My Journey with Dyslexiaby Rachel Mosher, St. Mary Family Faith Formation, Eldora

I was set to attend a homeschool conference (a yearly event for me), but this year I was taking the conference as a renewal credit for my teaching license. As a natural planner, I received my assignment and immediately marked all the conference sessions I wanted to attend. Then the conference assignment changed. I was required to attend a session on...dyslexia??I clearly remember grumbling and dragging myself into that session – all the while God laughed. The presenter opened with a list of signs of dyslexia which quickly caught my attention.

Difficulty with Reading. Difficulty with “sight words.” Check. Check. My son certainly struggled.He was in the 4th grade and was barely reading at a 2nd grade level. And it didn’t matter how many times he saw ‘were’ – it wasn’t ‘were’ to him. In fact, in-between conference sessions I had planned to look for, yet another, reading curriculum.

Difficulty writing. Check. His writing was slow, laborious, and non-automatic. Difficulty creating rhyming words. Check.

The presenter's list went on, and as it did, I felt my heart ache. He, MY son, had every one of those signs. God knew why I was “required” to attend this session.

Fast forward 5 years – that son is in 9th grade. He is diagnosed with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD. Our two daughters are also diagnosed with dyslexia and dysgraphia. Our youngest son has yet to be diagnosed but we certainly see signs of dyslexia, dysgraphia, and ADHD.

It has been a long journey to get from that “required” session to where we are today. What I have come to realize is that it is less about the remediation (don’t get me wrong, that is SUPER important) and it is more about the child. In Dr. Shaywitz’s book Overcoming Dyslexia, she writes “Parents (and teachers, too) of children with reading problems should make their number one goal the preservation of their child’s self-esteem. This is the area of greatest vulnerability for children who are dyslexic.”

That’s a big part of my purpose for reaching out to youth leaders, clubs, faith formation programs, schools, etc. These kids are vulnerable. They establish who they are from the feedback of peers and teachers in an environment where they constantly feel like failures.

We unintentionally do damage. We don’t think it is a “big deal” to copy from the board, popcorn read, or check a peer’s paper. In reality those activities can be extremely difficult, anxiety inducing, and embarrassing. Chances are 1:5, that we interact daily with a person with dyslexia. My encouragement to you is to learn about dyslexia, learn how to help, and learn how to preserve these beautiful children of God.

I can be reached for any questions at dbq073ff@dbqarch.org. I am a wife to a pig farming husband, homeschool mother to 4 energetic children, an undiagnosed dyslexic, and I have a part-time position with the family faith formation program at St. Mary’s Eldora.

View Rachel’s video, “Dyslexia Fight Song” by clicking here.