My Dyslexia Story -- by Holly, Age 9

My name is Holly. I am nine years old and I will be in the third grade.  I have dyslexia. When I first found out that I had dyslexia, I felt a little nervous, but my mom said that I would have special help. At first, I didn’t really understand. My mom said it ran in the family and that my dad had dyslexia. So, then I felt a little better. I knew it would take a long time to help me learn how to read, but I did not feel really confident. Before I even knew that I had dyslexia, my mom and dad decided that I should repeat first grade. That made me really sad because I felt behind from my friends and even my best friend. I felt like I would not see her a lot. But now I feel real confident about my dyslexia because I have had help with Learning Ally, with tutors and with support at the college.

I have read 27 books and 835 pages using Learning Ally.

I know that it is going to be hard because I want to be a teacher, but I know that it is going to be ok. One day, me and my dad read a book about dyslexia. There was a little girl who found out that she had dyslexia. I think dyslexia is like this: there are wires in your brain and some of them just get twisted together. That’s how I get my 'B's and 'D's mixed up. I also get 9 and 8 mixed up. If you are reading this and you have dyslexia, just know if you have special help, then you will be OK. I work very hard on my reading and writing. I don’t feel embarrassed when my tutors pick me up out of my class to get some work done. I know that everyone with dyslexia feels a little nervous at first, but in the end, they will get better. There is not a cure for dyslexia, but you can improve your reading and writing and whatever you get mixed up with dyslexia. Always just know, you will learn how to read and write someday. There are a lot of famous people with dyslexia, like Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci and Han Christian Anderson and many more. Don’t feel bad -- because you might become famous one day, even if you do have dyslexia. It was weird for me because I am a dancer and I got moved up in dance, but went down a grade in school. The most important things in life are to learn important things and to follow your dreams -- if you have dyslexia or if you don’t have dyslexia.