Newsletter #9

Dyslexia

October 20, 2025

Dyslexia

A result of IFS is that I no longer identify with dyslexia. This is a significant relief. After this realization, I saw an article about the Davis Method. After reading the article, I got very excited, as the method can resolve dyslexia, even in adults. School brainwashed me into believing that dyslexia is caused by a brain defect.

The book The Gift of Dyslexia explains the method, among other things, and makes it very clear that there is nothing wrong with someone who has dyslexia. On the contrary, it is a gift. This newsletter is a direct result of no longer identifying with dyslexia.

Dyslexia came up for the first time in the 3rd grade. In the Netherlands, 3rd grade is when you start learning to read and write, at age six or seven. I vividly remember being six years old, sitting in the classroom, while all the other kids were able to make copies of a drawing. This drawing was a letter. I remember looking at the clock. It felt like it took forever. The clock stood still. As you might expect, this made me feel very dumb and insecure.

The school I was at the time was incompetent, and they were not able to help me. I had to redo 3rd grade, and a few months into the second year, I went to a different school. This school was less incompetent. I got help, and slowly I started to learn to read and write. It took time. By the time I went to high school, my reading was at the expected level for a twelve-year-old, but my spelling was still behind.

In high school, I also got help with spelling. There were specific rules in Dutch grammar that I never understood, especially with DT and D. The words are pronounced the same, but the grammar is different. Why is this required? Toward the end of university, a classmate told me the rule that works 98% of the time: words end with a D when they are in the ik (I, in English) form, and DT when they are not in the ik form. If school had explained it to me that way, I would have gotten it much earlier. The few exceptions are not that important. Ninety-eight percent of the time is more important than 2% of the time. Maybe not for the “helpers,” because they depend on spelling issues for a living.

Last week, I had my first session of the Davis Method. My first impression is that it’s promising and confronting. I found out that the V was missing in the alphabet. Claying the alphabet helped me visualize the letters. The letter p is the same as the letters b, d, and q. The rotation is different.

A cool bonus is that I’m starting to learn to juggle with two balls. This helps with gaining and retaining focus. Loss of focus or disorientation is the root cause of dyslexia symptoms. Later this year, once I’ve completed the four scheduled sessions, I will provide an update on what I have learned and the current status of dyslexia.

If you have dyslexia or know someone who has it, I highly recommend checking out the Davis Method and getting a copy of the book for yourself or someone else: