Ever since I can remember, I have struggled in school.  When I was in the younger elementary grades, my parents wanted my teachers to hold me back.  They thought it might give me an advantage.  Finally, halfway through the seventh grade, my parents pulled me out of public school and decided to home-school me.  It was then that my mother discovered that I couldn’t read.

I was taken to a learning disabilities center and was administered an IQ test as well as a dyslexia test.  I was rated extremely high for dyslexia symptoms and surprisingly my IQ was quite high as well. 

My whole life, I had thought I was stupid, when really all I had was a learning disability.

While home-schooling, I attended a class that predominantly catered to dyslexics, and for the first time in my life, I started to excel academically.  I often wonder how my life would have been different if my dyslexia had been diagnosed when I was a young child.  But, instead of reflecting on the what-ifs, I am just thankful that I was diagnosed and was able to finish school with decent grades.