The first horse out of the gate

I come from a long line of Kentucky natives.  Many of my relatives live in Louisville and my father spent part of his childhood right down the road from Churchill Downs where he would frequently visit the horses.

I cant claim to know a lot about horse racing but I know this,  especially at the Kentucky Derby it is a well known fact that just because a horse is the first one out of the gate it doesn't mean it's going to be the winner.

I think this sort of thinking can easily be applied to the dyslexic child.

A standard school experience goes something like this:  A child goes into a classroom and finds that they are immediately measured and compared with other children (a better teacher would certainly resist this urge). 

They are thrown into a game where they are judged by how well they read and what does their handwriting look like. 

These are the rules and this is the criteria. 

A couple years later math concepts are thrown in. 

For children that these things come easily to there are rewards.  In the classroom other children cant help but see who is doing a better job of accomplishing the tasks set in front of them.  Verbal praise is given to children following the game plan, they get better grades and sometimes there are even other rewards for being able to meet the standard set as quickly as possible, the idea being that then the teacher can move on to something new. Any need for extra hand holding is seen as a burden.

Sitting still and not making too much ruckus are also a big part of what's expected. 

One could argue that there have to be standards but stay with me.  

What if those starting out in kindergarten, first and second grades and doing well without much hand holding, the first out of the gate so to speak,  aren't necessarily the brightest kids in the bunch.  They start well but in the long run they aren't top contenders.

What if some children (take Albert Einstein for example) simply take longer to percolate or become flavorful or whatever description you like that involves taking time to get the vintage just right.

Now put the usual obstacles in the way of the dyslexic child:  the teachers who don't understand, the "behavior" issues which are really just their brain trying to cope with a situation that isn't working, the parental blaming of the child ("why aren't you trying harder?") the child blaming themselves ("why don't I understand this, what's wrong with me?"), in some cases punishment ("you are staying in at recess until these worksheets are done").

Then the child muddles their way into adulthood.  Some of them even manage by some who-knows-how way to get through all of that and still go on to higher education (although you certainly cant blame anyone dyslexic who doesn't want anything more to do with "school"). 

Yet,  what I see are these people that have had to manage and cope seem to me to have superior thinking skills. 

Yes,  I will say it,  I think the end result of not being the first one out of the starting gate could actually end up being more of an asset than a hindrance as far as brain power is concerned.  This idea isn't meant to be a reverse discrimination or to discount the intelligence of other types of brains it's simply a challenge to the assumption that first equals best.

One could say that perhaps I'm in a sort of mommy- denial place but I've seen enough people who have coped with dyslexia,  and been successful in spite of everything I listed above that I believe that dyslexia may be the brain in a more evolved place. 

I don't have to stake some professional reputation on this theory.  I just want to put it out there as a consideration. 

The trick now is getting our dyslexic children what they need at an early age without the judgments and comparing that are all too common.  If we were able to do that as a society my prediction is that we would come to a place of higher intellectual standards overall.