My Dyslexia and school

I have happy and sad memories of school from primary 1 to primary 6. I cannot remember them all but the ones I have written (or rather typed about) are the ones I remember the most.

I got into trouble a lot for not finishing my work on time and because I was copying of the blackboard or something else that I find difficult.

[silhouette of crying boy] I sometimes felt scared before I went in to school and I sometimes came home crying because I found the work too hard. I hated school but my Mum said that it was not true and that I enjoyed school. By the end of primary 4 I thought I was stupid thick and dumb and I hated my brain.

[old teacher] One of my favourite times in primary 1 and 2 was video time (educational programs) my favourite programme was about a farm.

In primary 2 I never got any choosing time because I was so slow with my work, my teacher was kind and I do not think that she realised that I had no free time.

[teacher pointing to blackboard] One of my teachers was really kind to me and never shouted at me but I got upset when she rubbed out all my work because it was messy and un- neat when I was copying from the blackboard.

I got very upset when at the end of a day at school a teacher kept me in and gave me a massive row and she used a loud angry tone just because I did not finish a page of maths. The second time she done that I was in tears also because I did not finish a page of maths. I got lots of homework every day except a Friday which was a giant hassle to get it finished in time.

[teacher] Once I done a reading test and got stuck on something so I went to ask my teacher for help. She said that it was a reading test and so she just read the question to me even though I did not understand what to do. After the test my teacher called me out and told me that I failed and said that I could have done better.

I found that marking other children's work was very difficult because I couldn't keep up with my teacher who was giving the answers and I got confused with the numbers. Other children got annoyed with me because I marked their jotters wrongly.

[teacher] Mental Maths was very very hard for me because I could not do the questions mentally or I forgot the questions. I had to answer difficult questions like times tables and area questions which went like this: A small football pitch is 6cm in width and 8cm in length, what is area is the football pitch. I did not even know what way length and width went never mind knowing what my teacher meant by area.

I was moved down a maths group because I was slow to finish my work even though I could do the maths. My teacher did say that I could be moved back up into group 3 if I speeded up. That really upset me because I could not go any faster and unfortunately I was not moved back up.

One Christmas, our class had to pretend to be an animal in the time of Jesus and write a story about it. I had to re-write the story three times.

The first time I wrote it, it was only about 7 lines long and everyone else had done about a page, so I was asked to do it again. The second time I did it I only added about two more lines, so I was asked to do it again, The third time I could not think what to write so I scored my pencil through the page, so hard that I made a rip in it. I went home crying.

[teacher] [angry teacher] The next day I got a plan from my teacher and I done two full pages because I had a plan to work from. Altogether I wrote the story 4 times.

A supply teacher kept me in once at lunchtime because I had to write out spelling mistakes 10 times. The reason I had made the mistakes is because I had been copying from the blackboard which I find very difficult. When I had finished writing out my mistakes. The supply teacher found that I had made 3 more mistakes, so I had to write them out 10 more times.

One day a senior teacher done some mental maths with our class because our teacher was unwell. Afterwards, he asked who got 20 out of 20 and he went all the way down to less than 5 [two friends] and I put up our hands and felt very embarrassed especially when everyone laughed at us. After that I went to the toilet to cry.

One year we were getting our first out of 2 writing test sheets. What we had to do was write a letter. I sat at my table, I wrote about a sentence and got stuck. I must have sat there for about 10 minutes getting all huffy because I could not think what to write. Then I started to draw on the front cover and started to get frustrated.

Then I wrote a poem called "why do we have to do tests"? I also wrote that that I didn't care about tests. I got very frustrated and I began to make small rips at the edge of my paper. I wanted to tip my teachers desk over, I wanted to throw books about, I wanted to go home, I wanted to scream, I wanted my Mum, I hated school I really really hated it. I had to wait a long time to go home. My Mum was working so I had to wait until she came home.

The next day my teacher came to me and said that what I had done was unacceptable and that she had shown the test papers to the head teacher and deputy head teacher. I really liked my teacher and she was always kind to me but she didn't understand that I had ripped my paper because I got frustrated. She told me to ask for help if I got stuck in a test but I knew that teachers couldn't help in tests.

[teacher] In primary 7, my teacher was unwell so we got a supply teacher. She gave us maths and I came to something that I did not understand so I asked the teacher for some help. She explained it to me about 3 times and I still did not understand. So she said that it did not matter and told me to do the rest. It mattered to me because it was something that I did not understand and I might get in a test.

In primary 2 I never got any choosing time because I was too slow in finishing my work. What Teachers should do at the end of every day is ask who had no choosing time and the children who did not have any time could have a little choosing time the next day.

Teachers should never rub out children's work unless they are sure that they have just been careless. Teachers should look out for poor copies and children who have relocation problems.

[frustrated pupil] Teachers should not shout at children for not finishing work. They should be looking out for bright intelligent children who find things difficult and are not doing what they should be doing. There is always a reason for poor work. It might be because they are unhappy or they cannot do the work, so the teachers have to find out why the pupils cannot do the work and also find out if they have learning difficulties.

Teachers must never tell a child that they have failed a test and that they could have done better. It might get the child frustrated because they have tried so hard on the test.

Mental maths is difficult for dyslexic children because they need to see the questions written down. They need someone to go over the questions afterwards so that they understand it.

Teachers must never tell a child that they have been moved down a group because they are too slow. It might upset them or get them frustrated because they cannot go any faster or they might have learning difficulties.

Dyslexic children should never have to mark other children's work because they might get lost. They should mark their own work because if they mark it wrong they will not upset other children.

[book] Dyslexic children should be given mind maps and writing frames. They should be shown how to use them and make them as well. Each class should have a folder with all the different types of writing frames in it so children can pick the one they need to help them write good stories.

Teachers should never ever humiliate a child by asking who got low scores in front of the class because it will upset them and make them very unhappy.

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