At the age of 6, the outlook for Nicholas seemed grim. After undergoing hours of testing, Nicholas’ parents were given a grave pronouncement from a professional as to why he had been struggling in school. Nicholas, they were told, was a child of “low IQ” who had “no strengths and no words.” Not surprisingly, when the report was shared with Nicholas’ classroom teacher, the expectations for Nicholas’ learning were extremely low. He was given a list of only two words to learn each week.
So begins the story of Reversed, which is now available through Amazon and other booksellers.
Listen to my interview with Lois. She talks about discovering his interests in maps, how she realized his challenges in auditory processing were affecting his learning, and how she connected the dots and supplemented his learning to help him become the young man he is today.
Nicholas just completed his PhD in Applied Mathematics from Oxford and got married in India!
This cautionary tale is more common than many might believe. By the time a child is seen by a testing professional, she or he has experienced much failure and frustration and many children completely ‘shut down.’
In our experience, dyslexia is particularly distinctive in this regard; the gap between intellectual ability and ability to ‘perform’ is so great that children (and many adults) are woefully misunderstood and under-appreciated.
