Sunday, June 01, 2008

Why I am proud of them

Two Fridays ago, at their school assembly, both my twin boys were awarded for being creative and artistict - from two different teachers, as they are in different classes! It is certainly a coincidence; a wonderful one. And I am proud of them.

These are traits that dyslexics tend to have - a 'thing' with art. However, they don't seem to really like Art as a subject. They are just naturally creative with their work. Don't even expect them to be Picasso or Van Gohn - they're just artistic in their own ways.

I often ask them what they'd like to be when they grow up, and mind you - they're not even close to anything artistic! Nevertheless, the boys are still young and it is important for them to get as much exposure to a variety of things; for them to choose from much later in life. To me, being artistically inclined does not necessarily mean one has to choose a profession in that field. As a child, I had great interests over art but the interest and whatever little skill I had was not polished enough or given the opportunity to develop. Still, being artistic and creative is a prerequisite for a teacher, I would say!

Bringing up children with dyslexia is definitely a challenge and one should be most patient when handling them. I remember how I had been quite frustrated teaching them to read when they were much younger, as I had learnt to read at quite an early age. Today, I approach the issue of reading in a more rewarding way - not really my cup of tea, but something that works pretty well with the boys.

For now, the boys are highly motivated to read and finish (khatam) their Quran. Oh yes... reading the Arabic letters can be confusing too! They are a little slow, I know, but I promise to be by their sides, guiding them and cheering them on. They have requested for rewards if they get to finish the Quran this year, and I am more than happy to oblige to their requests. InsyaAllah, if they can make it, I will try and find the rezqi to get them what they want.

May Allah make their future smooth-sailing, developing good virtues and taking in the vast amount of knowledge and opportunities ahead.

7 comments:

anggerik merah said...

Dear D,

MasyaAllah...I didn't recall that your boys have dyslexia. It is a gift indeed.

I learnt a lot from dealing wt my autistic lil man. Loads of patient. I accept it with full heart. It was very stressful before really understand the reason of his behaviour. But now Alhamdullilah..we accept with full heart and pray to Allah to give us full strength to help our lil man.

D, you have been given loads of strength by HIM.Insyaallah, with HIM blessing your wish for future of your boys will be "makbul".

Anonymous said...

Salam D,

You've done great with them D!! Challenging yes, but they can go far.....many successful people are dyslexics. And success is subjective, InsyaAllah with your guidance they will achieve their own success!!

For the moment, qatam the Quran is the short term challenge. My prayers for them.

Hugs
Murni (Sheffield)

Unknown said...

I am silent reader of your blog.My 12 years old son is also dyslexia.He can only read at 9 years old but I had never gave up on him.Now he can read english and malay,read quran and now hafal yasin at ayat 30.His spelling still need improving.And been quite sometime that he ask me which is left and right.

That is not much help in govt school in Malaysia ..what kind of help did you get from school in UK?

I think he got it from me..lah.My spelling is bad and my sense of direction sucks and sometimes funny words came out from my mouth.But I survive and did quite well for myself too.

Do share any ideas or info on dyslexia so that I can use it for my son too.

Kak Elle said...

d syabas for being the best mom to them they maybe slow learner but they'll catch up.

take care and hugs

Anonymous said...

D, what you wrote and the comments in this entry has shed some light on some issues I've had since I was a kid... perhaps you could help analyse the sysmtoms: I can't spell to save my life, I'm a slow reader and still have trouble reading aloud fluently, I am artistic (ehem ehem) and I have trouble with telling my left from my right (I always thought it was because I'm left handed) and I'm really weak at my tajweed/quran reading too!

Had a tough childhood because of this, didn't help that I had really bright siblings- my parents even tested my eye sight and hearing to explain why I was sooo slow....hmmm.... this could be a revelation!

cikMilah said...

D, I thought I am alone. True it was really stressful before getting to know that my son too is dyslexic. Do share yr way of making reading fun to the twins.

Dentist said...

Sis D,
Dugaan itu pelbagai dr Yang Esa,cuma kita sahaja yang mampu bertahan atau tidak. Berkat doa ibu, insya allah.. semua anak akak akan berjaya. (Smile)