It's All Elementary by Melanie

It's All Elementary by Melanie - December 2014 Scholarship Essay

My preschool teachers first suggested to my mother attention deficient disorder, my mother scoffed. Then my first grade teacher mentioned auditory problems and Mom thought about it. She had me tested and while I proved to be smart, I was not processing information correctly and I had difficulties when expressing myself. None of us were surprised though, my father has severe dyslexia and when this was mentioned to my tutors, a recording of me went to the Middle Tennessee State University Dyslexic Center. Soon after, I was officially diagnosed with Central Auditory Processing Disorder. I was not diagnosed with dyslexia but the center agreed that I probably have a minor case.

The understanding of my educators and my parents gave me more opportunities than I probably realize. My secondary education was modified to omit Accelerated Reading (AR) and Spanish to decrease pressure and stress. I had a hard enough time with learning how to read, use, and understand English so I did not need a second language to add to the load. Anything “accelerated” was not a great idea for my education either then. I instead went to tutoring twice a week at MTSU and twice a week at my school during the Spanish lessons my classmates were in. After fourth grade, I was deemed ready to discontinue tutoring. I began Spanish and participated in AR in fifth grade and performed wonderfully.

I asked my mother in middle school why I had gone to tutoring so much before and she finally told me the truth. Before she had always said that it was because I was smart or that she’d tell me later. Really, she did not want me to make excuses to not perform well or achieve academically. She was right, I never made excuses, I just cried from frustration frequently. Regardless, my teachers were patient because while I did not know of my learning difficulties, they did. They answered all my questions, they met me one-on-one, and they comforted me. So while middle school, high school, and college were important in shaping the person I am today, elementary school shaped the basis of who I am.

Elementary taught me to work hard, ask questions, and talk to my teachers. Elementary school taught me how to listen and express myself. Elementary school also gave me my love of reading. While I don’t remember many friends during this time, I do remember key teachers and tutors who protected and celebrated accomplishments with me. Many of these teachers attended my graduation from high school and watched as I gave the valedictorian speech. Without those teachers, my abilities today would have been severely compromised and because of them, I graduated summa cum laude in college and have a 4.0 in graduate school now. While I have not seem many of these teachers for more than ten years, they still influence my actions and behaviors today. I hope to make them proud.