Dyslexia Awareness Week: Our Director of Education Dominic shares his story

People talk about dyslexia all the time, whether it’s the classic spelling issues, writing letters backwards or the slip of the tongue spoonerisms.  But what actually is dyslexia?  To be honest with you I’m not too sure, nor am I particularly eager to find out.  I know my most recent psychological educational report reliably informed me that: “The discrepancy identified here would typically occur in around 1% of the population”.  So, I’m more dyslexic than 99% of the population, and truthfully I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Before I discuss how dyslexia has affected my education and my life and the tactics I’ve developed to overcome it   –  I thought I would give you a quick synopsis of my background and where I’m at now.

I managed to cover my dyslexia all the way through nursery and pre-prep by basically talking a lot and becoming an expert in distracting my teachers.  And then I had to take the entrance test to Prep school.  Apparently this revealed I could neither read nor write.  Otherwise I was the perfect specimen, my parents were assured, just not right for mainstream education.

So my parents found a specialist Dyslexia Centre for me to attend.  This was a great place and they were as good at making me concentrate as I was talented at distraction techniques, and so I made good progress.  Sadly the school was then shut down. Myself and 60 other severely dyslexic students suddenly needed to find somewhere new to learn.  None of the local schools could cope with so many dyslexic students, so we had to look further afield.

This brought me to Felsted. It was clear from the off that I wasn’t going to be an academic super star.  Fortunately the amazing team both there and in the senior school were persistent, supportive and sometimes just plain stubborn enough to get me through GCSE and A Levels. I did well enough to be accepted by The University of Liverpool, a Russell group uni, and then to go on to complete a PGCE at Oxford, become a teacher, and find my way into supporting students through our work at Enjoy Education.

That very brief overview doesn’t really do justice to the roundabout route that I took to where I am now, from being ‘unsuitable for mainstream education, to a young prep school boarder who couldn’t really read until I was twelve, to the six A-levels I went through till finding the three I would apply to university with’.

Dyslexia as a learning difficulty varies massively from person to person.  Over the years through my own experience and that of other students I have spoken to, I have found that there are three main areas which are affected: reading, writing and memory.

Unfortunately as much as I wish I could wave a magic wand and say ‘this is how to overcome these problems’, I can’t. You have to find your own routes to success. But I can promise you it is possible. And I can tell you why it is worth it.

Reading: Reading is one of the most unrestricted pastimes in its range of possibilities. Whether you come to reading to explore, educate, escape or empower yourself, it is worth every ounce of effort it takes.

So many people take reading for granted, they have no idea of the head start it provides. To those who are less fortunate, the strange squiggles within books are a mystery and the benefits of reading remain unclear.  I was twelve when reading moved from being a near impossible chore to a blissful pastime. The reason?  I found the right book in the form of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – a magical land that I loved and could escape to, regardless of where I actually was. So find the right book – one that is so engaging it is worth all the effort involved in reading it.

Writing: As a dyslexic dyspraxic, my hand-writing was never going to be a strength. However this is one area where I do have some short cut advice that will make things a lot easier. Learn to touch type. As painfully slow and boring as it may be to start with, it will easily become one of the most useful skills you possess both in your education and at work.  While it won’t help with content development, it does massively increase the chances of getting what you are trying to convey across on paper. The other bonus is you can put twice as many words down as the person using a pen next to you! Some of them are bound to be right!

Memory: Memory is a difficult one and the area where I personally struggle most.  The reason behind my exceptionally high level of dyslexia lies here.  Names, numbers, capital cities, scripts, song lyrics, facts, you name it, re-call is a massive problem for me. Unfortunately there is no way to short cut your way out of this one.  You just have to put in the hard graft.  It is all about repetition and perseverance, until things move from your short term memory into your long term memory.  Later on in your education you can begin to choose subjects that require you to articulate arguments and debate theories, rather than demonstrate factual re-call.  Also thankfully now, in the real world, we have Google on our side.

But even with my appalling memory and general dyspraxic dyslexic approach to life, I’m quite content and happy with my lot and I think I’ve done alright.  For modesty’s sake I asked my mum to write down what she rates as my achievements.

She said: “Dom has performed opera in Italy, evensong at Westminster Cathedral and acted in nearly every play staged while he was at school.  He was Head of House and Head Boy and passed enough A levels sufficiently well to get to good university. He is offered jobs by almost everyone he meets!  While Dom is weak at deciphering and placing words on a page, his strength is in understanding and connecting with people.  That’s a good trade.”

So to finish with a small bit of advice:

To the pupils: these days things that make you stand out from the crowd are the things that will enable you to succeed. Don’t hide from your dyslexia, learn to use it to your advantage. Yes it’s tough and yes, you will have to work harder to do some things other people find easy. But being able to work hard is a great asset. As the famous film producer Samuel Goldwyn said, ‘the harder I work, the luckier I get!’

To the parents: while having a dyslexic child will be frustrating at points and nerve-racking at others – your children will succeed.  While dyslexia takes something away, it gives something extra back too.

The advice? I believe Dyslexics can achieve anything they want – it’s just we need to find an approach that suits us as much as the rest of the world – and this can take longer. Be patient, give us time, we will get there.

And finally, please, please, please when you start to teach your child to drive, do not give directions in the conventional manner of ‘left and right’.  Instead use ‘my way and your way’.  Finding the right approach with a dyslexic will make your journey far less stressful and it will also make sure that we can all end up at the destination we want to be!