The Struggles of a Reader

When I was little, I always had a book in my hands, little ten page kid books, that ginormous leapfrog e-reader every kid had, even some of my parents books trying to make sense of it. Naturally, I was an avid reader. As I got older my books got bigger, not drastic size changes, but still it seemed like a big leap for a Kindergartener. By first grade I had worked my way up to reading Harry Potter with help from my mom, but by the time Order of the Phoenix rolled around, I was done reading. That is because by second grade, my dyslexia had manifested into everyday life. Words began to swim around the pages, letters never seemed to stay in the right order, lines were non-existent, even numbers would roam and flip around. The only solid word I could make out was “I” and that is only because “I” is a one letter word. Soon enough, you could not find me anywhere near a book.

Just because reading books was hard did not mean that I did not score well on quizzes. I was an exemplary student with straight A’s, even if it was just elementary school. Because of my high scores, none of my teachers thought anything was wrong. Every time my parents mentioned the problem of me struggling to read, teachers and administrators responded with, “Her scores are high, she’s fine.”. Even when, on multiple accounts, I asked my teachers or my mom what a basic word such as “because” was, they thought I was fine. That is, until I took my first exam in middle school.

The first exam was in math and my anxiety levels were up. Surprisingly, I saw all the numbers fairly normal, but when it came to the answers, I had written all mirror image. That was the last straw. I was taken to a specialist, who after a vigorous day of testing, diagnosed me with dyslexia and dysgraphia. From there we came up with ways to counteract all the swimming and roaming letters. We started off with taping two index cards so that it only allowed me to see one line. Then gradually the cards were spaced further apart so two lines could be seen, then 3, eventually whole paragraphs and then they were gone within a year. Even with all of that, I still was discouraged when it came to reading for fun, but then I found the Percy Jackson series.

A book series with the main character who had the same problems I do yet could still do all of the amazingly cool things, is the real reason I overcame my fight with dyslexia. The reading level was not extremely hard, so reading was not a problem. The plot was too good to pass up and the characters all had dyslexia. It was something I could relate to. If the kids could save the world with dyslexia, I could make it through a few books, and I did. I made it through the whole series, I went back and read the entire Harry Potter series, and another series and another. Books became an addiction for me.

Now, I always have a book with me, sometimes more than one. I write in and highlight, and sticky note every book that goes through my hands. I am constantly working on some piece of writing, whether it is this month’s version of my to be published book, random journal entries, a poem, or an essay. Math does give me problems, but I am in Pre-Calculus currently cruising through the material with minimal problems caused by dyslexia. Even though my dyslexia is still prominent and causes problems, I do not let it get in the way of my academic success or dreams. I will never let it hold me back from anything.