The Hardest Test by Scott Quinnell Page B

programme was suitable for us. I was diagnosed as severely dyslexic. My problems were a lot worse than Lucy and Steele’s.
    One of the key tests was for balance. I learnt that with learning difficulties like dyslexia and dyspraxia, things like co-ordination and eye tracking as well as balance are affected.
    â€˜Learning difficulties’ suggests problems with reading and writing. It’s difficult to make a connection between those and physical activities. But the exercises would work on the cerebellum, the part of the brain which processes information and makes things automatic.
    This began to make sense. I had always become easily tired when reading and writing. When I thought about it, I could see how my dyslexia left me having to concentrate much harder just to do simple tasks because nothing was automatic. These were skills that most people take for granted. Obviously my poor eye tracking had been responsible for the way in which my eyes would skip around over a page.
    I stepped onto the machine which tests your balance and fell off instantly. I’d been playing rugby since the age of eight – I would never have thought balance would have been a problem.
    When we got home and started the exercise regime, Nicola was as sceptical as I had been. I guess it’s hard to take sitting on Swiss balls and throwing beanbags in the air seriously as a treatment at first. But when you get into it, you realise how tricky the exercises are.
    As I had done with my rugby I began to really apply myself to the routines. I was away a lot with work and had to be sure to take the equipment with me. To get the best out of it takes real dedication. I had to be strict with myself as well as with the kids.
    A BBC film crew asked if they could record my progress throughout the year, and I was more than happy if it served to raise awareness of learning difficulties and help people to recognise what people with such problems go through.
    After about six weeks Steele was keen to try riding his bike again. It had been heartbreaking to see him fail on his previous attempts, when all the other kids his age were cycling around. I tried to dissuade him, telling him to wait a little while longer, but he was adamant.
    I held the seat as he rode. I let go after about ten yards. In disbelief I watched Steele continue, thirty, forty, fifty yards. “Dad, don’t let go,” he eventually shouted. “What do you mean?” I said. “I’m back here.” He had no idea he was on his own.
    I’ve played fifty-two times for my country but never been as proud as I was that moment. That day proved to me that the programme was working and it gave us all the belief to push on.
    That summer we were on holiday in Lanzarote. At the airport on the way out I bought a couple of books. I started reading the first on the plane and to my amazement I finished it after three days. By the time the week was over I’d read both. I can’t begin to express how this made me feel. It’s something that most people take for granted. I’d never before managed to get through a book. My eyes would start to hurt, or I’d give up because the words would jump all over the page.
    Over the next few months I read more and more and even began going on the internet and writing e-mails myself for the first time. It was an emotional time as I began to realise all the things I’d missed out on over the years. But at least I knew that my children wouldn’t be missing out.
    They too were progressing all the time. They brought their school reports home and sat with me as I read them. Just to think – when I was at school I’d do all I could to hide my reports from my parents! I couldn’t believe the change. They had both improved in all subjects and the teachers were amazed with their progress.
    I could see them coming out of themselves, too. They had always been happy, but they were really starting to grow in self-esteem.