Friday, August 19, 2011

Dyspraxia and My Education

Where do I begin with my story? Okay I will start from the beginning as in what I heard my mom say about how I came into this world. My mom had a difficult pregnancy and labor with me. The doctors ended up being delivered emergency c-section. Elementary school and was no picnic for a variety of reasons. I never made Honor Roll in Elementary school and was made fun of for being “stupid and retarded.” I had speech therapy from kindergarten through 7th grade. I went to Title 1 for help in reading and language arts. I did not know how to tie my shoes in elementary school. It was obvious in K-3 I could not tie my shoes. In forth and fifth grades, my shoes were either in knots, or I wore Velcro and slip-on shoes. Velcro and slip-ons to this day can be a dyspraxic’s best friend.

A lot of teachers did not understand me for the most part. In first grade I was always sent out into the hallway for getting into various “kinds of mischief”. One time I got sent out just for shaking crayons. My second grade teacher did not know what to do with me. I came from a good Christian home, yet I was a trouble maker back then. Miss Waters did not know what to do with me. My fourth grade teacher insisted on teaching the times table on tape which was hard for me since it meant having to write down and remember everything. I could have learned the times table if he were to just teach it another way such as in front of the class. I was a slow writer and processing information was harder when if it was taught a different way I could have done better. Another thing, I was most likely nearsighted back then but the teachers most likely thought I was slow anyway so they never thought I might need glasses even though seeing the board could be hard. In fifth grade I was blessed that my Sunday school teachers at the church I grew up in noticed that I could not read the board from a certain distance and cared enough to tell my parents. My parents saw to it I got glasses but only because of the fact my Sunday school teachers had the compassion to realize something was not right. I don’t know if elementary school has improved since I went to school. I wonder if it really has. I substituted almost 8 yrs ago for a teacher who took care of the special education students in a regular class. The teacher of the regular class could not believe I had a college degree because of my slight speech impediment and perhaps I was not having a good day. Many elementary school teachers are still ignorant in some respect to this day. If I am blessed to have children and if for some reason they end up dyspraxic and teachers don’t understand them, I hope I can put them in an environment where it would be better including possibly homeschooling. If I were to choose to home school my children I would have to find a way to accommodate my lack of organization.

In middle school I at least started to get more serious about homework and studying so I would make Honor Roll at times. Grades 6th through 8th had it ups and downs. I was the social outcast back then. In 6th grade, Mrs. Singh my Title 1 teacher told my parents that she believed that I could go on to college in the future. My 7th grade homeroom/English and reading teacher and I did not get along at times, especially when it came to keeping a tidy desk. There were other issues that my mother noticed as well. My gym teacher treated me in a condescending way because I did not have the coordination to keep up. I still don’t, so I mainly walk now or consider some of the housework exercise. In 7th grade I made honor roll twice. I was in speech therapy in 6th and 7th grade. After 7th grade, I could not go on for speech therapists were not trained or informed about dyspraxia at the time. Eighth grade was better academically. Yet the sewing machine test that I had to take for home economics was torture. I have a confession to make I cheated slightly back then since the test required a lot of spatial ability that I could do. I got an A though. In middle school I also had to take art and industrial arts which were often hard. 6th grade I got my only B in Industrial Arts. I however only managed to get Cs in 7th and 8th grade. I only managed to get a B in Art in 8th grade. Honor Roll was based on a point GPA once I got to middle school. I therefore was able to make honor roll in 7th and 8th grade despite troubles with art and industrial arts. I made honor roll twice in 7th and three times in 8th grade. I did well enough in math in 7th grade that I decided to attempt to take Algebra 1 in 8th grade. I was lucky to just make a C in the class, since it was ahead of me. I retook it the next year, so I could understand it. Most of the teachers I overall got along with. My English teacher was annoying with the fact she was a little to overly picky on handwriting. She wanted the letters to look like the letters. There were a lot of notes I had to take for both English and history that year. Sometimes I would have to come in at homeroom to make up for what could not be done at class since I still read and wrote things slow. My handwriting did concern my teachers, including the student teacher who I had for history. Disorganization was a concern for many teachers as well. One thing I was lucky not have to deal with was diagramming sentences in middle school as was a practice for a long time before I went to middle school.

In high school I did even better and mainly made Honor Roll most of the time with the exception of 3 times due to mainly health issues. Throughout high school I took honors and college prep classes. Geometry was difficult but I maintained a C average, despite the fact I got a D 1 quarter because I could not use the compass. I made Honors Society in my junior year. . I should not have taken honors algebra II during my junior year of high school. Algebra II got difficult after missing a lot due to being sick for a while during the winter of my junior year. In addition I rubbed my teacher the wrong way. He had an issue about me turning in sloppy work, especially when it came to graphing which was difficult for me. There was one time in my senior year where the library aid did not understand how someone in National Honors Society could have sloppy handwriting. I was so upset I wrote a poem called “Nobody’s Perfect” that actually made the literary journal of my school and the ironic thing was this aid actually liked this poem.

I went on to college which for the most part I did okay. It took me 3 quarters to get through Math 104 at the community college where I went to for 2 years. A major reason was this stupid scientific calculator that most classes at Columbus State used. The scientific calculator made the work harder than it already was. The third time I took Math 104, I was blessed to have an instructor that most likely went against the standards of the school. I was able to learn the material and pass with a B. I tried taking another math class at Columbus State, which I ended up dropping and taking it at Ohio State University. Ohio State University did not utilize this complicated and expensive calculator so I passed the class with a B. I went to Ohio State and ended up getting a degree in English Literature because literature was interesting and I love to write. I took an English grammar class which turned out to be a very difficult class. The reason the class was really difficult was not because of the grammar but because of all the complicated diagramming of sentences. Diagramming sentences required visualization which is a major struggle because of my lack of hand to eye coordination and spatial. I could have done better in college if I did not learn to become social at Ohio State University and have to work. I also struggled with fatigue. I however graduated in June 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in English.

At times I have thought about going back to pursue either continuing education, or a Masters or PH.D. The thing is I am not sure I want to put more time into studying since I enjoy having time to socialize and do what I decided to do. I however have thought about pursuing something in education, social work or something else where my not so typical experiences in life would be an asset.

posted by moshpitmarsha @ 12:01 PM 0 comments