Ella Reed felt being a dyslexic child growing up in the 50’s and 60’s was extremely challenging.  She had not been diagnosed as having dyslexia until she reached her mid 30’s.  The history of dyslexia is complex. It is a disorder that affects your ability to read, spell, write, and speak. Kids who have it are often smart and hardworking, but often misunderstood. At times they are even treated cruelly by others.

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 During the 50’s and 60’s it was common practice for students to stand and read aloud in front of the class.  Kids often giggled as Ella Reed tried her hardest to make sense of the scrambled words on the page. A pat on her head by the teacher, followed by, “she’s special” were words Ella became accustomed to. By the third grade Ella became emotionally overwhelmed and each day dreaded going to school.   However, she was in love with story-telling and especially loved the books her older brother would read to her.  

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Although, feelings of humility and defeat were common to Ella, her imagination continued to expand. She grew to love the outrageous fun stories that she herself created in her mind but held deep within her heart.  She also decided that she was not going to own the words “stupid” or “special” as the teachers so often referred to her as being.  She simply had a handicap; which meant, like most handicapped people, she was going to have to work harder at everything she set out to accomplish. 

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Since her parents were plagued with extreme hardships, they sent Ella to live with relatives 1,200 miles away from home. Therefore, in the 4th grade she started a new school with new friends. Her prayer was that she would never be called to the front of the classroom to read.  Fortunately her new teacher, Mrs. Finch, quickly recognized that Ella could not read.  Mrs. Finch took Ella under her wing and did what she could to give her extra attention.

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The following year Mrs. Finch discussed Ella’s reading issue with her 5th grade teacher.  She too took an interest in helping Ella. However, Ella’s 6th grade teacher insisted on having his students stand and read aloud in class. “It’s good for them,” he claimed.  

Once again Ella found herself humiliated as she struggled to read in front of the class. She did her best but was criticized and made fun of by her classmates. However, she was delighted when her teacher assigned the entire class to write a five-page story about any subject. The completed assignment was to be turned in on the first day back to school after the two week Christmas vacation.

Ella was determined to prove to the world that she was a true “story-teller”.  She sat at the small kitchen table with her pen and paper, and her dictionary for the entire two weeks, and wrote her best story ever. At least…so she thought.

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School reopened as planned after the holiday vacation. Students proudly turned in their finished project, including Ella. A week later the teacher passed out the graded papers to every student except Ella. The bell rang and the students were excused from class. The teacher motioned to Ella to come to his desk. He handed her the story she wrote with a big fat red “F” on it. 

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Feeling very sad, “I guess you didn’t like my story,” questioned Ella.

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“You could not have written this story,” answered the teacher. “It’s too well written and that’s why I gave you an “F”. Ella tried to convince her teacher that she did write every word, but it was to no avail. He simply refused to believe her.

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Ella did not bother telling her aunt and uncle about the incident because, after all, they were too busy with their lives to be concerned about hers.  However, she did make a promise to herself that someday she would write books. In addition, she pledged that someday she would help children find their voice and help those who wanted to be a “story-teller” become an author as well.

 

Dyslexia never goes away. Ella struggled through high school and college. She simply learned to deal with it, which meant it always took her much longer to complete her studies than anyone else. However, she found time to be a cheer leader, homecoming princess, and was voted best personality by her high school student body.

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Ella eventually married and raised two children. Once they were grown, and after her divorce, she studied and passed her real estate test. She primarily worked with builders and developers.  Her determination served her well. Later she was hired as a marketing representative for a large, full-service law firm. It was not long when the position of Administrator opened up and the firm offered Ella the position.  It was the highest position in the company right under the firm’s partners. As usual nothing came easy for Ella; she worked long, hard hours. However, no one suspected that she had a reading problem. She was too proud to ever show her weakness, but instead she glowed in her strengths.

       

Throughout her busy life she continued to write. However, all her writings ended up in a box stuffed away in a closet. One day she opened the box and after reading some of her work it rekindled her love to be a “story-teller”.

 

It has taken years, but Ella is now an official author. She has written her first children’s book “Sole-mate and The Hill Kids” and is working on the sequel.  Her desire is to continue writing exciting books and to inspire children to read and write books as well.

Yes, Ella Reed is a true “story-teller” in spite of her handicap. Struggle she did, but accomplished she is!

   

“I write what I know.  I’m inspired by real life experiences that I see and hear around me,” claims Ella. “I used the loneliness and the experiences of my childhood to make the characters in “Sole-mate and the Hill Kids” feel as real as possible.”

“Sometimes the very thing that is your greatest challenge becomes your greatest blessing!” says Ella.