Woman refused to give up on her dyslectic daughter

By Kiundu Waweru

It was one of Moraa Gitaa’s proudest moments when she enrolled her six-year-old daughter, Tracy, for class one at a public primary school in Mombasa.

But soon, Tracy would refuse to go to school no matter how much she cajoled, coaxed her.

When the problem persisted, Moraa visited the school to find out what was troubling her daughter. The teacher complained that Tracy was too slow in learning.

"I too had noticed that she was slow but I believed it was because the teacher like the tried to force her to use her right hand yet she was left handed." Moraa says.

Gitaa paid keen her attention to her daughter’s progress and noticed that she confused her phonemes — speech sounds that distinguishes one word from another. She wrote dead, when she meant bead and P instead of number 9.

An avid reader, Gitaa rightly guessed that her daughter was dyslectic, "I had read about dyslexia — a learning disorder marked by a severe difficulty in recognising and understanding written language, leading to spelling and writing problems.

The problem can be confused for low intelligence or brain damage," she says Gitaa struggled to make the teachers understand Tracy condition.

Information

"I did intensive research on the subject and armed with the information, I went back to the school and tried to let the teachers know about dyslexia but they were either not willing to learn or they did not understand."

As Tracy’s problem persisted teachers even punished her for being unwilling to learn. "The capper came when day Tracy came home with a fresh gash on her cheek. When I asked how she got it she said her teacher had pinched her. I would have sued the school if I had the money to pay a lawyer," says Gita.

Dyslexic children need a lot of attention and face-to-face instruction, something she knew a public school was ill equipped to offer. Thus, Gita took her daughter to a private school, Deans Brook, with a size class of about ten students.

"I struggled to pay fees and the director. The teachers were understood how to handle her and I spent a lot of time, and teaching her spelling at night and during weekends. Still, she was slow and she continued to invert words get spelling god as dog but her in pronunciation was right on," says Gita. Tracy continued to progress and sat for KCPE last year scoring 300 marks. She is a Form One student at Lockwood Girls Nakuru. "We even laugh about it now," says Gita published author.

Although the cause of on dyslexia is not known, it is believed to be a neurological condition that influences the individual’s ability to read and spell written language.

But with proper support and instruction, the dyslectics excel in their later lives. Says Gita: "They tend to use the right brain hemisphere that controls artistic and spatial skills and complex visuals so they are creative, and visual." Famous dyslexics include British billionaire and entrepreneur Richard Branson, The late frontman of the legendary music group Beatles John Lennon, actor Tom Cruise and celebrated actress Whoopi Goldberg.