SOPHIE:I'm Sophie and I'm 9 years old. When I found out I had dyslexia, I felt sad, and a little bit disappointed, because my mum said that I could get rid of it, but I couldn't, I could only wear it off a little bit. When I read, I sometimes miss out a line or, I read a line again, and again.
SOPHIE:It's hard when I can't read, but I want to read. "At midnight, Mr. Flinch鈥 clambered on鈥"
SOPHIE'S MUM:Climbed.
SOPHIE:"鈥limbed on to his roof, and c-- gul-- Glulped鈥"
SOPHIE'S MUM:Gulped, clever girl.
SOPHIE:"鈥ulped at all the money was gone." I mix up my letters a lot. My P's and my 9's are getting better, but my B's and my D's are not, they're still bad.
SOPHIE:I'm good at ICT. I like doing literacy but I can't do it well. I have different spellings than everyone else, because I'm dyslexic and I can't help it.
SOPHIE:People look at my spellings and just say, "Are those your spellings, they look really baby-ish." You're not thick, it's just鈥 something that you can't do, you do in a different way. I've got to see or feel the letter, and then I'll know it. I've got B for beach, and I've got sandpaper for beach, so it feels like beach.
SOPHIE:And then I've got D for dots, and then it's all got dots on. And then I've got my P is the colour pink, P for pink. But if it's like, a plain letter, I won't know which one is which, I'll just guess. Sometimes I cry about my dyslexia, but I don't let other people know that I do that. They might think, "Oh well, she's crying over dyslexia, big deal."
SOPHIE:And to me it's a big deal, because I have it, and sometimes it affects me, but not all the time. Dyslexia does not stop me from doing anything like ice-skating or athletics, because I push myself to do it, so I learn new things. All of my friends have been nice about dyslexia, and they think it doesn't change me anyway, and just鈥
SOPHIE:They don't really notice that I've got it.
FEMALE CLASSMATE IN PINK TOP:If you've just met Sophie here, you wouldn't know she's dyslexic, because she was really good at the word game. She's really good at like, matching all the letters and words up.
FEMALE CLASSMATE IN WHITE TOP:I don't think Sophie's dyslexia affects her doing her sports and stuff like that.
SOPHIE:Help a child with dyslexia by supporting them, helping them with their writing, talking about things, like, "Are you alright?" "Do you feel sad?" or anything about their feelings. Treat them the way they want to be treated, don't be mean to them. If they can't spell a teeny-weeny word, just help them on it,
SOPHIE:because they don't know how. Then they'll understand it, and you'll be helping them.
SOPHIE:When I sew with my gran, it's really fun, because I do different things every week. Cushions, clothes, presents for my mum and my dad for Christmas.
SOPHIE:My gran, when she was younger, she missed out on a lot of her learning, and she missed out, like me, on my phonics and stuff. When I'm sad, like at night sometimes, She says, "Don't worry, we're together in this."
SOPHIE:I feel different when I read because I'm on lower stages, but I'm good at art, and I like doing fashion design books. I like designing clothes.
SOPHIE:I want to be a fashion designer when I'm older, and like drawing patterns. I don't think dyslexia would affect my fashion at all.
SOPHIE:I feel confident about having dyslexia, because my friends help me, and they support me, and they help me through my life sometimes.
Video summary
Sophie is a nine year old girl who suffers from dyslexia and struggles with reading and spelling.
She talks about how she feels about the condition and how she finds ways to do things differently.
The youngster has developed interesting ways to identify letters that look similar - she uses touch and feel to help her tell which letter is which.
Sophie talks about the things she enjoys and is good at and how her dyslexia does not affect her whole life but only parts of it.
Friendship is very important and Sophie's friends know her strengths and how to help and support her, building her confidence.
This clip is from the series Same but Different.
Teacher Notes
This clip can be used as a prompt to help children to understand difficulties faced by themselves and others.
Watching the clip could lead into discussions about what the children themselves find difficult and the strategies they use to help overcome such difficulties.
They could also identify the things they are good at and this could lead into discussions about how they could support others.
The role of friendship could also be highlighted by looking at the positive way in which Sophie describes how much her friends have helped her to deal with her dyslexia confidently.
It can also be used to help children appreciate the similarities and differences between themselves and others by exploring how we can all use our strengths to support others in areas they find challenging.
This short film will be relevant for teaching PSHE at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd Level in Scotland.
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