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Does the cartoon look familiar? I have been reminded of my middle son, who had seen his big sister and older brother go off to school and finding it easy and fun. Keanu couldn’t wait to be one of these kids with the school uniform, being one of the big guys. He was excited and counted the days until he was allowed to go off to school as well.
Unfortunately the excitement didn’t last very long. The first time he got into trouble when the school found him and another child (a girl who was struggling as much as he did) on top of a tree in a property next to the school. Not a happy start, but understandable. If our expectations are not fulfilled and we don’t get the results that seem to come easily to our peers, it takes away all our joy – and after a while the motivation to keep up starts to dwindle.
Most dyslexic children I meet take a long time persevering, working twice or multiple times harder than the others, then start to apply short cuts if they find any, then excuses and often staying in bed is the final resignation, when all else fails.
Depending how long the struggle has gone on in their lives, it often takes a completely different approach to rekindle some motivation to give it another go, to give reading, spelling, writing one more chance.
I admire that tenacity and I’m sure in some ways it helps shape them into the amazing adults that often achieve highly in their profession.