Personal Stories

The World's Greatest Underachiever

By: Henry Winkler (2005)

Actor and author Henry Winkler reminisces about how dyslexia impacted his school years in this article from Highlights for Children magazine. "Now I know," he writes, "that even if a person learns differently, he or she can still be filled with greatness."

About Stephen... and Fresh Starts

By: Brenda Dyck (2004)

The promise of a successful year is the hope of every student and teacher. Educator Brenda Dyck shares the story of Stephen and ponders the importance of offering a fresh start to every student who enters her classroom.

My Son's Disability, and My Own Inability to See It

By: Martha Randolph Carr (2004)

This is a cautionary tale, not just for people who have no real idea of what a learning disability is and probably suspect the whole thing is an overindulgent scam, but also for any parent of a child struggling mightily through school.

Reaching Rommel

By: Tyler Currie (2003)

Everyone said his 10-year-old student would never learn to read. For a long time, he believed it, too.

In My Students' Shoes

By: Heather Wall (2001)

Parents and teachers can sympathize with struggling readers to a point, but they are usually far removed from the challenge of learning to read themselves. However, this reading specialist suffered a head injury and tells her story of what it was like to know how to decode but not to comprehend what she read.

Yum: A Word in My Soup

By: Kerry Hempenstall (1998)

Dr. Kerry Hempenstall, now a Senior Lecturer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Victoria, Australia, recalls that magic time when he first learned how to read.