S2E23: Managing Back to School Anxiety for Dyslexic Students and Families

Do you want to discover the secret to improved understanding and support for dyslexic college students? Get ready, because weI'll be sharing the solution so that you can achieve that result. Get excited for an eye-opening journey!

In this episode, you will be able to:

• Discover how colleges provide accommodations for dyslexic students, ensuring your child's academic success.
• Learn effective strategies to help your child manage anxiety related to dyslexia in the college environment.
• Understand the differences in state laws for dyslexic accommodations and how they may impact your child's college experience.
• Gain valuable insights from personal experiences with dyslexia to better support your college student.
• Explore essential strategies to support your dyslexic student's successful transition to college life.

Transcript:

00:00:05
Welcome back to word blindness. Dyslexia exposed. I'm Juliet Hahn, here with my co host, Brent Sopel. How are you coming off of grandma's ten day vacation? So I've been working hard trying to keep her in vacation mode.

00:00:20
So, Monday morning. So today is Labor Day, right? It is Labor Day. So, um, we are working as everybody was vacationing, and for most of the world, uh, the rest of the world that hadn't back to school or is planning to go back to school. Oh, my God, I feel sorry for you.

00:00:41
Yeah. Um, right, that's us tomorrow. And I. You know what? I had an anxiety dream last night, but it wasn't about back to school, and I'm not gonna even go into the dream, because it was.

00:00:50
Oh. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let me. So I. I'm just.

00:00:57
I built this new device. You know, I built a little vest with a fishing hook on the back, so when grandma goes in the store, I can reel her back in. I'm reeling you back in. No, no, no, no. I'm not gonna.

00:01:09
I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna talk about it. Whoa, whoa. No. Because it is.

00:01:15
Sorry. There's. There's no. There's no world that I would talk about that. What?

00:01:21
I don't even know why I brought it up then. 100% you brought up for a reason, so. No, no. Why are you. Why are you cheap right now?

00:01:30
Like, what's going on here? Huh? We're not talking about. Fuck, no. We're not talking about any of this.

00:01:38
Oh, my God. It was an anxiety dream. I'll just leave it there. It wasn't any fun dream. It was an anxiety dream.

00:01:46
And I. When you didn't perform good in anxiety dream or. What? What's going on here? You're pushing for a reason.

00:01:54
I'm sweating. Yeah, there is a reason. No. And then when I tell you later with the dream, is you're gonna be like, oh, I'm so sorry. That was not where my mind went.

00:02:03
No. And I'm just gonna leave it there. Cause if I say anything else, it's gonna dig me a hole, and then it's gonna be very confusing for the last. Well, at least you're smart. You're stopping before you can dig in.

00:02:15
All right, that's good.

00:02:18
I'll start over. I had some anxiety last night that when I woke up, I was like, right, tomorrow is, um, start a school, obviously. Montgomery is back in a number of weeks. Uh, you know, getting. Let's do a little roundup and, you know, let's, you know, we've taped a couple.

00:02:38
He's been there a couple weeks. So what's, what's his update from, you know, from your perspective? How's he, you know, how's he holding up? Ups and downs. Ups and downs?

00:02:48
Um, I don't know. Yeah, totally. I mean, right? Every, I mean, you know, if you look at it, if you, if you follow my instagram feed right now, you could tell that that's what I've been looking at because it's all like the dorm, you know, moms, all these different things everyone is like going through, I think when they're like three weeks, whatever. It's kind of a little weird.

00:03:07
I actually am going to be going to see him tomorrow to see his, his game. So I'm really just. Games on Tuesday. When you get there tomorrow at six, let's, you know, let's talk about this, you know, for a second. Yo, in high school, I don't know how many parents have told me this teacher, you're, you're not going to make it.

00:03:29
You're not going to go to college, you're going to this, you know, as I tell parents all the time, we just have to get our kids through high school. And then as you talked about it, you know, then you started doing college classes that you loved and you enjoyed school. You know, you got the diagnosis that you're able to create that roadmap. Sorry, skip for yourself, you know, so we find our way around getting through classes. Is that cheating?

00:04:01
I'm going to have to create my own word for. Because cheating for us is not cheating as other kids finding ways around it. Yeah. Correct. So, you know, or we find way around how to get through this assignment, how to get through this class, how to do this, how to get through high school in one piece.

00:04:23
Yep. So when kids not like me, because I sure the fuck want to go in college, go to college. You know, if you remember back, you know, grade nine for the Canadians, freshmen for Americans, you're fine. They're finding their way around it. Or when they get diagnosed, if it's a little bit later, it takes them a while to figure out their ways around certain things, tests or answers or how many times we go to write a sentence and rewrite, rewrite it 16 times to figure out how that we can spell it, everything, you know, so when they go to college, they have to do the same thing.

00:05:01
So it's like repeating, okay, how am I going to get around this class? What does this class mean? Is. Is it in person? Is it a lecture class?

00:05:09
Is this, you know, how I have to find a way around, you know, and that's what Montgomery is doing right now. Finding is a way around the teachers. Right? How do I need to work with Mister so and so or misses so and so or this class or, you know, so he's, he's rewriting, right? He wrote his roadmap of how to get around classes.

