When M was 7, I was finally listened to that I believed that he was dyslexic, I had been ignored by his teacher who said he was meeting all the milestones and was exactly where he should be.
I honestly wondered what planet this teacher was on cause the boy I had at home was not capable of reading the books she was sending home and yet she reckoned it was his reading level.
Quite frankly I think she was a numbers person who wasn't going to have any one fail her class as it might reflect badly on her. So when M left her class his report was full of how he loves school and met all the required targets - I was left wondering who the hell she thought she was reporting on!!!!
His next year teacher cottoned on to M really quickly - he figured out what made M tick and responded and when he did the start of year testing was quick and shocked to discover M only had a 5 year olds reading level (I was not surprised).
After four months with this man, he approached me rather carefully to say he believed M ticked the boxes of a dyslexic and needed help.... let me just say this was one nervous teacher - after all its not easy to tell a parent that they think something is wrong with their kid. When I just smiled and said 'welcome to the club' he was rather relieved.
This conversation started a journey for M, and it has been a mixture of hard and amazing.
M finding out he was dyslexic was the biggest gift M was ever given, M was already thinking of himself as stupid and was starting to give up on reading.
He had two gifts that day, a teacher who had an interest in dyslexia and a mother who was already on board with that way of thinking and together we formed a team for the next two years in guiding and helping M develop skills along with the specialist help from the Ron Davis dyslexia program.
This week was the biggest gift of all, M was re-tested for his reading for end of year reporting, he has as a result been put in an advanced reading group!!!!! At nine years old he is now reading at a 10-11 year old level!!! His speed maybe low, his fluency maybe affected (some days more than others) but he understands what he reads, he is taking it in, he never hesitates to go back and re read to get understanding or to ask questions to clarify. His comprehension is so far above his reading age it is amazing.
He is and will always be below level in his writing but he has gone from behind to ahead in his reading and I don't know who was prouder me, his old teacher or M.
But let me tell you that smile on his face was worth every cent I have had to spend to help M and I would do it in a heart beat again and again!!!
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