I hope to show how I coped with learning
difficulties and hopefully this will give encouragement and possible
guidance to others likewise afflicted.
1966-1970
I went to a secondary modern school, the majority of the pupils coming
from a local council estate, me included. The year I was in was split
into 6 forms, my own form was first, the third and then fourth from the
top. In the first three years I had no interest at school, as any work I
produced would be marked down for untidiness and poor handwriting hence
why should I bother. My homework would be done in the morning at 08:30
and be just sufficient to keep me from getting punished at school. I
never had any tests for learning difficulties that I can recall and
hence had no special treatment, apart from humiliation on occasions by
the some of the teachers. September 1969, my final year at school,
something happened. My work began to be marked on content alone without
deductions for untidiness, wrong spelling etc. I ended as the top pupil
of the class, even though this final class was made up of those in
higher forms in previous years not wishing to stay on to take O-levels.
When I left school I could not 'do my times table', I
could barely spell let alone construct a sentence, and thus essay
writing was almost impossible. Grammar was to me, a name referring to a
grandmother. A square root I imagined was a square shaped carrot. 64 add
7 was 64 + 5 fingers on my right hand + another two on my left, that
makes 71. I'll do that again to make sure. Yes, correct. (Surprising how
you learn to do it so know one else is aware. Watch for the telltale
thumb movement). I thought of myself as thick, clumsy, and clearly
sub standard compared to my peers.
My dad asked me what I wanted to do on leaving school.
Since I had just recently discovered electronics I wanted a job in that
field. I applied for an electrical apprenticeship with the then National
Coal Board, somehow I passed the pre selection test, subsequent
interview and signed my indentures one Saturday in September 1970. Then
I had to face college, what a prospect. By the time I had enrolled, the
class was well established and already a month or more into the
syllabus. I was now faced with algebra, log tables, geometry and
trigonometry. I knew what a circle and triangle were, but little more. I
knew I had do something to catch up, but what? Discovering my own
learning techniques was the answer initially and then later from the
work done by Tony Buzan.
