Dyslexia Through An Artists Eye – Lerato Motau Inspirational Story

I never tire of reading inspirational dyslexia life stories – they touch a place within me that makes me feel proud to be ‘dyslexic’.

The following story about the brilliant South African Artist, Lerato Motau, is a great example of a ‘dyslexic’ person using their preferred medium of self-expression to externalise the richness of their inner world.

Dyslexic Brian would like to wish Lerato Motau all the best with the exhibition – we are sure that it will be a massive success.

~ Antonio G. Farruggia-BochnakShare this story on FacebookShare

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Dyslexia Through An Artists Eye

As a young girl in Soweto, South Africa, Lerato Motau dreamt of becoming a fashion designer when she grew up and made dolls clothes and shoes from cardboard boxes and plastic packets. Her creativity hid a deep inner pain.

Throughout her primary school years, Lerato struggled to read and write, and was considered a ‘slow learner’. During the apartheid years, many children with learning disabilities who lived in the townships never received remedial education. At the age of 14, Lerato was finally taken for an assessment and discovered that she was dyslexic. By that time however, it was too late to enroll her in a remedial school.

She hid her dyslexia from others by drawing and doodling instead of writing. It was her secret that she never shared… until now. Lerato has bravely drawn on her life’s journey and is embracing her true self.

She has created a body of artwork that reveals her story of overcoming dyslexia by expressing herself through the visual arts, culminating in this exhibition entitled, Dyslexia Through An Artists Eye. Lerato has developed her own unique multi-media technique fiber art. Circles represent the wholeness of her life, symbolic of the full circle she has journeyed, finally finding closure to all the jumbled letters, numbers and words she cannot juggle. She is celebrating the courageous, joy-filled woman she is.

Lerato dedicates this exhibition to her two daughters. They inspired her to face her dyslexia as she did not want them to experience the same struggle she had, feeling inadequate and not coping. This is Lerato’s first solo exhibition.

She is proud to reveal that she is touched by dyslexia but does not intend living her life under the label, dyslexic.

Story written by Stacey Rozen of www.storyscarves.org
Dyslexia Through An Artists Eye Lerato Motau – Solo Exhibition

2000 word essay in a week? You have to be joking?

Every now and again I read something that throws my mind back to my undergraduate studies and reminds me of just how difficult writing essays can be for someone who hasn’t overcome their dyslexic difficulties yet. The frustration, anxiety and heartbreak at not being able to produce written work to a standard that you feel adequately expresses your thinking is one of the worst things imaginable as a student eager to get the grades you feel you deserve – you know the subject inside out but you just can’t show it on paper!

This brilliant short story by Shirley Cooper from Aberdeen in Scotland gives ‘none-dyslexic people’ an insight into a few of the issues experienced by some ‘dyslexic people’ when faced with the task of having to write a 2,000 word essay in just one week. This might seem like an easy feat for most people who do not have issues with writing but as you will see it presented Shirley with a massive challenge that she had to courageously battle through!

Shirley is an inspiration to all of us at Dyslexic Brian as I’m sure she will be to all of you who read this amazing story.

~ Antonio Giuseppe Farruggia-Bochnak Share this story on FacebookShare

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2000 word essay in a week? You have to be joking?

Awww the alarm! 7.45am already, which means I slept for….. (Counting on fingers) 4 and a half hours! Mmmm it is going to be a long day. Even though I was up half the night I did not finish that damn essay. Stress! It has to be in tomorrow and I’m not half done yet, even though I’ve been at it for days, long into the night and early morning. Oh well!

So I get and the first thing I do is switch on the computer, ready to start battling with it again…. soon. Must wake up first, brain is in a fog that is particularly hard to shake this morning. Probably prolonged lack of sleep and the fact that my brain is in constant action. Thinking, thinking all the time, thoughts whizzing in and out, playing movies in my head. Constant thought I can’t escape. Thoughts about everything…thoughts about nothing…..just thoughts all the time. Great!! Being able to think fast, that can’t be a bad thing…right…. wrong! Think of these thoughts whizzing around in there, but when trying to apply an appropriate output for these thoughts you become stuck. That is, the thoughts run up against the brick wall in your mind, jumble up and ‘fall’ out in no particular order. Must sit for ten minutes in silence with my coffee, try and quite the jumble.

It’s Sunday so my family are sleeping late, I won’t be disturbed for a while. So I sit with the laptop on my knee staring at what I wrote the night before. I start to read, I’m confronted with a page full of undeveloped thoughts, bad grammar and lots of waffle! Depicted by the spell checker as lots of little red and green squiggly lines. Awww another frustrated groan leaves my throat. I know what I mean when I write it, I know the facts, I’ve done my ‘homework’ I understand the subject. Why, why is this so hard!

A week, that’s what we were given to produce a 2000 word essay, a week! Perhaps an achievable task for someone more adept with the written word than I. But to me, to be honest a mammoth task! I look at my essay plan again, the order in which I think the information should go based on Cottrel, Palgrave and other authors of ‘how to write a good essay’ type books. The trouble is (I think) that I know my conclusion before I start; I’ve made my judgment on the subject. I don’t necessarily know however, why I think that. This leads me to ‘what an essay is?’

