Getting Children with Learning Differences to Love Books, a guest post by Alma Fullerton

When I go into schools and speak to children, the first thing I ask is, “Who here likes to read?” 

Everyone puts up their hands. 

Then I ask, “Who here is lying about liking to read?” 

There are usually a lot of laughs and a lot of hands up. Once the laughter dies down, I go on to tell them how at their age I didn’t like to read either. In fact, depending on the age group I’m talking to, I couldn’t read at their age. 

Like Claire in Flipping Forward Twisting Backward, I couldn’t read until grade four. Without singling me out my teacher, Mrs. Monds told the class about dyslexia and how some people have a hard time reading and writing because of it. 

After class I went up to her and said, “Mrs. Monds, this is how I see.”

She said, “I know and I’m going to help you.”

That’s all it took for me to want to learn—teacher to believe in me. Every recess she took the time to teach me strategies to help me learn to read. 

Of course, knowing how to read and loving reading are two very different things. Even now, as an adult who works an author and educator, reading can be difficult due to my dyslexia and ADD.  Reading can cause headaches and nausea so I really need to be pulled into a story by a strong character and plot to make me want to finish it. I have to LOVE a story to want to read it.

That leads me to the next question I ask children in presentations.  “Who here likes stories?” 

Every hand goes up again, but when I ask if they’re lying not one says yes. 

As an educator I believe a child with LDs should be allowed to listen to books instead of forcing them to try to read. Forcing them to read when reading makes them dizzy or gives them headaches will only turn them off books completely.  I constantly find myself explaining to parents and teachers that listening to audio books is not cheating for a child with LDs. It would be the same as a child in a wheelchair using a ramp to get up the stairs. 

If they must read with their eyes and not their ears, find books with an easy to read font like one of the Dyslexic fonts that are weighted down, or one of Sassoon Book fonts developed by Rosemary Sassoon and Adrian Williams for children. The later is the font used in Flipping Forward Twisting Backwards. Easy to read fonts make books so much more enjoyable for all children, not just those with LDs.

The fact is, everyone likes stories. 

Whether reading them, listening to them, or watching them, the important thing is children must see themselves in stories. It’s a way to feel less alone in this big world we live in.

Excerpt from Flipping Forward Twisting Backward

FULL-DAY SUNDAY PRACTICE
In the gym club
there’s always someone
who flies higher
and works harder
than everyone else.
In the gym club
there’s always someone
who pushes to be
number one.
In the gym club
there’s always someone
who can do
anything.
When I am
in the gym club
that someone
is me.
There’s
no better feeling
than being number one
when everywhere else
you’re last in line.

FIRST LINEUP
After an hour of
conditioning
Coach Tami has us
all line up.
“What do you want to
work on today?”
As she goes down the line
each of us tells her which skills
we want to work on.
When it’s my turn
I say my triple-full on the track
and my giant pirouette
full twist full away
on the bars.
I’ve never tried a
triple-full on the track
but last week I accidentally
over-rotated on a double
so why not?

LUNCH BREAK HOMEWORK
Emma Lea Donovan.
She’s been my BFF
since we were three.
We met
in Tumble for Tots.
She knows all
my secrets
and I know hers.
During our gymnastics lunch break
Emma Lea helps me
with my homework.
We sit in the corner
book opened.
Taking my pencil,
she helps me
by filling in the right words.
I say, “I wish I had smarts
like you.”
Coach Tami looks up
from where she’s sitting and says,
“Claire, you have plenty of smarts.
You pick up a routine
faster than anyone.”
She glances as Emma Lea
finishes my work.
“And you can
trick your friend
into doing your homework.
That takes
real smarts.”
Hearing Coach Tami
say I have real smarts
makes my heart soar higher
than Simone Biles
on the uneven bars.

Meet the author

ALMA FULLERTON was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and lived in Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Germany with her large military family. Growing up, she struggled with reading. At the age of nine, with the help of her fourth-grade teacher, she realized she had dyslexia. By ninth grade, Alma loved reading and wanted to be a writer, but was always told she could never write a book because of her learning disability. Today Alma speaks to children about overcoming obstacles and not giving up when it comes to their goals and dreams. She is the author of twelve books.

http://almafullerton.com/home/books/ 

twitter.com/almafullerton

facebook.com/authoralmafullerton

About Flipping Forward Twisting Backward

A high-energy novel in verse starring a fifth grader who is almost as devoted to competitive gymnastics as she is to hiding her poor reading skills. What happens when Claire’s secret starts unraveling?

Claire is by far the best gymnast on her team, and she’s well on her way to qualifying for the state championships. The gym is where Claire shines. But at school, she’s known as a troublemaker. She seems to spend more time in the office than in class—which is fine with her since it enables her to hide the fact that she can’t read. She has never been able to make sense of the wobbling jumble of letters on a page. No one except her BFF knows.

But when a sympathetic principal wonders if Claire is acting out because she’s dyslexic, her mother balks. She’s afraid Claire will be labeled “stupid” and refuses testing. Claire has always assumed she’s dumb; she never imagined her reading problem could have a solution. Is she strong enough to take on both her reading challenges and her mother’s denial? Is it worth jeopardizing her spot in qualifiers?

Told in clear and poignant verse and featuring black and white illustrations, Claire’s struggle with something that seems to come easily to everyone else will resonate with readers and have them cheering her on.

ISBN-13: 9781682633663
Publisher: Peachtree
Publication date: 08/02/2022
Age Range: 8 – 12 Years

Filed under: Guest Post