My Struggle with Dyslexia

Throughout my primary education I struggled. My brain new the answers and could work very quickly but I couldn't express myself on paper. My primary school suggested that I may have dyslexia but I was never tested. It wasn't until I started at the local grammar school and they suspected I have dyslexia that I was actually tested.

Once I was formally diagnosed as having dyslexia, my school were really good and gave me lots of techniques and extra resources to help. All my teachers were informed and I was given extra time in my exams and extra time to do my coursework. My English teacher spend time printing my work sheets on different coloured paper and we discovered that work sheets printed on yellow paper were the easiest for me to read so she continued to print everything on yellow paper for me.

Once I started getting this extra help, I really excelled at school. I did better in my GCSEs then anyone could have imagined and I was ecstatic when I was invited to attend my schools annual award ceremony as I was awarded a certificate for academic progress. I even went on to attend university. All this despite the fact that I told when I was 10 not to bother trying to get into a grammar school because I wasn't cleaver enough. I'm so glad I didn't listen to them!

As someone who struggled with dyslexia, I started to spot the symptoms in Tilly and mum contacted the school who tested her very quickly. Tilly has recently undergone the assessments for dyslexia and although we do not yet have a formal diagnosis yet, the early assessments indicate she has serve dyslexia. They said she is very bright, above average for working out puzzles and has a good memory which is how it has never been picked up by the school. I am glad that she has been tested so early as she is now able to get the help early then I did and hopefully excel at school like I did.

If you are worried that your child may have dyslexia, speak to your school who should be able to arrange a dyslexia test.