04/02/2026
We love sharing great news! Caleb, one of our tutoring students, started at the centre in October, 2024. He is in Grade 7 and plays basketball. He loves history and keeps his tutor on her toes during their sessions with his thoughtful questions. He recently researched and wrote a speech on Dyslexia for a school assignment. He did a wonderful job presenting it in front of his classmates and then in the school finals- he was first up and he did not use cue cards!!! We thought you would like to read his speech! Well-done, Caleb!
Hi my name is Caleb and as many of you know I have dyslexia, and I’m here today to spread awareness about it.
What is dyslexia?
Now you are probably wondering what dyslexia is? Dyslexia is a lifelong learning difference that you are born with and affects reading and spelling. It has nothing to do with eyesight or how smart someone is. But you might be thinking that doesn’t answer the whole question: how does dyslexia affect reading and spelling? Dyslexia affects reading and spelling by certain neuropaths in the brain not being connected. The neuropaths that are not connected to each other are the phoneme processor, the word analyser and the automatic detector.
Facts about dyslexia
You have a 40–60% chance to get dyslexia if one of your parents has it. Dyslexia can also travel with other differences such as Dyscalculia which has difficulties with math and numbers, Dysgraphia which has difficulties with writing skills like handwriting and typing and the most well known one ADHD which has difficulties with focus, hyperactivity, and sometimes impulsivity. Remember when I said that dyslexia has nothing to do with how smart someone is? 50% of Nasa employees have dyslexia. Albert Einstein had dyslexia. 12 iconic world leaders including 2 Canadian political figures, 7 US presidents, Winston Churchill and more did have dyslexia. If you are thinking that's a lot, 1 out of 5 people in the world are dyslexic!
Myths and diagnosis about dyslexia
Now you might be thinking about some of the biggest myths about dyslexia and what they are. If you are wondering I have the answer. They are eyesight smarts and medication. Eyesight people think that the words move on the paper which is not true. Dyslexiics see the same thing as you unless they have something separate from dyslexia that affects their eyesight smarts. Dyslexia has nothing and I mean nothing to do with how smart someone is which I have already explained. Medication: there is no kind of medicine that can cure dyslexia. Dyslexia is life long and all dyslexics need is some extra help.
Finally what did we learn? We learned that dyslexia does not reflect how intelligent someone is. There is no medical cure for it, just extra help. It does not affect eyesight, that's a myth. Dyslexic reading issues are caused when the phoneme processor, the word analyzer and the automatic detector are not connected together by neuropaths in the brain. Dyslexia often travels with Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia,and ADHD,. 12 iconic world leaders have had dyslexia. Albert Einstein had dyslexia 50% of Nasa employees have dyslexia and ⅕ people have dyslexia , In conclusion I have a lot to live up to and I am proud to be dyslexic.
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