Children's confidence boosted thanks to dyslexic artist's reading and learning resource
My name is Rossie Stone. What happened to me in high school changed me forever.
All my way through school I struggled with processing information through words, both spoken and written. Listening to the teacher was really hard, as was following and remembering information from books.
After being at the bottom of the class throughout primary school, I was eventually identified as dyslexic. Though it was a relief to be assured the problem wasn’t stupidity, the diagnosis didn’t make high school any easier. Or exams.
Eventually, I had a eureka moment. It struck me that if understanding information through text was so hard, I could try turning my revision notes into something I had never found difficult to read: COMICS.
To my surprise, it was not only highly enjoyable (in a way, I expected that) but highly effective too. Suddenly the information was going into my head and staying there, the way I assumed it was for people who take in knowledge more conventionally.
When it came to my exam, I did my best to remember the notes from my Revision Comic. I was delighted to find how easy that was. I remembered all the pictures and parts of the story in the comic that contained the facts I needed. Even so, I wasn’t expecting to come back with my very first GRADE A in an academic exam!
A clip of my original study notes from 2009 (revision for a Modern Studies exam).
It wasn’t the Grade A that filled me with confidence, though, but the realisation that I COULD access information – and could have been doing it all along – when it was presented in a way that worked for me.
Since then I have made my revision technique into a series of comics more accessible to a younger age, the years where I felt I really missed out.
These comics turn school subjects like maths, literacy, science and history into pure entertainment in the form of visual stories.
They have been extremely well received by all the readers and teachers who have used them, including pupils with dyslexia, autism and ADHD. What excites me personally, though, is that children who don’t struggle at school seem to be loving and using them too.
Extracts from Dekko Comics
Comics are still looked down on as not “proper” reading. But why Dekko Comics work with such a wide variety of readers is because they utilise more than just words to communicate even quite complex information.
They use visuals, storytelling, memorable characters and jokes to break up the information and create landmarks for memory. They are also super-fun, which always helps with motivation!
I will never get the years back that were spent at school feeling nervous and struggling with confidence. But the discovery I made in the end made it worth it. Accessing information naturally in a way that I enjoyed, and with successful results, changed who I was and what I believed I was capable of. Dekko can do that for other children. It’s been inspiring them and enthusing them and introducing them to the joy of learning since 2016.
And that’s the most rewarding and exciting result of all.