00:05:29
Now he has to rewrite it a different way in a different font, you know, for college and a couple different things. So, yes, I. When you said I enjoyed school, I don't, I don't. I love how you hung out and everything I just said, I love how you hung on to that word, you know? Oh, and I, yeah, I have three.

00:05:49
I have three things that I'm going to talk about. And this is one of the things I've gotten way better in life. I can retain. Instead of spitting out before, I would be like, wait, no, no, I would have to interrupt you because it would be gone. So I wouldn't use that word.

00:06:03
I became so curious that it was almost like a sponge. But I don't know if I was skipping off to class being like, woo, I'm so excited. I enjoyed starting to learn, but still the school stuff. And I know you're gonna be like, okay, whatever. Like, you really got hung up on that word.

00:06:18
But it was never. Even though I know in the episode that went out, I did find myself, I did realize I was smart. So there's all those things. I still would get massive anxiety going into the classroom and all these things. One of the things building on that is, as you said, all of us that have had struggles in the classroom, and we're talking specifically dyslexic, the four ds, dyslexic, dysgraphia, adhd and dyscalculia.

00:06:45
Everyone has different paths. Some people might have anxiety going into classroom for a different reason, strictly because of anxiety, anxiety disorder. But anytime school would start, I remember always kind of being like, okay, how am I going to figure this out? So that starts playing in your mind at an earlier time. Then I would think someone that's really excited about class, yes, they're thinking about a different kind of scenario when they're going back to school.

00:07:13
Ours is like, okay, is this teacher going to understand? How am I going to get out of things? How am I going, you know, where am I going to sit? All these different things that not everyone, you know, can think of. So that's where the anxiety and all of that starts.

00:07:26
So even when I started becoming good at school, I think there was parts of me, though, that was like, this is so bizarre. And, you know, even when people say test now, I get, like, I could throw up in my mouth. So it's still. It was this, again, a little bit of like a mind fuck. Like, okay, I am smarter than I ever thought I was, but I still have that anxiety of like, is this going to continue?

00:07:49
Like, throughout my school? You know, I was always waiting for that one shoe to drop. Like, okay, uh huh. You just record in that class, but the rest you're going to suck in. So it is this weird feeling.

00:07:59
So that's one of the things, again, for when Montgomery started. And if I touched on this, I'll just touch on it lightly. If someone wants more information about this, they can kind of reach out to us on the back end. But because he had an IEP in high school and because he has a doctor's diagnosis from a neuropsych, you know, with the four ds, he's able to get accommodations in college. All colleges universities have different structures of what kind of accommodations they have.

00:08:28
So, like, each state. Exactly. So it's very, very different. That's where we, as the sopal foundation, are really wanting to be the forefront, helping you guys do that, especially since I just went through this, all the knowledge that we have, like, just stay tuned for that. But one of the things that was really cool is that, you know, he got, and I forget the words in South Carolina, but it was like, fill out your accommodations.

00:08:52
He did not. In New York state for high school, he would have had to get tested right at the end. And I know we talked about this somewhere in the middle of our podcast, and I got, like, pissed. And I was yelling at people, like, why is. Why does he need to get tested again?

00:09:07
Can we just, like, he's doing well. Like, why do we need to remind. Some people will ask, well, why do you get so tweaky with the test? Because when you take those tests, it just reminds you of all the things you suck at. It's like, okay, yeah, I suck at this.

00:09:18
Thank you for continuing to test. Thanks for reminder. Yeah, thanks for the reminder. So every time a kid gets tested, you know, to get their accommodations or whatever, it's like this reminder. And so that's why we get kind of tweaky about it.

00:09:29
So I was like, does he have to do it? I reached out to the university, to Newberry College, and asked them and they were like, no, he actually doesn't have to. Unless he is planning on staying in New York state. New York state is going to want him to have another round of testing. However, South Carolina doesn't.

00:09:46
So when he went in, he was able to bring the last kind of IEP accommodations with him. We were able to give it to the school, and then he was able, right before classes started, literally the day before, fill out his accommodations. And I sat with it. Like, he, you know, he had me on FaceTime and he's like, okay. And as he's reading, he's like, no, I don't want to do that.

00:10:07
And he's like, fucked. I don't want to do. I was like, what the fuck? And he's like, I have to do it. All right.

00:10:12
I'm just going to click everything, even though it's so annoying. But you know what? I do need to. Because he didn't want to sit in the front. That was the one thing he's like, in the front.

00:10:20
And then he goes, you know what? If I need to talk to the professor, I'd rather. I'm going to sit in the front. I'm just going to click everything. And then he took a breath and I was like, I'm so proud of you.

00:10:29
I'm so proud of you. Because, you know, he's like, that stuff helps me. He's like, I, you know, I know it helps me. And I maybe in high school it didn't help me as much, but I need to be opened. And he didn't say it in these adult words, but, like, I need to be open to, like, not shut it down before I even start.

00:10:45
And that was, like, really cool for me to hear. So when he did that, and that's why I was, I'm always like, I know he's going to be fine. He knows what to do. Testing. You know, he's able to take a couple classes to test in a different center, but he doesn't have to.

00:10:59
So that's kind of cool. He can kind of determine it himself. It is definitely been ups and downs, but he is in the mode of, like, he just had a test. I think he got like an 85. He's like, all right.

