An experience part 2

"You are good, and what You do is good..."
Psalm 119:68a

Part one of the dyslexia program is finished!!!! The last half of the program was just as exhilarating as the first for me.

One day, Carl had a surprise for me. He said I could make anything I wanted out of clay that hadn't been invented yet. I was not to tell him what it was. After I made my model, and he'd admired it and asked a few questions to get a clearer picture of what it was, he told me to make up a name for my invention. Electraski - I explained to Carl that this invention was a sit-ski like I already use, but this one was electric, hence the "electra" part of the word. I told him of my skiing and said that an electraski  would not only make it so I  could ski independently, but it would make winter easier for people in chairs because it would be able to go on the roads as well. 



My Eletraski - yes I made the letters too.


Now that I am finished the program with Carl, the home program has begun. Those 216 trigger words that I mentioned in An Invitation I now have to tackle.


The hamburger had bacon and and cheese on it.

Now that I  have completed  about 25 trigger words, we have learned a few valuable lessons along the way. For example: DON'T DISCUSS IT!!! A dyslexic is already confused and disoriented by the word so discussing it only makes the confusion and disorientation a bigger problem. Another lesson we learned, the hard way, was not to make the clay models too complicated. The last step in the Trigger Word Mastery is visualization. What I make has to become an image in my mind for that word. Like all dyslexics, I am and always have been, a bit of a perfectionist.(just ask my family!)  The problem I have found with this is I tend to get so wrapped up in making the clay model I make it way too complex and therefore it's harder for me to make the mental picture.

Here's a trigger word for you: how would you model the concept for the word  'ago' with clay? Look the word up in the dictionary before you begin so you get a clear understanding of what it means!!! Have fun!!


Even though all these breakthroughs are nice and we are celebrating every one, it's not all about  the program and "hiding" the fact that I'm dyslexic. I am now aware of the incredible gift God has given me in my dyslexia and am learning each day how to better use this remarkable gift God has given me. One of these gifts is my photographic memory. For example at French class the other day I was looking at a poster on the wall of the French verb "to be." I remembered the grammar rules for this tense, as my teacher taught it to me about two years ago. However, I just couldn't remember the conjugations. My homework was always a mess with this one verb tense. On my first day back in January, I decided to do an experiment. I made sure my mind's eye was on point, and took a mental picture of that poster. I haven't had any trouble with those conjugations since. The problem, I think, was that I was trying to learn French as a lineal thinker, but I'm a picture thinker, and therefore it was very frustrating as we kept having to redo lessons because I wasn't getting it. Now in class, I just stare at my yellow dot, and as Carl is found of saying  "...everything will be ok."

"You are good, and what You do is good..."
Psalm 119:68a














Comments

  1. Monica, your journey is brilliantly bracketed between this awesome verse (Psalm 119:68a). Thank you for these insights and the encouragement they bring. Keep them coming.

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