Without turning this into a confessional, when I look back on my schooling here are a few things I know:
- Math was far my strong suit. I probably needed tutoring, particularly as I had to suffer through geometry, algebra and calculus. So, did that make me “dyscalculic? (i.e., math disabled)”
- My penmanship was awful. My grandmother, a very old school second grade teacher, gave me penmanship lessons. (They obviously didn’t take, as evidenced by my persistent scrawl.) So, along with my “dyscalculia,” was I also “dysgraphic?”
- My reading skills were reasonably strong, so I couldn’t own that particular “dys,” as in dyslexia.
- I don’t think I was emotionally dysregulated, but who knows. My parents are no longer around to tell that side of the story. They might have just called me spoiled, without the “dys” attached to the regulated.
- While I think I got along with most of the kids, I was probably “dysmissed” by some along the way. (Ok, I am taking poetic license here with a made up word.)
Back in the day, a long time ago in a galaxy far away, there were no “dys’s.” They were not part of our parlance.
Now the “dys’s” are front and center, occupying a great deal of parental speculation and concern. Are we better off now or the way it used to be? I think arguments could be made on both sides.
Having assessed thousand of kids at this point, I often find it difficult to confidently determine where a weakness leaves off and a “dys” is there. (e.g., It may be objective that the child is not reading well, but is it necessarily “dyslexia?”)
A weakness does not necessarily make it a disability.
it’s often shades of gray and unclear.
Welcome to my murky world.