Beautifully Different...

Since my last post about Remi and his Dyslexia, I have met with his teachers, and we have all put efforts into making Remi's struggles a little bit less. When you get right down to it, that is all any of us will ever be able to do- make allowances, make modifications and encourage a little boy who sometimes thinks he is just not good enough.

One of the modifications we have put into place is his Spelling Tests. Spelling is a hurdle the size of Goliath that my little 'David' fights daily in his battle to learn words that tend to jumble together and can't be spelled phonetically. In his very literal mind, the tricks and rules of spelling swim around until a level of frustration overwhelms Remi's little mind. In order to help him, he has started taking multiple choice Spelling Tests. This has helped him tremendously. We spend at least half the time studying and he does at least 50% better on his tests. On all but two tests, he has now made all A's or B's in this new format.

When I asked him if he liked doing his tests like this better than the old way, he said "Yes, Mom! When she would call out a word, I would concentrate so hard and get so nervous because I wanted to get it right so bad." Y'all, he wants it so bad. He wants to be able to spell easily, read chapter books, reads signs and print he sees in public without thinking. So, do me a favor, when your little one brings home a 100 on their Spelling Test, make a huge, big deal about it, because there are kids out there who would do anything for that to be a reality for them. No, not the kids who don't care, not the kids who don't study, but the kids who try to will their minds to comprehend letters and sounds in a way they were not made to do.

Multiple choice is not perfect. This week he has the word 'sandbox' on his list. Easy- both are very easily sounded out and words most kids can spell in at least First Grade. Now, that is because our brains can break that word up and right it down without a second thought, and move on. But take another look at that word. Look at the very middle of that word. That little 'd' and 'b' that sit right next to each other... that is a nightmare for my little Remi. He can spell it orally, but when he goes to read it or write it, those little critters start hopping around and dancing about. The sheer amount of concentration it takes for him to write that word would blow your mind!

The little things are our victories- passing an AR test, reading a book independently (even though it is 1st Grade level), homework without frustrated tears... these are all things that are not taken for granted in our house. These itty bitty victories are the things that tell Remi 'he can do it.' And in my momma mind, I know he can, but in his 9 year old mind, we have nights where he is so very exhausted and the thought of his little brother being a better reader than he is, is just too much and we fall asleep with tears streaming down our face.

I would say 95% of the time, Remi has wonderful days and feels very good about who God made him. He told me just the other day that he was either the first or second smartest kid in his class- and I have no doubt about that. Remi is proud of his strengths and I am always honest about why he struggles with certain things. He is very aware about the way his mind processes letters differently and never shies away from asking questions or talking with me about it.

My 9 year old has a better sense of self than some adults. This little fella isn't one to cave easily. The caving only happens when he is put into environments that box him in with limitations of the common thinker. Those situations are tricky because they can't be avoided and so then it becomes a balance of my Remi trying to swim the depths of the ocean blue with his friends, when he was really meant to fly.

I like to show examples of Remi's work because most people can't relate to what I see as his mom. Here is him writing his spelling words in alphabetical order. As I have said before, writing from a list is something that takes extreme concentration. As you can see he reversed his 's' and 'e' on 'courthouse' and left off an 'o' on 'whirlpool'. All errors that any student could make, but errors that are made often by Remi.



Here is Remi's last week's Spelling Test. I honestly thought this test would be a piece of cake because literally, every single word ended in 'le'. And Remi knew that. He knew that EVERY SINGLE WORD ended in 'le'. However, when his little mind processes these letters, things just get jumbled- there is no way around it. He knew all of the words, but when I look at what he missed, I know exactly why. In 'people' he mixed up the 'e' and 'o' because those letter shapes are so similar. He dropped a 'd' in 'saddle' and in two words he chose the answer that ended in 'el' even though he knew for sure the all ended in 'le'. This is life with this amazing little booger. Knowing something in his mind doesn't mean it always comes out correctly on paper. When I saw this test, my heart fell a bit, but I put on a big smile and when he said he "didn't do that good", I said "I think you did great- that was a hard test." Because at the end of the day, all the tests are hard to him, but his best will always be great to me...