I suppose it is a description, or flow of thoughts, describing arguments and evidence that lead to a natural conclusion. Where the writer takes a certain viewpoint, or impartially describes the argument, using a logical flow of the thought. And that’s when the problem is obvious, my chaotic mind struggles with putting my thoughts in any rigid logical order. The undeveloped thoughts (on paper) are a symptom of my fast thought, my hands unable to keep up with what I’m thinking, so ‘skipping stuff’. Add to this a below average ability for spelling, poor short term memory, slow reading and processing rate, and you have the ingredients for a tortures task!

So I say to my friendly lecturer, who said in an encouraging way “its only 2000 words, and I know you have notes… so you can do it” when I complained that a week was not long enough. I say, you’re probably right, given longer I would have just pained over it for longer! But…in no way is it a flippant or easy task. Just so you know, it will take me twice as long, tremendous amount of concentration, a deathly quite atmosphere in which to quite my mind, many re-writes, re-reads and re-arranging. Then when I get my work back, there will be pages of corrected grammar, spelling and sentence structure, to contemplate. Even though I looked that work over at least three times and could see no mistakes, they are there! Almost like a chicken with blue ink on its feet scratched all over my work! Ah well…I pull my wandering mind back to my work and continue with the battle. I just have to work harder…that’s all!?

~ Shirley Cooper from Aberdeen in Scotland

Inspirational Dyslexia Story by Mairi Sharratt

Here is an inspirational dyslexia story that brings a lump to the throat! Share

Mairi Sharratt, poet from Edinburgh, is an exceptional woman who, armed with the memory of inspirational parental support, has fought against all adversity, taken on extraordinary challenges, and pushed herself through the dyslexia pain barrier to surface as an accomplished poet!

We hope you enjoy Mairi Sharratt story as much as we did and that it inspires you to the extent that it has us.

A Lump in the Throat – Mairi Sharratt Inspirational Story

I was very surprised when Goga from Dyselxic Brain approached me and asked me to write my dyslexia inspiration story. I do admit, that for other people looking in on my life, degree, home, husband, child, career and published poet it must appear as though I should be completely fulfilled.  And I am, in so many ways.  But I still haven’t achieved everything that I have set out to, I still have goals I am aiming to reach, and challenges I want to take.  I in no way feel that my life is complete or fully developed.  What I feel I can share with you is how I have coped with my dyslexia, what has brought me to where I am, and the challenges that I still face.

I was born the third of four children and grew up in a small village called Munlochy in the Highlands of Scotland.  My father was dyslexic, and it appears that my Grandmother was probably dyslexic too.  My Dad grew up in the days when no one knew about or understood about dyslexia.  He left school with only one O level, having spent more time out of it than in.  He now has a Phd.  So in many ways my inspiration story is my father.

He wanted me to be able to achieve the things that he hadn’t been able to, he was a stickler for my spelling a perfectionist himself, and it was from him that I inherited my love of poetry.  The advantage that I had, which a lot of dyslexics don’t was someone at home who understood exactly how dyslexia made me feel, and what I was going through, particularly living in an area where the local education authority almost blatantly refused to recognise the condition.  It made the difference.

My parents also never limited me.  They never told me I couldn’t do anything and they always encourage me to aim high, work hard and do my best.  This was always typified to me in my fathers experience, he was dyslexic, but had achieved the highest level of academic award that can be reached.  Through a lot of my life I only paid lip service to these ideas, but when times have been difficult they have stood me in good stead.  I have become a person who relishes adversity (though not drudgery).  I am always looking for another challenge, and like nothing better than proving someone wrong when they say I can’t do something.  The document I have which carries my original diagnosis says that it will be unlikely that I would be able to get to the stage of tertiary education.  I didn’t get the mark in my degree that I want, but I did get a degree.

After the birth of my daughter I decided I needed a hobby, but given the limited time I had it needed to be something I was serious about.  I chose poetry.  Two years in I am now beginning to be published, and write a regular blog which I really enjoy.  I think dyslexia has actually helped me in my writing.  All dyslexics reading this will know that we think differently, or brains just don’t work the same.  In an artistic field where people are looking for new ways of approaching language a dyslexic approach will often appear new to those who are of a more nuro-typical mind.

This is not to say that I have overcome all the challenges that dyslexia has posed.  I still and often struggle with it, especially in the work place.  I work in public affairs, and I am often required to write at speed and with accuracy.  Why would a dyslexic take this kind of job?  Well, as I said, I relish adversity, and one of my many flaws is that I’m proud.

I have always concentrated most on what dyslexia gives me, my creativity, and the positives that it brings with it.  However I still have days where I have to admit, a disability is a disability and there are just some things I will never be able to do as well as nuro-typicals.  It is this acceptance which is the hardest part for me.

So how did I get where I am?  An inspirational father, and more patience and sympathy from others than I have necessarily deserved.  I sincerely hope it is not the end of my journey.  I wish you the best for yours.

