Eva is our second child. By the time it came for her to go to school I was quite confident in her abilities. The “Talk With Me” program had told us she was quite advanced in her language abilities at just 2 years old. She passed her Eye-da test with flying colours. She was way further ahead of our first child when he started school.
Fast forward through Kindergarten and Grade 1 where she grasped new concepts easily, and read the readers she brought home quite easily. She would read them to us with so much emphasis that there was no cause for concern (these books had 2-3 words per page) Her writing in her journal contained words she would find around the classroom. I remember her teacher pointing out one time her entry that said “My Halloween was extraordinary!” We laughed and said she was so bright knowing to look around the room to find words to use. She reversed some letters, but we were told, “she’s a December baby, she will figure that out.”
By grade two her reading wasn’t progressing. She couldn’t read names. She inserted her own words. She guessed. She seemed frustrated. Kids started to laugh at her because she was slow to finish her work or she messed up words reading out loud. Her teacher still thought she would figure it out. My mother, who tutored her, said she was missing some piece of reading but couldn’t figure out what it was.
Grade 3 was a lot of frustration with reading homework. We would fight at night about reading. How she wasn’t trying hard enough. She wasn’t focusing. “Eva. Just read the words!” Oh, the guilt I have now. At the end of grade 3, her teacher said to us, “it does not make sense that she’s so bright and excelling everywhere, that she’s not progressing with reading.” And there it was. Something wasn’t right, and we all saw it.
Over that summer we took her for psychoeducational testing. It was great, and she actually enjoyed it. She went through 4-5 sessions. In the last session, the psychologist sat with just my husband and me and gave the diagnosis. We expected it, yet I was crushed. Her diagnosis was a learning disability in reading - dyslexia. Her major deficit being phonological awareness.
I left that appointment and I went to Indigo. I wanted to get her some read-along books. I walked through that store and I cried. I still get emotional to this day. I stood in that huge bookstore and I saw her struggles. And I would never be able to fix it for her.
Trying to navigate the online world of help for dyslexia was overwhelming. There was so much information and so many programs I was overwhelmed. I talked to everyone who would listen and finally, someone put me in touch with a local friend who had navigated the same diagnosis. Through this contact, we tried the Barton Tutoring Program, which my mom did with her. Her resource teacher did some precision reading and snap words. We were also lucky enough to have her do the Davis program which I think has given her a lot of really great tools and strategies to help her succeed. The problem with dyslexia is that what works for one student doesn’t always work for another so it’s taking the time to find what works.
When Dyslexia Canada came out with the Mark it Read campaign, Eva was so excited. Something dedicated to people like her. She grasped onto that event and spoke up. She wanted everyone to know she was dyslexic and she wanted everyone to know she was still just a normal kid. This willingness to speak out I think is what has helped her the most. Her brain works differently, she’s ok with that and she’s ok with everyone knowing. She’s proud of her abilities. She’s creative and funny and athletic. She’s a great problem solver and a quick thinker.
Eva has had lots of help along the way. Resource teachers have been great, the school and teachers are so supportive of her, she’s had tutoring and she has assistive technology. Since her diagnosis, she has a new love for learning. Someone told me once, there has never been a better time to be dyslexic and it’s so true. Speech to text and text to speech is giving her the ability to be independent. Eva loves to learn and loves to read… she just would rather be read to or listen to an audiobook.
I’m so proud of Eva. She’s sweet, smart, kind, funny, and outspoken. She struggles with reading. But that doesn’t define her and it won’t hold her back…. She won’t let it.
Here is Eva participating in a virtual talk with a Grade 4 class in a different school.