By Kelem Scheffer-Sam

• My teacher asked me to talk about why I can’t read as quickly or write as neatly as other kids. It’s because I have dyslexia. I decided to do it to help other kids with dyslexia.

People with dyslexia have a certain kind of brain that doesn’t allow them to read or write as

quick.

Some people with dyslexia can’t do math. Some people have a hard time remembering facts. Sometimes they can’t figure out the words or sometimes they can’t understand what they read. This is because their brains work differently. Words used to look like gibberish to me.

• I went up with Elizabeth to work on my reading and writing. I used theraputty to strengthen my hands. I learned how to sound out the words.

• People with dyslexia can learn how to read but they read differently from most people and very slowly. Doesn’t mean you’re not smart it just means it’s harder to do things in school.

Dyslexia runs in families. My sister and brother both have it.

Dyslexia facts

• There are the same number of boys and girls with dyslexia.

• Dyslexia is all over the world.

• There are more people in the world who have dyslexia than have blue eyes.

• 10 to 20% of people have dyslexia. Each classroom will have at least have one person with dyslexia.

A lot of famous people have dyslexia.Orlando Bloom plays Legolas in Lord of the Rings and

Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean. HE has dyslexia.

Will Smith has dyslexia and ADHD, he is J in Men in Black.

Dav Pilkey is a writer. He wrote Captain Underpants. He has dyslexia and ADHD.

So did George Washington (he couldn’t write or spell, even though he was educated), and Steve Jobs (he invented the ipad), and Bill Gates (he

invented Microsoft).

The girl in the Pirates of the Caribbean has dyslexia. Keira Knightley.

She has dyslexia too and she plays the elf princess in Lord of the Rings.

She won a gold medal for ice skating in the winter Olympics and she has

dyslexia. (Meryl Davis)

The guy who made IKEA has dyslexia.

Percy Jackson has dyslexia and ADHD but he’s not a real person. The characters in

Pony Pals are dyslexic.

Famous baseball players with dyslexia. John Buck, a catcher (the Marlins);

Babe Ruth; Nolan Ryan.

These are just for Dashell

Gavin Newsom was the mayor of San Francisco. Now he’s something else. He has dyslexia.

The guy who invented the Segway that thing you ride around on.

Tim Tebow has dyslexia. He’s a famous quarterback.

Anderson Cooper. I see him all the time on 60 Minutes and he has dyslexia.

There’s about a million other famous people with dyslexia.

People who have dyslexia get to use cool things like a Dictaphone or a pen that records for them when they’re taking notes. It helps them write quicker and remember the things that the teacher said in class. There are machines that can read for you. There are other Apps for the iPadto help you.

Things to not do

• If someone has dyslexia you shouldn’t pick on them. Dyslexia doesn’t mean you can’t cut or write or draw. You can do it even if it might not be great.

• It makes people with dyslexia angry or annoyed if someone else says, “You have dyslexia,” because it’s not their business. It makes you feel bad about yourself even though you’re not embarrassed to have dyslexia.

• If a kid with dyslexia needs help, they will ask you, otherwise treat them the same as anyone.

Dyslexia is really challenging but you get used to it after a while!

From Kelem to ROOM 1 and Nick and Pauline.