Dyslexia My Life: One Man's Story Of His Life With A Learning Disability
Girard Sagmiller
DT Publishing
ISBN 0964308711

In his book Dyslexia My Life: One Man's Story Of His Life With A Learning Disability, Writer Sagmiller shares his particular experience with the educational disability Dyslexia. Despite the fact that 10-20% of Americans may suffer from Dyslexia, the obstacle to learning is a continuing factor serving to segregate and bewilder those who labor to overcome it. This is a treatise I wish had been produced some thirty plus years ago when I was beginning my own teaching career.

In my classroom I often found myself struggling with little success to teach seemingly bright youngsters who were also struggling with little success to unravel the mystery of the written word. At that time I was, as well, facing the life long struggle my own eldest son has endured in his personal battle to overcome the dilemma of being an extremely intelligent fellow who did and must strive for each word he reads. I have longed for years that those who suffer the disability would write a definitive work to provide teachers and parents with a tool for reaching those in our classrooms and/or homes who labor to learn to read despite this obstacle. Writer Sagmiller has produced such a work.

Today we realize that Dyslexia may affect not only time perception as well as speech and reading, but may slow learning in other academic areas. Writer Sagmiller details how he was diagnosed as mentally retarded while in elementary school. This was a common mistake of the time. Some thirty plus years ago little or nothing was known of Dyslexia.

While I am not Dyslexic, my son and one sister - another school teacher - are and I know well their struggle. Writer Sagmiller's work is a most interesting glimpse into the world in which the Dyslexic dwells. Sagmiller points out that the term Dyslexia is not a 'one size fits all,' appellation, rather it denotes a varying situation encountered by those who do experience the condition. Sagmiller's writing style is highly readable, evoking laughter at times and tears at others as the reader comes to realize something of the feelings of witlessness and ignorance often endured by those who struggle with the dilemma of Dyslexia.

Dyslexia My Life: One Man's Story Of His Life With A Learning Disability is a must read for teachers, parents and particularly those who may have faced that life long struggle with the condition. —Molly Martin