BECKY HENZEL
My problems began when I was three years old, and escalated from there. By the time that I started kindergarten, my mother told me that I was unable to concentrate on anything for longer than a few minutes at a time. I was also becoming quite the discipline problem, both at home and school.
It was not until I was in grade two that my parents realized that I could not learn like the other children, even though I was the same age and was in the same class as they were.
I remember that I cried a lot because the other kids would make fun of my inability to learn things that, to them, were so easy.
My parents kept trying to tell my teachers that I needed special help, but the answer was always the same. "Becky is just lazy and could learn if she truly wanted to," was the most common reaction to my parents' worries. It was true, I used laziness as a mask to hide the hurtful truth of my inabilities.
So I plodded along, year after painful year. Everyday I was physically in school, but mentally I learned to turn myself off. If they all said I was 'just lazy' then it must be true. After all they were adults! Didn't they know a lot more than I did?
At the time I truly thought so.
By the time I reached grades 7 and 8, and after having the same teacher for two years, it was obvious, finally, that I needed some special help. I feel cheated that nothing was done for me when my parents became aware of my problems.