Following the viral video where a Kenyan executive in a multinational company was seen raining slaps on his son for failing woefully in school and onl
Following the viral video where a Kenyan executive in a multinational company was seen raining slaps on his son for failing woefully in school and only managing to do well in Music, despite paying $21,000 (N8,400,000) school fees, Bring Back Our Girls, BBOG co-convener, Aisha Yesufu, is opening up about how she equally used to beat her son for failing at school, getting people to beat him as well, unknown to her that her son is dyslexic.
Anyone who is dyslexic suffers from a learning disorder which involves the inability to read, learn and relate to letters and words.
Reacting to the video, the Kano born rights activist said she felt the pain of the parent’s (in the video) frustration and the child’s hopelessness adding that the boy could be suffering from dyslexia and needs to be taught in a way that his brain would understand. And just like her son, it meant someone writing for him during exams and taking notes for him and helping him to put his thoughts on paper.
She likened it to how frustrating she was, paying so much to give her son the best education only for him to fail woefully. And for that, she would beat the poor boy and even allow others beat him. At a point her cousin suggested she stops wasting money on the boy and send him to the UK to study Arts, Media and Photography.
She recalls how that on a particular day she had a BBOG march, her son failed his GSCE exams. Trying to appear unperturbed, she put her pains aside to focus on the march but eventually had to give in, broke down and cried.
At another time, her son scored a C in Maths while in secondary school. It was the best thing to happen to her in a long time as her family sang and danced because her son kept failing and writing both English and Maths, two subjects that frustrated her son, until he conquered them.
She however admitted that she regrets every pain she inflicted on her son and sought his forgiveness when he turned 18 and today, her son who passed his university entrance exams is studying Film, Television and Digital media production.
She then went on to give parents some useful advise on how to handle dyslexic children
1. Be patient with them as even though school is the most frustrating time for them, they naturally flourish out of school because while many learn to pass they learn perseverance.
2. Also look out for their talent and help them develop it as many suffering from dyslexia have great strengths in other areas.
3. Just like she did for her son, parents should take their dyslexic kids for therapy to mitigate the years of abuse from parents, teachers and adults.
4. Encourage them every step of the way
5. Understand and appreciate that children are wired differently. Some get As others Fs. Even though everyone wants their children to be the ones getting the As, it doesn’t always happen like that.