Mairi Sharratt

See also my blog: A Lump in the Throat

Josh Cope’s Dyslexia Life Story – so far…

This dyslexia life story by Josh Cope, Trustee of UK Youth, is a great example of how a young person, determined to succeed in life, pushed his way through the dyslexia pain barrier to come out the other side with a great sense of pride in being dyslexic. Share

Well done Josh, you are an amazing person and Dyslexic Brian takes his hat off to you

Once you have read this story pay a visit to Josh’s blog: my blog www.joshcope.wordpress.com

Josh Cope’s Dyslexia Life Story – so far…

In school I was told I was slow.  Slow reader. Slower writer. Slow runner. HORRIFIC at playing any Game that involved hand eye coordination. So there wasn’t much to keep me engaged at school. My parents thought I had dyslexia from a young age, but the school, for whatever reason, didn’t test me. My mother would beg the head teacher and in the end I had an hour with a SPLD teacher, but still no test. Then when I reached college things changed, the teachers could see that there was obviously a problem with my reading and writing in particular and at the beginning of the first year of college I was tested and they told me I had dyslexia.

Not only does dyslexia affect your ability to read and write. But one of the biggest problems (I still struggle with) is organisation. As a child with dyslexia you also have to put up with the bullying and Being in such a small secondary school there were little resources available to me. So my parents paid for me to attend the DDAT centre in Cardiff. What a great program!!! They helped so much and I think it’s a program that should be available to everyone.

Since leaving school I have started college and also work for a charity called UK Youth. I could never apply myself to the subjects in school but when I find a topic that excites me I always find ways of expressing my views. Since starting working for UK Youth my confidence has grown dramatically. I feel confident enough to stand up in front of a room filled with CEO’s and fell totally comfortable. As I write this I am on my way to meet Her Royal Highness at an event where I will be giving a talk on youth empowerment.

I wanted to write this blog to tell people, and hopefully inspire other young people to get involved. Last week i managed to meet Pixie Lott (what teenage boy wouldn’t love that).

Learning about what dyslexia is, really help me understand why I face the issues I do and now I feel proud to say I’m dyslexic and I can look at things from an alternative angle. This has prompted me to look at the educational system and how we are failing our young people and how it can be changed.

You can find out more about my views about education reform at my blog www.joshcope.wordpress.com and my twitter Josh_io .

Josh Cope Trustee for UK Youth Director of Shine week (www.shineweek.co.uk)

Make the Letters Stop Dancing – an Inspirational Dyslexia Life Story

The following  Inspirational Dyslexia Life Story and poem ‘Make the Letters Stop Dancing’ was sent to us by Andrea Boff Sutton, a remarkable woman who has harnessed her ‘dyslexia’ and turned it into an amazing resource.

I hope that you enjoy this poem as much as I did – I’m sure that Andrea’s story will inspire and motivate people – dyslexic and non-dyslexics alike – to further develop the creative abilities of their minds… it certainly has for me!

Thanks once again Andrea,

All the best from Dyslexic Brian

Andrea Boff

Wonderful Dyslexia: Embracing the Wiring of My Mind by Andrea Boff

Throughout my childhood, my grandmother saved all my drawings in a special place in her kitchen. I still have some of them (thanks to her) and they date back to when I was 2 years old.

The point is, I always thought in pictures and in 3-D (even though I only have one working eye). Something in my brain enabled me to “see” space without stereo vision.

Even as there were abilities, there were liabilities. My mom would send me to the store for bread and milk and I would return with eggs and butter (knowing that I was supposed to get some sort of staple) but my memory just would not “hold” on to the ideas. Time was a mystery to me, so I was always late for dinner. I could not tell left from right and drew and “L” and an “R” on my bike handles, jeans, and hands. Simple tasks like “cross referencing” two lists, or organizing my school work was just about impossible and frustrating.

But it was the discipline of drawing that taught me how to think. I had an imaginary pencil and with it I drew imaginary lines in space. I drew houses, and hinges on the doors. By spinning the doors I realized that they created “cylinders” in the air. The planes of the house taught me perspective and geometry. I understood 3 dimensional space. That was the beginning of everything.

Today, I thrive. I am the Director of Experience Design in the Creative Department of a Fortune 100 where I design and build complex web properties. My ability to see in 3-D is tapped every day as I plan the tracks that users take through the web. Once I was afraid to speak of the Dyslexia and now I see it as a design resource in myself and others. Dyslexia has helped me understand that there are powerful differences in the ways human minds are wired and I respect others wiring even as I respect my own. There are many ways a mind can be wired – dyslexia is just one – and they are all very fascinating. I embrace this wiring. I know the pitfalls and the glories of it and that there is so much to learn from a person with a 3-D mind.

Make the Letters Stop Dancing

When my mom first opened books
across my lap for quiet looks
the pictures dazzled at a glance
and every word got up and danced.

The “T” and “H” spun with the “E”
and all for the delight of me
but they would not be still enough
for me to learn to read the stuff.

They would not sit on the line
so I stopped them with my mind
imagining them spatially
I sucked them down with gravity.

They quivered on the sentence shelf
till I could read them all myself -
And when I finished paragraphs
I let them all back up to dance.

Andrea Boff Sutton © 2009

Visit Andrea’s website www.boff.myexpose.com

Making Reading Right | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

The Bristol Evening Post , October 31, 2005 Share

Dyslexic academic Antonio Farruggia-Bochnak has made the leap from dunce to doctor. Now he wants to help others overcome the condition which proved such a handicap in his childhood. TOM HENRY reports on the self-help dyslexia website he has set up with his brother.

