I wanted to share with you a story;
Since my son was about 3 months old, I knew something was different about him, he was delayed in just about everything he did in life, but through it all, his gentle, kind, sweet demeanor stayed. As he got older, the delay became more and more apparent, it was beginning to show with his peers, and we forged on. When he was almost 3, we began taking him to physical therapy to learn how to ascend and descend stairs and how to jump, peddle a tricycle. When he was 4, we noticed that he really enjoyed building and was pretty good with puzzles, he also began to have sensory issues at this point. We began him in speech therapy at 5 and occupational therapy shortly thereafter. He made some progress and continues to do so today. When he was 7 (in 1st grade, he did Kindergarten twice), he put his shoes on backwards everyday and patiently, everyday, I would remind him to switch his shoes around. One morning, he came to me proud as a rooster, I looked him up and down, everything on him was backwards, except his shoes. He reversed everything in order to please me with the shoes. I took this to his pediatrician, where we determined it was time to look for a possible organic problem, to rule out seizures and a tumor. All came back perfectly fine and God bless for that!
She then sent us for neuropsych testing and that is when we finally had a view of what was going on. The results were that he is very intelligent, is off the charts for problem solving, but may be dyslexic, she did not want to fully diagnose yet because he was too young yet. We watched his reading, and noticed that he bag to memorize it to get by.
Fast forward to May of this year, he was re-evaled for his IEP in school and was officially diagnosed with Dyslexia. With the knowledge, I through myself into research, and found that almost all of what has gone on with him could be deduced through dyslexia. This association has been monumental to helping me help him from that point out and I want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Lastly, Andrew decided for Halloween this year, he wanted to be a super hero of his own making. He decided he wanted to be the Dyslexic Destroyer, so that other kids with dyslexia can know it will be ok and he will protect them. Bless his damn heart, as I have tears in my eyes when I write this! With the help of the family, he best described what he wanted his super suit to be, along with his super powers.
I have attached pictures to show what the suit I sewed looks like 😉 His super power is that he can read minds (as he can’t read books well) and that he can run fast and for long periods. I share this with you guys because maybe its time to give these kids a super hero, someone they can relate to and look up to.
The frustrating part; he has the low muscle tone and balance issues, he has the speech and language problems, struggles with writing and reading. Why does insurance not recognize this!? I recently attempted to get him an iPad through insurance for the accessibility options for reading. For the design software on them, because he stills grips a pencil so hard that when he writes, the paper sometimes rips. I have also attempted to get him recumbent bike, so that he may ride a bike with his peers, but no, all denied because dyslexia is not a recognized condition…..why? What am I missing?
-Liz Covey