“If you’re struggling with dyslexia, know you’re not alone. Don’t feel defeated. It’s challenging but it does get easier when you begin to cope with the symptoms,” says Rhianna Lewis, a junior at Coffee High School.
Rhianna is a 4.0 student who has been diagnosed with dyslexia. Rhianna spoke to the Douglas City Commission at the September 11 commission meeting asking the city to recognize National Dyslexia Day in the city. Her goal is to raise awareness regarding dyslexia, which affects one out of every five students. October 8 is National Dyslexia Day; however, the city of Douglas will recognize the day on Friday, October 6.
At the meeting, Rhianna recounted her journey with dyslexia. She was diagnosed when she was in the first grade. Rhianna was always an excellent student. But once the curriculum interjected written language into the learning process, Rhianna began having serious problems. “She just shut down,” says her mother, Julee Brooke Lewis. “Letters didn’t have object permanence to her. There was never a formal connection between letters and sounds.” Julee Brooke began noticing something might be amiss in kindergarten. By first grade, she knew something was terribly wrong.
Rhianna says that her younger sister was reading at a higher level and at an earlier age than she was. The Lewises tried a few different things to bring Rhianna up to speed. Nothing worked. Julee Brooke says that Rhianna could discuss what she learned at length. But reading and comprehending — there was a big gap there. “There were clear differences in what she could tell you and what she could write. She couldn’t write the alphabet when she was in the first grade. She couldn’t even write her name,” states Julee Brook.
Finally, Rhianna visited Jill Ham at the Children’s Dyslexia Center of Georgia. And that is when she started to see a difference. “I went nearly every weekend for a year and a half. After about six months, I started seeing results,” Rhianna recalls.
Over the last decade or so, Rhianna has learned to accept dyslexia and flourished in spite of the difficulties she has encountered. She has been vocal about her dyslexia odyssey and she would like to use those experiences to help others. “She knows the difference Jill made. It has helped her own her dyslexia and want to help others. You don’t see kids talk about these things very often but she’s been very open about it,” says Julee Brooke.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that learning is easy to Rhianna. She still struggles but she understands that dyslexia is just another obstacle she will have to overcome. “It takes longer to comprehend ideas, especially in math and science. Writing is difficult. I would like for the community to create a culture of acceptance around dyslexia. I want to give people the support they need to cope with dyslexia,” she says.
In addition to having National Dyslexia Day recognized in the city, Rhianna is also selling t-shirts through the Coffee High School FCCLA program.