00:11:10
And I was like, oh, damn. That's what I said. I go, okay, good. But it was one of the classes that he actually is really enjoying that sports psychology and then the sports business. He's like, I didn't think I was going to like that, but there's some things in there that are really interesting.

00:11:24
So this is what's kind of cool. And I know there's so many people that miss out on this kind of opportunity. And that's one of the reasons why, for him, because of my opportunity at college, I really wanted him to go because I wanted him to see that school doesn't always have to be this cookie cutter, motherfucking suck place. Excuse me. I don't know why I had to put those words in, but I know why it doesn't.

00:11:50
And here's another example. It's just, and I'm going to let you speak on that. But then I have another example where I, there are places that are good that are better than others, and it's hard for us to know, but, like, that's one of the things that we want to be able to provide people, like, with states that are maybe stronger and doing the research that we're doing and doing the experiences that we're doing. So when someone maybe is moving or they, you know, are searching, it's not, they're not like that alone of feeling. Yeah.

00:12:22
Okay. Yeah. You good? Good. Thanks for checking, you know, wanted, you know, to expand on that.

00:12:33
You know, we're going to find out what states are like, New York state, like, where you have to get tested. Right. We're also going to find out what's those states. And this will be part of the stuff that, you know, the information we're collaborating and getting with the states are the second language. Well, so thank you.

00:12:52
Well, you finished? Go ahead. No, no, you're good. Go ahead. So that's one of the things.

00:12:55
So South Carolina. So in New York and Connecticut, if you have a dyslexia diagnosis, you do not have to take a foreign language. So Montgomery's never had to take it. Take a foreign language, even though when we moved to New York, they kind of were like, well, wait. And I was like, and Illinois, just throwing in there where we are.

00:13:12
Have to. Have to have second language. I'm like, you can't do the first language. You want me to do second, right. And this came from Yale.

00:13:18
So this came from. And I never can say their names, but the. I always say, I won't say their names. Okay, Shane. Witches.

00:13:25
Thank you. I was calling the Schneiderbachers anyways. What? The what? Schneiderbachers.

00:13:31
Because I know, I know it starts with an s and so I never can remember in my head that's what they are. But so they did. One of the things that they did is coming from Yale. They stated that you do not have to like, they're. When kids go to Yale, if they are dyslexic, they do not have to take a foreign language.

00:13:52
So they were really. They pushed that, and that was one of the things that I grabbed onto, and I was like, thank God, because I failed every foreign language possible. So South Carolina is not a state that sees. I want to make that a federal law. You know, you're gonna hear that on here.

00:14:06
I'm gonna say that on here. I want to make that a federal law for all dyslexics. So I've never said this, and I never. You know, they want us to get good at a foreign language, and let's prefer it. Some can.

00:14:19
Some are very good at a second. So it's not. It's not pigeonhole choice. It's a choice, and that's what it should be, is choice. And I've got all.

00:14:27
You've heard me. If you listen to our podcast, I got all these, you know, dumb lines. You know, I always say you can't get to two. T get to one. Well, I can't do the first language, but you want me to do the second?

00:14:39
Yeah. What fucking sense does that make? Mm hmm. None, you know, so I want to federally get. Get that changed and work on, you know, work on that.

00:14:49
It's not, you know, and you're north America. I want to get that changed on a federal level for dyslexics. You know, you've heard that here for the first time. I've never said that because it just put it out in the universe. I love it just as you're talking about it, you know?

00:15:05
You know, in each. Each state can, you know, they have control of what they want to do, no problem at all. But it doesn't make sense when we can't do the first language, why we have to have it, and why do they have to fight about it? Like, why? Who cares?

00:15:21
Like, who cares? Let it be a choice. Like, who's got the stick of the ass? No. You know, and I'll say this.

00:15:29
They don't understand us. That's where it comes back to. So, you know, stick up the ass. And, you know, someone might like that, but they. I don't judge, but they don't understand what us go through.

00:15:44
And I was sitting there listening you talk. And I never thought. And I've never admitted this. I've never said that. I didn't really know how bad my anxiety was till just now.

00:16:03
You know, let's like, oh, you're early again. I had an incident go on. Last week, Courtney Hall's lady's name. Good morning Chicago on NBC, you know, invited me down to downtown Chicago to tape an episode for the show. It's gonna air in, um, October.

00:16:25
So taped it about the Stanley cup dinner, and I went to the wrong, wrong place and honored email. I went back and, like, I called Elizabeth in there and highlighted yellow, the address and where to be, and, you know, 20, was it? 20 13, 20 14, 20 15. I was taping. I was doing.

00:16:47
I had my own show on NBC, you know, sports show, hockey, uh, Sunday morning show, and I did some Sunday night show. So I did a lot of stuff with NBC, so I didn't even look at that address. I went down there. We're half an hour. Really lazy.

00:17:01
Yo, security lady, who was an absolute bitch. She was one of the worst human beings I've ever met. It was. It was unbelievable. Um, and then corny text, where are you?

00:17:13
So I'm in the wrong. I was in the wrong building. If Elizabeth wasn't there, I was so mad that I would have driven home. But we ended up going taping. All that went well.

