Literary Autobiography
The first time I gave any thought to how I developed my reading ability was two months ago when I completed an assignment in another class. I think it’s important to have a clear idea of how a person views his or her own literary development if they are going to help children improve their reading skills. The previous project was a life-altering experience because of the intense investigation into my own childhood. It seemed as if the pieces of my life fell into place and I finally made sense of those painful events. The title of the book I wrote for the previous instructor was, There’s Something About Christie.
The story begins with a poem about a first grader sitting in a reading circle trying to follow along when the teacher suddenly threatens to put a clothespin on the very finger the child uses to point to the words. I was surprised when this poem just came out of nowhere; as though the words spilled out from a deep wound that had not healed. From that point on I described the report cards that resembled spilled alphabet soup and that even though I did poorly academically I excelled in writing poetry and other creative venues.
I described the child who loved books but couldn’t read them. And who eventually dropped out of college because she was so frustrated about getting poor grades. At that time of my life I remember reading my first novel at about age 22, Christy by Catherine Marshall. And about twenty years later was diagnosed with Adult ADD.
I have a whole new set of questions though, now that I am learning about the diagnosis of reading problems children can have. And it is even more unsettling to realize that perhaps all I needed was reading intervention, that I suffered through elementary, secondary, post-secondary, and graduate level education because this type of diagnosis was not available in the 1960’s. And worse yet, I am being treated for Adult ADD that may have been misdiagnosed. I am truly perplexed.
As I look back on my experiences I claim that I did not read all of those books that I collected. I have no memory of reading the stories; I have no memory of having stories read to me. But I know I read. I would read in class when called on, I would read reports that I wrote. The key is that I have no memory of the stories. I must have had problems with comprehension.
What remediation would have been suggested? What could my parents have done to enforce the remediation? And what would my life have been like if I was able to comprehend all of the material that I read in each subject? Well, most of the content in my book wouldn’t have happened. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that I would want to change one darned thing. I wouldn’t have turned out to be the person I am today.
I have a drive now to share the love of reading with children. I want my students to realize that as a teen parent they can give their babies the gift of learning by reading to them. I show them how to read to their children by using expressive tones, asking questions, to make predictions. I don’t know if I would be this passionate about children’s literature if my life would have taken a difference course.
October 1, 2008
Well, isn’t this ironic. I went to the public library the other day and when checking out the clerk said there was a book on hold for my daughter. Katie is only 11 and just started 6th grade! The book she reserved was Christy by Catherine Marshall.
Filed under: Reading Certification Tagged: | adult ADD, reading diagnosis, remediation
