"More Than Dyslexia"  

Chrissy and Ava Bowman  

  

Chrissy (00:00) 

My name is Chrissy Bowman. I am Ava's mom. 

  

Ava (00:04) 

My name is Ava and I have dyslexia. I'm 16 years old. I do track and cross country and I finally got into a 10th grade reading level this year. 

  

Chrissy (00:19) 

Yeah. Our journey with Ava started a long time ago and we were able to figure out pretty quickly that something was probably going on because her older brother, who's three years older than her, also has dyslexia. We were able to figure it out a lot sooner, which was helpful. Do you remember what it was like when you were young? 

  

Ava (00:46) 

I remember moving, like, schools a lot. 

  

Chrissy (00:48) 

I think that was a really challenging time. She did the testing while at Elm City Montessori. By the time we had the PPT after the testing, we were in Woodbridge. So that was when she first started getting services. And one thing I remember is that her learning was slow in the beginning for a few years, but probably around... 

  

Ava (01:13) 

Yeah, because I remember in like, sixth grade, I was still trying to learn my vowels. 

  

Chrissy (01:18) 

Yeah, but by fifth or sixth grade, you were able to read a bit. 

  

Ava (01:27) 

I could read books, but I couldn't have more than like 10 words, 20 words on a page. 

  

Chrissy (01:32) 

Yeah, I mean, you were reading. 

  

Ava 

I hated reading. 

  

Chrissy 

No, I know you didn't like reading back then. 

  

Ava (01:36) 

  

But I loved listening to books. So was always listening to books. I read a whole book series, it's called Eragon, and it was all about dragons. I really liked that one. 

  

Chrissy (01:51) 

So that's one thing that we did as she was growing up. Her dad, more than me, read to her and her siblings a lot and they also listened, just like she said. Having audiobooks has been something that's been really helpful in this. 

  

Ava (02:10) 

I do feel a lot better at reading. I started reading those like webtoons and that's when I started getting into reading more and then I started reading chapter books sort of. I'm still a little hesitant because I can't really do like a whole bunch of words on a page still. I might be able to read them. It's just it hurts my brain looking at all of them. I would prefer to listen to them. I stopped watching TV for a while just because I was listening to my books and reading. 

  

Chrissy (02:38) 

Audiobooks have been really, really, really fantastic. 

  

Ava (02:41) 

Miss Simonello was really nice and she really helped me a lot. And then Miss Ferganti was my middle school reading teacher. She was also really helpful and Miss Myers, she helped me, like academically, and helped me with all my classwork because I was sort of behind. And then I have a reading teacher now, Miss Schwartz. I actually got to 10th grade reading level with her. She's very helpful. I'm actually almost done with I don't know what the book is called that we're doing, but I'm almost done with it and I'm really happy because this is the first time I've almost finished like a whole reading book. Miss Corvino would like, I would speak and she would type for me or she would write. She helped put a lot of my words into like actual sentences for me. That was very helpful. 

  

Chrissy (03:34) 

All of the teachers that she's named have either been her special education or reading teachers. And, um, I agree with what she said about all of them. They've all been extremely supportive, kind, and generous to her. You didn't even name Miss Benedict. 

  

Ava (03:55) 

She's my case manager in high school. She's also my academic skills teacher. She helped me so much my freshman year. I actually probably would have failed half my classes and had to retake them. 

  

Chrissy (04:07) 

And one of the biggest things that the special education teachers have done is have really been a bridge from the general education classrooms and teachers to her services and what she needs. 

  

Ava (04:20) 

The special education, like the co-teachers, they're very helpful. This year, they were very good because they didn't really single me out. I know they're there for me, but they don't, they're not like right there with me. Like they'll be in the back of the classroom. So if I need help, I can just go up to them and they'll help me. I feel like all the other kids sort of, cause I'm not getting singled out or needing to go to another room. I like that a lot. 

  

Chrissy (04:46) 

I feel like a big strength you have is you're really good at advocating for what you need and you're not afraid to, like, go up to one of them if you need help, which I think is another reason that you've done so well, especially recently as your reading has gotten better. 

  

Ava (05:01) 

My sister's helped me a lot. She does recommend books to me sometimes and audiobooks. I don't really feel like she's my big sister. I feel like she's my best friend. I definitely know my friends have probably helped me. I definitely have friends that also do have reading disabilities. So it's like, I know I'm not alone. And all my friends that I have are very supportive. And nowadays I do joke around about my reading. I don't feel as insecure as I did when I was younger about having dyslexia because I'm at the same reading level as all the other kids in my grade. So, it's like, I have nothing to feel bad about. 

  

Chrissy (05:34) 

I think it’s hard when you're an adolescent and all of those things that make you feel different, like not being able to do the other things the kids do, like teachers potentially singling you out, those things can be really hard and challenging, um, and add to just the difficulty of having a hard time reading and learning how to read. 

  

Ava (06:02) 

I do know things will get better and I hated reading and just because you're having trouble reading doesn't mean that reading isn't for you. Reading in general and reading different perspectives of everything is very helpful for everyone in real life. Especially reading like fiction because you get to see all these different perspectives, you get to go into a different world. You can never actually go to Narnia because it's an imagination, but, while you're reading it, you feel like you're there and you get to experience how the main character is feeling. You learn a lot of empathy and compassion for others reading. So I would say, even if you don't like reading in the moment, just try it and just keep trying and don't give up. Don't judge people off of like their disabilities, like ADHD, dyslexia, anger issues, like mental disabilities, like autism, like physical, like in a wheelchair, like stuff like that. Don't judge people based on what they can't do. Judge them based on what they can do. And be very patient with people with dyslexia. And going off from my personal experience, I do know that it's very hurtful when people say stuff about reading and stuff like that. So don't joke about it unless you know the person's comfortable. Like, now I'm comfortable with it. 

  

Chrissy (07:24) 

I think you put a ton of effort into your reading. Ava really has worked really, really, really hard over a lot of years to be able to be as good at reading as she is now. 

  

Ava (07:37) 

Just don't let dyslexia define you. Do what you like, do what you love. Walt Disney had dyslexia and everyone doubted him. He was told that he was bad, he got made fun of, and then he went to prove all those people wrong that said it about him. And just show them that even if you have dyslexia, you can still accomplish great things.