Schoolgirl's powerful reverse poem about dyslexia goes viral
A photograph of the poem posted to Twitter has received over 85,000 likes and counting.
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US News Reporter
A 10-year-old student has written a powerful reverse poem about having dyslexia.
A reverse poem can be read both in the conventional way, from top to bottom, or from bottom to top. Each way of reading has two completely different meanings
.
On Wednesday, teacher Jane Broadis posted a photograph of the Year 6 pupil’s poem titled “Dyslexia” on Twitter.
“Today in Y6 we looked at poems that could be read forwards & backwards,” read Broadis’ post.
“I was stunned by this one written by one of my 10 year olds. Please share - I would love her work to be appreciated further afield. I wonder if it could even find a publisher?”
The poem details the student’s thoughts about living with dyslexia – a common learning difficulty that can cause problems with reading, writing and spelling.
It's estimated up to 1 in every 10 people in the UK has some degree of dyslexia.
“I am stupid/ Nobody would ever say/ I have a talent for words,” reads the beginning paragraph of the poem.
However, when reading the poem from the bottom, the poem begins: “I can make it in life/ Nobody could ever convince me to think that.”
The student signed the empowering poem “AO”.
Broadis’ post has since garnered over 85,000 likes and 26,000 retweets.
Twitter users have congratulated the teacher for encouraging her student for producing the inspiring piece of work.
One user wrote: “That's brilliant. You sound like a great teacher too. The encouragement and confidence you give her now, she will remember for the rest of her life.”
Another tweeted: “Wonderful! I was called stupid by my year 6 teacher. 3 years later diagnosed with Dyslexia.
“We just see things others cannot.”
“This is how I felt at school before I got my diagnosis,” added another user with dyslexia.
“I never understood how other kids could do the alphabet or read for fun.”
Skins actor Kaya Scodelario also retweeted Broadis’ post and wrote in her tweet: “Absolutely beautiful [sic] wish I’d seen something this inspirational when I was diagnosed dyslexic. You must be a truly great teacher - and obviously have an immensely talented student.”
Broadis replied to several posts, and told one user that “it is a privilege to help find, nurture and celebrate the talents of children”.
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