TURNING CHALLENGE INTO STRENGTH
As someone who overcame dyslexia, I’ve found strength in reading, writing, and narrating. Dyslexia taught me perseverance, creativity, and a unique way to approach stories. Today, through audiobooks, I bring stories to life using the very skills I developed to overcome my struggles.
LEARNING ALLY : advocating for early and struggling readers
I didn’t grow up loving books, despite being raised by avid readers. My mom, a language arts major, worked tirelessly to help me sound out words and spell using mnemonic tools, but nothing seemed to click. I faked being sick to avoid school and dreaded standing up to leave the room for special reading classes.
One day, a kind librarian directed me to the fantasy section and challenged me to read one book all the way through. I chose Queen Zixi of Ix, by L. Frank Baum. I struggled down every page, but I finished! And by the end, I realized my challenges didn’t have to define me.
Over time, words stopped being jumbled symbols and started becoming meaningful pictures. That breakthrough inspired me to set goals and develop systems that made me the reader and narrator I am today.
While I never conquered math (despite kind teachers who tried), I did earn a degree in Child Development with an emphasis on English Education. That journey shaped my passion for advocating for struggling readers and bringing stories to life.
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DYSLEXIA AND AUDIOBOOK NARRATION
Dyslexia is a learning disability related to reading, reading comprehension, spelling, and writing. It is difficult for people with dyslexia to read at a good pace without making mistakes. Dyslexia was not commonly diagnosed or even discussed when I was a child.
My experience with dyslexia was a constant flip-flopping of letters or numbers. I could not see a sequence of letters or numbers in the correct order, which made early reading and math challenging and frustrating.
Over the years, I have been able to memorize most English words and digraphs. Once I started memorizing, my reading improved exponentially. I had to train my mind, however -
instead of reading a word from left to right, I read words in di-graph chunks or saw the entire word as a whole picture, not as individual letters. In a way, it makes reading faster and more efficient.
Math has been a separate issue. There are no di-graphs in math or sentences to decode—just a random series of numbers. I still stare at a phone number or verification code like it's a snake.
Read here about how audiobooks are helping dyslexic students read thousands of pages a year.
International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity (YCDC)
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