Understanding Samantha...
Did you ever fear when dealing with your children's " reading disabilities" you were losing your mind? I remember thinking when I first had my daughter diagnosed how hard will this be? Tell the Principal and teachers she was dyslexic and they could handle it from there. Right? Wrong... In the beginning no one wanted to handle it... No one understood it... Even my friends were like so how bad is that ? She will just learn to read slower then the other kids....I decided I would have to educate myself in order to explain to everyone else what "reading disabilities" precisely "what being dyslexic is all about. I remember the Dr's telling me Samantha know's what she wants to say however she couldn't get the words out. My version in explaing to others was an example of going to the Supermarket with Sam. I know all of you have experienced this. Standing in the middle of the Supermarket and Sammie telling me she wants her "favorite food thing". You know Mom that thing I like to eat.... I'm standing in the middle of a Supermarket looking at all the things people like to eat... Sam telling me you know Mom that round thing... I'm thinking potatoes? No Mom is has sugar on it....I say cupcake? No Mom it is small and has chocolate on it...Cookie Sam is it cookie? Yes Mom I want my favorite cookie. I silently pat myself on the back thinking yeahhhh score a point for Mom . So I explain that story to everyone and they then understand not getting the word out. How about Sam is a visual learner... I tell the teachers if you want her to spell "cat" She may think about it for a minute or two however if you hold up a picture of a cat she will get it immediantly...
I explain what Sam hears is slightly different then the way we hear things. Did you ever try to talk with a bad cell phone connection? Thats the way Sam hears and her mind has to work twice as hard as ours to understand the spoken word. Once I used these examples I caught peoples attention because now they were understanding what dyslexia was all about and more importantly what Sam was all about... The teachers were so excited they asked me what else I could teach them... My friends and family were now calling me with questions and suggestions... I bought every book I could find on dyslexia and when I was done I started giving them to family, friends and teachers as they were done they would trade off with another person. I have had my battles but once everyone was done fighting and we all sat down and focused on Sam the rest fell into place naturally....
I explain what Sam hears is slightly different then the way we hear things. Did you ever try to talk with a bad cell phone connection? Thats the way Sam hears and her mind has to work twice as hard as ours to understand the spoken word. Once I used these examples I caught peoples attention because now they were understanding what dyslexia was all about and more importantly what Sam was all about... The teachers were so excited they asked me what else I could teach them... My friends and family were now calling me with questions and suggestions... I bought every book I could find on dyslexia and when I was done I started giving them to family, friends and teachers as they were done they would trade off with another person. I have had my battles but once everyone was done fighting and we all sat down and focused on Sam the rest fell into place naturally....
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