As a child with dyslexia, I grew up through school finding all manner of things difficult with school. Whether it was listening to the teachers, reading information from books, or understanding instructions correctly – I seemed to find processing information through words very difficult.
This continued throughout secondary school, which led me to getting unwanted attention for being “the stupid kid” in class. When exams came around, the revision period was a particular nightmare as I would struggle for ours trying to get information from my textbooks and notes to stay in my head. To no avail, as I would frequently get Cs, Ds and fails in my results – despite the SEN support I was getting at school.
Eventually, in my last year of academic exams at the age of 17, I decided that if I was going to fail anyway: I might as well ENJOY it. So during my revision period, I vowed that if I couldn’t make the read-and-remember part of my revision effective, I could at the very least make it fun and enjoyable. So I spent my revision for one particular exam (as an experiment) turning my study notes into fun wacky comics, as well as other creative formats.
I wasn’t surprised that I found my revision notes fun to engage with as a result of this, but I was surprised with how much it seemed to be helping me remember my facts with in this format. As a comic, for example, I now had a visual and a point of narrative to remember my information with and to contextualise it in my mind with. It all of sudden felt like I was understanding the information in a much deeper way than I had before. I was yet even MORE surprised where (as a result of revising and retaining information this way) I ended up getting my first Grade A in a fully academic exam. It showed me that all this time I really could learn and absorb information just as well as anyone else – and that it was simply the presentation of text-heavy/text-only formats that were the main problem.
Some people learn in different ways than others, and may even excel in them. That is why that Dekko Comics (after over 6 years of turning school information into entertainment) is turning my revision technique into a series of video courses. Dekko Video Courses teach creative ways to turn your study notes into entertainment for greater effectiveness and engagement, as well as boost confidence for independent learning. They show how to use the technique for important topics in literacy, maths, science – but also things like mental health CPD courses too.
I will be displaying these exciting new Dekko Video Courses at the Dyslexia Show. They are possibly the biggest thing we have released to date. I would love for you to come along and take a look at them at our stand (44) to see what you think.
All the best and maybe I’ll see you there,
Rossie Stone.
Creator and Founder of Dekko Comics Ltd