Children’s author visits primary school to highlight struggles with dyslexia

A children’s author aiming to highlight her struggles with dyslexia visited Castleton Primary School on Tuesday (27 March).

Pip Carr, who was diagnosed with dyslexia in her 40s, was invited to visit Castleton Primary School after a staff member contacted her.

Based in County Wicklow, Ireland, she is currently touring primary schools across the UK, Ireland, and Spain to highlight dyslexia awareness.

Pip, whose debut children’s book, ‘The Sea Rabbits of Greystones’ was published in October 2016, said: “Castleton Primary is a great school with very supportive staff members: it was a humbling moment for me. Some of the pupils have dyslexia too, so when l was talking about what it is like for me, l could see a few nodding heads. When l was at school, dyslexia was not really recognised, so l was considered ‘slow’.

“All my school reports said that my reading and writing was far behind my peers. School was always a big struggle and somewhere l did not want to be. The only bit that stands out as a happy school memory was my teacher reading ‘Stig of the Dump’ and it just fired my imagination.”

Speaking about her diagnosis, she said: “I think I felt relieved really, because I was so hard on myself. I knew I wasn’t slow, but found things like reading and writing frustrating. For me, it was a great weight lifted off my shoulders. I am a very determined person so I did the hardest course I could think of, which was psychology. I was offered help with a laptop with writing aids, but l wanted to do it by myself.

“The hardest part about writing with dyslexia is writing a sentence, and I think I’ve written something that makes sense, but then it doesn’t, or the letters are backwards. And of course, there’s spelling. I explained to the pupils that when they learn a word, they can see it in their head, but with me, it’s lots of letters swimming about in a fog and they won’t come together. There is also word, or sentence, blindness, where I see the words, but I don’t know what they are.

“There have been improvements over the years; certainly, when l was at school, there was zero awareness and work was also not without its problems. The stigma isn't there as much and l think children are more forgiving. I read my first chapter of my book out loud, but tell the children that their teacher will help me if l stumble or get ‘word blindness’.”

The author, who has just finished working on her follow-up novel, concluded: “There are also so many support or help groups out there. It certainly needs highlighting more and, of course, funding. I've actually spoken to a lot of teachers who have dyslexia too, which is quite amazing and l do admire them.

“If l have given the children a little bit of hope that there's some form of light at the end of the tunnel, then it has all been worthwhile.”