Dyslexia: Tapping into the potential | Barbara Wirostko (Morelli), MD | TEDxBozeman
[Music] so I sit at my desk in Long Island mulling over mundane paperwork and the phone rings mrs. Morelli it's my ninth grade son Joseph's high school guidance counselor Joseph's struggling and I'm sorry to tell you this but we don't think he's high school material what was the guidance counselor talking about now yes Joseph had struggled with reading starting at the age of six he had been pulled out for resource room and extra help his grammar and spelling were horrific and his handwriting was chicken scratch but he excelled in math and science Joseph had the classic signs of dyslexia and like many of us we didn't recognize them looking back there were signs many unappreciated as a child he was slow to speak and to read how many remember book the book cat in Hat captain hat read it to your kids oh that was quite the challenge Joseph really struggled with the Cat in the Hat and we would ask him can you not read this the elementary teachers would tell us don't worry he's a boy he's the firstborn mice read this is what they told me he's the firstborn he'll learn he's average he'll catch up don't worry now Joseph had so many amazing qualities and he was so bright when he was in eighth grade he repaired our electric garage door opener but guess what he didn't use an instruction manual that should have been hint and when something needed to be fixed who did we ask we asked Joseph whether he was creating building repairing his Legos the fort in the backyard or his dirt bike he had a smile on his face and in ninth grade he went around the neighborhood and he collected discarded electronics fax machines printers radios Joseph needed money he repaired them and he sold them on eBay he was quite the entrepreneur and the engineer now my husband and I are both doctors and as patients would trust us for their healthcare we trusted the school system we felt betrayed when they told us that he was not of high school material we had been asking for years if he had a learning challenge look to the two people - you're right you're right look to the two people to your left chances are one of five of you may have dyslexia 20% of the population globally has dyslexia I have dyslexia and like most dyslexics do we learn to compensate and work over time two of my four children have dyslexia and yes they have me to think it is genetic dyslexia is thought of as a learning disability but it's actually a learning difference developmental dyslexia has a neurological basis that handicaps individuals with reading and language a brain wiring difference it affects how we interpret the written word and yes we can remediate it with a structured literacy program but you can't cure it and you can't outgrow it some people say that dyslexia is a gift Charles Schwab Einstein Leonardo da Vinci Henry Winkler Richard Bronson are all dyslexics but if you are a child in a classroom and you don't know your gift you're gonna struggle and you're gonna feel dumb and you're gonna feel different and if you're a parent like myself and you don't know the signs you keep asking your child why aren't you work harder when we got the call from the guy in this counselor Joseph was failing and he couldn't have been working any harder as a teenager he had become Moody and withdrawn but knots are not all teenagers Moody you probably know what I mean the hoodies the music the headphones the one-word answers yeah yeah Joseph was struggling and we needed to do something he ended up struggling with health issues also and being doctors we looked for medical costs he started to complain about palpitations headaches ringing in his ears we took him to cardiologists pulmonologist we even ordered a brain MRI there was no medical issue it was all anxiety being in a classroom feeling under water imagine not being able to keep up with the notes or the words on the blackboard Joseph was even failing math and if you recall math was his strong his strong area he loved math why math was word problems and Joseph couldn't read Joseph needed help we took him to a neuropsychologist and with a neuro psych eval the diagnosis of dyslexia can be made with a diagnosis an IEP individual education plan is possible this enables the students to get the resources and accommodations they need extra time on tests books on tape notes tests being given verbally with those accommodations you can actually help a student learn the doctor matter-of-factly told us Josef's very bright and he's struggling but my biggest concern is his depression he needs medication immediately I now became the parent fighting for my he was clearly dyslexic but more concerning was his depression the anxiety the sense of failure students with learning challenges have a higher rate of anxiety depression and even suicide why low self-esteem these kids need the accommodations they struggle so hard they work so hard they learn the tricks that they need to get by but they slip by and when the work gets too hard they fail they drop out of school 80% of juvenile delinquents struggle to read think about that that's staggering how did we miss this all with Joseph it had been so gradual and the guilt we felt as parents was tremendous we fought for Joseph to get the accommodations in school we even had to hire a lawyer but with those accommodations he went from failing ninth grade to high honors in 10th that's what those accommodations do for these students the fall of 2012 Joseph enters here Bozeman this Maitai temas you Joseph loved Bozeman the beautiful landscape the skiing the hiking the fishing he connected with the people teachers faculty his classmates he always had a smile and a hug to share when Joseph was a junior he was thriving he was confident he was making Dean's List he really was enjoying what he was doing and he always loved coming back to school a young man in flannels who would enter to the room and people would gravitate to him he even stopped his antidepressants and when we asked him why he said simply I feel good about myself this is the hard part the fall of 2014 we got the knock on the door it's a moment in time which I will never forget my son had been killed camping in West Yellowstone he was only twenty years old avoid the pain will never go away we pulled together as a family we needed to do something positive there had to be other students out there like Joseph who was struggling who were going undiagnosed we could help them we could provide financial support emotional support awareness of the resources and we can also teach them about their potential my son's legacy is the Joseph James marelli legacy foundation for students with learning challenges pursuing science technology engineering and math since 2014 we have provided close to a hundred scholarships to students in 22 states the need is huge as we see from hundreds of applicants that we receive every year and we can only help a small portion of them Lainey Oliver and I've had the pleasure of meeting her mom here today Haiti is an MSU senior about to graduate in an awardee and she tells us the scholarship provides a way for students to dream big their challenges are not alone Colleen Barker we've been supporting him now for three years he was able to do an unpaid summer internship with the Boston Aquarium he won an award and he is now graduating next year with a degree in marine biology the biggest impact of the scholarship is not the financial support it's the acknowledgment it's the morale booster Joseph's story inspires them and their story inspires us the scholarship recognizes and validates their struggles academically emotionally and socially for an envision full disability my dream my goal is to help society and dyslexic students tap into their potential now you may say what can I do what can we do I invite you to question yourselves teachers counselors school systems sometimes even legislators on why a student may be struggling no matter what age dyslexia gets missed learning challenges get missed by questioning we can increase the number of students who stay in school graduate and succeed imagine what's possible by being a society that advocates and can recognize challenges of any individual we can tap into potential we can tap into creativity and we can tap into the engineering skills of students like Joseph thank you [Applause]