10-year-old's powerful poem about dyslexia goes viral
A 10-year-old who wrote a poem about dyslexia has won Twitter with her words, even leading people to call for her work to be published.
Teacher, Jane Broadis, went online to explain that her Year 6 class were learning about poems that could be read both backwards and forwards, producing a different meaning.
The students were all asked to write their own poem, and she was moved by a pupil who chose to write about dyslexia.
“Please share,” Broadis tweeted. “I would love her work to be appreciated further afield. I wonder if it could even find a publisher?”
Today in Y6 we looked at poems that could be read forwards & backwards. I was stunned by this one written by one of my 10 year olds. Please share – I would love her work to be appreciated further afield. I wonder if it could even find a publisher? pic.twitter.com/tmEQpiRrhq
— Jane Broadis (@Jb5Jane) February 27, 2019
Within hours of sharing the tweet featuring images of the poem had clocked up 91K likes, and 28K retweets and over 1.3K comments from people who were touched by the student’s powerful words.
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Many of those commenting shared their own experiences of living with dyslexia and praised the author for her beautiful words.
Wonderful! I was called stupid by my year 6 teacher. 3 years later diagnosed with Dyslexia.
We just see things others can not.— John Hendrick (@John84Hendrick) February 27, 2019
I am dyslexic, I learn differently, I find some of the things my brain comes up with hilarious. This young students poem is wonderful. Well done. Dyslexia doesn’t stop you doing anything. You just have to find a way around the obsticle. Side step it.
— Jen (@jennywhitwot) February 27, 2019
Thank u for sharing my D’ter is dyslexic and it took me months and months to get anyone to acknowledge there was a problem. I wish she had u as a teacher
— Suhi (@Suhi43969762) February 27, 2019
Here’s the poem in full:-
Dyslexia
I am stupid.
Nobody would ever say
I have a talent for words
I was meant to be great.
That is wrong
I am a failure.
Nobody could ever convince me to think that
I can make it in life.
According to the NHS dyslexia is a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling.
It’s a specific learning difficulty, which means it causes problems with certain abilities used for learning, such as reading and writing.
But unlike a learning disability, intelligence isn’t affected.
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It’s estimated up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.
The site goes on to outline some of the signs a child might have dyslexia including them reading and writing slowly, confusing the order of letters in words and putting letters the wrong way round.
If you think your child may have dyslexia, the first step is to speak to their teacher or their school’s special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCO) about your concerns.
For more information about dyslexia visit British Dyslexia Association (BDA)