00:17:24
But, you know, my anxiety. And I just thought about, you know, I have to be on the plane, like, first, because if I'm doing. If I got a carry on and I don't find a spot for it, and I got to walk back through all those people because I don't have a place to put my carry on, it tweaks you. Oh, my God. Like, we talked about this morning, I literally would not have shown up after I was in the wrong place.

00:17:53
Yo. And it was, again, it was on her email. She was clear as days. You know, it all falls on my show. It was just, you know, I didn't even look at it.

00:18:01
I didn't look at the email because I'm just. I've been there so many times. I've done it. Nope. So I can't even blame her.

00:18:07
No yellow blocks. But you know what the. Also, thank goodness she also texted you, because she could have been like. And I text her, yo. And this is, you know, again, things I did.

00:18:19
I text her about 30 minutes, and I'm not just pulling in, yo, again, Elizabeth, like, oh, we got to be early. But she. She saw what it does to me. I was. I was angry.

00:18:32
The embarrassment for me not having a place for my luggage, for me going to the wrong place. Some people like me not showing up. You know, I just show up 3 hours before the game, you know, just to be, know where I am, just no. Even though I've been that dressroom 10,000 times, just being there, just going there before, like, Elizabeth, you say when I was coaching, what? I don't know what you're doing.

00:18:59
Like, why are you. You're there. Like, I just can just be there. I can just go and sit there and anytime I am. And I didn't think about until Lily, as you're, as you're talking.

00:19:13
That's how panicked I get. For what? You know, somebody always talk about being the last one walking into a class or last one walking into the dressing room or last one on the plane. There's no, I just. So my anxiety is probably, you know, for.

00:19:28
Of a scale of, you know, one to five. Now I think about it, my. I'm probably an eight. Yeah. No, so there's so many interesting things that you just said, and I know we're.

00:19:37
I mean, I love where this kind of direction just went because there are. I can be late, like, five minutes late. I don't like, I'm five minutes late for literally everything, however, at, in a time in my life. And I shared that with, like, when the kids were little. And that was what my anxiety was.

00:19:56
It was about the schedule. I never wanted to let my kids down or them to be the ones that had the parent. That was the scatterbrain. So that's why I would always make sure I was on time. And, like, and.

00:20:11
And that was, like, an interesting, as I'm saying it, it was worrying about what other people thought and a reflection of me onto my children. I didn't really care so much about what they thought of me. If they think I'm a scatterbrain, I don't give a shit. But I didn't want them to then assume for the kids. And it's really interesting because my parents were always pretty much on time.

00:20:33
My brother was the one that was always late, like, always made us late for stuff. But it was that, like, where I needed to make sure, because I didn't. I never wanted to be the mom that didn't have them have the non library book, because my mom would tell stories as the teacher. Right? Oh, that family.

00:20:51
Oh, that family. And then there was a shift, and I don't know when it happened. It went with my kids, got older, and I was like, I don't give a shit. You know what? Let me.

00:20:58
Let us be that family. My kids are five minutes late. They wore one monk armor, I mean, always. And they would walk in five minutes late to class, and I would say, to them. Are you guys all okay?

00:21:08
Like. And they were like, yeah, we don't care. And I always found it really interesting because that being late, right. Is that, like, embarrassment of, like, ugh. But there was a period of time, and I don't know, when I kind of let that go.

00:21:21
And it was like, you know what? I don't care. There was a time even, like, when they were little, like, I didn't care if they're like, Penelope hated brushing her hair and that we now know. It's probably like a sensory thing. But she had this crazy hair.

00:21:31
And I would let. And we lived in a town that was like. Everyone had bows on. I mean, everyone was like, you know, if they had a stain on their shirt, it was like, oh, my God, like, you know, whatever. And I let my kids dress themselves.

00:21:41
They were always mismatched. Always mismatched. They would have boots. One. Sometimes they would wear different shoes.

00:21:46
I would let them express themselves. And they would have crazy hair. All three of them. And I remember people would come up to me and they'd be like, okay, you're not from around here. Now what does that mean?

00:21:57
And I didn't care about that. I didn't care that my kids, if they looked messy, I would be like, no. When she wants to brush her hair, like, it's too much of a fight. I don't give a shit. I like.

00:22:06
I like them mismatched, you know, I kind of. My kids, too, Lila. I have to. Aliens. You know, like little pigtails.

00:22:12
I'd have like 7000 vote, man. You know, one time the school called and said, um, I let Lilo. And, you know, kindergarten. No wonder. Wearing a dress.

00:22:23
So now, like I said, never mean jump in on this. But it's funny that you're saying that because I'm thinking about. I was the same way. I didn't give a shit what anybody thought, you know, about my kids. Meaning, fuck you.

00:22:35
Like, I didn't care, but me, fondly. Yeah, it's interesting. Right? Again, none of this. I've ever.

00:22:44
I've ever thought about it to you started speaking here this morning. So, um, obviously didn't plan on going down this road. But it's funny that you said the, you know, I didn't care, Lal. You undress yourself. And my, you know, my ex wife and, you know, she'd go fucking bananas.

00:23:01
They're not matched. They're not dressed. You dress them like shits. And I don't give a shit. No, I think it's cute.

