A letter to the mom with a dyslectic child

I imagine you’re scared. Probably worried for the future. Maybe heartbroken. I’m just guessing to be honest, because I don’t really know how it feels when your child is diagnosed with dyslexia. I should probably ask my own mother. Because I am dyslexic. I always been.

Yes, it took me twice the time to learn to read. And yes, if I write by hand I have problems understanding my own handwriting (not to mention everyone else having problems understanding it!). Yes, I do make a lot of mistakes while writing. And I did have to change schools at some point, because of teachers thinking that I was lazy and stupid. But there where also teachers who got me. Who didn’t mind forty mistakes and who inspired me to write regardless of my dyslexia. Who believed in me and helped me grow beyond my diagnosis.

So I guess that you’re stressed about your child’s future. As I was reading the article: “A different way of thinking”, in a paper version of the Today’s Parent Magazine, I understood how worried you might be now. You’re imaging your poor child, a child who’ll always have problems with learning. Who’ll always struggle. Who won’t learn as you did. A child seeing letters and numbers differently. Maybe never mastering them really. Yes, that does sound worrying. Because none of us wants a difficult life for our children, I understand.

But even though it was a long process for me to learn to read and write, I wouldn’t like to exchange my dyslexia for anything else. Why? Because thanks to my “condition” I’m creative. Thanks to the neurones not connecting like they should, I see things differently. I see similarities and associations between things far apart, I think in metaphors and I make things differently.

Yes, it is sometimes embarrassing to be an adult who makes mistakes while writing. Who’s mixing up letters and numbers. Who can’t really count. Yes, it can be stressful.

But I also love to read and write. I consider myself as a writer. I choose to study psychology, to understand the complex human nature. I got a master’s degree. I speak three languages.

See, in the end it’s just a different set of skills. Flexibility, creativeness, out of the box thinking, are too a part of dyslexia. I wish that was a part of the diagnostic that you got. I wish you were told that Albert Einstein, Jon Lennon and Picasso where also dyslexic.

[bctt tweet=”See, in the end it’s just a different set of skills. Flexibility, creativeness, out of the box thinking, are too a part of dyslexia. I wish that was a part of the diagnostic that you got. I wish you were told that Albert Einstein, Jon Lennon and Picasso where also dyslexic.” username=”TwittingLazyMom”]

So don’t worry about dyslexia too much. With a little bit of help your child will read. Later than others, but eventually he’ll learn. Maybe handwriting won’t happen. Maybe he’ll always make mistakes. Maybe numbers and therefore science won’t come easy. But your dyslexic child can be happy, can have a career and can succeed. And I wish that a diagnostic that you got would end somewhat like this :

Congratulation on your very creative and out of the box child! Your child will make amazing things happen, your child will create, and your child will surprise the world with its ideas! How fortunate that your family got to have a dyslexic among you! Now go on and enjoy your exiting life with your own creative, dyslectic child!

And if by any genetic chance, one of my daughters too will turn up to be dyslectic, I’ll be happy to guide her through this world of letters and numbers. We might even through a party to celebrate it!