Read Fierce for Free Online

from your friends during the school holidays is always a bit weird. Going back to school after those trips was always a bit strange for me. I’d had such a different summer holiday to all my other friends. I’d tell them what I’d been up to and my good friends thought it was cool. I’m sure some felt a little jealous, but at that age they didn’t show it too much. When you’re a kid you just want to be like all your friends. So even being picked out as being Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter was a big fucking deal. No one else in my class was Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter. But it was when I got older that the more hurtful bullying started.

CHAPTER THREE

I LOVE A GOOD SCHOOL PROJECT
    I was so desperate to fit in that I would say I was going to be a nursery-school teacher when I was older .
    W HEN I was nine I was diagnosed with dyslexia. Before then, I think my teachers genuinely thought I was stupid. I’m sure of it. They would give me the most ridiculous exercises to do. I was given a page full of drawings and I’d have to label them. I knew what a cat and dog was for fuck’s sake. That isn’t what dyslexia is about. It was so humiliating to be given that sort of work to do.
    It was my mum who picked up my dyslexia. My dad is dyslexic too. She realised I had it too when she read my school reports and cottoned on. The teachers said my spelling wasn’t improving like it should be. My mum was really insulted when they wrote those things. She didn’t want people to think that I was stupid. She didn’t want me to think that for that matter either.
    One night Mum sat me down in the lounge at Welders and told me all about what dyslexia was. Because of my dad having it, she knew exactly how to deal with it. She reassured me and told me I had nothing to worry about. It made me feel a whole lot better.
    How do I know if I’m dyslexic and what do I do?
    Dyslexia doesn’t mean you’re stupid. It doesn’t mean you’re really bloody clever either, which is what some people also think. What it means is you learn differently. If you’re struggling with your reading, writing or spelling, the key thing is to make sure you see an expert who is able to diagnose it as early as possible. That way, you won’t be held back in class.
    The British Dyslexia Association offers lots of information for you and your parents, including hints and tips for school, how tutors can help, technology that can help you at school and work, support in finding work and even advice on taking your driving test.
    The British Dyslexia Association
    Unit 8, Bracknell Beeches
    Old Bracknell Lane
    Bracknell
    RG12 7BW
    ☎ 0845 251 9002
    ☎ 0845 251 9003
     0845 251 9005
     [email protected]
    www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
    Need to know
    This general-health site is really good for explaining what dyslexia is, what causes it and how to work out if you have it:

    www.need2know.co.uk/health/health_services
    It wasn’t until we moved to America when I was thirteen that my dyslexia was tackled properly at a school that specialised in teaching kids with the condition. I’ve put a lot of the stuff they taught me then into practice now. Dyslexia affects the way the brain processes wordsand letters, making it difficult for sufferers to read, spell and write. About four per cent of people in Britain have it.
    I realised there was something keeping me apart from the rest of the class because I had started to hate reading out loud during lessons. It was something that began to worry me. In the morning, when I was getting ready for school I’d sometimes think, ‘Oh my God, everyone is going to make fun of me if I read out loud today. They’ll laugh if I get a word wrong.’ In the end I refused to read to the class.
    I knew how to read, but in my head. It was when I had to read aloud that I’d get all the words confused. For example, if the sentence said: ‘It rained today.’ I would read it out as: ‘Rained today it.’ My brain process would jumble up the