When he was young, Antonio Farruggia-Bochnak was labeled a dunce by a teacher who placed a cone on his head with a large ‘D’ scrawled on it, and made him stand in a corner for three days.

His crime? To fail to keep up with his class during a reading lesson. While others were forging ahead in the literary stakes, Antonio was still on ‘Peter and Jane’ books. He could barely spell his name and he was ten years old. While still in short trousers he had been written off by an education system which couldn’t understand why he couldn’t understand.

Overcoming the odds: Antonio Farruggia-Bochnak has set up a website to help people with dyslexia

Fast forward 30 years and Birmingham-born Antonio is coming to the end of a PhD study into dyslexia., the condition he suffers from and which was barely recognised in mainstream education until relatively recently.

From dunce to doctor is quite a leap, but it is one which Antonio has been determined to make since he pulled himself back from what was turning into a life of crime and violence – and realised he had more to offer than he ever thought.

Now he wants to share the skills and knowledge he has built up through years of study with other dyslexic people and with his younger brother, Alessandro, he has set up a website to do that. It was called previously: beesthewrongwayround.com [now known as DyslexicBrian.com] and the name will be familiar to dyslexics who are often asked ‘do you get your b’s the wrong way round?’

“It’s also a bit ungrammatical” laughs Antonio.”I think it should be ‘bees the wrong way around’. Typical dyslexic eh? Maybe it’s because i’m from Birmingham. We’d never say ‘around’, always ’round’.

Such technicalities might not matter in the grand scheme of things, but they do to Antonio. He has had to work hard to achieve what many of us take for granted -basic literacy and numeracy – and he’s determined that others should succeed where he once struggled.

The website which Antonio runs from an office in the Fishponds Trading Estate has been in the development stage for about six months and now, in its fourth version it has finally gone live.

Beesthewrongwayround.com is a highly-comprehensive source of information, both for dyslexics and non-dyslexics, and as well as sections detailing his own and other responses to the condition, the website offers paid one-to -one tuition for those who need real-time help and support via means of a webcam.

“We’ve done a test of this method,”says Antonio, “and it’s worked very well indeed. You can be anywhere in the world and if you are dyslexic and struggling with something- an essay or a dissertation or whatever it may be -we can help you. Dyslexic students in the UK can pay for support or tuition using their DSA (Disabled Student’s Allowance) and this is something we’re keen to promote.

“Of course, there’s no substitute for face-to-face tuition in the same room and the website is not going to replace that, but there are many people out there who for one reason or another can’t access the kind of specialist support they need, which is a sham. This is where we come in.”

Antonio knows how it feels to be confronted with what seems an enormous and frightening pool of words. When he was completing his first degree, the worry of writing essay sand dissertations used to cause him to loose sleep.

“I found it very hard to express myself,” he said, “and just couldn’t get my head around simple things like paraphrasing or quotes or references.

“I had a real understanding of the subject I was writing about and i really wanted to express something about it, but couldn’t get it out.”

In his youth Antonio had joined a boxing gym and the coach there became a mentor to hi, encouraging and supporting him through difficult times. Now, Antonio sees himself in that role, coaching and nurturing those people with dyslexia who feel like he did when confronted by words.

“I have a lot of empathy with other dyslexic people,” he said, “because I’ve been through it. And believe me, if I can learn to read and write and study for a PhD, anyone can.”

In addition to running [Dyslexia Support Service], Antonio is also keen to take his skills out on the road. He is looking for a venue, either a school, college, university building or a youth and community centre, in which he could facilitate a discussion group for dyslexic people, students, parents of dyslexic children or anyone else with an interest in the subject. He says there would be no charge for this; it is his way of sharing his knowledge and experience.

He also wants to become involved in the training of dyslexic employees on behalf of companies, and is already working with one company, HL Training in Fishponds, to help train forklift drivers who feel that their levels of literacy and numeracy may act as a barrier when they seek future employment.

“I’d be very keen to work with other training providers or companies to help them deliver a better service to dyslectics,” he said.

[...]

“As the research for my PhD has progressed I’ve become so much more aware of my own dyslexia,” said Antonio, “and I’ve come up with a seven-stage overview of how an individual first becomes aware of their literacy and numeracy difficulties to the stage where they have accepted it and are not frightened to deal with it.

“It’s a long process – it took me more than 20 years -but I’ve got there. And so can others, if they’ve got the determination to do it.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Proud to Be Dyslexic | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

Bristol Evening Post ‘Seven magazine’ 4th April, 2003Share

Having been branded a dunce at the age of six, Antonio Farruggia left school virtually illiterate. He’s now close to completing a PhD on a subject close to his heart – dyslexia. Tom Henry meets this remarkable man who has embraced dyslexia and made it his great strength.

As names go, Antonio Giuseppe Farruggia is somewhat harder to commit to paper than John Smith. Even as I write it, I’m not entirely sure if I’ve got the Giuseppe right. Is the ‘I’ before the “e”, or the “e” before the “i”?

