Victory is mine!

Today, I can announce as a proud mum, that my son was finally given his diagnoses. We have been fighting since 2014 to get him diagnosed properly and today was that day. 

💪 I am vindicated! 💪

I knew it. All these years of struggles. Nobody would listen. I never gave up. I've been a pain in the arse, warrior mum because I knew that my son had dyslexia. I f*cking knew it. 

Jo didn't learn to read until he was 8 years old. What's weird is that you never think you will be that parent. It isn't something that we think we will experience and often read it in magazines or see it in news articles. But you never, ever think it'll be your child. Do you know why? Because, it is a slow process that doesn't improve and after trying everything, and your child still can't read, you suddenly realise, "Well, sh*t. I did not expect this."

It's weird. Trying to communicate with schools who deny the obvious and clearly challenging problems. Watermill Primary School in Birmingham , UK, did just that. They lied. They wouldn't help my son. The first 2.5 years of his educational life were a complete, utter waste of time. Fortunately, the teachers who continued to ignore his struggles have now left the school but they know who they are. 

We spent time in Spain where we found it easiest for him to learn. Spanish is a phonetic language which means that each letter always sounds the same, so reading came easier for him, thank goodness. I still didn't get the right help for him and actually he was observed by someone in his school who took the opinion that he was less intelligent than his peers. This was complete bullsh*t, of course. And again, we fought for him because we knew otherwise.

Today we found out that he has a nice collection of the dys... 

• dyslexia
• dysorthography (spelling difficulty)
• dysgraphia (handwriting difficulty)
• dyscalculia (numerical dyslexia)

Our son is not stupid, or unintelligent. He is simply dyslexic+ and he can achieve whatever he wants to in life. He will always find his own way. He will be a success in his own right now matter how long it takes him to get there and we will be with him all the way. 

If you are reading this and you or your children need to get assessed for dyslexia, never, ever, ever, give up. Be a dragon. Be unruly. Upset people. It is your right to be fairly assessed. It is your right to have access to support at school or university. It is your right to be heard and listened to. Never. Give. Up.