Personal Narrative: My Dsyphonetic Dyslexia In Middle School

Sitting at the living room table I began to do my homework, which instantly started the wrestling match between letters and my mind, consequently setting off my short fuse when it came to reading. I sat there balling while my parents were nearby in the kitchen. This was not a new occurrence, it had begun to be a regular happening by the time I was in second grade. I couldn’t come up with words for things, or I would blend parts of two different words together making a completely different word. I could not read independently and it caused me to be frustrated anytime the subject came up. My parents had been concerned since kindergarten, although as the years went by my struggle to read started to trouble them more and more, so by second grade they had decided to get me tested.

I took over ten test until they could come up with an answer to what was wrong with me. Finally, I was diagnosed with mild dysphonetic dyslexia. Dysphonetic dyslexia is associated with auditory-processing, meaning I had difficulty discriminating, remembering, and analyzing sounds of letters as well as sounds in general. The report from the doctor said that I should start seeing an academic language therapist, which we quickly contacted and began my tutoring. My
Therapist's name was Mrs.Debbie, she would run me through letter, speed, and recognition drills, and basically taught me how to read. I did this for an hour a day for almost three years. It's hard to say but, I almost despised Mrs.Debbie, as I thought everything was her fault and punishment. Little did I know at the time, that she is one of the most important people in my life as she taught me a indispensables skill, how to read. Finally the day came when Mrs.Debbie believed I was ready to take reading on, on my own.

By this time I was getting ready to go into my first year of middle school and had my first summer reading assignment.
I don’t think I had 100% read a real book all by myself at this time, needless to say, this terrified me. The book I chose to read was the Maze Runner by James Dashner. As I began I was hesitant, but I quickly got into the book and finally understood the saying ‘I couldn’t put the book down’. It was action packed and filled with words I knew and understood. Reading this book gave me a new found confidence in reading and in myself that I had never experienced before. After the Maze Runner I began reading more and more. I started to enjoy reading, which is a stark difference from my former refusal
attitude. I slowly stopped reading by the time I got in highschool, as all the books were assigned and generally quite boring. The joy and accomplishment was lost to me as it seemed pointless to read a book for pure analytical purposes. I wanted to read for the enjoyment of adventure and imagination. These qualities did not resurface until recently, when I began reading the rest of the Maze Runner series, after watching the movie. Adventure and imagination through reading was brought back into my life and reminded me of the feat I went through to get to that point. Reading was never easy to me, I struggled on many different levels, although with the help of many others I was able to experience the wonder of reading that I was missing for so long.