00:23:07
I liked when my kids are mismatched because they were doing it themselves and it gave them like a little. I also like not to be, you know. Yeah. Jail in the morning. She had sensory, which every time, you know, she wore the same.

00:23:21
We had it, you know, like a tattoo pants. So it was almost like those little lemon pants, low, softer. She wore the same every day because the steam, the seam drove kids crazy. My kids used to all three of them scream at the top, prolonged in the morning. So if we didn't have to do that, like, she would have.

00:23:41
And, you know, anybody with sensory issues, you know what? Don't, don't have them. It's like nails going into their skin. So it's seven in the morning, she's like, so first off, you don't want her to be feeling that. Second off.

00:23:57
Then you got the rest of the house. And if that's how you start, and we're starting the day, what kind of day were, you know, where were we having? And she was all around, so whatever worked, I didn't care. She wore the same pants, you know, there's times there didn't get washed. Five days.

00:24:12
I didn't give a fuck what people think. But that's the thing. And that, and that is another really important thing. When kids are little, if they are sensory and you don't realize it is like, so I would find, I found socks with no seam. There was many times Penelope actually used to wear natives.

00:24:27
She didn't wear crocs, she wore natives. And she didn't wear, I mean, up until like fifth grade, she didn't wear, like, socks. And I didn't care. And like, even in the snow, I'd be like, if she doesn't want them, why am I going to say her feet are going to be cold? If she's fine, why am I going to project how I think she feels?

00:24:44
Like if she doesn't want to wear socks, and at the school, sometimes we'll call and they'd be like, you know, she really needs to wear socks because other kids are saying they want to. And I was like, I don't care what other kids are doing. She's not wearing socks, right? She doesn't want to. I don't care if she wears socks.

00:24:56
Like, stop. Like, this is what she's doing. Leave her alone. And it is really important, and it's interesting to see because even when you're, if you have any sort of sensory ADHD, the four ds, even if you have a kid that's not dyslexic, but they have I mean, most families are gonna have, you know, there's gonna be some sort of sensory in there, and that. And those are the kind of things.

00:25:18
It could be loud noises. It could. There's so many different things. Like, Montgomery was more with loud noises, and we lived in New York City, and everything was loud, and I actually. I used to startle him, and he would cry if I walked into a room.

00:25:30
I had to learn to be, like, quiet. And I. And that was. I was like, you being quiet? Come on.

00:25:35
Jail. It was when she used to come on hockey games, you know, when I was married, she'd sit on her lap with it under her blanket the whole game. Yeah. Right. Because it was.

00:25:46
It's too much. And so these are the kind of things that are really interesting, but I. And I don't even know what I said that made you think about your anxiety. I mean, I know I was talking about, you know, you're talking about, you know, Monk Montgomery, and for whatever reason. No, we.

00:26:05
You know, it just. I never thought about, like, I always have to be. I always had to be early.

00:26:15
And, like, said Elizabeth's like, you're going to coach. And when I was coaching the high school game or practice where you're there, like, 2 hours before, like, what the fuck are you doing? Like, who are you with? Who are you? You got a date on the side.

00:26:27
Like. But, you know, you know, she saw it for the first time when I was, like, when I was late, you know, I went to the wrong building. The embarrassment that I had, the anger I had, because it was. And she's like, I got in the car, and I didn't. I didn't.

00:26:46
I didn't. She's like, I could feel you. Like, you were like nothing I had seen before. Mm hmm. You know, and I don't.

00:26:52
That's my traumas from school 100%. Right. Because you don't know what you're doing. Right. Don't know what I'm doing now.

00:27:01
I didn't do it right, so I fucked up. I'm the asshole, you know, I'm the one that embarrassed myself. I'm the one embarrassed the family, embarrassed us, you know, and the non Dutton on dyslexia guy. It's no big deal. It's no big deal to you guys, but try doing that.

00:27:23
What just happened to me, that's about the 10th million time now. Then it goes back to. And I. When I got there, there was 15 people waiting for me because they were taping a segment for me. Right.

00:27:36
So it wasn't a live show. Live show in tv world. You can, you can, you know, just kind of push it up and throw me it back in. This was. No, they were taping it, you know, for to error in a month.

00:27:51
So there was your camera crew, your lighting crew, makeup crew, you know, two hosts, everybody standing there waiting for me. So now I walk in to like a class where everybody, you know, quiet clap, you open the door. Oh, right. No, it's, and it, and it, right. And I could, and it also throws you off in so many different ways.

00:28:18
But the thing when you said about the airplane, that is one of the things that tweaks me so much. If people from the back put their stuff. And Hahn always asks me, he's like, you get. I get so pissed because I'm like, it's just right above. Like, why do you fuckers.

00:28:30
I hate that. And then I will get. It's not, it probably is an anxiety thing. I'm being like, how am I going to get it if I need to get, like, there's a car waiting or I need to get someplace now I know I'm going to be later. And in the whole time I'm thinking about it, right?

00:28:43
Like, at the whole time I'm thinking about it. But it's, it's just, it's the new, new situations that you don't, that we don't understand. And that's why it's my t shirts gonna be. I fucking hate new. Right.

