I’ve always loved stories. As a child I learnt to read early and would stay up late reading under my duvet with a torch. I always looked forward to trips to my local library to choose new books and began writing my own stories and poems in earnest aged seven.
I was diagnosed with dyslexia half-way through an English degree at university, despite having no idea at secondary school that I might be neurodivergent. I’d always done well academically – although, looking back, I can see I’d just developed strategies to help me in the areas I struggled with. I wrote copious notes when the teachers talked during lessons as I couldn’t retain the information otherwise. I used mind maps to help me revise and I also used to look up the marking schemes for exams to see how many marks I’d lose for my poor spelling.
But at university I really struggled – I found it hard to keep up with reading all the academic texts despite being a fast reader. I later learnt that this is because my eyes skip when reading; if I have to read every word on a page, I literally have to put a ruler or a finger under each line to pin the words down and it is painfully slow. I felt like I was working twice as hard as my peers and still getting lower marks. It was incredibly frustrating.
I found being diagnosed with dyslexia incredibly empowering as it helped me make sense of how my brain works, from my appalling sense of direction to why I sometimes get words muddled up.
Estimates suggest that 10% of the population are dyslexic, although it does affect everyone differently. For example, I didn’t find learning to read hard but some of my friends have children who really struggle with this. I can really empathise with how frustrating it must feel for them, but the good news is there is a lot that schools, teachers and parents can do to help facilitate a joy of reading for their dyslexic students, although success will often require a multi-faceted approach.