IÂ’ve been quiet for the last few days because it was easier.

It was easier not to sit in front of a blank screen and have the truth seep into my consciousness and torture my brain. Well, it seems that the more I tried to push things out of my consciousness, the more it would come to haunt me. As a result this past week has been nothing but torture. Torture from my son; torture by my house guests (Bro & Sister in Law - BIL & SIL), and self-torture from my subconscious dogging me constantly at my heals. All the while, struggling with not wanting to look at the truth, which IÂ’ve been trying so hard to deny or delay facing.

It all started by me reading this post on BouÂ’s blog. It finally brought everything to before me, making it impossible for me to continue to avert or deny the truth any longer. As a result, IÂ’ve finally realized that my son has taken after me in more ways than one. This past week, while getting phone calls at work from my SIL, BIL & son, all complaining about each other with stories on how they were torturing each other over my son's book reports, I told them I'd listen in through speaker phone and intervene when necessary. While trying to get my son to write 1 single book report, it was painfully apparent to me (as I listened to them silently) that my son processes information differently than most. Well, they all gave up on each other and I was faced with doing much damage control before my son starts school next Monday.

This morning, I finally cried UNCLE, as we lagged further behind on my sonÂ’s assigned summer reading/writing/book report schedule. There was nothing else I could do but finally google what the symptoms were for someone in his age group. IÂ’ve posted these below so you all can get an inkling of what IÂ’m going through with him. HeÂ’s luckier than most though, IÂ’ve been trained in different methodologies that have enabled me to learn on my own once I was diagnosed with a mild form of dyslexia. IÂ’ve been using a few of these techniques with him for the math and it's worked great. Unfortunately where I fail and have no experience is in helping him with his hand writing. ItÂ’s not only illegible, to get him to write barely neatly is worse than pulling teeth and it has finally brought me to my knees. Below is part of an email I received from an expert, whom I contacted via their website, inquiring about classifying my sonÂ’s issues, has enlightened me quite a bit. Now I begin the work phase.

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The difficulties noted below are often associated with your sonÂ’s age group. A qualified diagnostician (see attached list for the centers in your area) can test your son to determine if he is truly experiencing one of the many forms of dyslexia, and to what extent.

- May be unable to follow multi-step directions or routines.
- May have poor "fine motor" coordination.
- Has difficulty spelling phonetically.
- Makes consistent reading and spelling errors in common words
- Relies on guessing and context.
- May have difficulty learning new vocabulary.
- May transpose number sequences and confuse arithmetic signs (+ - x / =).
- May have trouble remembering facts.
- May be slow to learn new skills; relies heavily on memorizing without understanding.
- May have difficulty planning, organizing and managing time, materials and tasks.
- Often uses an awkward pencil grip.

Finally, I read this today and it literally broke my heart because I remember being the one sitting at the kitchen table going through this myself:

"The frustration of children with dyslexia often centers on their inability to meet expectations. Their parents and teachers see a bright, enthusiastic child who is not learning to read and write correctly. Time and again, dyslexics and their parents hear, “He’s such a bright child; if only he would try harder.” Ironically, no one knows exactly how hard the dyslexic is trying."

I remember almost not being able to graduate 2nd in my class in high school because my Math teacher couldn't decipher how on earth I always got the right answers on my tests, yet I couldn't logically prove my work via complete algebraic and linear equations. It was only when my State Exams were challenged, and I had to go before their Exam Board and take the exam while 3 testers stood over me, that everyone realized something was wrong. One of the tester's asked me a few questions about my work after I completed doing a formula and asked me to solve the problem outloud. It was then they realized that not everything that was in my head made it on paper, and thus I was identified as possibly dyslexic. Further testing proved it, and I was able to keep my honor's/salutatorian status at graduation. The diagnosis was liberating in many ways, but this is when the experience with my curse first began to change.

Posted by: Michele at 01:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Whenever I'm unable to make a decision because there's too many things to consider, I use this method as a decision making process.

Of course this doesn't work with travel companions on vacation who each want to do a different thing at any given moment. Nope!

Instead what works is Kermit & Fozzie Bear's rule of priorities. I'll explain that one when I get back from vacation. But just in case you have a better way of dealing with these family situations I appeal to you dear reader for advice.

What do you do?

Posted by: Michele at 07:54 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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I am too dead dog tired to compose an honest to goodness, well thought out post (2nd day) or to even begin editing yesterdayÂ’s post (which IÂ’m unhappy with) so IÂ’ll simply copy a page from RPÂ’s blogging style and throw at you some of the things that I learned as I went along today. IÂ’ll start with my first lessons of the day.

- When offering to pick up a pkg. for an out of state co-worker whoÂ’s visiting, donÂ’t let them give you directions to where youÂ’re supposed to go. Instead, get an address and a telephone number so you can be SURE of where the hell youÂ’re going and not wind up 3 miles off. Park Ave is NOT Park Place.

- When drinking water, Gatorade and iced coffee on a hot day in a short time span, make sure you ask a woman where the bathroom is and the key code for the lock BEFORE you sit down in an all male meeting.

- After walking 15.6 miles in 100F+temps, do not schedule to meet up with your mentees as all youÂ’ll manage to do is drink, pee and sit there listlessly. Bou, I think IÂ’m ready for Disney.

- When getting a Pollen alert on your mobile do not ask yourself out loud in front of your son: “Where the hell do they grow enough plantains in the tri-state area to trigger a High Plantain Pollen Index Alert."

- Scheduling a pedicure after walking 60 miles in 4 days makes oneÂ’s feet very happy and tingly all over!

- When dining in a nice restaurant and catching son with one leg raised on the chair while fanning his crotch area, do not ask him what he’s doing, otherwise he’ll be forced to shout over the loud music that he’s “fanning his sweaty balls”.

- Mental note: menÂ’s balls get sweaty and need ventilation and thatÂ’s why they grab their crotch in public sometimes. Who knew!

- Drinking 2 Iced Frappuccinos' and 2 Iced Green Teas, is NOT a good idea when you're only used to caffeine in the form of 1 cup of iced coffee per day. Trying to sleep that evening is futile.

- I've discovered a new physics rule: on a hot summer's day, the more you drink, the more you have to pee. Output is not directly proportional to intake. In some instances, it is greater than intake. Further study must be done to understand the freekin' correllation and how it's possible to spend more time peeing than drinking.

Posted by: Michele at 10:25 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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