My name is Shawn Anthony Robinson and I have dyslexia. I had struggled academically throughout my entire prek-12 journey and learned about my dyslexia at the age of 18.
As a young kid, I remember always struggling with reading and avoided it at all costs. Reading should be an activity that one does for pleasure. One that opens their mind to endless dreams. Instead, I was engaged in behaviors that were destructive in order to avoid it. It got so bad that I had to attend an alternative program for two years of high school because I could not control my temper.
I was angry for many reasons, but the main one was my inability to read.
I graduated from high school reading at an elementary level. My options were very limited. Yet, my life changed when I was 18 when my mentor, Dr. Robert T. Nash gave me HOPE as a student who was in Special Education. I was introduced to the Project Success summer program at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. With the help of the Project Success program, along with Dr. William Kitz, Michael Flanagan and others, I finally learned to read. I was one of the most illiterate students they had met, but they told me that it was not my fault.
The system failed me.
However, I was told I had a gift, and was warned that the process of learning to read would be one of the most difficult challenges of my life and they weren’t wrong. It was. As a freshman in college, I was taught the importance of linguistics. I learned about the structure of words. It was fascinating to learn about phonemes and graphemes (letter-sound connection) and phonemic units. I was taught how to use the dictionary along with strategies to decode and encode words. I even learned multi-syllable words (i.e., Monochromatism/mä-nə-ˈkrō-mə-ˌti-zəm). The process sparked a light in me to read and I saw hope. I became a sponge.
I started to love reading and it opened so many doors in my life. After six years in college, I received my bachelor’s degree, and then went on for a Master’s degree, which took five years. I then graduated with a Ph.D. in language and literacy after seven years.
The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.
The incredible part of the journey to me was that I was a statistic – I should have failed. Teachers/professors told me I would never publish. Initially, book agents rejected our book proposal of Doctor Dyslexia Dude. Yet, here we are, with over 8 thousand books sold and numerous appearances! Most important of all, throughout my academic journey, I studied under Dr. Nash, learned his curriculum, and became a teacher of it.
Regardless of what people said I kept my eyes on the prize and focused.
Prior to Dr. Nash’s death in 2017, he signed over the rights of his curriculum Pure and Complete Phonics to me with the intention that I would continue his work. I’ve made it my mission to reach, serve, and empower students with dyslexia in Special Education to achieve greatness through innovative curriculum and instruction.
I am a winner and have nothing to prove. I will give out love and walk in my purpose.