Translated…
I have one thing in common, with the great scientist, Einstein, the well-known Hollywood director, Stephen Spielberg, the inventor, Edison, the genius artist, Picasso, as well as the movie star, Tom Cruise, along with other namely figures, that we all have reading disorders.
All of these famous people had, conquered their “reading disorders” by becoming outstanding in their separate realms; and I was also able to, overcome, managed, to get my two sons who’d only gotten a middle school education, into famous universities—if this is considered a success, then, that, is the commonality between the greats I’d already named and myself.
Reading difficulties, simply stated, is having a hard to cope with disorder in areas of learning, word recognition, or reading. Compared to before, those diagnosed with reading disorders are, way blessed, than those who were born in the past times.
Because from before, there’s little to NO understanding of the condition, not just me, most of those who had it don’t know that they had it, and, we’re all called, “retarded”, and we had to live our lives in pain because of it.
My father was an office worker in Fushan City Government, as his eldest, I’d gotten the privileges of the eldest son, grew up in everybody’s expectations and love. When I was younger, most parents are all busying about making ends meet, so, there are not very many who can read upon entering into school. And it’s because of this, after I’d entered into the elementary years, my parents started to discover, that I was different, than the other children.
The first day of school, the teacher had us copy the words of “Welcoming the Spring Flowers”, the nursery rhyme, “Spring Flower, Spring Flower, We Welcome You, Pluck it Off, Holding it Between Our Lips”, and still, because I wasn’t able to transcribe the terms inside of my mind into words, I couldn’t, manage, to copy even one character.
The rest of the class saw that I’d turned in a blank page, they’d all started laughing at me, said that I was stupid. At the moment, I felt so beaten. After the teacher took me to get cleaned up after I’d started wailing in class, she’d sat me in the chair at the teacher’s office. The shame and fear I’d felt at that precise moment had, become, etched into my mind. This experience of failure had, impacted my life, until I’m over forty.
I’d had a very serious stutter. Sometimes, I’d recited the words out of order, and I couldn’t differentiate the consonants too.
My problem not only lies in not being able to read, or write. In my art classes, whether it be people, houses, or trees, I’d drawn from the bottom up. For instances, when I draw a person, I’d not started drawing from the faces, the arms, the legs, instead, I’d started with the legs, the trunk, the arms, then the face, from the bottom up. And all of my teachers and classmates looked at me like I’m a weirdo.
In elementary school, my father taught me to recognized the Chinese character, relentlessly, and would often give me a TON of pressures. He’d screamed at me, rewarded me, and, alternating between the “whip” and the “carrots”, there’s no progresses.
I couldn’t even manage to finish my homework assignments, and so, you can imagine, that I’d done so poorly in my entrance exams in middle school, that I’d not had any place to go. My father believed, that being the eldest son, I needed at least, a middle school graduation, and he’d started looking all over, to see if there’s a school that’ll take me. After a lot of hardships, he’d finally managed to get me into that newly set up middle school, but in the school, I was still a student with the adaptation difficulties, who couldn’t effectively learn. Once again, I’d had a face-to-face confrontation with language, and still, I’d gotten, absolutely NOTHING out of it. In the end, I’d once again, not scored high enough, to get into a high school.
My self-confidence had, vanished, in order to not draw attention to myself, I’d become, timid and scared. Even if there was something I’d wanted to do, I couldn’t, fight for it. And, although, my body is getting stronger and becoming more and more adult, however, there was that eight-year-old that started freaking out, when he was given a test paper, not knowing what to do.
There were a lot of children for many reasons who were diagnosed as having learning disorders: including dyslexia like me, dyscalculia (math disorder), short-term memory loss, or ADHD, causing it harder for us to focus; or like my sons, Dong-Ju and Xi-Ju were, affected by the external stimuli, causing the low grades.
And still, things happen for a reason. Don’t rush to give up, or get too anxious about the child’s slow developments, you should instead, observe the child carefully. On top of that, although the child is slower to develop, you should still give her/him encouragements for progresses s/he’d made, and NOT compare your child with someone else’s child.
I hoped that we can turn learning difficulties into a kind of an “ability”, instead of a “disability”. Some kids who are blind, but played well on the piano; there are also children who are autistic, who are amazing artists; and there are those with reading disorders, who are excellent in memorization. Parents who are able to turn the disabilities of their young to a more positive outcome wouldn’t focus solely on the shortcomings, they will find and emphasize the strong points, the special talents that their young have behind the flaws, and, cultivate their young to excel in what they’re good at.
If there’s a flaw, then, make it up with something else. And still, not everybody was lucky enough, to understand this point of view, and so, there are, countless cases of how people become beaten by the obstacles in their lives, to the point, of totally, given up.
Because I was someone who has difficulties reading, I’m able to, step out of the mode of thought of ordinary people, and found a brand new way of learning that works for me. Meaning, that this miracle that’s happened to me, didn’t get faulty because of my reading disorder, instead, thanks to my reading disorder, I was able to, become who I am.
If your children are faced with difficulties in le4arning, the parents shouldn’t get easily beaten, you must carry that hope to think. As every child has the ability to conquer their own difficulties, or to created their own talents, as parents, we should, wait for kids to gain their own strengths to overcome the trials of their own lives, and, encourage them from the sides.
Because you had a reading disorder, and had a hell of a time going through school, being misunderstood by all, that, is why now, as you’d become a parent, and your own children started showing signs of learning difficulties, you were able to, be more patient, and be more supportive, because you never received the supports of the encouragements you’d needed as a child, and you made up your mind, to not allow your own young to feel as helpless as you had growing up.