RAISING A DYSLEXIC DREAMER

Notes from a discerning mum on helping her son turn his learning challenge into a superpower

- Tjin Lee

“Stop daydreaming” is what I remember my teachers saying to me in secondary school. My report cards would come back stating that I was bright, but that I could not focus or apply myself, that I spent too much time daydreaming in class.

It would have helped to know back then that I had ADHD (attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder), but in those days, no one ever spoke of learning differences. Fast forward 36 years and I wish I could tell those teachers that my ability to daydream, to see the world differently, is my superpower. I never understood how much of a strength it is until my son Tyler was diagnosed with dyslexia at six, and ADHD at eight.

Tyler was a bright, happy and inquisitive little boy. No different from any regular little boy, he loved dinosaurs, aeroplanes and robots, and singing and drawing. Except, I would get flustered and perplexed when he couldn’t identify the simplest words in storybooks. It felt like he wasn’t trying hard enough, or he wasn’t paying attention. He could name every sea creature, and identify more than 20 dinosaur species, every whale in the ocean, and all models of Boeing and Airbus planes. Yet, he just couldn’t read.

Over the next year, I watched him go from a cheerful, confident kindergartener to one filled with self‑doubt. He started to ask, “Mummy, why are all the other kids smarter than me?” It broke my heart one day when he came home from kindergarten and said: “I’m the slowest kid in class. Everyone says so.” The bullying in school started at an early age; I saw his smile fade and his self‑confidence wane.