I volunteer after school because I enjoy teaching, but one child changed the way I understand learning. His name is Nikhil. Every time he tried to read, he blinked rapidly and shook his head. At first I assumed he was distracted or uninterested, but the more time I spent with him, the more I realised he was trying, and something else was stopping him. And after spending one on one time with him, he said read basic alphabets wrongly.
I will admit I felt completely unprepared. This was beyond anything I had seen. So I went straight to my team lead. She listened carefully and gently explained that Nikhil might be experiencing a reading difficulty, something similar to dyslexia. She helped me design a simple, structured plan just for him and said my role for the month would be to work with him daily so he did not feel lost or left behind.
We made small, intentional changes, we used guiding lines under each word, reduced visual clutter and slowed the pace. This helped him to the words more easily. It was not perfect, but it was progress.
After a month of working together, he can now read short paragraphs with fewer pauses and much less frustration. The words do not “jump” as much when the text is structured and the support is consistent. One afternoon he said very quietly, “When you sit with me, the words stay in place.” For me, that sentence is everything.
He has also started telling me what scares him about reading, things he says he has never shared with anyone before, because no one would believe him. I think he is beginning to trust himself, trust me and trust that reading can feel different.
This experience taught me something important that my problems are nothing compared to his and I will volunteer for all my life even after I become an engineer.
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