Alais Winton - Diary of a Dyslexic School Kid

DIARY OF A
DYSLEXIC
SCHOOL KID Alais Winton
and
Zac Millard ILLUSTRATED BY JOE SALERNO Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia AUTHORS NOTE This book is about the life of a dyslexic teenager: Cal. We thought it was important to include deliberate spelling, grammatical and punctuation mistakes to show how Cal might write. Like many dyslexics his mistakes are inconsistent and can appear random in nature. We have also used slang at times as Cal is a young person. Please do not copy Cals mistakes. If you would like to improve your spelling and punctuation please see: Fun Games and Activities for Children with Dyslexia (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2018) or The Self-Help Guide for Teens with Dyslexia (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2015) by the same author, Alais Winton.

Many thanks, the authors Alais Winton and Zac Millard. This book belongs to This dairy diary belongs to Cal thats me, its short for Callum but everyone calls me Cal. Mum gave me this book to write in so I can write better cos im dyslectic dyslexic . She said if I write in it for a whole year she will buy me something super awesome. The good thing is I can put whatever I want in it I just opened this page again and someone has been correctin my spelling, sooo someone has been reading this Mum!!!! I spoke to Mum and told her this is top secret!! She has promised not to read it anymore if I ask her to help with my spelling. I said OK.

September, Sunday No school today woop, woop. I have to write something before I can go do what I really want to do like go out on my scooter or play Minecraft. I really hate writing cos its hard and Im not good at it, so Im gonna do a list of stuff I hate and stuff Im into STUFF I HATE Homework!!! Reading out loud in class just why, people???? Bullies. Getting lost. Being late. Loosing my stuff. Loosing my stuff.

Getting into trouble for stuff that is so not my fault!!. School worst subjects: EnglishMaths ScienceHistory STUFF IM INTO Drama Im a superstar and Im gonna be proper famous one day. I.T. THATS COMPUTERS (if you are still reading this mum, even though I told you not to). Design Tech I get to make super cool stuff in that class. My x-box. Getting away with stuff that mite have been my fault. Getting away with stuff that mite have been my fault.

Adventures. Art. People I like. My mum (when shes not shouting at me or my dad!). Doing good at something. TV.

Sick I have written loads and it wasnt all bla, bla, bla and me fake writing, so I am going out on my scooter now and wont be home till it gets dark laters! Monday 9th September First day at a new school today. I am eleven now so I have to go to what we all call big school. I wish I didnt live in the UK, I wish I lived in America then I wouldnt have to change schools, plus they have really cool stuff in America. I live in Wales, its full of mostly sheep and its well boring yawn!!! Anyway my big day starts like this I get up well early and put on the gross uniform. My uniform is grey and itchy and it doesnt even fit properly. Im ment to grow into it!!!!! How harsh is that? It takes me ages to find my school stuff and Im starting to stress that I will miss the bus.

When Im well stressed I go and wake mum up to say Ill prob need a lift. Really dont wanna be late on my first day. Mum is super grumpy and says school starts tomorrow and I have to go back to bed. Im happy I dont have to go to school today but gutted I got ready for like no reason whatsoever. I go downstairs and watch telly but as quiet as I can get it so mum will think I went back to bed. When mum does finally get up she still looks grumpy and shouts at me for still being in my uniform.

I hate the stupid thing but I couldnt be bothered to get changed. I told her I was wearing it in. She said I would mess it up and had to change at once!!! Tuesday 10th September First day of school for real this time!!!! I sooo do not wanna go but there is no way Mum will let me stay home on the first day. Even if I was proper dying shed make me go. There is only one seat left when I get on the bus. I had to sit next to a smelly kid yuk.

When Im on the bus I suddenly realise Ive left my ruler at home and I need it for maths. Too late now. I would tell the bus driver its an emergency and we need to turn round, right now but I cant think of a reason to tell him that I wont get into trouble for. I mean if I say my mum is dead or something like that hes gonna know as soon as we get there and tell my mum what I said sooo not worth it. I have a few good mates at school who were at my other school and meet a new kid who seems okay. Break times are good I like hanging out with my mates and we have a laugh about the new teachers.

The new teachers are mostly super strict and well old and boring. I got lost on my way to the first lesson after lunch cos I couldnt find the science block. It was miles away from the cafeteria! All the classrooms are labelled in blocks ae, but there is no block c sooo random! So anyway I got muddled up and went to the English classroom by mistake. I was late for science and got a bad mark for it. Then I got into trouble in Maths for not having my ruler. One more bad thing and I will get detention on day one!!! Tried to look as if I knew what was going on and that I was super interested for the rest of the day.

It went okay and I didnt get into any more trouble. But when the buses came Josh shouted to me that he hoped I hadnt turned into a super swat. Everyone heard and stared at me so not cool Josh! Wednesday 11th September I just noticed how stupid the spelling of Wednesday is, I mean whats that d for? If you said it out loud it would be Wed nes day, but I asked mum and she says it does have a d in it. Had French today at school. French!!! Whats the point of learning French? Im never going to France. I dont know any French people and I cant even write proper English yet.