But, I will tell you that my mind never stops when it comes to the this topic. I read books, I read articles, I am a member of an online support group with thousands of parents who are constantly asking questions, giving advice, bouncing ideas, comparing 504s and IEPs, I have read article after article, I talk with trained teachers and tutors, I openly communicate with my children about what dyslexia means to them... it never stops, I never stop. And I probably never will.
I am not a trained Dyslexia Therapist, but, it is not often anymore that I read something that I have not read at some point... a little 'Aha' moment if you will. Last night, as I was laying in bed with Remi, I was reading an article that told me something I had never heard before. I reread it several times and thought, 'Wow, just wow!'
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Coming in at number 20, from the excerpt of 20 Things Only Parents of Children With Dyslexia Would Understand...
20. Their sense of hearing is exceptional.
"Perhaps because their ability to use their eyes well to learn, the sense of hearing has strengthened, just as it is for those who are blind. However, they are often unable to filter out all of the sounds around them, greatly impacting their ability to focus. The use of headphones when they are engaged in audio learning will help them greatly.
Each of us have strengths and areas of challenge. Our children with dyslexia are no different. Unfortunately, learning has been so intimately tied to reading that they have been at a clear disadvantage. Things are rapidly changing; however, in this wonderful age of technology. We are reaching a point at which we will be able to honor all learning styles, not just those that have traditionally met with success."
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Y'all, I cannot tell you how impactful it was for me to discover this little nugget of truth! Remi hears everything, and I mean EVERYTHING. And 9 times out of 10 it grates at him in unfathomable ways.
When we eat, he hears Roen chew and cannot 'unhear' it. When Roen dribbles the basketball in the house, he comes unglued, when Miah wakes up singing in the morning, it is always 'too loud', when he does his homework, any nose at all distracts him in the most angry ways, he comes home telling me how he couldn't finish his work at school because the kid next to him was clicking his pencil. I have always thought he was just finding something to complain about, but now, I'm wondering if his sense of hearing is so acute that it actually affects his day to day in ways that we don't quite understand.
I can't pretend to understand what it is like to be in his shoes, but sometimes I feel like all these little facets of his dyslexia seem to ooze out and if I am not looking closely enough, I do not see it for what it is.
Sometimes I think about it like this- pretend we are all shapes. I am a little square, colored in with hearts and polkadots, maybe Micah is a trapezoid full of numbers and digits, Roen would be circle with a big happy face in the middle... Remi is a Rubics Cube.
There is a gap, between his mind and ours, one no better than the other, but a gap nonetheless. This bridge I am slowly building, isn't to bring him to me, but rather a way that I can come to him in understanding. A way that I can be there for him, understanding that this little complex being doesn't really fit with the squares, nor is he a circle, maybe not a shape at all- or at least not completely. He has pieces of them all, making this little guy a bit hard to understand, a bit of a challenge to parent, hard to keep on a certain path, because while we are all happily skipping along the nice neat paths of life, Remi is over in some forest paving his own.
Most likely, you will never really see this side of Remi. He is very quite about it, stuffs it away and saves it for the comfort of home, but it is there. I see it. I feel it and I am in awe of it.
Give him a box of junk and he will fly you to the moon!
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Remi brought this home from bible class a few Sundays ago and I couldn't help but think that this verse was absolutely perfect for this post...
"The Lord gives wisdom. Knowledge and understanding come from his mouth"
Proverbs 2:6
2 comments:
Powerful message! I can’t even begin to imagine what you all deal with on a daily basis, especially Remi! What I can tell you is that I am beyond proud of you and Micah for being there for the boys! Keep fighting the fight! Thanks, as always, for sharing ❤️
Love y’all bunches!
So interesting. My mom is deaf, and I know the same is true for her regarding her other senses--they are heightened for sure. She can't fall asleep as a passenger during a road/plane trip because the bumps and vibrations affect her too much. It makes sense that dyslexia would have the same effect on someone! Praying for your sweet kiddo, and love reading your blog!
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