00:28:57
And, but, you know, but it's so interesting because change, I don't mind change for certain things. Certain things. It tweaks me so that, like, I, my mom would always say you're like, she's like, you're like an anomaly. Like, you don't make sense at all. She's like, sometimes.

00:29:09
And I'm like, oh, you're fine with this? Oh, wait, you're not fine with this. Okay, whatever. It is a very interesting things. And that's just where people are complex.

00:29:18
I mean, you know, if you have the four ds or you don't have four days, people are weird. We all have our little things that have been built from when we were younger. And then obviously, I mean, my travel obviously was all plane related or, you know, hockey related. So lots of trains, you know, airplanes. Few hours late.

00:29:42
I missed it, right? No, so I wasn't getting on the plane, you know, late where they had to hold the plane or miss the plane or like, so, you know, I remember back in the day, pre phone, you know, I call for alarm, you know, you had a call for the wake up call. You know, if we went out partying the night before. Right. Getting home at five in the morning, we get.

00:30:05
I got it. I'd be, I'd stay up because my anxiety, I wouldn't have. Oh, I can't, you know, I sleep. I'm done. Yeah.

00:30:12
So it's. Again. I've never really put two and two, which is equals three, together. So you talked about it, you know, this morning, really, how fucked up I really am. I don't know about that.

00:30:29
Well, you know, it's interesting with college, I'll never forget, I have this one really, like, anxious moment. We were moving into an apartment. The girl that I was rooming with, I had such anxiety that my stuff wouldn't fit where it needed, and then I was going to be a mess and, like, disrupt her. Like, I wanted to make sure that I didn't, like. Cause, like, I wasn't a burn in on someone else.

00:30:50
Like, Hahn's big thing is always like, you know, your problem, never make your problem someone else's problem, you know? And I remember being, like, so anxious that I wasn't gonna have enough space until I saw it and had everything laid out because I couldn't, like, put it in my head how I wanted it. And so, like, but that's all. Those are all. I mean, that could also be, you know, like, you grew up in a house with.

00:31:11
I had five. You know, there was a lot of us. So it's like, oh, the space thing. And then different schools, right? Different states as we're talking about.

00:31:19
I'm going to go back right now to the South Carolina because that's not exempt there. Yeah. And he has never taken a foreign language. So he's like, mom. And so we're working on it.

00:31:33
We're working on it. Like, Ashley's awesome. She's like, don't even worry about it. And he's not, he's like, okay, I won't stress that. He knows that it's going to get taken out.

00:31:39
And I know we just did kind of like a full circle. But this is what, these kind of conversations are important because people don't think about that if your kid hasn't been taking a foreign language. I didn't think about South Carolina. Like, and all of a sudden he's like, I will fail that. And I was like, oh, 100%, honey, you haven't taken any foreign language ever because you haven't had to, because you're dyslexic.

00:31:58
And as you said, the thing that I think is really, really important is that some people actually, for their dyslexia, it. They're really good at foreign language, and that's like the. I guess, you know, you get more not political on this podcast, never will be, you know, the pro choice. Right. You hear that all the time.

00:32:15
So this is the same thing falls in on this umbrella, you know. Oh, you've never done a conform language. Okay, you're gonna go to level five. I've never been level five. What does that mean?

00:32:25
I mean, he doesn't. Yeah, he's like, I don't know anything. I'm like, yes, you don't worry about it, because I will again. But you don't know. Again, I apologize for jumping in.

00:32:33
You. You don't know what state your. Your kids going to go to college. You had no clue. You didn't know, Montgomery.

00:32:40
You know, if kids, you know, doesn't matter who, if they're an athlete or somebody may come out of the woodwork and offer your kid or music, if it's music or art, you don't. Okay, there's some people know exactly where they're going to go, and they go there, right? But there's your instances like this where, you know, a school comes out of the woodwork, right. Right out of nowhere, and offers your kid something or a scholarship or what. And maybe that was even on the kids radar, and there isn't even an offer of scholarship, and they think, I want to go there for whatever reason.

00:33:15
So it's. It's pro choice, you know, again, we're not talking. Talking that same, but it's choice, right? If you can do it and you exceed at it, by golly, do it. But as I tell everybody here, you know, now I'm living in the US, you know, once a week I go, you know, I go to class, you know, I go to american class, learn how to speak american because I can speak canadian, but I haven't figured american yet.

00:33:41
So now they want me to take another third language. Like, what are they talking about? Yeah, it's pretty crazy. And so that those are some of the things that we're going to be really diving into. The other thing is golf event sold out.

00:33:55
By the time this goes out, the golf event is going to be, I'm sure, over. I think we have, like, two more episodes in between this that's going to be sold out going into October. We just, you know, there's so many people. Thank you for all the people that put dollar 25 in or more for it. To get their name in the hat for the Stanley cup dinner, which is in October, if you guys have any interest.

00:34:16
You're like, wait, I want to know more about the Stanley cup dinner. It is going to be so fantastic. I can't even tell you that. You can purchase tickets, so you can go to the sopilfoundation.org and get more information there. You can also email [email protected].

00:34:34
dot. Did I say that right? Yeah, good job.

