Personal Narrative: My Work In Elementary School

The type of student I am has greatly evolved from elementary school. I have always been intelligent but my work in elementary school did not reflect my intelligence level. My work was sloppy, disorganized and borderline illegible. I got stressed out and frustrated while working on school work in elementary school. I can recall how my homework got done in elementary school. I’d start with a grin ear to ear, open my folder and pull out the assignment. Shortly after I began working,my smile would turn into a frown, and I would began to cry. and scream “I can’t do this!”.

The first time a teacher noticed that I was struggling with basic skills like reading was in second grade. My teacher realized that the reason why reading was difficult for

me was not because I did not know the words but I could not follow a string of words without getting lost. In order to correct this I was a simple index card to read which guided me along the lines keeping my on track. The index card carried me through second and third grade. By the time fourth grade rolled along and math developed into more than just addition and subtraction the quality of my work began to decrease again. It did not take my fourth grade teacher long to notice I was flipping letters in my writing or numbers in math problems. He reached out to my parents about his concerns of my work quality. My parents knew something had to be wrong since I had the skills to do the things that were asked of me and I could verbally express my thoughts well. Y problems arose when I had to take my thoughts and write them on paper. They reached out to a vision therapist who diagnosed me with an oculomotor dysfunction. This basically meant if I focuses on one visual point and then tried to go to another visual point I would lose my place and focus on a different visual point making skills like taking notes, transferring numbers, or reading more challenging.
The diagnosis of an oculomotor dysfunctions seemed to explain all of the struggles I faced in my early years of schooling. All the years that I felt frustrated because I struggled with writing noted without getting lost in a sea of letters was not because of my lack of intelligence but because of a neuromuscular abnormality. Which was relieving after months of therapy to strengthen my oculomotor skills my written wrote reflected my intelligence and schoolwork was sufficiently easier.
Many Students who suffer from Oculomotor dysfunctions go through the schooling system undetected,since oculomotor dysfunctions are hard to detect in students. The students suffering from these dysfunctions can be deemed as unmotivated and inferior to their classmates. Also oculomotor dysfunctions can keep a person from reaching their full potential.I think that schools should provide screening and offer programs for the students struggling with locomotor dysfunction to ensure they can reach their fullest potential.
Luckily for me I had amazing teachers and parents that saw me struggling and through my a life line and got me the help I needed to reach my fullest potential. If it was not for my parents and past teachers I would not be where I am now in my education. I know for sure I would not be taking honor and advance placement classes and making the grades I am. Though i still struggle with my oculomotor dysfunction every now and then my school work has improved to new levels.