Jingle, Jangly, Nervy, Nervy (Part 2)

Today I had an interview with a recruitment consultant. She did what all good recruitment consultants do and made me wait twenty minutes in the reception to see how my nerves would cope. She needn't have bothered as an interview with a recruitment consultant doesn't fill me full of dread. I am wise enough to realise that, no matter how well I come across, she is going to do her best to sell me to prospective employers as that is how she makes money. I also realise that no employer will really care if she likes me or not.

After sitting me down she proceeded to tear my CV to bits. Her initial observations being,

"This is a CV of two halves. The latter half is good but, the first half is poor."

"Do you really think so?" I asked,

"Yes, you have moved about too much."

"Really?" I asked, "but, I've only had 5 employers in the 21 years since I left school at 16. I moved from one employer to relocate to Nottingham and I was made redundant from two as they ceased trading."

"Okay, they might forgive you for that" she stated "So, where would you like to work?"

"A similar sort of construction company to the one I've just left." I replied,

"But, if you had a choice, would you prefer to work in the East or the West Midlands?" she continued,

"I would consider an opportunity in either."

"Yes, but if I were to get you two job offers exactly the same, one in the West Midlands and one in the East Midlands which would you choose?" she persisted,

With only a small amount of sarcasm I enquired, "Can you do that?"

"No, but imagine I could, which would you choose?"

The answer to her question seemed so obvious that I realised it wasn't the one she was looking for so I replied,

"I would have to, carefully, consider the merits of each position."

However, whilst sat there I realised that I don't want to leave the East Midlands. My kids are here and so is my partner. I love my partner so much and, as strange as it may seem, that sometimes scares me. It scares me because I fear not being with her. I wanted to phone her, there and then, and tell her how much I love her but I'm not very good at verbalising my thoughts (and I was in the middle of an interview!). Instead I decided to write them down. I hope that she reads them!

I love you J.

Insomniac Dreams

Since losing my job I have been suffering from insomnia. Last night was another one of those horrible nights when I tossed and turned willing myself to sleep. I was at my mother's house. The kids were in a double bed together and I was sleeping on a blow up bed on the floor. I last looked at the clock at 3.30am and I was still no nearer to getting to sleep then I was at 11.00pm. However, just as I was about to give up, something quite magical happened.

My little girl turned to me and said, "I love you, Daddy!"

I was about to respond when I realised that she was still fast asleep. My boy, who was also asleep, then muttered, "I love you too, Daddy!"

It was like my very own version of the Waltons and put a massive smile on my face!

I love you too kids!

Spot the difference!

The view of my daughter's teacher following the school tests for dyslexia:

She does show some mild signs of dyslexia but so do most children of her age. It is our intention to provide her with more phonic based learning to help her catch up in reading.

The view of an expert in dyslexia following independent tests:

Your daughter is severely dyslexic. There is no point in providing her with more phonic based learning as she will never "get" it. She needs to be provided with an alternative method of learning. The tests have demonstrated that she is intelligent for her age.

It isn't the intention of this post to criticise my daughter's school but, perhaps, there is a lesson to be learnt. Schools should listen to parents when they state their child is bright and is trying really hard but just cannot grasp reading.

If this post isn't designed to criticise the school, what is it's intention? Well, the purpose is threefold,

1) Firstly, I would like to thank those individuals that encouraged me to push ahead and obtain independent testing for my daughter.
2)  Secondly, I would like to thank those individuals, and organisations, that provide information on dyslexia, such that my ex-wife and I have been able to seek help for our daughter.
3) Thirdly, and most importantly, I hope that this post will encourage other parents, that may believe their child to be dyslexic, to actively seek independent testing.

I don't currently know how this final confirmation will help my daughter but I do know that it has already given her a huge lift. As she said to me following her tests,

"Daddy, you and Mummy were right! I'm not stupid, I'm dyslexic!"

So tired!

I am so tired that I'm sure this post will stumble and fall but I am going to persevere with it. I haven't worked such long hours since I was in my early twenties and it is taking me a little while getting used to it. However, I haven't come here with bad news. No, I am here with good news.

For some reason my relationship with the ex wife has taken a turn for the better. No longer are we at loggerheads and we are, actually, working together for the good of the children. I have strived to achieve a working relationship with her for so long but, for one reason or another, we have never been able to get much past the anger and bitterness that a divorce can create.

Long may it continue!!

(If you are rushed for time forward this to 50 seconds - it is when the song gets going!)

The best ideas are the simple ones!

I'm trying to convince my boy that he should enter the Dragon's Den as I think he has had an idea that could make millions. As they say the best ideas are the simplest ones and there was no simpler idea than this.

Having let him pick his own clothing he decided to pick the following ensemble:

What you can't see in this picture is that he is wearing new underwear - his first ever pair of boxer shorts. Having worn the boxer shorts all morning he observed that,

"They are great. I don't have to pull them down when I have a wee as they have a hole at the front!"

He then thought for a few seconds and said,

"If they had a flap at the back I wouldn't have to pull them down if I wanted a poo either!"

Pure genius!

A quick update and a huge thank you!

Firstly, I would just like to say a huge thank you for all the lovely comments on my last post. They really have helped me get past this week which has been difficult to say the least.

In that post I updated you on my week as far as Wednesday when I was made redundant. On Thursday I took a call from an old colleague offering me some work on a freelance basis. I started there on the Friday. The money is roughly half what I was earning a week ago, and I have to drive 50 miles to get to the office, but I'm not complaining. I'll just keep going and hope that something better turns up. 

