"You're wasting my time," and 'Where's my swimming suit?'

Swimming suits, cake, dyslexia. They go together, right? YES! At least that's a recent discovery of mine!

I thought I was prepared for the assessment one day a while back. Little did I know that I would have to depend on the quiet, intuitive feeling I've learned to listen to, to save me. That feeling was the first thing that greeted me as I moved into the lobby to greet my client and his mother. 

I did the usual first-time-meeting thing, keeping in mind the words of former Davis Workshop Presenter Gerry Grant, to make sure you greet the child well, as I stepped into the lobby to welcome mother and child on this day.

I introduced myself and was about to give them the business center tour when...

"I want to go home. This is wasting my time."

...abruptly interrupted me. 

Up to this point my ability to understand my new friend's words had been a bit difficult, but "I want to go home, you're wasting my time" came through loud and clear!

"Okay, at least he's being honest" I thought to myself.  I flew into ad lib mode balancing humor and the intention to move on, and we did, move on that is! Humor won out, though, at that point. 

Once we were settled into my office I posed the question:

"If I handed you this pencil, which hand would you write with?" I asked.

"Both hands." he said. 

Not only were those words said with lots of emotion but he shot another "You're wasting my time" look at me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see his mom shake her head, indicating his statement wasn't correct.

"Thank you! Now, if you had your choice would you like to eat cake or pizza?" I next asked.

Another look flew at me! But happily he answered me with "chocolate cake WITH white icing."

Whew, saved by the cake!

The suggestion of cake with scrumptious fluffy, white icing caused both of us to have a lovely image of cake floating through our minds!

But the assessment? After all, this young man was here to be assessed for a Davis Dyslexia Correction Program. What would you expect at this point? If you guessed the assessment was a bit difficult I could see why you'd have that response.

What happened were things could not have gone better! As the assessment concluded I told him to keep his eyes closed as long as it felt comfortable. He did. When his eyes fluttered open a few minutes later he calmly looked around the room, carefully surveying the scene.

Gone was the 'let me out of here' agitated look.  Instead, the door to his imaginary world had been flung open and I was greeted with the feeling of a vivid world inside his imagination.

Instead of a person who couldn't wait to go home, before me now, was someone who couldn't wait to start working!  

I asked him questions like did he have a problem, was there something he wanted to get better at.... He went into detail explaining things he wanted help with --reading, math, focusing. But I had one more question: 

"Would you like to work with me?" 

I followed his eyes as my words sifted and shifted through his mind.  He paused. Silently he glanced upward, then casually to his right. He muttered and sputtered sounds that were not audibly understandable and with an awkward pause he said, 

"...um...no."

Case closed? I was quickly thinking about what direction to go when he calmly interjected-- 

"I didn't bring my swimming suit!" 

"Your swimming suit?" I asked, dumbfounded. 

"Yes, I don't want my mom to have to travel back and forth from our town. We need to stay at the hotel across the road and I didn't bring my swimming suit, so I won't be able to swim."

My goodness! 

What a transformation.  The masterful concepts of the Davis Perceptual Abilities assessment had not only magically fulfilled its job but had transformed this child into a cooperative soul. 

Now he was going to stay...but we have to have a swimming suit!

I remembered the intuitive thought that had quietly drifted into my mind as I'd first approached him in the lobby and knew that it had been right on. 

For more information look at www.dyslexia.com or www.onpointlearning.org