My Experience with Dyslexia

My name is Nick Cooke and I was diagnosed with dyslexia when I was 9. All through my educational life I have struggled. Throughout Primary school before I was diagnosed, my parents were told that I was a trouble maker and that I needed to be disciplined more.

I would never do my homework, I couldn’t concentrate in class, my grades were never above average, my spelling and punctuation was poor and I very quickly started to fall behind. At this point my parents decided to get me tested for dyslexia. After a couple of hours of fun games my parents were told that I was dyslexic.
Myself and my parents were told of different learning techniques that would slowly help me improve in school.

I had always dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot for the RAF. However I was always told by friends that I would never make it. Despite my academic problems I have always been exceptional at hand-eye-foot co-ordination and special awareness which are two of the main attributes required to become a pilot.

Despite what everyone one said I still had my heart set on being a RAF pilot. Taking a number of techniques which my parents had been told about, my teachers started to notice a small improvement. The techniques included learning things in threes such as my times tables e.g. 1 x 2 = 2, 2 x 2 = 4, 3 x 2 = 6……… I also started taking special tablets including cod liver oil pills. They say fish is brain food.

Throughout secondary school I worked hard putting the different learning techniques into practice. Despite my efforts I was still told by my teachers that I won’t get any GCSEs and to start looking at other options. My parents were not happy at the lack encouragement I received from my teachers. I put lots of effort every night to get me up to standard. When it came to my GCSE exams I was told that I would not be entered into any exam where I could achieve a grade C which is the minimum I needed for my career in the RAF. Both myself and my parents were furious at this and demanded I was entered into the higher exam. I work hard both with my parents and in after school classes to get my self ready for my GCSEs.

When my results came I had achieved exactly what I needed for my GCSEs. The feeling I had when I saw my results was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I was able to carry on with my education and continue to aim for my career as a fighter pilot.

I believe that this story alone proves that a lot of teachers don’t know enough about dyslexia and need to be trained to higher standards and be more understanding about the disorder. This story also proves that if you are dyslexic you can still do what you want in life. All you have to do is try harder than everyone else.