My Story of How I Got into Dyslexia

In my pursuit of continuing education, I have met people all over the country who work with students have dyslexia.  Every single one of them has a story of how they got into it, and it is usually because of a family member.  Here is my story.

I am not dyslexic.  I have always been a good reader and speller.  In fact, I would call the language arts my forte.  I love words and grammar.  I even see words in my mind.  I never dreamed that I would have a child who struggled so much with reading that he came to hate reading and school in general, nor that I would end up on the path I am on now.

I first heard of dyslexia in college, but it wasn't much.  After college, my husband and I went to Guam to teach at a Christian school there.  I taught kindergarten, the grade where students learn to read.  Some years, I taught regular kindergarten, and some years I taught the advanced class.  Each class had a few students who struggled with reading.  Looking back, I realize that they probably had dyslexia.  As I said, I had heard of dyslexia in college, but I thought it was rare, and it never entered my mind my students might be struggling because of it.  

We moved back to the States when we started having children.  I had always planned on homeschooling.  I majored in elementary education and figured that I would teach for a few years, and when kids came along, I would stay home and teach them.  To make a long story short, that didn't end up working out, and I sent them to school.

I stayed home with my children for 7 years.  For 5 of those years, I operated a home bakery.  I loved the customers, but it was exhausting.  The fact that I left baking to go back to teaching should tell you just how exhausting it was!

When I went back to teaching, I taught 5th grade.  I was reintroduced to dyslexia at the very beginning of the first year through some parent conferences with a certified academic language therapist (CALT) who was working with students at our school.  These conferences were to discuss accommodations, and since I knew nothing, and the CALT was an expert, I just did whatever she said.  Her name is Becky, and she has since become a very good friend and mentor.  A few months later, I attended a workshop she presented about dyslexia, and my eyes were opened.  I got it.  I thought of so many people from my past who were probably dyslexic.

I don't want to give away the story about my son because I am going to do a separate video for his story, but though I was getting good at picking up dyslexia in the 5th graders I taught, I was not so good at it in the younger grades.  He was struggling terribly for several years until he got a teacher who suspected dyslexia, and we had Becky screen him.  She was able to confirm dyslexia, and I immediately wanted to learn how to help him.  

I remember very distinctly standing in the breezeway between two of our school buildings, and Becky saying that she needed to clone herself.  The need was greater than she could meet.  1 in 5 people has dyslexia.  That means there are several in every classroom.  All of a sudden my future came into focus.  I wanted to be that clone.  I wanted to step up and meet that need.  

I signed up for the first Orton-Gillingham based seminar that would be in my area.  It was a week-long boot camp, and it was like drinking water from a fire hose.  This was all new to me.  I was overwhelmed, but in a good way, and I knew I needed to learn this stuff to help my son and other kids.  I started working with my son.  I ended up switching to the Barton System for Reading and Spelling because I could learn as I went, and it told me exactly what to say.  I made it my goal to open a tutoring practice and build it up to the point that I would be able to leave the classroom and do it full time.  I decided that offering screening services would be a great way to get clients, so I took Susan Barton's screening seminar the summer after finding out that my son is dyslexic.  It was, hands-down, the best seminar/workshop I have ever attended.  I left there absolutely on fire to help kids, and I wanted to jump right into it.  However, I had another year of teaching ahead of me while I continued to learn and built up my practice.  I took several more workshops to round out my skill set.  I taught 5th grade by day and tutored in the evenings.  It was hard, but I kept reminding myself that I could do anything for a short time to reach my goal. For a while, I even got up at 4am to work on my business.  By the end of that school year, I had become a Certified Barton Tutor, and I was able to step out of the classroom.  

I love what I do, and I am incredibly thankful that I am able to do it.  This was never anywhere on my radar, but when you look at my love for teaching, my entrepreneurial bend (this was the 8th home business I had tried), my interest in language, and my experience as a mom of a dyslexic child, you can see how God orchestrated my life to bring me to this point.  I have now been working as a dyslexia specialist for three years, the last two of which have been full-time.

I had been attending a parent support group at my church run by Becky, and when I started pursuing dyslexia as my next career, she asked me if I would help her with it.  I have spoken at it several times and wondered how I could get this valuable information out to more people.  That is how my YouTube channel was born.

To watch the video about this post, click here.