Students With Dyslexia Aren’t Dumb. Teachers Can Help Them See That.

As a kid, I used to sneak into my sister’s bedroom, pull out each of her “Baby-Sitters Club” books, look at the covers, and wonder what each one was about. I’d make up stories to what I thought was going to happen, but never once cracked the books open to attempt to read the print. Everyone in my family was an avid reader, so I wanted to be a reader, too. But I didn’t think I had access to that knowledge. It wasn’t until I was 34 years old that I found out that my confusion, shame, and sense of defeat stemmed from the fact that I have dyslexia.

I didn’t discover this until after I had taught kindergarten for 10 years and became a reading program implementation specialist for educators around the country. Students with dyslexia develop astonishing coping mechanisms to make it as far as I did, and unfortunately, my story isn’t as rare as you might think…………...………………….……………………..