I only really began to realise how much the events of the week had affected me when I spoke to the lovely lady on Wednesday night. She told me that I had seen her the night before and I was shocked as I could not remember it at all. Everything had just become one big blur. It felt like I was suffering snow blindness - I knew something was there but I couldn't quite see it!

Anyway, onwards and upwards and thanks again for the lovely comments.

Life's little obstacles

I arrived at work on Monday to find out that my employer had entered administration. Along with my colleagues I spent the rest of the day hanging around waiting for news, any news, which never came. On Tuesday we were informed that we would  not be paid for the previous week and on Wednesday were told that we were no longer employed. All in all it has been a harsh week and there are going to be some obstacles to come. However, I'm determined to tackle these obstacles with the same enthusiasm and determination that my kids tackled these:

I

My closing thoughts on Dyslexia Awareness Week

I've now known for one week that my daughter suffers from dyslexia. As I have stated before the diagnosis wasn't a surprise to me. My daughter is bright but was falling behind in English, she is articulate but was finding it difficult to communicate and she is lovely full stop.

My first thoughts on being a father to a dyslexic daughter;

I'm beginning to realise that having a child with dyslexia affects me, almost, as much as it affects her. My solution, to my daughter falling behind in English, was to spend more time reading with her. Only that won't work for my daughter. Whilst I will always read,

"I don't like green eggs and ham"

my daughter will continually see something different. I'm not actually sure what she will see and that is hard for me to comprehend. I wish that I could borrow her eyes so that I would know but, I can't do that so I have to leave it to the experts to advise me. That in itself is a frustration. In the three years that my daughter has been at school she has fallen significantly behind her peers and I want to start helping her now! But things don't move that quickly.

I am reliant upon someone else to teach me how to help my daughter and that is scary.

For now, all I can do is place my trust in my daughter's school to ensure that she is provided with the help she needs to overcome her difficulties whilst I provide her with positive role models.

Thus, I have just cleansed my daughters shelves of Harry Potter books and intend replacing them with the latest Percy Jackson. Apparently, he is a dyslexic demigod.

I apologise if this post is a little jumbled only I am. It is 3.00am I'm worried about my daughter and I've drank a little too much. I wasn't going to post this but I hope that it might give an insight for me to look back on.

I bounce!

This post has a dual purpose. The main aim is to draw your attention to the wonderful piece about dyslexia that I recently wrote that can be found here. If, I were you I would head straight there!

However, if you have already read that highly informative, gripping, funny, emotional and entertaining post you may as well stay and read this one.

Since my daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia I have been emotionally drained. I have cried, a lot, which is unheard of for me. This isn't because of the diagnosis, as I know my daughter will still achieve all that she desires, rather that she will have to work so much harder for it.

However, I've always been lucky that my pain, boredom, emotional and anger thresholds are all spring loaded. When I reach that threshold I bounce back. I am like a human pinball machine! That is exactly what happened today. I had a good nights sleep (I can't imagine what it is about the lovely lady's bed that always makes me tired!) and when I woke up I stopped wondering how dyslexia would affect my daughter and I started to make moves to ensure it wouldn't.

I bounced back! Care to bounce with me?

It's Dyslexia Awareness Week 1 - 7 November 2010!

I love my blog. It has helped me connect with like minded people, air my views, obtain differing opinions and make enduring friendships. It has been exciting to think that there are many new blogs out there that I am yet to discover. But, today I am going to ask for your help.

I am asking that you please read this post, comment and re-tweet it.

My daughter was this week diagnosed with Dyslexia. Whilst I was naturally disappointed that my child would experience learning difficulties, I wasn't thrown into disarray with the diagnosis. I knew my daughter had a problem. She is very bright but has been finding it extremely difficult to progress in English, despite working very hard and advancing in all other subjects. I am, however, disappointed that I might not be able to keep a promise that I have recently made. The other day, whilst I was reading to her, she stopped me and said,

"Daddy, I wish I could read like you. I would love to be able to read on my own. Just like the other kids in my class."

I said to her,

"Don't worry baby. You continue to work hard and we'll get you there."

Only it might not be that easy. Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent reading and spelling. More precisely, in my daughter's case, I have been advised that she has difficulty with sequential learning and visual recognition. This means that she finds it hard to place letters in the correct order and it can be difficult for her to read words, remember them and place them in her writing. Effectively my daughter cannot learn to read and, therefore, she cannot read to learn.

In some ways, I feel lucky that my daughter has been diagnosed relatively young and can now be provided with a different system of learning such that she can progress to her maximum potential (dyslexia being a condition that affects people across the range of intellectual abilities). Moreover, I am blessed that my daughter has a good teacher, who has been trained to spot the signs of dyslexia, and sent her for tests. Not all children are so lucky and that is where you come in. If we, as parents, can identify the signs of dyslexia then we can help our children.

The signs of dyslexia are:

• Difficulties with reading,
• Difficulties with spelling,
• Poor sequencing skills,
• Poor short term memory,
• Lack of phonological awareness - ability to beak down words and recognise separate units of sound,
• Confusion with left and right,
• Problems with reading comprehension,
• Difficulties with mathematics,
• Difficulties with musical notation,
• Poor handwriting,
• Difficulties expressing thoughts orally,
• Poor organisational skills,
• Is there someone else in the house with similar difficulties?

If you suspect your child has dyslexia there are numerous organisations that can help such as;

1. Dyslexia Action and
2. British Dyslexia Association

I am exploring them both at the moment.

Dyslexia is not a condition to be ashamed of. Many famous people have dyslexia and I would like to leave the last word with one of them;

Credit to Dyslexia Action for the content of much of this post.