I. BEATING DYSLEXIA
Philipose Vaidyar
Our son's teacher exclaimed, “What are you doing at home with your child?”
Specific Learning Disability (SLD) is often misunderstood by teachers, parents, doctors, and even counselors. I have heard individuals, including professionals making wrong statements about children concerning their special ability or disability. 25 years- that is, a quarter of a century ago, I had been on the learning end about DYSLEXIA even before our son was diagnosed as Dyslexic by a trained special educator who assessed him.
The years that went by were full of challenges, criticisms, discouragements, disparaging experiences, displacements and relocations, unemployment, exploitation by those who wanted to capitalize on the special situation of a confused family, and so on. But above all, those were also times of taking steps of faith, trusting, and pressing on. We often longed to see at least another parent like us who had similar struggles.
After all these years of waiting and experiencing, I want to pen down some of those experiences, hoping that those would help someone, encourage a few, and inspire many to press on in faith with their children who have a similar need.
I will
not attempt to define dyslexia or narrate the assumptions about or causes of dyslexia, as you can find a lot
of stuff on the internet as I had read a lot 24 years ago when the internet was
not very common in our towns. While most of it may be true, I have found
several of the assumptions, explanations, and claims done by some, wrong. My
attempt here will only be to etch out some of our experiences from a parent’s
edge and give glimpses of how we persevere and how our son could overcome
those struggles and be victorious.
Our Son
was born on 12th September 1992. We named him Joash (why ‘Joash', an extremely
rare name then, I will reserve it for the future).
THEN
Six years
later in grade I, his teacher exclaimed, “What are you doing at home with
your child?”
A director of a Counseling organization in Kerala tried to console me, “Not every child cannot become a doctor or engineer.” (Frankly, we had not even thought about what he should study or become; Our struggle was only managing his Class I homework!).
A well-known, author, speaker, and leader of a global organization suggested, “You have to break his will. You can give him a good spanking, below his knees”. Of course, we did not believe any of them or follow any of their suggestions.
There were scores of occasions we struggled and wondered how we will see him completing his 10th grade.
NOW
24 years
later, Joash’s LinkedIn profile reads:
About
"A Student of Visual Arts with a background in the media industry. Developing User Experience that is natural and Designing Interfaces that are simple but effective. Skilled in Art Direction and Cinematography, with a qualification in visual communication from the University of Madras; and with specialization in Visual Effects, Colour Psychology, and UI/UX".
Four of his recommendations on LinkedIn from his clients and task teammates read:
- “Joash’s eagerness to constantly
learn and experiment is absolutely commendable. He infuses creative energy
in his every action and people around him are always inspired by his
energy. I wish him the best! Joash’s eagerness to constantly learn and
experiment is absolutely commendable. He infuses creative energy in his
every action and people around him are always inspired by his energy. I
wish him the best!”
- “Creative and hard working.
it was a pleasure working with Joash and having him contribute by teaching
at our Media school! Joash is a budding artist in Visual Media! I will definitely recommend him! Creative and hard working. it was a pleasure working with
Joash and having him contribute by teaching at our Media school! Joash is
a budding artist in Visual Media! I surely recommend him!"
- "Joash is extremely creative.
His productions are highly appealing and go beyond expectations. He goes
the extra mile and thinks from the client's perspective and delivers the
best. Wishing God's blessings for this budding VFX professional".
- "Joash is a very dedicated
Artist and He (has) really done a good job in our previous video lectures;
he is very good at visual effects and he will always give a quality
output".
And my humble attempts to scribble down are to connect those dotted lines between THEN and NOW, which can help at least some of you somehow, at home, at the workplace, or among the circle of friends someday!
To be continued…..
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