BENNETT

PHOTO BY RANDY BACON

BENNETT

“1 In 5 People”

Dyslexia affects about 1 in 5 people. Dyslexia is a learning disorder that can make it harder to learn sounds of letters and sound out words. I am that 1 in 5. I am a part of the community.

I didn’t notice I was having a hard time with reading and writing until one day in second grade. We had to write something from the board into our notebooks. I was there for a really long time and had trouble just writing the words. During English, when we had to read a passage and find the main point of the story, it took me a long time to read the passage because I didn’t know how to sound out the words. In Science, I was always behind because I was struggling to write the required notes when everyone was starting the lesson or moving on. Science is one of my favorite subjects, and I felt like I was missing out. I felt embarrassed because I was always sitting there while everyone was lining up or starting a new part of the day.

Luckily, I was able to find a place that could help me. One usual day in third grade, my teacher told me to come to her desk. She told me I was going to a room after recess to do a reading lesson. I felt nervous. Miss Allison she told me I was going to this room every day after recess to do tutoring to help with my reading and writing skills.

I spent 3 years on the Take Flight course which helps with Dyslexia. This course helped me to learn how to write words and pronounce them. I learned how to sound out words and read them. We did phonemic awareness activities where we put sounds together and took them apart. We read books like Words on Fire by Jennifer A. Nielsen and Refugee by Alan Gratz, which are really good books. This has made me a more fluent reader and made me enjoy reading more. In the last year, we learned about Greek and Latin roots and learned letters that make multiple sounds.

I enjoy literature because of the stories and what the characters teach. I can learn about different places in the world. I can learn about what different people go through, their hardships and what they have to endure and their different living conditions. Reading has made me a better person because it helps me to see what people go through. I can put myself in their shoes, feel their feelings. Even if the story isn’t real, it’s based on someone’s story. Reading can help you understand different perspectives. If someone is being mean to you, they could be having trouble at home, and bullying is just a bad coping skill. You never know, so you can always be kind to someone. Being kind can never hurt anyone. If I didn’t have dyslexia, I wouldn’t have been in this class and might not have found my love for reading and books. You can learn so much from books- how to be a better person, learn about the past, learn about science, and what the future might bring.

Take Flight really changed my life in a great way. Now I can enjoy school and actually learn what they’re teaching rather than just sitting there thinking about how to spell or read words. Also I can help the 1 in 5.