A Speech About Dyslexia

I now realise that the Arts, including music, creates opportunities to engage, inspire and enrich our lives. Music making and responding can challenge, provoke responses and enrich our knowledge and understanding of ourselves, our communities and the world.

In my family, I am someone else who excels in certain intelligence traits and struggle in other areas. One of my strengths is doing anything with numbers. I can remember combinations for bicycle locks, but I also remember the room number and the codes. To remember all these numbers, I come up with a memorandum. Sometimes I find patterns within the numbers that will assist me. This came in handy when I was memorizing pi. I began only knowing 3.14, but after a few days, I knew 78 digits. However, I began to obsess over it, so I decided to stop remembering new digits. I eventually came back to it a year later, and I could still remember at least 30 digits off the top of my head. Although I love to learn codes and remember them, I am also inept

I’m a senior at the University of South Carolina Upstate and have been diagnosed with dyslexia since childhood. This label could have caused for a disastrous college experience, but there has always been something in myself pushing beyond the stigma.

The teacher walked to the front of the room with her book in hand and as she got closer to the front, Paul got lower in his seat. He knew what was coming next; it was time for the class to read the next chapter. The teacher would start reading and then call on different students to read as they moved through the chapter. This scared Paul right down to his toes. He had read in front of the class before, but it was what followed after class that worried him the most. The taunts from the other students like “retard” or “are you stupid or what?” This type of relentless teasing would continue until gym class where he could hold his own ground again. He did not have any problems in gym; class he was good at sports

My life would be incomplete without performing music. I’ve spent time, in concert bands, in bell choirs, in school and church choirs, and singing, playing in music festivals, and in pit bands trying not to laugh my head off at the actors’ improvisations. But the art that truly speaks to my soul does not lie in creating music, it lies in dancing to it.

Imagine a third grader, small and blonde, standing on a stage that practically swallows her. She gazes in awe at the bright lights that seem to tower miles above her head; likewise, she follows with a stare, fixating on the hundreds of darkened faces that remain directly in front of her. Unlike her classmates who fidget with nerves beside her, she feels a rush of adrenaline. What may have seemed to some an ordinary choir concert in a dull auditorium, was, to me, a life changing moment. Ever since this day, for 9 years now, I have had an unwavering passion for music and performing. As I aged, I found myself excitedly learning how to play 7 new instruments, but even considering the vast number of bands, orchestras, choirs, and instrumental lessons that I joined, I noticed myself

A.About five to six percent of American public school children have been diagnosed with a learning disability; eighty percent of the diagnoses are dyslexia-related. But some studies indicate that up to twenty percent of the population may have some degree of dyslexia.

In the first grade, I picked up a clarinet. It was my sister’s, collecting dust while waiting for me to play it. From the moment I produced my first sound, an ear-piercing squeal that frightened my dog, the path of my life took a turn for the better. I began teaching myself for the following three years, along with learning from my sister how to properly play the beautiful instrument. The music pushed me out of my comfort zone: concerts that forced me onstage, tests that made me play difficult songs, and teachers that pushed me to be an exceptional player. From the shy elementary school student I used to be to the outgoing band member I take joy in being today, music has shaped my everyday life.

Music has always been integral in my life. During my childhood, when I was four years old, I pressed my fingers on an oven handle like a piano. Throughout my childhood years I listened to my mom’s old-school mix CD’s, along with the Pandora music app on my old Kindle. In fifth grade, I picked up the piano. My alto saxophone studies began in seventh grade. When high school arrived, I turned my focus to guitar and voice. The more knowledge I absorbed, the more knowledge I craved. My decision to pursue music was also influenced by the inspirations I’ve encountered on my journey so far.

Many times I have struggled to express myself. A plethora of ideas would be trapped inside my head. Sometimes I would be at a loss of words and couldn’t explain my thoughts verbally or on paper. No matter how much effort I put in, my words wandered off and I could find no method of portraying my emotions. After many failed attempts, I finally found something that could express what I feel and what I want others to feel. It’s music. Performance poet, Sekou Sundiata, is able to clearly express himself in a way where others can understand him by incorporating poetry with music. Both Sundiata and I were searching for a way to share our life experiences in a creative yet understandable format; we accomplished that through music.

As a child I frequently made up little songs, and there seemed to be a constant stream of music in my head. I could see myself in the children she was observing and like them I didn’t have a framework for my experience – it was just my life. Whether it was singing while playing, tapping out some rhythm, singing at the top of my lungs to a favorite song, or goosebumps from hearing “Hall of the Mountain King”, it all felt familiar and warming. It has also made me aware of the musicking I continue to make every day in small ways here and

The term “dyslexia” was first introduced in 1887 by Dr. Rudolf Berlin when he suggested that difficulty with reading may be caused by “cerebral disease instead of brain injury” (Hennigh 1995).

According to the Dyslexia & Learning Disability Centre in Las Vegas, Dyslexia is an ability within the sensory mechanism of the nervous system to perceive the world with a multidimensional view. However it comes with poor word reading, word decoding, oral reading fluency and spelling. Though with appropriate teaching methods, dyslexic individuals can learn successfully throughout their lives. Also, when properly trained and informed, a dyslexic can use their

Some of us in the world may have problems with reading, spelling, and other academics. You might not know why they cannot read or spell as well as you can because they have a disorder. This disorder is called dyslexia. People with dyslexia struggle with: listening, reading, writing, spelling, and even handwriting. However, having dyslexia doesn’t mean that they are not intelligent. Some of the greatest minds in the world have or had dyslexia. One of the most fascinating reasons for dyslexia is the dominate ear. Even though they may be different doesn’t mean that they are stupid. (Hotz, Sollier)

Growing, developing and learning are the facts of life for all children. Each day children are faced with many new concepts and various challenges. Can you imagine how it feels for a child to face not only new challenges life has, but to face these challenges while living with a learning disability? These challenges are met not just when they begin school either. Students suffer from learning disabilities from the moment they begin learning, not when they start school. Learning disabilities are real and they affect millions of people. “One such disability that affects over approximately 15 percent of the total American population is dyslexia” ( Nosek 5).