“Oh, magic hour, when a child first knows she/he can read printed words.”
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1943

My Personal Experience With Dyslexia

Since becoming part of the training program eight years ago at The Children’s Dyslexia Center, Allentown, Pa, I discovered that I’m dyslexic. I know first hand what a dyslexic child is going through – their fears and frustrations. I learned first hand how important it was to start at the beginning and learn the 44 phonemes along with the syllable types that make up the syllable divisions used for helping with the pronunciation of a word. I know how it feels to have the ‘light go on’ in my head after using the Orton-Gillingham program for solving my own language difficulties.

Homework in high school was a nightmare, and no one knew what dyslexia was in the 60‘s, in my school district, or had the necessary resources to help me. Everyone said I was lazy and should be able to understand the material. I wanted to go to college after high school but, didn’t have the necessary grade point average. While my children were growing up, I went to college to become an elementary teacher and learned to cope with the challenges of my dyslexia (which I didn’t know I had). It took me five years as a part-time to full time student, with the demands of a single parent, to graduate with a B.S in Education. After the birth of my three children, accepting my diploma was one of the proudest moments of my life!

After moving to PA from Upstate NY, I continued with my education and became certified as an academic language practitioner in order to provide professional support and coping skills for dyslexic children. Helping them to overcome their dyslexia, will change their lives forever. It did me!