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.

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

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

Here’s to a Prosperous Dyslexic 2,000 & TEN!!!

We would like to wish you a Prosperous Dyslexic 2,000 & TEN – and that you have fun in the New Year overcoming your dyslexia!

We’ve got lots of exciting plans for 2010 that we hope will assist dyslexic people to overcome their dyslexic related difficulties. Here are a few things that are in the pipeline for 2010:

-    We will be delivering another batch of our ‘Parent as Dyslexic Support Coach’ workshops after the great feedback we got from the parents and special needs teachers.

-    We have designed a few competitions for school children that will hopefully help raise people’s awareness towards dyslexia.

-    We have lots of changes that we are going to make to the website such as adding our Famous Friends of Dyslexic Brian Section – we already have a few celebrates that have pledged their support so this section will be a great addition to the website.

-    Towards the end of 2010 we will be publishing Antonio’s PhD thesis online for those of you who are interested in reading Antonio’s research on the subject of dyslexia.

-    We will also be releasing an e-Book towards the end of 2010 that will give the key points from Antonio’s research – and will hopefully be useful for people who are struggling to overcome their dyslexia.

-    And from November 2010 we will be planning our 2012 Dyslexic Brian Backward Walk from John O’Groats to Lands End to raise people’s awareness of dyslexia and also to raise money for Comic Relief.

As you can see we have a busy 2010 ahead of us and we are excited about the new work we will be doing to raise people’s awareness of dyslexia. But, more importantly we are really looking forward to supporting even more people in 2010 than we did during 2009 to overcome their dyslexic related difficulties.

Once again we would like to wish you a Prosperous Dyslexic 2,000 & TEN!!!

Confidence Building in Dyslexic Children

The majority of dyslexic children have come to the conclusion that hey are stupid!

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Build Confidence in Dyslexic Children

The Basics

In any school in any week of the year a dyslexic child experiences a huge amount of failure. With sequencing difficulties, any form of writing or math/s is going to present severe problems, and the dyslexic child cannot fail to notice that almost all of the other children are able to do the work which he or she finds so hard. Why can’t he read and spell? He must be dumb, thick, stupid. It’s the conclusion that anyone would reach in similar circumstances, and it badly needs changing before any corrective teaching is going to be effective.

However good our methods with phoneme awareness, finding interesting books and word games are, this basic foundation for each child of a secure self-confidence has got to be addressed before any real progress can be hoped for

The difficulty with dyslexia is that it is not visible. If the child had a broken arm, everyone would be rushing around giving extra consideration. ‘Of course he can’t write – his arm is broken! There’s nothing wrong with his intelligence.’ But no-one ever says ‘Of course he can’t spell – he has inherited a different pattern of brain circuits! There’s nothing wrong with his intelligence.’

Teachers, parents and the dyslexic child himself come to the clear conclusion that he must be slow-witted.

What I am suggesting is a little cognitive therapy by the teacher, if possible in conjunction with the parent! Not as hard as it seems. The assumption in the child’s mind – that he is stupid – is inaccurate, and it needs correcting if he is to re-establish the self-confidence he needs to learn. This is not going to be achieved simply by telling him that he’s as intelligent as the next person. Well-intentioned people have been telling him that for years to no effect. He needs evidence, and he needs to re-construct the picture he has of himself in his own mind. Only in this way can he see his difficulties as a dyslexic learner in the proper context of a person – like anyone else – who has both strengths and weaknesses. Most dyslexic people have great strengths in the areas of physical co-ordination and/or creativity and/or empathy with other people. His strengths may lie in some of these areas, and he will know that lots of other children are weak in exactly these same areas.

The following exercise has a great effect on children, and can be carried out by a parent, or a teacher, or, if at all possible, both together with the child, who needs to be on his own (not in a group situation). Take a sheet of paper and make two columns: in one column put ‘Things I am good at’ and in the other ‘Things that I am not so good at’

• Things that I am good at
• Things that I am not so good at

Take about five or ten minutes of discussion with the child for you to write a list of things that the child is – from an objective point of view – successful at. These will include such skills as swimming, sports, caring for pets, making a collection, dancing, drama, singing, art, painting, drawing, and so on. In the ‘Not so good’ column let the child tell you the things like spelling and writing that he really finds hard. The list will look something like this, depending of course on each child’s interests:

• Things that I am good at
  • swimming
  • diving
  • basketball
  • looking after my rabbits
  • drawing
  • painting
  • collecting stamps
  • getting on well with other children
  • clearing the table
  • making people laugh
  • softball
  • being friendly to grandpa
  • knowing about space and the planets
  • etc.
• Things that I am not so good at
  • spelling
  • reading
  • writing
  • math/s

The evidence is staring the child in the face: there are far more things that he is good at than things he has difficulties with. He can’t possibly be stupid. He is clearly a successful person.

But he may well say that the things he is weak at are the things that matter in life. If you can’t spell, how can you pass exams and get a job? This is the stage at which you have to argue – not tell – and say such things as ‘What do you value people for – because they are good at spelling? Of course not. You value people for all sorts of qualities, especially their ability to be friendly, get on with you, consider your needs, think of other people before themselves and so on. It’s up to you to keep the argument going until the child can really begin to see himself in a new light – as a successful person who just happens to have been born with a small handicap. Like being color-blind. It’s not his fault. It’s not because he doesn’t try hard enough (as, unfortunately, many teachers will have told him).