He laughs about it now, but this is the sort of scenario 38-year-old has had to face ever since he started school. When other kids were clumsily learning to spell their names, Antonio was drawing a blank over his own, and eventually it has to be abbreviated to “Tony” to make it easier for him. When elementary reading lessons began, Antonio could not grasp the differences between the “ch”, “th” and “sh” sounds and he began to fall behind“

The one person who should know is Mr Farruggia himself – but even he, I feel, is not entirely confident. Recently, he was asked to write out his middle name at an office counter, but he just couldn’t remember how to spell it. With a queue of increasingly impatient people behind him, he had to ring his dad to ask him.

That was it from then on,” he says. “When I was 10 I was still on the Peter and Jane books. I just couldn’t get it, and yet when I was about six years old I went to Sicily one summer with my parents and I came back speaking Sicilian. Instead of the school recognising and encouraging me, the teacher folded up a piece of paper into a cone, wrote a ‘D’ for ‘dunce’ on it, put it on my head and made me stand in the corner for three days.

“I was crying and crying, and it was a horrible feeling to know that you’re missing out on what the rest of the class is doing. I fell badly behind after that, and by the time I came to take the exam for secondary school, I had a definite knack for trouble.”

Antonio was dyslexic, of course. He was one of the unlucky generation which the education system failed because his difficulties with reading and writing were not spotted by teachers who considered he was “thick”, “unteachable”, “backward”, “slow”, “remedial” or, in one phrase Antonio vividly remembers, had “bad blood”.

“It was because my dad is Sicilian,” he laughs. “I think they’d been watching too many episodes of the Godfather!”

Nonetheless, leaving school almost illiterate was no laughing matter, his frustration at falling behind resulted in him becoming extremely aggressive. He joined a gang in Birmingham, and violence became a way of life for several years to come until he eventually channeled his energies into boxing, and through a boxing coach who became a sort of mentor, he went on to train other youngsters.

Remarkably, Antonio is now in the middle of exhaustive research for a PhD in the condition which disrupted his early life. He is now able to see that dyslexics are not “handicapped”, but instead have talents, abilities and ways of learning that are different from what we might describe as “normal” and it is this positivity that will eventually lead to him being called “doctor”, not “dunce”.

“After I left school I ended up in the building trade and I moved around the country doing flooring for new Sainsbury’s stores,” he said. “I could get the concept of the design in my mind very easily, and I was able to create come lovely flooring which really gave me confidence.

“I eventually set up in business on my own, but the recession came and I lost a lot of money. I decided to change career and because I’d had experience coaching boxing to youngsters I applied for some youth work jobs. But I needed a qualification and so I applied to a college. The entrance exam I took was scribble, but to my surprise I was offered a place.

At first, Antonio felt like a “fraud”. Although his literacy had improved since school, thanks to his own effort, he still struggled with the written work, and would still misinterpret what he was told. “We did quite a lot of role play,” he said, “and one of the assignments was to act out a scene which involved working in Paris . I had all these images of France going on in my head, but when I was figuring out what I was going to do I looked around the class and everyone else seemed to be doing something different.

Eventually, the penny dropped. “I was supposed to be working in pairs, not Paris! I’d completely misread the instructions.”

Despite such elementary mistakes, Antonio’s determination to succeed saw his marks go up. He passed the course, then went on to take a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in education and community youth work. Now there was no stopping him. Although he wasn’t sure himself, a friend in the world of academia encouraged him to go on a PhD course.

As a result of his research Antonio is now of the opinion that dyslexia is something to be embraced, not overcome. “I’m not broken and I don’t need to be fixed,” he asserts. “I have got confidence in the fact that I have a different way of expression than other people. We can’t all play or read music, for example, and if you cannot so it is accepted and understood. However, we are only taught to read and write in one way, and it’s a case of ‘one-size-fits-all’.“But we are all individuals and we all do things in different ways. A lot of my research is based around the ‘person-centred’ approach to the teaching of dyslexics, which finds out what the child is interested in and teaches skills based around that core interest. “The perception a person holds of their own dyslexia is far more important than what a professional tells them it is. Personally, I’m proud to be dyslexic. It’s something special, something different, and for me it is about exploring that difference and celebrating it.”

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

From Dunce to Degree | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

Birmingham Evening Mail, The Life Mag. 16.04.00 by David Jones
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Education experts have made great strides in the teaching of dyslexic children, but understanding of the condition has been a long time coming. Birmingham youth worker Antonio Farruggia tells DAVID JONES how he conquered his dyslexia to gain a degree

“I WAS in my first year at school when I first realised I had difficulty reading. At the age of four, the other kids were already progressing more quickly than I was. The first problem I remember was not being able to tell the difference between ‘ch’, ‘sh’ and ‘th’ when I read them on the page.

Of course, I was too young to say anything and there was very little awareness of dyslexia in those days so I was just left to struggle – and that was just the beginning of my problems… By the time I sat the entrance exam for secondary school, I’d stopped trying altogether. I was messing about all the time and getting into fights. I think a lot of it was out of sheer frustration because, looking back, I know I wasn’t ‘stupid’ at all.

