Good morning…
I hate to see my worst qualities popping through my kids’ skin. Overreacting when Plan A expectations are not met. Snapping, in tired exasperation, to normal, everyday requests. Struggling to comprehend and remember details, overwhelmed by a dyslexic brain tainted with ADD. I hate to see my worst qualities popping through my kids’ skin. That is why the paper forwarded to me by my college freshman came as such an inspiring relief.
She asked me to edit her paper for spelling and punctuation errors, correct tenses and run on sentences, but before I could get into my editorial role, I was blown away by her words. With her permission, I share them with you.
“However, as hard as it was to realize my dyslexic brain would never win me awards, I was doing the very best that I could. I started to finally understand that I had to use my strengths to defeat my disability. Pushing me to figure out how I learned best, dyslexia forced me to research various techniques to help me learn. Note cards helped me because I could physically flip through them, dividing them into piles, separating concepts I knew from concepts I was still learning, until finally I knew all of the information. I started to write answers on my mirror or on a white board because seeing words larger helped my brain to remember things better. Dyslexia has taught me to ask my teachers and my tutors all of the questions running through my head. I learned to speak up for what I needed to get A’s and B’s. My disability encouraged me to put time into my interests outside of academics, so that I could look forward to running cross country, playing soccer, or spending time with friends as a way of balancing my hard work with fun things I enjoyed. Dyslexia helped me to develop good time management skills, because I knew it took me longer to learn, so I could not wait until the last minute. As I dealt with my dyslexia, I became the one who sat at the dinner table for hours, talking to my parents. I learned that I like talking about real feelings, so I often went to one on one breakfasts with a friend or enjoyed talking in a small group at sleepovers until all hours of the night. In addition, I got to know many of my high school teachers really well since I went to tutorial for extra help and liked talking with them as real people. Ironically, my weakness with dyslexia has led me to my strengths as a person.”
Wow. I love to see God’s insightful wisdom popping though my kids’ skin.
True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for,
Job 12:13 (MSG),
Sue
