OKANLAWON
My mother died about two years ago and the loss depressed me
and made me lose interest in a lot of things. She was so supportive but could
not achieve much before her demise. I am a Primary Six pupil who cannot write
his name correctly. In fact I’m fed up with myself and maybe my friends are
right; I am actually stupid. I was pushed to my present class due to my age for
I can neither read nor write. The alphabets appear blurred, some inverted others
seem absent making it difficult to merge words to form meaningful sentence.
Dad now has a new wife as he claims that she will take care
of me which got me really scared. Her name is Lucy. Aunty Lucy promised to help
me out and stand more like a mother to me though I found it difficult to
believe. She has a little baby girl called Queen who is very beautiful just
like I was when I was her age. To fulfil her pledge of helping me, she employed
a private teacher, Mr Ade to help me with my academics. Despite his efforts to
make me read and write, I could not.
One day, he gave me few questions to attempt after he had
explained thoroughly to me. After about 20 minutes, he requested that I submit
my note book for grading. He became furious and for the first time called me
stupid. He said ‘Okanlawon, are you stupid’? , you cannot even write your name
correctly. This once again made me believe that I am actually stupid just as my
classmates have always said. Aunty Lucy came and was really annoyed. She
however sent Him out of the house for uttering such words without listening to
his explanations. She consoles me and assured me of getting over the situation.
She however went online in search of the possible cause and solutions to my
present situation. Therein she found, DYSLEXIA.
DYSLEXIA (also known as reading disorder) is a learning
disability characterised by trouble with reading despite normal intelligence.
The features include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writing
and sounding words in the head, pronouncing words when reading aloud which are
first noticed at school. The difficulties are involuntary and people with this
disorder have normal desire to learn. The cause can be genetic or environmental
often occurs in people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
She however agreed that I was suffering from DYSLEXIA and proceeded to adopt
its management protocols to help me according to what she has read.
She removed stress and anxiety from
me by building my confidence in reading. She also supported me by compensating
me any time I was able to pronounce or write any word correctly which motivated
me to do more. After I developed confidence in reading, she taught me how
sounds blend into words. I became happy and began to talk more in class. Everyone
was surprised and my grades began to improve which got aunty so excited.
I gained the confidence of my class teacher and even the
Head master. I became a star in the school and confirmed that my condition was
actually an advantage to me than a disadvantage. It made me consider lots of
things and focus more on my strengths.
The second term results were released and I came out with
the best grades which got everybody at home delighted.
DYSLEXIA, AN ADVANTAGE AND NOT A DISADVANTAGE.
Salami Afeez
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