Thank You, Calvin

“He’s probably the worst case I’ve seen in 20 years.”

That’s what his reading specialist said. Nine year old Jonah has extremely profound dyslexia.  He sees everything, wood grain, water stains, even burned toast, in 3-D pictures. That includes letters. They levitate and spin on the page. Words create patterns and pictures before his eyes. The word “bed” actually looks like a bed to him (do you see it? The headboard and the footboard sticking up?).  In his brain, it’s like the letters are cut out of thick pieces of wood, rotating in front of him, revealing their sides and back, upside down, sideways, and diagonally. He doesn’t have the luxury of print that stays in one place.

It would be pretty hard for you and I to read if we had to chase the words around in the air above the page, don’t you think?

A few years ago, I was struck with a sudden awareness that the reason I had been prompted, before Jonah was even crawling, to homeschool our kids was  for this little boy.  The feeling was powerful, an instant paradigm shift. In one moment, I became suddenly aware that this child, with his very unique temperament and astounding creativity, would have been destroyed in an environment of arbitrary assignments and communal expectations made with no regard to his interests and talents.  And this came before we even knew he had a learning challenge, which is part of the blessing. Whenever I doubt myself as a homeschool mom, I have that moment to look back on. 

In the process of learning how to teach Jonah, I’ve been learning so much about dyslexia. I’ve even learned that besides Ellie, who we already knew had it, that Ethan and I both have it too. Mine is a story for another post, and I only wish I had known about Ethan’s back when he was in school.

The other kids might have done well enough in public school. Tessa grows beautifully wherever she is planted, and Ellie’s sweetness gets her through a lot of tough situations.  Nano is a spaz, but super smart and quick to learn. She’d do well, as long as the teacher didn’t mind having a singing grasshopper in class. 

But sweet Jonah is a different story. He is perhaps my most sensitive child. If he is feeling shame or embarrassment for any reason, the whole factory shuts down, rendering him unable to function. Rage can loom just beneath the surface, and it doesn’t take much for it to break through.  He has a tender soul, which can attract bullies. Being given multiple of directions confuses him, and he doesn’t do well with several adults to focus on. 

Learning how to be the best mom for Jonah has been an exercise in balancing my own emotions. He’s a barometer, and feels everything around him. He’s an investigator of facial expressions and body language, and studies people’s emotional state (dyslexics are masters of pattern recognition), reacting strongly to any negativity. If my voice elevates, if my expression shows even slight distain for his behavior, he crumbles.  I have become an expert poker player, learning to read his tells -which are very subtle- and reshuffling the cards before he shuts down.  

On top of it all, Jonah has a profound creativity. I have never seen a child so artistically inclined. His artwork is amazing, his engineering clever and sophisticated, and his problem-solving, eloquent.  He is a brilliant collector of knowledge about all wildlife and nature.  He studies biology for hours on end.  There’s just one problem…

His brain was not built to read. You have never seen a child work so hard to achieve so little on a daily basis. I have held him in my arms as he wept in frustration, learning the same letter or the same tiny word over and over again, only to forget it again the next day. And the next. And the next.

I started with the usual things that had worked with my other kids, moved on to the brain training that Ellie had found success with, and then found a kind woman, that reading specialist, at church who worked with him for a year out of the goodness of her heart. He progressed some, but true reading was still an elusive goal.  We got additional resources from the charter school, and have worked with several different reading programs, each offering its own tools and helps along the way.  We are finally seeing progress, albeit very slow. 

One of the hardest things about having a child with dyslexia is that their reading abilities are far below their intellectual ones. Books that are easy enough for them to read are “baby books” in their eyes.

All but one. Well, one collection, I should say. Calvin and Hobbes.

Thank heaven above for Bill Watterson, the cartoon creator, over whom I have literally prayed with gratitude.  Somehow he took a little boy who is smart and funny and wild and who struggles, and wrangled him into the pages of those blessed books.  He gave that boy a companion; a conscience, who is wise and noble, and a little bit naughty, with a sophisticated sense of humor. They are everything Jonah needs right now.  

Jonah and I read Calvin and Hobbes every day, jumping from strip to strip based on how Jonah feels in the moment, which you can do, because every strip is it’s own tiny story. The font is easy for him to read, and having it all in capital letters somehow helps him. We even find ourselves talking about things like science and politics as I explain why a certain strip that he’s not understanding was funny. Calvin is a pretty awesome little boy.

In the past few weeks, Jonah has finally begun to blossom. He’s reading words like, people and snowball and feathers, which is huge considering a few months ago he still couldn’t consistently read him or and.  He calls the word the, “that stupid little word”. 

He’s come such a long, hard way. 

Jonah has recognized that if spaceman spiff is in the pictures, he probably won’t be able to read those frames. Words like despicable, adversary, and mertilizer-laser are a little complex still. 

But I’m not worried anymore. When he’s ready, I know Calvin will be waiting for us.

(If you are worried about the bean bag being too close to the stove, don’t be. It’s an optical illusion. It was two feet away.)   

Resources we have used:

Other Traits of dyslexia:

https://www.dyslexia.com/about-dyslexia/signs-of-dyslexia/test-for-dyslexia-37-signs/

Book: The Gift of Dyslexia by Ronald Davis

Linda Mood Bell reading program

Brain Training by Diane Kraft 

All About Reading program by Marie Rippel

And of course, Calvin and Hobbes, by the wonderful Bill Watterson.