Seeing himself in a new light can be a turning point for the child – whatever his or her age – and this new-born self-confidence can lay the foundation for the special kind of learning he needs to build up the spelling and writing skills that his fellow pupils find so much easier to acquire.

But it’s not an over-night change, and it needs carefully nurturing over the coming month. The list should be carefully preserved and pinned up at home in the kitchen for all to see. He needs praise, gold stars, credits, and certificates over the coming weeks for things he does in school – of a non-cademic nature – which are commendable: helping a new pupil to settle in, co-operating well in a games session, coming up with a fresh creative idea for art, and so on. The certificates he receives for these valuable activities may be the first he has ever received in his entire school career.

John Bradford
June 2001

Confidence Building in Practice

I began this activity by talking about a new session my learners would be having with me, which is Positive thinking. I modelled on the board my list and the children called out ideas. At the beginning of this activity this particular learner said, ‘I’m not good at anything’.

My reply was ‘Yes you are. You are good at football’. This made him realise that – yes – he can do things. With some discussion he managed to make a list.

Things that I am good at:

• Football
• Running
• Drawing
• Helping my friends

Things that I am not so good at:

• Reading
• Writing stories

At the end of the session he felt quite confident about the things he isn’t so good because I was able to bring to his attention that he can read just not as well as he is wanting to at the moment. We talked about books he had read and group reading activities where he sometimes helps other children with words like they help him.

The following day it was group reading. He put his hand straight up to be the first to read and he read steadily and more readily accepted help from the other children. (S. B-W., Somerset, UK)

Recognizing low self-esteem

A J is the typical 14-year-old boy—great athlete, “cool” with the girls, and loves to clown around when the pressure is on. I believe that underneath that façade what he projects is fear of failure in the eyes of his peers. During class he appears to pay attention but, when he is called upon to answer something that he is unsure of, he pretends not to have heard anything in the past five minutes.

This elicits a classroom response of giggles, especially in English or history. Science is a totally different matter, where he is truly interested, and is the first to answer or ask questions about an experiment. History and English are difficult, so he is frequently forgetting to complete assignments on schedule without constant reminders. He wants his peers to believe that he is just as carefree as everyone else and that school doesn’t offer any extreme challenges. (Lisa Landers, Texas)

Praise for non-academic achievements

Dyslexic children rarely receive certificates, merit points or stars for academic achievements. To compensate for this, non-academic achievements can easily be recognised and rewarded. Examples of such instances include:-

• Helping in class by handing out/collecting in work;
• Demonstrating to rest of class in P.E.;
• Showing good effort (regardless of outcome);
• Keeping desk tidy;
• Being organised with own equipment for lessons;
• Showing kindness to others;
• Willingness to participate in discussions;
• Sitting quietly and attentively;
• Good table manners at lunchtime;
• Helping to put out equipment or tidy up;
• Being polite;
• Setting a good example to younger pupils;
• Willingness to become involved in all aspects of school life (productions, clubs, trips, fundraising activities, etc).

Source: BeingDyslexic

Dyslexia Workshop Makes a Big Splash!

Despite the heavy rain on Saturday 14^th November 2009, four parents and three children turned up to Dyslexic Brian’s Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Workshop.

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The workshop got off to a bit of a late start due to the rain having caused a build up of traffic in Bristol city centre. Whilst the parents dried off and enjoyed a cup of warm tea the children explored the workshop space – discovered an old trap door, practiced their boxing skills on a couple of punch bags that we have hanging up, and then let loose on a drum kit, which I’m sure could be heard for miles! Goga took photo’s of the children posing on the drum kit and will email these of to them so that the can remember their time at Dyslexic Brian’s office.

The workshop started with Antonio Farruggia giving an overview of the Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Programme and also a description of the day’s workshop. Then he explained a bit about his past and how he had struggled all of his life with dyslexia until he overcame it when he was 38 years old.

Everyone in the group, including the children, then sketched out their perception of dyslexia – these were shared with the group followed by a very interesting discussion where everyone elaborated further on they way they see dyslexia.

Antonio then shared with us his theory of dyslexia that he arrived at during his ten years of PhD research on the subject of dyslexia. His theory of dyslexia went down well with the group and it seemed to make sense to everyone. However, there were concerns at first that his theory, although being good to assist people to develop a positive mental attitude towards their dyslexia, may leave them falling a bit short when it come to developing practical skill such as reading and writing. To address this Antonio shared a few techniques with the group that are aimed at helping children to develop their writing skills.

The workshop ended with the children presenting Antonio with the pictures that they had draw to explain what dyslexia is and how it affects them.

The children have asked if they can come back as they enjoyed themselves and had fun – so we are now planning to run a follow up workshop in December for this group.

Click here for inforation about the different types of workshop that we run.

www.flickr.com DyslexicBrian’s yslexic Brian’s Parent as Dyslexia Support Coach Workshop photoset