I graduated high school in the early 70's. I always had a problem reading, had to participate in remedial reading during recess time, and received a lot of labels which were not accurate to my intellectual capabilities. It wasn't until I was attending a community college, taking a test in Human Anatomy and Physiology, the professor kept watching me, I notice those types of things, and at the end of the class we were giving him our tests on the way out and he advised he wanted to see me in his office in about 10 minutes.
You can imagine, I was ready to defend myself that I was not cheating. The minute I was in his office he said, "I know you probably think I thought you were cheating, but that's not what I was thinking. How long have you had a problem reading? Do you know you have a problem reading? I said, "Yes, I know I have a problem reading?" He said, "Have you ever been tested?" "No."
He called the assessment center and spoke to a woman who was to give me a 6 hour test and it was discovered I had dyslexia, more on the extreme side. There were many parts to the test, some visual, some auditory, etc. The results sent off to be evaluated. He was there when they told me the results. He then asked me, "Have you read any of the text or do you just listen to the lecture?" I told them, "I don't get much out of reading, the effort it takes to just understand the words, then to understand them all together in the sentence . . . but if I hear something, it's in there for good, caviot, if I hear it wrong, it's in there for good." They advised I would be given more time to take the test. I said, "No, in real life with someone dying will I be given more time . . ."
This same professor came to see me perform, I am a professional musician as well, and he said he got a much clearer picture of my increased ability in hearing things, and it reflected in my playing and singing.
I think it's important we all take what we do to heart, especially when it comes to our students. We don't know their abilities until we get to know them and what strategies will help them be effective. And when we have a room full of students with different needs, we need to use every tool to teach them in the way that best works for them to learn.
