It was just me and my brother for a couple of years, until September 27, when I was three years old, my little sister was born. She was an adorable little baby, but when she grew to the toddler age she severely struggled with speaking. She was a smart little kid, very artistic and friendly, but she was unable to get her thoughts across clearly.
I was the only one who was able to fully interpret her words, until she started going to speech therapy when she was four years old. I was the family interpreter for those couple of years; this was definitely a contributing factor to my own development of literacy. I was a talkative little one, not much different than I am now in regards to that personality trait. My little sister's inability to portray her thoughts motivated me to be a very literate person. This experience compelled me to be able to explain myself in any situation, and having a grasp on the English language is an obvious necessity in order to accomplish this.
I love my little sister, and thankfully she had nothing seriously wrong with her, she was just speech delayed. Sadly though there was another problem affecting her development of literacy skills. This would be her eyesight. Interestingly enough she was very blind as little wee one, but my parents did not know, and so she went about life without glasses until third grade. She always felt behind in reading, but my family was not sure why she was not able to concentrate on the task. This experience must have been very difficult on her, because as she struggled, her older siblings (my brother and I) excelled in reading. The minute she got glasses, her contempt for reading formed into a love, like the connection that my brother and I experience. Thankfully it was just her bad eyes that made her dislike reading, and when she was given the opportunity to see properly, then she really started to enjoy her schooling fully. Seeing her unable to read was a push to make me read everything, because my eyes allowed it, and hopefully will always allow it.
The little girl that felt insecure in the verbal world, is now a little genius, her struggles are hopefully behind her now, and last year she got perfect grades on are her state exams, what are the odds? My little sister has compelled me to give my all to being as literate as possible. I want to take advantage of the eyes and brain that I have, and to develop my intellect to the highest degree as possible.
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I didn't know that about Julia. I had problems with speach (and hearing) when I was younger too, only my eyes were fine. My mom taught me to read early so that I could find a way to feel connected with someone other than my family, since they were the only ones that could understand me.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is an amazing story. Not just that it illustrates the ways we can help others, not just the ways that our feelings about books/literacy can turn around, but the facts that it shows about personalities. I can so see you as a little girl, helping your sister--so like you to be kind. And it is adorable, that you describe yourself as always talkative.... so cute!
ReplyDeletehaha thanks Ms. Diana, can't lie I love to talk!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm kind of on the same boat as Julie. It's really weird though, these blogs really let people learn a lot about each other! I had a severe speech impediment when I was young and my brothers had to interpret for me. I remember having to point to things I wanted because my parents couldn't understand what I was saying.
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