…the prospect of having to read out loud in class would fill me with terror. I would start messing about in the hope that I would get thrown out – anything to avoid having to read. On the few occasions I did have to read to the class, it was a nightmare. I would be okay for a sentence or so then I’d stumble and I would feel myself starting to panic, which just made it worst. Then my vision would go blurry and the words would start jumping around the page. All the time I could hear the other children getting restless or giggling – it was so humiliating

Of course, he teachers went through all the traditional options to try and get me to improve. I was sent to an educational psychologist and it didn’t take long for them to stick me in the remedial group. It didn’t help my reading and writing, but I met an amazing bunch of kids. We were all stuck with this label that we weren’t as cleaver as the other kids but it seemed everyone in that class was good at general knowledge, quizzes and so on. It seems clear now that it wasn’t the kids who were failing – it was the education system that was failing them. Looking back, I reckon there must have been a lot of dyslexic kids in that group, but there just wasn’t enough awareness of dyslexia to realise the type of specialised teaching we needed.

Eventually I left school with no qualifications and very low self-esteem. I was a complete rogue really, always getting into trouble, drifting from one labouring job to another. Fortunately, there was one teacher who took an interest in me in my final year at school and got me into weight-lifting. He suggested that I go along to the Birmingham City Amateur Boxing Club, so I did and I immediately found somewhere that I felt I was wanted. I started going regularly, working out on the weights and helping the youngsters who used the gym. It really gave me a sense of self-worth and the feeling I had something to offer. If it hadn’t been for the club, I could easily have ended up in prison

Since then, I’ve interviewed hundreds of dyslexic people for my research and I’m now doing a part-time PhD looking at the links between crime and dyslexia…

What I really want to do now is set up a support service for dyslexics and their families so that I can use my research to help as many people as possible. I’ve got a real passion for learning now and I want to put that to good use. I don’t know how ‘clever’ I am – I suppose that’s what I’m finding out, and if I can spare anyone else the pain I went through as a youngster whilst I’m at it, then so much the better.”

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I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee

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A HEART-WARMING song about a little boy riding in his father’s digger has become a sudden favourite for Christmas No1 2005. (Click here to watch video)

The track, called The JCB Song, came from nowhere to lead the charge for the festive top spot and will go head to head with the likes of Westlife, G4 and The Pogues. 

It was penned by 27-year-old Luke Concannon and tells how great he felt when he was five and his builder dad picked him up from school in a JCB.

Luke, of Leamington Spa, Warks, struggled in his studies because of dyslexia and says he was often bullied.

The JCB Song celebrates how all his troubles disappeared when he was riding in the cab of the big digger with his father Kieron.

The song and accompanying video — which can be viewed on the internet — has achieved cult status after web users started to spread the word.

The video features of animations of childlike drawings done in crayon on school notebooks.

Luke is one half of double act Nizlopi. He recorded the track with fellow dyslexic John Parker, who has been his best mate since they were 13.

Luke recalls: “My first school was rubbish. The teachers and pupils were real bullies.

 “My grandad and dad are Irish and both builders and my dad used to give me a lift home in his big JCB. He even let me drive it sometimes.

 “I was so proud of him. I thought he was really cool and when we were in the digger I was so happy.

“All that rubbish with school just used to be left behind for a while.”

The song begins: “Well, I’m rumblin’ in this JCB. I’m five years old and my dad’s a giant sitting beside me.”

Luke goes on to compare his hero father to martial arts legend Bruce Lee — whose name he rhymes with JCB — and hard man BA Baracus from TV’s The A-Team.

He also refers to his favourite childhood toys Zoids and Transformers.

Kieron, 51, is very proud of the tribute his son penned for him. 

He says: “It took a while to sink in when he came down and first played it for me. To think something I did with him as a kid had such a lasting effect really moved me.

“People say you must be proud, when they hear the song but it goes way beyond that.

“Anyone who is a parent knows what I’m talking about.”

Kieron has now given up the building business and is helping his son

to set up his own record label, Folk’n Deadly.

He even plays Irish pipes on the track, which will be released on the new label next month [story written in 2005].

Luke and John formed Nizlopi shortly after they first met on the school bus.

The bizarre name for their two-man outfit comes from a former schoolmate of Luke’s — Nina Nizlopi — who he had a crush on.

He says: “I thought her name was amazing. I think she lives in Chicago now but if we get a Christmas No1 I’ll definitely get in touch with her.”

Bookies reckon a festive chart-topper is not out of the question.

The odds against Nizlopi started at 33-1 and have gradually come down. They are now as short as 5-1.

The JCB Song has been dubbed this year’s Mad World.

That was the Tears For Fears number which Gary Jules covered two years ago for the soundtrack to the film Donnie Darko. It surprised everyone by storming to Christmas No1.

The JCB Song is being seen as a quirky but credible alternative to cheesy Christmas ballads. 

Luke says: “There is a lot of really bad music out there and I hope this offers something a little bit different and a little bit more thought-provoking than some of the other stuff.

“There’s a good story behind this track. I hope some people can relate to it and hopefully take some comfort from it.

“I don’t look at dyslexia as something that should hold you back and I hope other people don’t as well.

“I hope when people hear this song it leaves them with a stupid smile on their face. That’s how it’s meant to make people feel.”

