Proud mum Natalie shines a light on her children Zac and Darcy's star qualities

Natalie Repton is a parent to two dyslexic children. She shares her inspired positivity, shining a light on Zac and Darcy’s star qualities, and gives us a great example of how communication and awareness can make all the difference to a child in the classroom.

Both Zac and Darcey have been formally diagnosed as being dyslexic. Since their diagnosis we always try to focus on the positive side and will quiet frequently talk about dyslexia. We love to find inspiring stories of other people, famous or not, who have achieved amazing things in their life to show the kids that it doesn’t have to hold them back and they can still achieve any dreams they have.

I’m quite a vocal parent in the kids school and constantly share information and stories with the school. As I believe the more children who understand hidden disabilities like dyslexia the better the school environment will be.

Just recently a boy in my daughters classed asked her why she couldn’t spell anything. Darcey was a little upset, but also explained that she was dyslexic, and her brain works slightly different and it made things like reading and spelling tricky. I was very proud of her for explaining her differences; I spoke to her teacher. Her teacher was great and spent part of a lesson talking about hidden disabilities. Then yesterday her teacher showed the class a YouTube video of a girl who is dyslexic explaining dyslexia and talking about other famous people who are dyslexic. My daughter walked away from school feeling included and happy.

Her friends had said that she may find spelling hard but she is a really nice person and very good at art. It would be nice to move away from the stigma of being dyslexic and I feel a good way of doing that is through educating children young.

Natalie Repton