BOISE, Idaho — "[I] do hereby proclaim the month of October 2019, to be Dyslexia Awareness Month in the State of Idaho. Signed Brad Little, Governor of the State of Idaho."
Despite the smiles and cheers at today's event, life hasn't always been an easy road for kids with the learning disability.
"It's been a long journey for me and my kiddo. He's a bright, good kid, 11-year-old boy who's got a lot of potential. The letters on the page simply don't make sense to him," said Robin Zikmund, founder, Decoding Dyslexia Idaho.
The 501(c)(3) Decoding Dyslexia Idaho hopes to bring about more teacher training when it comes to teaching dyslexic students-- students like Drew Brown.
"The teachers sometimes put more stress on you making it even harder, like, sometimes they're like, oh, Drew, can you read this for us? And I'm like sure, and sometimes I stumble upon the words."
Robin and her son Carter can relate.
"Our education system continued to fail him which resulted in anxiety issues, depression issues, and this mama bear wasn't gonna stand for that," said Robin Zikmund.
She said resources for dyslexia are pricey in Idaho.
Governor Little says the state funds reading coaches in classrooms, however, he says he hopes to improve their effectiveness by pushing for earlier diagnoses of dyslexia.
"if we can get those reading coaches where they can detect the earlier signs of of dyslexia, and they can target programs for to help those kids with those hurdles to reading, we're basically doing all of society a favor," said Little.
In the meantime, Robin's son Carter is looking at the silver lining.
"It's pretty hard but it's kind of fun at the same time 'cause you have, like, a different brain than the other kids so you see stuff differently," said Carter Zikmund.
On Saturday, Decoding Dyslexia Idaho is hosting a Dyslexia Awareness Summit at St. Luke's. Learn more about it here.
