RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: Americans need a better understanding of dyslexia

Have you seen a shark cry? It’s unsettling. But erstwhile the tears are caused by dyslexia, it tin besides beryllium revealing.

October was Dyslexia Awareness Month. But it’s ne'er excessively precocious to research the peculiar satellite of a learning trouble that experts accidental could afflict arsenic galore arsenic 1 successful 5 Americans.

The shark is Kevin O’Leary. The boastful Canadian-born “Shark Tank” big and multimillionaire capitalist — aka “Mr. Wonderful” — who chokes up erstwhile discussing his conflict with dyslexia arsenic a kid successful the 1960s.

“It was precise hard for my mother,” O’Leary told Yahoo! Finance. “She was precise disquieted astir me. Parents don’t cognize … what the aboriginal holds. They’re not definite what’s going to happen. And that puts a batch of unit connected relationships and families.”

I perceive this often from dyslexics, that their parents wanted truthful severely to assistance them but didn’t cognize how. As a parent, it breaks my heart.

I’ve besides seen galore parents of dyslexic children ammunition retired wealth for specialized connection therapy and shuttle their kids to after-school sessions.

I’m impressed by dyslexic children who conflict a nationalist schoolhouse strategy that was not built for them.

But I’m successful awe of those parents who heroically combat for their kids against an invisible enemy.

The crushed overmuch of that conflict occurs successful nationalist schools is due to the fact that — dissimilar backstage schools, oregon adjacent charter schools — the nationalist schools are often excessively rigid and regimented to accommodate children with dyslexia. Also, galore of the schools of acquisition that credential teachers are outright hostile to the precise conception of dyslexia; immoderate adjacent thatch that it doesn’t exist.

This frustrates Dr. Kelli Sandman-Hurley. With her longtime person and chap literacy specializer Tracy Block-Zaretsky, Sandman-Hurley co-founded the San Diego-based Dyslexia Training Institute much than a decennary ago.

The halfway offers grooming and certification for teachers, one-on-one tutoring and speechmaking therapy for students, and simulations that assistance radical who don’t person dyslexia spot the satellite done the eyes of those who do.

The extremity is to assistance untangle what is, for galore families, the baffling riddle of dyslexia.

I was funny however Sandman-Hurley defined the concept.

“Dyslexia is simply a phonological processing occupation that idiosyncratic is calved with,” she said. “Someone has trouble accessing written language. They mightiness person occupation spelling oregon decoding words. Reading fluency is slower. It occurs successful degrees, from mild to terrible with everything successful between.”

What is it not?

“It is not seeing things backwards,” she said. “That’s a myth.”

For 20 years, I’ve been fascinated by what has been called the “gift” of dyslexia, owing to the information that my woman is simply a dyslexia specialist. Lately, I’ve go funny successful however it affects adults. Dyslexia can’t beryllium “cured.” Children with dyslexia go adults with dyslexia.

Sandman-Hurley tells immoderate of those stories successful her important caller book, “The Adult Side of Dyslexia.” She interviewed 50 adults who person dyslexia and asked them the aforesaid questions.

Many of these folks inactive person vivid — and horrid — memories of their schoolhouse days. Describing the acquisition of speechmaking aloud to the class, galore utilized words specified arsenic “trauma” oregon “torture.” Teachers request to grip with attraction those who conflict with speechmaking and writing.

“What you accidental to them, they volition retrieve erstwhile they are 50,” Sandman-Hurley said. “And they retrieve it similar it was yesterday.”

Dyslexics aren’t dumb oregon lazy. In fact, they are often incredibly hard workers fixed each they indispensable overcome. High-functioning dyslexics see not conscionable O’Leary but histrion Keira Knightly, British billionaire Richard Branson, movie shaper Brian Grazer and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Sadly, different dyslexics upwind up unemployed oregon stateless oregon successful prison.

How that last section gets written depends mostly connected whether the dyslexic has capable emotion and enactment astatine location to past the buzz saw of the acquisition system.

I asked Sandman-Hurley astir being an advocator for kids and confronting schoolhouse administrators who either cognize what they request to bash and garbage — or, worse, don’t adjacent judge that dyslexia is truly a thing.

“The advocacy is truly stressful,” she acknowledged. “But it’s not adjacent adjacent to however stressful it is for a parent. The genitor sees their kid starting to struggle. They don’t truly cognize what’s happening. They spell to the school, and the schoolhouse says: ‘It’s OK, they’ll outgrow it.’ But the parent’s gut is telling them that thing is wrong.”

Parents, spot your gut. And basal by your child. As adults with dyslexia volition archer you, it means everything.

Ruben Navarrette’s email code is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben successful the Center,” is disposable done each podcast app.