Issue 31: The Dystinct Journey of Jack

Jack has always been endlessly curious. He loves maths and physics, enjoys playing Dungeons & Dragons and board games, and dreams of studying astrophysics at university one day. His mind is constantly filled with questions about how the world works. Yet despite his intelligence and love of learning, his first experiences of school were anything but positive.

Starting school in 2020 brought unexpected challenges. The busy classroom environment quickly became overwhelming, and within weeks, Jack was crying at drop-off and disengaging in class. COVID lockdowns interrupted his first year of school, and by Grade 1, he was regularly refusing to attend. As his family searched for answers, Jack was diagnosed with ADHD, autism and social anxiety. When his paediatrician later suspected dyslexia, they turned to DyslexAbility for support, choosing to begin literacy intervention straight away.

His mum, Kristine, says that decision changed Jack's life. "The look on Jack's face when he walked out the door after his first lesson," she recalls. "He was glowing." Today, Thursday, is his favourite day of the week because it's DyslexAbility day. He reads independently, is working at or above year level in reading and spelling and had to swap stacks of books for an e-reader because he was carrying so many around. Most importantly, he no longer believes learning is something to fear. He knows he simply learns differently, and as Jack says, "Being dyslexic is just a little bump in the road that will flatten out with the right help."

Meet Jack

What are some of your favourite hobbies and interests?
Dungeons and Dragons, board games, fishing

What do you enjoy most about maths and physics?
There are no uncertainties – there is only ever one answer to a question.

What is your favourite thing about going to DyslexAbility?
The people there.

What is something you can do now that would have felt really difficult a few years ago?
Reading a book.

What is the best book you've read recently?
One Piece and Demon Slayer series.

What is something people might not know about you?
Even though I am insanely weird, I am very kind and nice.

What would you like teachers to understand about students who learn differently?
Some people need to do things in different ways and in a different order, but as long as the end result is ok it shouldn't matter.

If you could advise another child who is struggling at school, what would you say?
Don't worry. Being dyslexic is just a little bump in the road that will flatten out with the right help.

What are your dreams for the future?
Start training for my recreational pilot's licence. I want to study astrophysics at university.

What is one thing you love about yourself?
I have been paired up with a kid in prep called Ruban, and I am his special Grade 6 person. They call it the buddy program. I really enjoy it, and his parents have said he really likes me, which makes me proud.

Meet Kristine

What was life like for your family during Jack's first few years of school?
When Jack first started school, he was so overstimulated and dysregulated by the environment. COVID lockdowns started about 8 weeks after he started school, which actually gave him a break and bought us the time we needed to get more supports in place.

How did it feel watching Jack struggle with school despite knowing how bright he was?
It was hard watching him so unhappy…. The school refusal was constant, and having to drag/bribe/coax him to school most days was hard. You feel so much guilt as a parent, dropping your child off at a place where they don't feel safe. I don't mean physically safe, but socially and emotionally safe. He changed

schools at the start of Grade 5, which has also helped. His new school is so much more supportive of his time at DyslexAbility. At his old school, he was marked absent when he was at DyslexAbility, which affected his class attendance rating and became a sticking point between Jack and his classmates. His new school marks him as remote learning when he is at DyslexAbility and takes an interest in what he is learning there and in the regular reports he receives from the DyslexAbility practitioners.

When DyslexAbility was first suggested, what were your hopes and concerns?
Our expectations weren’t particularly high. We just hoped that he would gain some confidence and enough skills to get by and not feel like he stands out so much at school.

Our biggest concern was whether, as a family, we could maintain the commitment. We live an hour away from DyslexAbility and have two other children. But seeing the joy he gets from going there and the confidence and reading skills he has developed has been an absolute game-changer. Getting him to DyslexAbility every week takes precedence over just about everything else.

What was it about DyslexAbility that gave you confidence that everything would be okay?
The look on Jack's face when he walked out the door after his first lesson. He was glowing and counting down the days until his next lesson.

The people at DyslexAbility are, hands down, the most welcoming and inclusive around. From the directors right through the organisation to the practitioners, administration staff, etc. Every kid who walks through those doors is made to feel like a rockstar. They take an interest in the kid's interests and celebrate all the wins – no matter how big or small.

You mentioned that Jack now loves learning. Can you share some examples of how you've seen that develop?
They say that kids first learn to read, and then they read to learn. Jack has an insatiable appetite for random facts and information. His brain works at a million miles an hour, and he is always questioning things in his head, like "How tall is the tallest man? If there is a finite number of atoms in the universe, how can the human population increase?"

He used to constantly follow me around, ask me questions I couldn't answer, and get frustrated with me when I couldn't sit down and research the answers right there on the spot. He now has the literacy skills to research these things online himself.

What does it mean to you to see Jack reading independently and carrying books around everywhere?

Such a relief! Jack’s Dad, Richard, is dyslexic and English is his second language. He says that life has been harder than it needed to be because his literacy skills have been low. Because of DyslexAbility, we hope Jack will have a much easier life than his dad does.

What are some strengths or qualities that make Jack unique?Jack is very self-aware. He absolutely knows what his strengths and weaknesses are and doesn’t shy away from them. But he doesn’t let them define him either.

The sense of community and praise he receives from DyslexAbility has given him the confidence to be proud of learning differently instead of shying away from it.