I've always took being able to read for granted. I was a very early reader, and my mother says I never struggled with it at all. In fact, she said that I was able to read kids' books by age two. By kindergarden, I was reading the newspaper and novel-length books. I asked her how she taught me and she shrugged, saying that she never taught me, that I had taught myself. She did note that I was obsessed with Sesame Street; with the phonics program, in particular.
However, I'm faced with a different situation. Kole is 7 and is still not reading. At all. She barely recognizes her alphabet, although she can recite it forwards and backwards easypeasy. She has a very strong memory that has allowed her to progess as far as she has without great difficulty, but now is when it is all starting to catch up. She's currently being tested for a language learning disability, and its been hard to convey what's going on to her. I don't want her to have negative feelings about this, but she's been starting to call herself stupid, which is, to say the least, shocking. I don't know if other kids are saying things to her, or if this is a new thing that she's picked up, but she never used to feel this way about herself. In fact, she has very strong math stills, and loves learning about science and doesn't hesitate to speak up in class or present in front of an audience.
I've also been trying to express to her how amazing she is in other ways. Her teachers have always remarked about how polite she is, and how she goes out of her way to try and help others. She really knows how to problem-solve issues, and handles confrontation confidently.
I'm worried that all of this is going to change if she doesn't come to this realization soon: that just because she has difficulty in one area it doesn't mean that she's any lesser of a person.
Man, I wish I knew how to make her understand that all of this is not a big deal. It's important, yes, but its something that we will work through together. I can't help but feel sad when I know she's trying so hard to understand, and it's just not working. Her frustration physically pains me, not to mention when I see her getting so down about it.
Argh.... sometimes it's hard to know what to do.