00:34:39
You know, more information, you know, and email us through there. We both get, we get those emails and, yeah, you know, second, obviously, all the sponsors, you know, it's foursomes. Whole sponsors sold out for the first time ever. You know, July, we, we accomplished something for the first time ever. We've never, we've never hit that 10,000 mark in online campaign, which is amazing.

00:35:07
We had a great, successful August campaign. Still, still tallying. We're going to get ready here, I think about ten days, 15 days to pull the name for, to see who won those, won those two tickets. So a lot of amazing things. You know, with the foundation moving in the right direction, I have to thank everybody, all the listeners, everybody who donated to both those campaigns.

00:35:33
Devin will be getting his jersey this week. He's a gentleman, as anybody remembers. That got us over the seven seven seven. You know, I told him since I said white snakes back. Still here, right?

00:35:47
Still, white snake's still here. You know, uh, since we had 10,000, you know, died the old. It wasn't the frosted tips. I know, Katie. Half my head I saw yesterday's like, oh, we need to die.

00:36:01
And I'm like, you're the one that made me look like this. What happened? The fucking tips. I see your tips a little bit different than my tip. Jesus.

00:36:07
Yeah, I'm trying to draw my hair. Just the tip. Just for a second. My brain's going somewhere else. So what?

00:36:17
It's, you know, everybody who is a part of this world, you know, obviously a great. Thank you. You don't know what this foundation means. The world to me is the most important thing to me in the world. Meaning I never want to have the kid.

00:36:36
You know, the anxiety that I just talked about. That's why I do this every day. That's why my phone's always available. That's why I'm willing to help everybody, because I never want a kid to have that. Yo.

00:36:46
It's obviously brings tears to my eyes just thinking about as we're talking here, everybody's going back to school. Just the what, what I feel right now for them.

00:37:02
But at the end, they're gonna be okay. They're going to find their own path in their own way. And there's going to be bumps in the road. There's going to be scars. But we do what we do here weekly, we do.

00:37:14
We do on the foundation website, on the social media is you're not alone. There's a lot of parents that have designed the anxiety. You have people in your corner, you have support. That's what this foundation is all about. And that's what the podcast is all about.

00:37:29
And, you know, obviously, you know, the reason why we are here today is probably, you know, the biggest reasons, you know, is you. You know, you're the one that has picked me up when I've gone. You know, you're the one that picked me up ample times where, you know, with Elizabeth to be able to understand and connect. You know, you're the first person, you are probably the biggest person and main reason why we are where we are today, why the foundation is why I am, why these listeners are here today. So, you know, you should pat yourself on the back, give yourself a self, self hug, because I would if I was there.

00:38:13
But you're probably the main reason why that golf tournament is solo. You're the main reason why we were here on episode. What are we at now? I think 52, 53. I mean, you know, you stalked me, but your stalking, you know, has saved my life because I believe in you and I believe in what you're doing.

00:38:33
And I. I appreciate all those words, but you sold the golf tournament out. But it is. Yes, because I gave you the. Hey, you're good.

00:38:43
You got this kind of thing. But you're the one who put the legwork, and I just was the cheerleader behind the scenes. You know, somebody say you're good to somebody, see that they're gonna be there to help me. No, no. You and Elizabeth, you know, I've never.

00:38:59
Nobody's ever followed through, so. Yeah, you don't know. It's your special human, so know that. Thank you. When you're trying to get me to cry.

00:39:11
I haven't done that in a little while. Since you left South Carolina. I'm with Montgomery. Well, that's coming up. Right.

00:39:20
I appreciate it, Brent. And I know, you know, again, what you're doing is so important. And I saw it and I felt it, and I know that you're the person that's going to do it. And so if I can give any kind of support and encouraging because I do believe in you. I believe in everything you're doing, and I completely understand you, which I still think is so crazy that you hadn't found.

00:39:43
I'm like, what? That's normal. What is he talking about? I totally do the same thing, which I think also gave you a lot of, like, oh, wait, there's a big community, right? You started tumbleweeding people, and it's like, there's a big community where, yeah, we're all different, weird, whatever.

00:40:00
But I don't think there's been one time where you have said something that I'm like, wait, I don't understand. Can you explain it again? Which is really awesome, because the same for me as well. You know, I've been misunderstood in worlds where I'm like, explain this so many times. And we.

00:40:14
And whether we have the four ds or not, anyone's out there that, you know, you've talked to someone that maybe is not like the typical person you talk to, and you completely don't understand each other. It's so bizarre and weird, and you're like, why don't you understand me? That happens to us more often than not. And so the fact that I know it was the way we kind of talk and we flow and we do. It's easy.

00:40:37
It is. I mean, it's comfortable. It's easy. And that's, you know, it's beautiful thing to find those kind of people in your life. Comfortable, easy.

00:40:45
Make you laugh, let you cry. You know, are. It's. And I hope everyone finds, you know, a person, a friend, a partner, whatever it is that has that. Because it is a beautiful thing.

00:40:58
And that's why we are who we are and why we do yo. Because we are different.

00:41:06
We operate a little bit differently, and it's okay. It is. It is okay. I was gonna say, please stand up and show us your t shirt. Big dyslexia, Dicklexia energy.

00:41:21
And that Dicklexia came from a little, little person, not like a magic. Sorry, I don't think it was supposed to say that. A child. Yes, that's how she pronounced it. Little girl, grade one.

