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.

think a little harder...

Do you know anyone, perhaps in your school days, who was always (to be blunt here) a little bit daft? The one who struggled in school and often labelled lembab (slow), bodoh (stupid) or just ultimately out of reach? People who might have laid low when there was a maths problem to solve, ( and you kept showing the straight-forward explanation which never seemed to get into him/her). Or even when you were beginning to lose your temper showing him/her the short-cut to a certain place. Sometimes, we had or still have friends like this, or the person might even be someone very close to you like your brother, cousin, spouse or child. Hey, maybe you are like this??

These may be symptoms of dyslexia. I thought I'd write a little about it today. I wonder how many people out there are familiar with this term and how many others are ignorant of its existence. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty rather common amongst us - about 10% of the population has it. Anyhow, there are degrees of seriousness. And, recent research seem to suggest that it depends on the language you speak. More complex languages (such as English, which is so irregular in pronounciation, spelling, etc), will have a higher percentage of dyslexics. Phillipines, for example, is rated to have less than 10% dyslexics on average. I have a strong suspicion that with BAHASA MALAYSIA the rate is low because BM has a simple structure. However, problems arise when we are forced to be bilingual - learning to be fluent in English as well.

Dyslexia is a processing difference experienced by people of all ages, often characterised by difficulties in literacy, it can affect other cognitive areas such as memory, speed of processing, time management, co-ordination and directional aspects. There may be visual and phonological difficulties and there is usually some discrepancy in performances in different areas of learning. It is important that the individual differences and learning styles are acknowledged since these will affect outcomes of learning and assessment. It is also important to consider the learning and work context as the nature of the difficuties associated with dyslexia may well be more pronounced in some learning situations. (Reid 2003)

Symptoms of dyslexia are:
1. spelling difficulties (especially ENGLISH, as compared to BM)
2. writing disorder - mirror image especially for letters like b,p,d.
3. reading disorder - problems with reading comprehension
4. coordination problems
5. very bad sense of direction (including simple Left and Right)

Let me explain a little bit more about point 3 above. The problem is so crucial that it is the main thing that pulls down one's ability in ALL subjects (except art - haha!). You see, when a dyslexic reads, the words are jumbled up. To be exact, even the LETTERS are jumbled up. Plainly, you may have the letters arranged this way:

There is a small boy asleep in the bed.
but the dyslexic might see and read it as : Then is the all boy please on a deb.

That's probably the more extreme case. still, surely, that sentence DOES NOT make any sense at all! So, the dyslexic becomes confused, perplexed, exhausted and lost by the time he finishes the paragraph or passage (if he even makes it there!!).

To normal people who simply cannot understand why one simply cannot work out LOGIC and use COMMON SENSE to figure out the meaning of something, please understand that this person has a disorder. It isn't really a handicap but it slows down everything. Pause for a moment, and think of people around you who always gets on your nerve. There is a high possibility that you know someone with dyslexia but perhaps at a very minute level. Look at your colleagues, your boss, your neighbour (no, not you, mama sarah!), your peers. Think of how slow the person may have been. You see, some (severe cases or not) may never have the opportunity to succeed. Hence, ending up as a gardener, mechanic, labour. Those may be classical drop-outs and failures in school. Then, there are those cukup-cukup makan or average ones who end up as teachers, or even professionals like accountants, and doctors.

I married one. And some of my off-springs have inherited it from him. They go unnoticed in a crowd, though some suspect that they can be rather difficult in grasping explanations. My spouse inherited it from his father, who also inherited it from his father.

On my part, I have always been one who was pretty quick (tsk.tsk..). I read fluently before I was 4, scored full marks in Maths till Form 5, etc..etc.. Don't get me wrong. I'm not an all As student. I did suffer some F9s in school (boo-hoo!) and some awful borderline passes or mere credits here and there. Still, I was more of a science person. Well, Maths, to be exact. Physics was great but facts in biology was torturous. But I also loved English and I read day and night. I even read the lable on packages or ketchup bottles when we weren't allowed to read at the dining table.

So, it is just natural for me to feel rather annoyed when my off-spring showed very slow progress in reading. Reading is a task very difficult for them. They can jumble up letters and words, omit and add anything to their own desire. Check this out: In BM, tong sampah can even be tolong sampah (what the ....??), whilst in English sleep can be read please. This is only reading aloud. Imagine trying to understand "Setelah selesai minum, Razif membuang bungkusan air itu ke dalam tolong sampah". It simply doesn't make sense. Obviously, dyslexics will fail in reading comprehension.

In a different setting, imagine the whole family in the car heading to a relative's place. You give directions to the driver, "Kat depan ni pusing kiri", and the dyslexic driver turns right!!! Or, if you're behind the wheel at a busy junction, and he's the co-pilot, he shouts, "Right! Right!" with his hands pointing left. Doesn't that kill you?

In short, please be more aware of people like this. Imagine 10% of the population. Could it be 10% of the people you know?? With our education system and mentality, there is a BIG chance that they go unnoticed and unguided. Pause for a while and reflect on what we can do to help them. They don't need sympathy. Only empathy. Hopefully, the person is able to identify that he/she is dyslexic so that he/she won't suffer low-self esteem. Hey, dyslexics are mostly known to be very artistic and creative. They can also be very bright in other areas. Isaac Newton, Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Walt Disney, Pablo Picasso, Hans Christian Anderson, Leornado da Vinci, Michael Faraday, Henry Ford, Cher, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, and Presidents and Prime Ministers: Washington, Kennedy, Churchill. On a more realistic note, it doesn't also mean that all dyslexics become 'somebody'. As long as they turn out to be good souls, that's what's important. I ponder, though, what about Malay names or Muslim scholars? Could it even be possible that our prophet (p.b.u.h) was dyslexic as he couldn't read when the angel Gibrael came upon him the first time? Wallahu'alam.