Reversals: A Personal Account of Victory over Dyslexia

There was something wrong with my brain. What had previously been a shadowy suspicion that hovered on the edge of consciousness became certain knowledge the year I was nine and entered fourth grade. I seemed to be like other children, but I was not like them; I could not learn to read or spell.

In this first account of what it is like to grow up dyslexic, Eileen Simpson vividly recreates the frightening world of a child living in the limbo of illiteracy. Simpson's lack of reading skills so exasperated her teachers and relatives that they began to think she was mentally retarded. She could get lost walking to the grocery store; at times she felt as if she had no control over her speech. It was not until she was twenty-two that her future husband, the poet John Berryman, finally named her mysterious ailment.

Simpson intersperses her narrative with nontechnical explanations of dyslexia and what is being done to treat it. But despite growing public awareness and advances in research, dyslexia remains a frustrating and frightening disorder.

Eileen Simpson is a psychotherapist and writer whose work includes Poets in Their Youth. She lives in New York City.

In this firsthand account of what it is like to grow up dyslexic, Eileen Simpson vividly re-creates the frightening world of a child living in the limbo of illiteracy. Simpson's lack of reading skills so exasperated her teaches and relatives that they began to think she was mentally retarded. She could get lost walking to the grocery store; at times she felt as if she had no control over her speech. It was not until she was twenty-two that her future husband, the poet John Berryman, finally named her mysterious ailment.

Simpson intersperses her narrative with nontechnical explanations of dyslexia and what is being done to treat it. But despite growing public awareness and advances in research, dyslexia remains a frustrating disorder.

"The estimated 23 million or more dyslexics in this country and those close to them have reason to be grateful to Eileen Simpson."—The New York Times Book Review

"Takes the reader to the heart of an alien condition; reading can offer no richer experience."—Frances Taliaferro, Harper's Magazine

"Essential for libraries with parent guidance collections, and highly recommended for all who have struggled to help children who cannot read."—Library Journal

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