Click here to listen to the song.

Story written by Derek Brown in 2005

Dyslexia Inspired Song by Nizlopi

A HEART-WARMING song about a little boy riding in his father’s digger has become a sudden favourite for Christmas No1 2005. (Click here to read the story)Share

I’m 5 years old and my dad’s a giant sitting beside me.
And the engine rattles my bum like berserk
While we’re singin’ , ‘Don’t forget your shovel if you want to go to work!’

My dad’s probably had a bloody hard day
But he’s been good fun and bubblin’ and jokin’ away
And the procession of cars stuck behind
are gettin’ all impatient and angry, but we dont mind.

An’ we’re holdin’ up the bypass
woah
Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
oh-woah

I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
woah
And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

Oh no

and we pull over to let cars past
And pull off again, speedin’ by the summer green grass
And we’re like giants up here in our big yellow digger
Like zoids, or transformers, or maybe even bigger

And I wanna transform into a Tyrannosaurus Rex!
And eat up all the bullies and the teachers and their pets
And I’ll tell all my mates that my dad’s B.A. Baracus
Only with a JCB and Bruce Lee’s nunchuckas

And We’re holdin’ up the bypass
Woah

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh whoa

I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
Oh
And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

And we’re holdin’ up the bypass
Oh

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh whoa
I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
Oh

And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

-

Said I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round

And we’re holdin’ up the bypass
Whoa-Oh

Me and my dad havin’ a top laugh
Oh-whoa
And I’m sittin’ on the toolbox
oh-oh

And I’m so glad I’m not in school, boss
So glad I’m not in school

I said

I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his
Aw, I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.
I’m Luke, I’m five, and my dad’s Bruce Lee. Drives me round in his JCB.

Malcolm | Dyslexia Inspirational Story

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As with many ‘dyslexics’ Malcolm’s experience of the British education system was not a good one. Before being labeled as ‘dyslexic’ Malcolm’s lack of concentration was a concern and a mystery to his parents. At the age of seven his parents paid for him to be assessed at the Dyslexia Institute. In Malcolm’s own words, his life changed from then. Each week Malcolm received lessons to help him overcome dyslexia. He believes that although it meant his parents investing a lot of money in his education each week, it was worth it.

Despite his progress outside of school, Malcolm did not enjoy the school experience. When he started secondary school, he used a laptop to help him keep up with the work load, and to help his teachers to read his work. However being different and even using a laptop meant that Malcolm was bullied.’ Sunday night,’ he says , ‘was hell’ because he dreaded going to school on Monday morning.

At the age of fifteen Malcolm prepared to sit his GCSE’s, he also made a career choice: to use his skills to become a furniture maker. His mother was thold by one of Malcolm’s teachers that he should ‘lower his expectations’. Despite this Malcolm wasn’t deterred he sat his exams and achieved five GCSE’s grade A to C.

Malcolm now attends college full time to learn furniture making. He doesn’t know if this will be his final career choice, but he does know that he is not going to give up. Malcolm’s determination to succeed is an inspiration. Malcolm stresses that anyone with dyslexia dyslexic or parents of dyslexic children shouldn’t t give up, It is worth pushing the the education system, and it is worth investing in your future. Malcolm’s message: ‘If I can do well so can you’.

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

Overcoming Dyslexia as an Obstacle to Success

Dyslexia Quiz

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Match the Famous People’s names to the ‘Obstacles Experienced’:

FAMOUS PERSON	OBSTACLES EXPERIENCED
Jamie Oliver Famous chef and celebrity	Was put in the ‘stupid row’ when at primary school; later, as an unemployed and struggling single parent, wrote on scraps of paper in a local café.
F W Woolworth Famous for founding the ‘Woolworths’ chain of shops	Enjoys writing songs and tried to get into reading but just can’t get into that ‘book thing’.
Richard Branson Famous entrepreneur	Achieved his greatest work after the age of 46, by which time he was completely deaf.
Ludwig van Beethoven A famous composer	Being dyslexic has helped him in the business world – he sees some things more clearly than others.
Alexander Graham Bell Famous for inventing the telephone in 1876	Didn’t speak until he was four and didn’t read until he was seven.  His teacher described him as ‘mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams’.
J K Rowling A famous writer	Was told by his employers at the shop where he worked that he was not good enough to service customers.
Albert Einstein A brilliant physicist	Was told after a meeting with the President, “That’s an amazing invention, but who would want to use one of them?”
Robbie Williams Famous singer	Didn’t do well at school; people thought he was ‘thick’.

Source:

Dyslexic man named as top teacher | October 2009

A West Yorkshire teacher who overcame dyslexia to achieve his career dream has been named the most outstanding new teacher in the country.

Edward Vickerman, head of business at The Freeston Business and Enterprise College in Normanton, was given the title at the Teaching Awards in London.

Because of his dyslexia, the 26-year-old said he was sidelined at school and not expected to achieve much.

He was described by a colleague as a “whirlwind” in the classroom.

While working in the hotel industry, Mr Vickerman discovered ways of overcoming his dyslexia and achieved a degree in hotel management, which set him on the road to success.

Invigorated department

He then decided to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher and chose to take a postgraduate teaching qualification.

