We were having light conversation over breakfast as usual, my friends and me, at one of our favourite foodcourts in KL. It started off with Balqis (name of a TV show) review and somehow led to a Hindustani movie review. The Hindustani movie review caught my attention the most and was discussed heatedly amongst us afterwards. The movie was about a dyslexic child and his challenges as a person with dyslexia.
My friend KS said that the movie was really heartbreaking and oddly interesting as it doesn't sell the usual Hindustani product i.e love story. The breakfast crews who doesn't know about dyslexia asked KS for more info about it. For a person who has never heard about dyslexia before and educated about dylexia via movie only, KS's explaination was quite precise and impressive. KS didn't label dyslexic person as slow learner or stupid throughout her explaination. KS just told the us that dyslexic people face challenges in mastering reading skills and have certain degree of learning disabilities.
Hearing this, I couldn't help but to share my experience with Nadia's phonological processing problem (PPP) with my peers. I told them about how she was unable to tell 'b' and 'd' apart, about how she was able to draw a picture of a house upside down and about how she often write her numbers in reversed manner.
The reaction given my friends upon hearing my confession was totally unexpected. They seemed to be surprised by the fact that Nadia has PPP. They asked me about Nadia's learning progress. They asked me if she knows how to read. They asked me if she's left behind at school. They asked me when did I find about her problem. One of the even asked me if a child is dyslexic, where shall the child be sent to for his or her education.
Another friend of, let's call her KA interjected and said:
'Hantar pegi sekolah budak-budak lembap lah!'
(Send them to school for mentally challenged!)
Deng!
I didn't know how my facial expression was was, but one thing for sure: I was so OFFENDED by KA's answer. I know I shouldn't and I was being kind of overeacted, but on behalf of those misfortunate dyslexic souls out there, I do feel offended. Nadia is not dyslexic, but labelling dyslexic people as 'lembap' (slow learner) is just as right as saying kids with PPP are 'lembap' too.
After taking a deep long breath, I explained to KA and KS that dyslexic people are commonly misunderstood by the public for being stupid. Most dyslexic people have surprisingly & unusually high IQ; like Leonardo Da Vinci, Agatha Christie and Walt Disney to name a few. Knowing their problem early and ways to tackle their problem can help them to get through school and eventually life. I neither tell them about how well Nadia did at her kindie, nor about Nadia's love of reading now (her favourite books are Grolier's 'I Wonder Why' range for children encyclopedia!). I personally believe Nadia's knowledge about dinasours, desserts, bugs, space and animals is much much more than all of my friends' combine!
But then again, not all people are exposed with PPP or dyslexia. People tend to assume things they are not familiar with. I might label a dyslexic kid a slow learner myself if I had never known the existence of such learning disability. I just hope that I won't be a moron in future by saying things that might offend anybody due to my ignorance. Let's just hope that won't happen! :p
6 comments:
thk
"Most dyslexic people have surprisingly & unusually high IQ"
That is actually wrong.Dyslexics do not have a different IQ distribution than the general population.
That incorrect idea has meant that often only the brighter individuals are tested for dyslexia leaving the slower dyslexic undiagnosed.
It is true that if testing of below average IQ individuals is seldom done then the results are skewed to give those misleading results.
If you look in the forest for trees then eventually people start to believe all trees are in the forest.
Every study that has investigated below average and much higher than average IQ groups for dyslexia have found the same percentage of dyslexics as other IQ groups.
Take heart in the fact that if a child is considered for dyslexia testing someone probably thinks the child does have average to above average IQ.
Dyslexics are not just concentrated in those higher groups.
It is a shame that below average dyslexics are not usually considered for testing because dyslexia interventions show the same gains for them when identified and helped.
High IQ dyslexics stand out more and are easier to identify but there is no scientific data or justification for them to have a different IQ distribution than the general population.When researchers say that there is no relationship between dyslexia and IQ it is because that is what the studies show.
manusia mmg cmtu.. quick to jump to a conclusion without thinking of what they are saying is true or not and not to mention will hurt some one else feelings.haish...
hayesatlbch: Thanks for your comment. Yes, that's true: it's a common misconception too to pair up dyslexia and high IQ. In actual fact, even with proper guidance & help, dyslexics' educational achievement would range from low to moderate to genius. It's a no guarantee that being dyslexic means having special ability in arts, music or even have superb high IQ.
Maybe, instead of putting 'MOST dyslexic people have surprisingly high IQ' in my entry, I should've written: 'SOME dyslexic people turned out to have surprisingly high IQ' :)
bro: That's so true. Human nature + typical stereotype.. :p
sabar je la kak jue.
i do believe that there are commonly more undiagnosed dyslexic out there in this world than what we're aware of. even those who have trouble distinguishing their left and right have some form of dyslexia, but it doesn't mean their slow in their thinking process.
what's important is that people get the correct diagnose for it and proper attention in dealing with it. and those who tend to pass judgement, are just plain ignorants.
kwb: yep...well said girl! ;)
Post a Comment