00:41:39
She went back, teacher, teacher, guess what I got. Dicklexia. The teacher called the moment, you know, which, you know, which we know well, is helping over some. Some of these events and the golf event and the cup dinner, and the teacher's like, I've been doing this. I think she's like, 20 years, and I've heard a lot of things, but I've never laughed so hard in my life, you know?

00:42:04
I held this together, then I, then I lost it. Dicklexia. Thanks, Lexia. So Brent has, that's the other thing that's going to be fun. There's going to be a bunch of, some of these sayings, some of this fun stuff for apparel.

00:42:17
Yeah. And I'm going to, for March, you know, March 1, excuse me, October 1, the new website will be up of merchandise, you know, sayings, new logo, you know, t shirts and hats and stickers and croc gibbets for the crocs. I got, you know, popsockets, all those things. So I'm working hard on that. There's different sayings.

00:42:43
You know, there's some good ones. Yes. A lot of fun ones. Yeah.

00:42:50
So this is really cool, which is really, really cool. So stay tuned again, you guys, you can go to sopolfoundation.org and stay up to date because there's a lot of stuff happening. We talk about it all the time. There's a lot of stuff happening behind the scenes that you guys just don't even know what's going on. I mean, Brent is tirelessly working.

00:43:11
We have a community of people that have, you know, that, again, we're tumbleweeding that are like, hey, how can we help here? So, you know, stay tuned because there's going to be a lot of, a lot of stuff as this, as we're coming up on the year, which is crazy. I was actually just thinking this, like how quickly kids age and move. I mean, when we started this, I had a junior who was the oldest and now he's in college and it's just like those two years are just insane of the changing and all, you know. Well, and just remember, let's go back on your birthday where you were.

00:43:47
Yeah. That's like six months ago. I know. Isn't that weird? You know, I turned 50.

00:43:56
Canada day, obviously, most important day, which is July 1, not your fourth that you guys saw. You know, we had a little party that seems like it was, you know, it was only 60 days ago. It seems like a lifetime. It goes so, I mean, the summer, I can't even believe it. I got, I took that boating class.

00:44:13
Yeah. Did I take the boat out myself? No. No. Well, but also the weather hasn't been great.

00:44:18
Well, there's been like times where I'm like, why am I going to try to like go out on like rough seas? Like, that's just stupid. But I also haven't, like, it just hasn't fit in. Yeah. You know, obviously we're in Wisconsin last week and Elizabeth was trying to rent a boat.

00:44:34
I got out of that one also. It was when it was a hundred and felt like it was saying 107 degrees, you know, you know, first time, you know, going away for a couple days and it, yeah, 105 with a 198% humidity. I wanted to. Oh, boy. That is not fun.

00:44:56
Yeah. But. Okay. So stay tuned again, updates. One of the things that we're going to have also, and I'm going to say it here because I'm going to hold them to it, is Montgomery, who's obviously my son.

00:45:10
You guys have heard me talk and people are probably like, oh, really, captain obvious? Thanks, captain obvious. Maybe that's a t shirt. That is. Thanks, Captain Avis.

00:45:19
I love that. And then my nephew, who's going to the University of Tennessee, who's also dyslexic, he and I got into a conversation, a really cool conversation about how they're dyslexic, their dyslexia is different and how it's showing up different at university and college because they're literally a week apart and how Bradley was diagnosed first they said that they would come on during Christmas break, so Montgomery said he would. Oh, yeah. Oh, I know. You told me about Bradley and then I thought you said, you said they both good.

00:45:54
But I didn't know you asked Montgomery. So I asked Montgomery. He's like, yeah, whatever. He's like, I'm totally happy. Yeah.

00:46:00
And so they're gonna come on together. No. Which will be awesome. And we're gonna just talk about some of their early memories. Bradley talked about not being able to tie his shoe and how embarrassed he was, but then also how, like, Montgomery could do it and he couldn't understand why Montgomery could do it.

00:46:13
And we, you know, even though Montgomery was so dissyllable, like endosgraphic, he just was like this deter, I mean, it was like an over add focus thing where Bradley's not as add, so he didn't get the, I mean, it's, it's very interesting. So I'm excited for that to happen. And that, you know, obviously will be out in the new year, but we have some really good things, you know, coming up. And you guys just got to stay tuned. What are you reading?

00:46:36
No, dyslexics don't read. Just memorize. Yeah. Oh, right. First, I mean, that, and that's very true for a t shirt.

00:46:43
Yeah, we spoke about that. Bradley and Montgomery. So I'm just writing it down because, you know, my brain's really, I love it. I love it all right. So, guys, thank you for joining another episode of word blindness.

00:46:59
Dyslexia exposed. Thank you for sitting in. You know, kind of. I love our, like, little therapy sessions. They are so wonderful.

00:47:06
You feel lighter afterwards. And Bill's in the mail. Thanks. You don't get mail at your house, so I don't even suck to get there. That's wondering why I've been getting paid.

00:47:17
So now that makes sense. That's that whole po box thing. So you guys know what to do, like rate, review and share because you don't know. Who needs to hear this. All right, we'll see you for another episode of word blindness.

00:47:28
Dyslexia exposed. Thank you, Brent. Thank you.