was wrong with my progress and once my father sat down and looked over some of my work he soon realised that my letters were written backwards. when going threw the diagnostic testing at Scottish Rite Hospital the process was a all day ordeal. I was not excited about the diagnostic test but the women who gave them to me were very nice and encouraging, the one thing i was excited about was i got to miss a whole day of school and did not have to eat the horrifying cafeteria food. Shortly after taking the diagnostic test at Scottish Rite Hospital the results were in and i had a server case of Dyslexia. The funny thing was that i was a bright kid and excelled in math in science but fail way behind in reading and writing. I was lucky having a father who had Dyslexia because he knew the proper action to take to help me. I was soon put in another elementary school within the district with the best tutor from the Herman reading program. My tutors name was Mrs.Lewinsky and little did i know this lady would have one of the biggest impacts on my life. She was the nicest, sweetest, lady in the world and i loved her. She met with me twice a week for the next 5 years. When i first started working with her it was difficult because i was learning to read and write completely different from my fellow peers. She loaded me up with books, colored over lays, and all the tools a kid could possibly need to learn how to read and write with dyslexia. It was one day in third grade and my reading and writing were still not up to speed with kids in my grade and i had to read different smaller books. In 3rd grade was the first time i started experiencing teasing from other kids because of my dyslexia. They use to make fun of me for reading small book like See Spot Run and this really hurt me. The one experience that sticks out is when i was sitting at my table and this evil girl who teased me a lot sat across from me and wrote me a letter. I do not exactly remember what the letter said on it when she handed it to me but i do remember her calling me a dumb ass. Unfortunately for her as a child i was infatuated with curse words and knew exactly how to spell and read dumb ass. Me being quite clever as a child i raised my hand and the teacher soon came over i looked at the teacher and asked her to read this for me because i couldn't read it and i handed her the letter knowing exactly what it said but wanting to give the girl a taste of her own medicine. I don't know what happened to the girl but i do know she was punished. I did experience bullying but being a very athletic kid i often didn't get made fun of because my skills in P.E. class and recess out weighed the fact i lacked in reading and writing. Mrs.Lewinsky did help me a lot and i remember having to learn how to write with my left hand which i thought was weird but now looking back i realize that this helped me remember and process writing letters and words correctly. I also remember putting her in tears from my accomplishments from time to time, like the first book i read out loud to her. Every time i read out loud she use to record my voice and i remember taking home the cassette tape of reading my first complete book out loud and playing it for my mother, she had the same reaction as Mrs.Lewinsky and busted out in tears of joy. I believe it was when i was in the fourth grade when Mrs.Lewinsky gave me a kiss on cheek out of joy for me and she had became like another grand mother to me. She told me the only other student she had ever gave a kiss to was here very first kids she ever tutored, and i felt grate because i knew i was doing good and from where i was when i first started working with her to where i had came to was a huge difference. After the Fifth grade i sadly had to stop seeing Mrs.Lewinsky because i had graduated from the Herman Reading Program and i was up to level in reading and writing with kids in my grade. This was not the last time i saw here we still stay in touch to this day. I am grateful to have had this amazing women put in my life and give me the gift of reading and writing threw patients and tolerance. I also had out sided tutoring for 7 years and they also helped me a lot but never had the same impact that Mrs.Lewinsky had. After all my tutoring had stopped and i was at the same level as other kids my age i still was not cured. It still took me longer to read and write and i had special time commendations all the way threw my senior year in high school. To this day i still have some issues but i am proud of the journey i had to take. Dyslexia taught me that with time and effort i could achieve any thing. It taught me that life isn't always easy or fair and experiencing it as a child has helped me even in adulthood. As a kid i had to work twice as hard as other kids to learn how to read and write and i never once felt sorry for myself. Tears were shed by me some times from being over whelmed with being made fun off and also frustration, but these tears were replaced by tears of joy from my mother and Mrs.Lewinsky. I now have no problem telling people i have Dyslexia and i embrace it because it has taught me so much more in life out side of reading and writing. My favorite thing to tell people is that i can read and write just as good as them but i can do it forwards and backwards.