As I learned this set of rules also applies for other children with difficulties. “Six Ways to Enhance Your Child’s Ability to Perceive Differences and Reach New Possibilities

Know that your child has the most miraculous learning “machine” in the universe—her brain—no matter her current limitations.
Always start with your child where he is. Do not try to make him do what he should, because if he could, he would.
Make sure your child pays attention to what she feels as she moves. This drives incredibly rapid formation of new connections and patterns in the brain.
Go slow. Fast your child can only do what he already knows and for the child with cerebral palsy, it makes it almost impossible to change for the better.
Reduce the force with which your child moves. The greater the effort, the less she can perceive differences.
Be playful and have your child do things “wrong” in at least three different ways creating differences on purpose.”

A true tale of the yoga ball and my dyslexic child’s faulty memory processes. It came to my attention, after an awful night of helping my dyslexic child to crammed for what was a simple quiz for most children who do not have language difficulties. She wanted to passed this because she believed in her dear mother’s mantra, she could do anything, including acing her tests. When she came home with a 58 %, I pretended to be happy and brought an ice cream cone to marked the occasion. I thought to myself, there must be a better way….....nothing is impossible. Sad to say, the educators saw no ability in my child, and mocked me for my efforts.

And than I came across the Yoga ball article by a parent blogger. Than the gum chewing article and a series of other articles of harnessing the powers of the brain to change itself for the better, that opened up the doors of new possibilities for my child to excel academically. To which the education class said was impossible, and than launched into another rant, chastising me for my impossible high standards being imposed upon my dyslexic child.

And so we began bouncing on the yoga ball, to memorized facts. It became a daily ritual, until it became a habitual ritual for the next two years. My youngest grew to love it, because she herself was perceiving the differences. One day after a bouncing session on the yoga ball, she came tearing down the stairs, to tell me she can see and feel the new pathways being mapped out in her brain. She handed her French vocabulary words to me and she had them down cold.

Instead of spending hours for a so-so grade; for ten to twenty minutes of what was a very enjoyable activity on doing a very disagreeable task due to faulty memory processes, my child discovered she could overcome and excel in school. Nothing is impossible but if one read the the K to 12 education research and pedagogy,  children with disabilities are condemned to sit at the bottom of the achievement chart because the educationalists don’t believe there is merit to bring children who struggled in learning up to grade level in the 3 Rs.

As Maysoon has stated - “Disability is as visual as race. If a wheelchair user can’t play Beyoncé, then Beyoncé can’t play a wheelchair user. The disabled are the largest — Yeah, clap for that, man. C’mon. (Applause) People with disabilities are the largest minority in the world, and we are the most underrepresented in entertainment.”  And I shall add, the students with disabilities are so underrepresented in the academic arenas from K to 12 and all the way into post-secondary to workplaces to the very schools that claimed they served all children. For my troubles I was mocked instead of being supported by the university trained teachers based on the science and not some philosophical drivel that it was a waste of time.

Rather odd, I wonder if there has been any studies on some of the crazy excuses by educators why people with disabilities don’t excel or as in Maysoon’s case, did not get the part. “I didn’t get the part. (Laughter) Sherry Brown got the part. I went racing to the head of the theater department crying hysterically, like someone shot my cat, to ask her why, and she said it was because they didn’t think I could do the stunts.” It happened to my youngest child, the dyslexic. Who better to play the role of a dyslexic student, but a dyslexic student where no educators believed that she has merit and is worth the effort?  Oh well, perhaps my dyslexic child’s future in the year book will come true - a famous Canadian diva TV talk show host, turned comedian mocking government, politicians and the K to 12 for their discriminating ways and unfairness. Never say never eh?