Reversed: A Memoir

by Lois Letchford

See it, Hear it, Say it by Mary Atkinson—and

I changed the teaching methods to get results. I can do that again and again. I hope one day Susan’s words come back to haunt her.

Learning new information requires one to pay attention; the amount of attention required depends on the situation.

“Sometimes experience teaches life lessons.” It’s certainly true in my case.

Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth.

Human behavior flows from three main sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.

It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge. —ALBERT EINSTEIN

Wish I’d Sailed with Captain Cook,

I Wish I’d Discovered Tutankhamun with Howard

I Wish I Stood on Everest with Hillary and Norgay

I Wish I’d Gone to the Moon with Neil Armstrong

There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up. —BOOKER T. WASHINGTON

is capable of quite complex thinking. He has an inquiring mind, seeking answers beyond the “ordinary” explanation.

He enjoys the challenge of different thinking “games” and has shown ability in artistic and mathematical representation of spatial concepts.

Traffic noises are loud and disturbing, especially from trucks and buses stopping at the traffic lights. I wonder about this set up for Nicholas and his attention span.

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning. —JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI

Professor Brian Cambourne.

“How did you get to America from Australia? Did you

really ride on the back of a whale?” one child in long-braided pigtails asks me, her eyebrows meeting in the middle. Her face is solemn; I have to subdue my giggles. “Do you really have a koala in a tree behind your house?” another asks. “Did Nicholas ride a kangaroo to school in Brisbane?” And then, a chubby boy in rounded black glasses stops me as I walk out the door. “How big are the mosquitoes in Australia? Nicholas told us the mosquitoes are a meter long, and you have to use a tennis racquet to kill them!” His eyes look like saucers behind his lenses. I see Nicholas in the background, cackling like a hen.

I think the conversation that Nicholas had in his new school there encouraged him to speak often. He feels special amongst his classmates.

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. —ANNE LAMOTT

Tip, top, tap. Tip, top, tap. Grandma bought a cat. Did she buy an old cat? Did she buy a wise cat? No, she bought a big fat black cat. “Tip, top, tap.”

Tip, top, tap. Tip, top, tap. Grandpa bought a cat. Did he buy a sleepy cat? Did he buy a purry cat? No, he bought a tiny brown stray cat. Tip, top, tap.

We cannot teach people anything; we can only help them discover it within themselves. —GALLILEO GALILEI

Tip, top, tap, Grandma bought a cat. Did she buy an old cat? Did she buy a wise cat? No. She bought a big, fat, black cat. Tip, top, tap.

Cat In The Hat A cat in the hat, on a mat, with a rat and a bat. Well, fancy THAT! Well, it is just NOT POSSIBLE! There might be one scratched cat, NO RAT OR BAT and ONE MESSY MAT!

stop putting artificial boundaries on Nicholas and his learning. Her actions supported her words,

Believe you can and you’re halfway there. —Theodore Roosevelt

a cacophony

Nicholas and I began this adventure together: A mother who refused to believe a student with learning disabilities could not learn to read, and now, the possibilities are nearly limitless for the boy who never gave up.

It’s important to read, as reading unlocks the imagination and opens windows to the world,

Who read and reread drafts of my memoir with a critical eye.