WHAT IS DYSLEXIA?
The Oxford English Dictionary reads: "dyslexia n. a developmental disorder marked by severe difficulty in reading and spelling." There are various other definitions in encyclopedias, reference books, academic papers, or medical journals. But, in The Human Side of Dyslexia, I prefer to address this LD (learning disability) informally. This book is about moms, dads, siblings, and college students and their personal experiences with dyslexia. It's the informal side of dyslexia, the human side.
Let me share with you some examples from The Human Side of Dyslexia that best illustrate what dyslexia means in practical terms. Beginning with the younger students:
Robert Murphy's history project on Mt. Vesuvius-showing that the ground is shaking-is more like the work of a 10-year-old. He's 71/2. His written words are unreadable. Troy Herbert's fourth-grade biography on Martin Luther King is right to the point and says it all in three sentences. But it takes him 30 minutes to write those few words! Nicole Vuich, 10, feels stupid in class, can't read simple Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat books, and ends up being the class clown. Then, she scores 122 IQ (above average) on the WISC-111 test.
Robert, Troy and Nicole are bright students with average to above-average IQ's. They are smart, analytical, creative and contributing members in class, yet they perform below grade level in reading, spelling and writing. This dyslexia is confusing to them and to their parents. Now turning to the older students:
Jerrie Rambo says teachers don't know where to place her-she goes from being in the seventh grade English honors class to the skills class. But she hangs out with the honor students. Jerry O'Brien is gifted and is dyslexic. He's caught trying to balance what he's capable of doing and what he wants to do. Jack Peters feels like he's walking in the dark in high school-he gets a "D" in English, then an "A" in math and science. And Alex Black's TA at Stanford says her spelling errors are so distracting, she suggests using a "better" spell checker.
Students like Jack and Alex, Jerrie and Jerry, gravitate toward the smart kids in class because that's where their intellectual level lies. But discrepancies in performance-in the language arts, math and foreign language-cause them a lot of frustration. It is also unsettling for parents. Josephine Accordino feels like she has either the next Albert Einstein or an eighth-grade dropout.
These examples should give you an initial idea of how dyslexia impacts bright young people. And, for a more detailed description of dyslexia and LD issues, read the article: Why Andy Couldn't Read, Newsweek Oct. 27, 1997, by Pat Wingert and Barbara Kantrowitz. The authors offer a thumbnail guide to common symptoms, identifiable as early as preschool.
For information on entrepreneurs who succeeded despite their dyslexia, read the following Internet articles on Paul J. Orfalea, Founder and Chairperson Emeritus, Kinko's Inc. Do the Right Thing: Reflections of an Entrepreneurial Sage, by The Marshall Business School, USC (www.marshall.usc.edu/Web/News.cfm?doc_id=2434). And, Sir Richard Branson, Founder and CEO of Virgin Atlantic Airways Richard Branson's Virgin Success, by John Shepler (www.execpc.com/~shepler/branson.html).
For now, though, I hope this informal definition of dyslexia has set the tone for the following interviews. The interviews are about people, about their feelings. It's not medical. It's social.
Just before you start reading, please note the following:
The stories are real but the names of those I interviewed are pseudonyms. At the beginning of each interview there is a brief family description (in italic). The interviews are not verbatim, rather they are a paraphrase of what the respondents shared with me.
The term "a school for dyslexia" is used throughout the book as a standard phrase for "a school for learning disabilities, a school for learning-different children, a special school for kids" or any other term to describe such a school.
The college student interviews represent the personal opinion of an individual student at a specific college at that time, and are not the opinion of that particular college or myself, as author.