Dyslexia ADDventures

When I met Vaishnavi* for the first time, she came across as a soft-spoken woman – spry and energetic in her sixties. Her eyes exude kindness and compassion. In reality, this façade props up a woman of steel. She’s a terrific lady. And once you get to know her, you’ll realise she’s a storehouse of knowledge on supporting a child with learning differences, as a parent and as a teacher. Listen to her story of struggle and triumph in her son’s turbulent voyage through school; and how he emerges victorious because his mum believed in him and stood by him. Listen to Vaishnavi's story: *Name changed on request.

Don’t panic! Intervention for language difficulties won’t start until she is 6-7 years old at least. That’s by Class 1 or 2.   If her school teachers are well-trained they’ll spot it by that time. Since most of our children go to schools where the average class strength is 40 students per class, and each class has anywhere between 5 to 10 sections depending on how much space is available to the school, teachers are burdened to finish ‘portions’ for examinations (Yes! We are a nation obsessed with exams and scoring well in exams). Many teachers (and parents) believe LD and dyslexia are conferred on children as an excuse for laziness. Some think it’s a lifestyle disorder (I never get this!), others say it’s bad parenting (Yeah, the jam bottle you produced stinks!). A good thrashing will exorcise any semblance of dyslexia and its ilk out of the child! (universal remedy for ‘curing’ a child off bad behaviour, disrespecting elders, the list can go on.)   Most teachers...