Sandia Books is a recently created publishing house that specializes in the publication of materials related to learning disorders. We have been introduced 'The letters and I', which is a story of feelings around dyslexia.
The illustrated story is edited in electronic format and is available in the Apple iBookstore store. Audio has been included to facilitate the reading of the little ones, and its recipients are children with dyslexia (or without it, why not?), parent educators (teachers and specialized staff). Dyslexia It is a disorder of neurobiological origin and genetic basis that hinders the learning of reading and writing - also of spelling and reading comprehension - in children with normal or superior intelligence and without sensory vision or hearing problems. The central deficit of this disorder is in phonological awareness, although dyslexics may also have difficulties in sequential and working memory and in the speed of information processing. Dyslexia may be associated with other disorders such as attention deficit or dyscalculia - difficulty in learning mathematics -.
Often, to the generation of those who are now parents, this learning disorder takes us by surprise. When we were children, these difficulties were unknown and school failure was normally attributed to a lack of effort.
It is a story of feelings around dyslexia: the loneliness, sadness and anger of a girl who fails to master the letters, and the frustration and concern of adults who insist on helping her. In the end, like every good story, both of them manage to understand what dyslexia is and how it is possible to live with it.
The author and illustrator of 'Las letras y yo' is Iraida Llucià (mother and wife of dyslexics).
The drawings, which reflect what we have lived at home, allow children to be represented in each of the situations experienced by the protagonist. The idea is that they discover what happens to them, and most importantly, how they can all work together to overcome it.
The approach is complemented by the speech therapist and founder of the UDITTA Alicia Bailey center. This professional is based on the premise that dyslexia is a disorder that is lived differently in children and adults. "While children reach the limit of their effort to overcome dyslexia autonomously, ignorance causes parents to identify only the negative behaviors associated with this dysfunction preventing them from treating the real problem".
As additional information, I can tell you that the first part of the publication is conceived as an illustrated story for children, and the second is 'pedagogical orientations for parents and educators' that follow the structure of the story and also expose the experiences that parents usually have. The price of 1.99 euros in the Apple Store.
It is a good initiative that allows people who are in contact with those affected to bring the experiences around dyslexia, and this is key in addressing the disorder.