Colleagues and students said Mr Vickerman was an “inspiration to work with” and had invigorated the department, introducing new courses to match student needs.

Mr Vickerman said he gets round his dyslexia by using new technology in lessons rather than communicating by writing.

The Teaching Awards, founded by Lord Puttnam 11 years ago, are open to every school in the UK and reward excellent teachers, head teachers, teaching assistants, governors and sustainable schools.

Source: BBC published Monday, 26 October 2009

From car mechanic to teacher | Dyslexic Inspirational Story

Birmingham Evening Mail published on August 18th 2005

“TEACHING has changed so much over the years,” are the opening words from Paul Reid, a 39 year old from Perry Barr, when you ask him what he thinks of his new career.

“I really struggled when I was at school. It was differrent back then and admitting you had a problem understanding something wasn’t easy.’”

Paul was a car mechanic for 15 years before suffering from arthiritis and decided to change career.

“I loved mechanics so much that I decided that I wanted to teach others how to do it,” he explained.

Paul enrolled on a City and Guilds Further Education Teaching Course at Josiah Mason College in order to acquire the necessary skills and gain a teaching qualification.

Paul decided to go all the way and since completing his course he has progressed on to a Certificate in Education, a university qualification delivered at JMC in partnership with University College Worcester, which will make him a fully qualified full time teacher.

Shortly after embarking on this journey, he was offered a job as a mechanics tutor at Greensprings Training.

To find out more, write to us or come to our  Dyslexia discussion groups.

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.

What Does Dyslexia Look Like in a Gifted Child?

Spatial and verbal talent of dyslexic children, social and emotional issues of dyslexia, dysgraphia or writing challenges.

Learning disabilities, a silent struggle | By Jay Balagna

When Eric Thornley was five years old, he was diagnosed with dyscalculia, a specific learning disability that inhibits a person’s learning of math. Coupled with a speech impediment, he quickly fell behind the other children in his class.

The now-19-year-old history and international affairs major is forced to spend more time studying and working on assignments than the average student.

“I’m not like the typical college student where I sign up for a fraternity and go out and party,” Thornley said. “I have to spend a lot more time on my schoolwork to keep up.”

Thornley is one of more than 400 students at the University of Nevada, Reno with a diagnosed learning disability, according to information from the Disability Resource Center.

Students with learning disabilities make up the second-highest portion served by the Disability Resource Center after psychological disabilities, Mary Zabel, the center’s director, said. The psychological disabilities include attention deficit disorder, accounting for the higher number, Zabel said. UNR’s learning disability rates largely fit with the national trend.

Specific learning disabilities are neurological disorders that affect a person’s ability to learn in various ways. “Learning disability” is an umbrella term used to refer to a number of different disorders, said Christine Cheney, a professor of special education at UNR and the chair of the education specialties department.

Included in the list of learning disabilities are dyscalculia; dyslexia, a reading and language-based disorder and dysgraphia, a writing-based disorder, as well as other, less-common handicaps.

Most people with learning disabilities are given a general diagnosis and not told which disorder they have, Cheney said.

“Generally, in the school system, we don’t tend to break it down and just say people are learning disabled,” she said.

That approach has the advantage of preventing decreased expectations for a student in any specific area, Cheney said. It sometimes expands those decreased expectations to all subjects, though.

“For the most part, people see this as something that can be overcome,” Cheney said. “There is the risk some people will just give up, though.”

Thornley said his learning disability affected him through grade school and into college.

“When I was younger, my first year of grade school was in a special education program which was a little disheartening,” he said.

The next year, Thornley was assigned to a regular classroom but still had to work to succeed in school with his disability.

As the years went by, he began to find himself wondering why he couldn’t achieve the high grades his older sister had earned in the same subjects. As he slowly came to terms with his dyscalculia, he began to realize he would have to start taking more responsibility for his education if he wanted to succeed later in life.

“Lowered expectations can often be a problem (for students with learning disabilities),” Cheney said. “Sometimes families and teachers can help too much and students can kind of get a learned helplessness.”

Those feelings of helplessness keep many students with learning disabilities from college educations, she said.

“There are a lot of capable students out there and the message is getting to them more and more that college is an option,” Cheney, whose son has a learning disability and is a UNR graduate, said.

While Thornley tries to do as much as he can on his own, he still needs help in some areas. His freshman year, he took a year-long Math 120 class offered through the Disability Resource Center. Now that his math requirement is completed, he uses only the alternative testing and note-taking services offered through the center.

The alternative testing is the same test given in the classes, but in a longer allotted time period and in the Disability Resource Center, Thornley said.

Another student in the same class provides the note-taking service by agreeing to take his own notes on carbon-copy paper in exchange for a $100 stipend toward the next semester’s tuition, Zabel said. Note-takers are screened by the Disability Resource Center to make sure their handwriting is legible and they are not on academic probation, she said. The money automatically is reduced from the following semester’s tuition.

Source: The Nevada Sagebrush

Tell us Your Dyslexia Story

We all know about famous ‘dyslexics’, but what about every-day people that have overcome barriers despite dyslexia?
Send us your story, along with a photo or video, for Dyslexic Brian’s Inspirational Stories section.