***
Of all the films I've seen on early childhood issues, this documentary about dyslexia comes the closest to our experience as a family. Replace speech for reading (but maybe now replace reading comprehension for speech), and that would be Jack's struggle. So many similarities. Also, I looked at my stack of books around the house filled with handwritten notecards after watching this film, and realized I've got a slow processing back of the brain thing going on, too.
Inspiring HBO Documentary "The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia," Showing How the Disorder Can be a Gift as Well as a Challenge, Debuts Oct. 29 During National Dyslexia Month
"Redford punctuates these personal stories with commentary by Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz of The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, who explain the most recent medical and scientific findings. Dr. Bennett Shaywitz uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify a neural signature for dyslexia and demonstrates the cognitive basis of the extra time needed by dyslexic readers on high-stakes standardized tests."
I LOVE the commentary on standardized testing in this film.
Also: "You may be dyslexic if you read slowly and with much effort. But you're often the one to solve the problem. You can't spell and have messy handwriting, but your writing shows terrific imagination. You have trouble remembering dates and names, but you also think out of the box and grasp the big picture. You have difficulty retrieving and pronouncing spoken words, but you also have an excellent vocabulary and great ideas."
This documentary focuses mainly on 12+. No children under that age, so early childhood behavior isn't quite touched upon, with the exception of a little girl (now a teen) who suffered severe performance anxiety because of how stressful she found school to be.
Our experience had Jack's behaviors on trial at an early age, with his speech issues considered some secondary proof of mental defect rather than the trigger of his frustrations. As the language improved, so did his ability to handle stress, to focus, and to just plain care about the subjects being taught. He was an early strong reader, but it was always put off the table as a gift because he could not process the information at the same level of the text he was reading (this documentary best explains that struggle for him). He's bridging that gap quickly now that he's caught up the missing three years of speech. Especially this year in health class. He's so interested in health, I haven't had to help him do that homework once.
Writing essays about things he's read is still difficult for him, but last night he wrote up a joke test and presented it to us, all proud of himself and laughing as he watched my face. I had to fake through the 12-year-old boy humor and not start crying because of how proud of him I was (because, let's face it, writing good humor is HARD). Tom smirked, rolled his eyes and sent him off to bed without any fanfare.
When he was four, Jack could not answer W questions because they all sounded the same to him. Imagine being in a classroom with a teacher (Kindergarten) who either thought he was lazy/obstinate or mentally defected-- her two go-tos... while also knowing the opinion of other parents was that our kid unfairly slowed down all the other children. It's terribly unfair... to those who go through it. It's the law of natural selection to those about to get their parenting asses kicked in some other way... (digress) ((but they do... trust me)).
We got to a fantastic school his first grade year, and he has consistently improved in a safe, supportive, non-judgmental academic atmosphere ever since. Imagine that! Improvement in an environment where he is understood by real professionals.
To this day, he messes up names... goes through the list 'Dad, Eleanor...mom!' and the date on his fake test was December 11th, 2009 -- which I pointed out to him and he thought was hilarious. "I'm so terrible with dates," he laughed. But he did incredible on his algebra test and he took care of me while I was sick, so, as this documentary endorses, keep embracing the positives. That's the way forward.
© Copyright 2013 Angeline Larimer
Inspiring HBO Documentary "The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia," Showing How the Disorder Can be a Gift as Well as a Challenge, Debuts Oct. 29 During National Dyslexia Month
"Redford punctuates these personal stories with commentary by Drs. Sally and Bennett Shaywitz of The Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity, who explain the most recent medical and scientific findings. Dr. Bennett Shaywitz uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify a neural signature for dyslexia and demonstrates the cognitive basis of the extra time needed by dyslexic readers on high-stakes standardized tests."
I LOVE the commentary on standardized testing in this film.
Also: "You may be dyslexic if you read slowly and with much effort. But you're often the one to solve the problem. You can't spell and have messy handwriting, but your writing shows terrific imagination. You have trouble remembering dates and names, but you also think out of the box and grasp the big picture. You have difficulty retrieving and pronouncing spoken words, but you also have an excellent vocabulary and great ideas."
***
I recommend watching this, even if dyslexia isn't the concern. I related to these parents so much more than any other documentary. Found myself involuntarily nodding my head and grabbing Tom's hand. Guess I can sit back and marvel now. This documentary focuses mainly on 12+. No children under that age, so early childhood behavior isn't quite touched upon, with the exception of a little girl (now a teen) who suffered severe performance anxiety because of how stressful she found school to be.
Our experience had Jack's behaviors on trial at an early age, with his speech issues considered some secondary proof of mental defect rather than the trigger of his frustrations. As the language improved, so did his ability to handle stress, to focus, and to just plain care about the subjects being taught. He was an early strong reader, but it was always put off the table as a gift because he could not process the information at the same level of the text he was reading (this documentary best explains that struggle for him). He's bridging that gap quickly now that he's caught up the missing three years of speech. Especially this year in health class. He's so interested in health, I haven't had to help him do that homework once.
Writing essays about things he's read is still difficult for him, but last night he wrote up a joke test and presented it to us, all proud of himself and laughing as he watched my face. I had to fake through the 12-year-old boy humor and not start crying because of how proud of him I was (because, let's face it, writing good humor is HARD). Tom smirked, rolled his eyes and sent him off to bed without any fanfare.
When he was four, Jack could not answer W questions because they all sounded the same to him. Imagine being in a classroom with a teacher (Kindergarten) who either thought he was lazy/obstinate or mentally defected-- her two go-tos... while also knowing the opinion of other parents was that our kid unfairly slowed down all the other children. It's terribly unfair... to those who go through it. It's the law of natural selection to those about to get their parenting asses kicked in some other way... (digress) ((but they do... trust me)).
We got to a fantastic school his first grade year, and he has consistently improved in a safe, supportive, non-judgmental academic atmosphere ever since. Imagine that! Improvement in an environment where he is understood by real professionals.
To this day, he messes up names... goes through the list 'Dad, Eleanor...mom!' and the date on his fake test was December 11th, 2009 -- which I pointed out to him and he thought was hilarious. "I'm so terrible with dates," he laughed. But he did incredible on his algebra test and he took care of me while I was sick, so, as this documentary endorses, keep embracing the positives. That's the way forward.
© Copyright 2013 Angeline Larimer
So hard to believe he's so tall now, yet my own 13 year old grandson is almost as tall as his Grandma and weighs more than I did when I enlisted. The blink of an eye...
ReplyDeletealan
He grew an inch as you typed that. :)
DeleteGood to see you, Alan.
As a mother of a little boy going through the same issues as your son, your blog gives me lots of hope.
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