Ladyrint - a Wordless Maze

You've just landed in Tokyo (For Japanese, let's just imagine you landed in....India, ok?) and you're alone. You've been told to go to this particular hotel called....erm, Tokyo Hotel (I know....so imaginative I kill myself, sometimes) and there's no GPRS and translation services so you're going to have to navigate yourself through the maze of unknown faces, and worse, all those words and signboards are supposed to mean something...and yet they don't. You're completely lost. *** "On a visit to China I felt outside society. I couldn't understand the written codes around me. Then I understood what it felt like to be severely dyslexic." (Liz Brooks, formerly Executive Director, DI)" *** My son is dyslexic, hence, he takes forever to read and write. One fine day, he comes to me with a frown etched across his forehead. "Mom, what's a ladyrint". Wow. A word that I've not heard before and he's chanced upon it?  "Gee....I don't know. How do you spell it?" I forget, sometimes, that his spelling sucks so he struggles to spell it out for me. I cut the noose and release him from his misery. "Where did you find the word? Show me." He runs off into the living room and came back with his Nintendo DS. He's playing Mario & Luigi Partners in Time. I take a look at it and read "You have to navigate your way through this LABYRINTH in order to get to the secret" *Smack forehead* You see, what prompted this is not the fact that my son has problems with his studies. After speaking to some other parents, I realize how ill-equipped most of our teachers are about detecting these signals and adopting a different style for these students. OK, fine. If they feel that they are not in the position to deal with these kids (I am referring to many other types of students with learning disabilities), at the very least, understand that they don't do on purpose.  Scolding and canning can only do so much....DAMAGE, not good, in the long run. Communicating and working together with the parents is essential to these kids' growth and only when these kids have the right support system, they can excel in what they are MEANT TO excel in.  Dyslexics are multi-dimensional thinkers....they see things in a way that normal people like u and me can't. You'll be amazed with the junk (it's invention, for your info) that I keep, the drawings and scribblings, misspelt notes, creative photos and videos my son has captured with my camera....they see it in a larger-than-life way. And yet, all those words fly past them, they skip alphabets and can read a whole paragraph without understanding a single thing! They have very poor short-term memory (like what was that word again?) but my son can remember things from way back when he was merely two-years-old! I was like EGAD!!! :-) The education system that we have in this country chucks these kids aside and think of them as either lazy or stupid. Experts say there are tens of millions of functional illiterates. What are the schools doing to our children? Scold them and belittle their ingenuity. I consider dyslexia as a form of gift because this means that my son can think beyond what we normal people can. He's always excited about coming up with a new way of dealing with an old problem. He sees potential when I tell him that there's none. His zest for life and imagination is limitless. Academia is not the only yardstick we can use to determine whether a person is intelligent or not, that's my personal stance. It has been that way and will continue to be that way because my parents dealt with me that way. Never ONCE have they told me that I had to be exceptional in my studies. Not once. Just 'Do your level best and we'll deal with the rest'.  I have another friend with whom I communicate with quite often and he has trouble with his ADHD daughter. She DEFINITELY is NOT stupid - she just can't sit still for very long. :-P which is a nightmare for the teachers and parents, but it's not her fault, izzit? And yet, in school, she suffers humiliating episodes that dampens her childhood life and is teased because of it.  Whatever it is, the school educational system that forms the backbone for the future generation is faulty as far as these kids are concerned. Something ought to be done to help these kids cope in a normal schooling environment.  Early on, I was stressed out and lost as to what to do but with information, I've been able to help my son navigate in his wordless LADYRINT of life. I tell him that he has not been shortchanged....he has been given something special. Go find your own magical powers and USE IT! Dyslexia is a blessing instead of a curse….it all depends on the support and foundation we lay for them. *** "It is a lonely existence to be a child with a disability which no-one can see or understand, you exasperate your teachers, you disappoint your parents, and worst of all you know that you are not just stupid." - Susan Hampshire *** Famous Dyslexics Thomas Edison Albert Einstein Walt Disney Robin Williams Orlando Bloom (I am gonna diss some friends here!!) YES, KEANU REEVES. :-) Keira Knightley Salma Hayek Tom Cruise Jay Leno Cher Pablo Picasso Winston Chruchhill Whoopi Goldberg John Lennon Muhammad Ali Richard Branson William Hewlett (Yes, HP as in Hewlett-Packard) Henry Ford Magic Johnson Thomas Jefferson John F. Kennedy George Washington Scott Adams (Dilbert cartoonist) Agatha Christie (You might want to count how many Prime Ministers we have there already?)