Hello, my name is Melissa. Today, I want to share with you my struggle with dyslexia. Having dyslexia is quite tough because it affects my reading and writing. It makes me feels that I am not as smart as the rest of my friends.

Having dyslexia mixed up my words and affect how I spell things. It started when my grades in Primary 4 and Primary 5 started to drop as the lessons got tougher. My tutor, Aunty Tricia, was the one who suspected that I had dyslexia and told my parents about it.

As my PSLE was just next year, my worried parents quickly contacted the school for advice and help. Somehow, my parents later decided to send me to DAS for assessment. At the end of the session, the counsellor confirmed that I had dyslexia.

My results continued to slide in school. Luckily, at DAS, they taught me fun way to learn how to remember words which helps me a lot. Soon enough my English improved and I learnt to read better. Usually, reading is hard for me as I see words differently and that I can’t really pronounce them that well. But my DAS teacher Miss Siti, friends and family have encouraged me not to give up, so I’m still trying to do my best.

Before the PSLE, I was nervous because I failed Science & barely passed the other three subjects in my school exams. My parents encouraged me to pray and not to give up. One of the sunshine aunties, Aunty Hui Li even made encouragement cards for me. Thank you, Aunty Hui Li!

Being dyslexic, I can be exempted from taking Chinese but I did not want to give it up as I know that someday in the future I will need to use it. During my preliminary exam, I scored 50 marks, which to me was an improvement. Thus, I am very happy when I scored an A for Chinese in PSLE and passed my other subjects.

I like to end by saying never give up, no matter what problems you have and keep chanting daimuku 🙂

By Melissa Goh