The Writing Contest
By Trevor riley
The Writing Contest by Trevor Riley
This is Caleb. He is 8 years old. He loves to write and read, but he struggles with it. He looks like any other kid, but that is because dyslexia is something that affects the inside of the body. Dyslexia affects the brain.
The only reasons Caleb likes to go to school is to see his best friend, Hunter, and because he gets to go to reading class. He likes reading class because he can express his feelings on paper without being made fun of. Caleb goes to a special reading class with an aide to help him specifically.
Caleb doesn’t like school because he gets made fun of by all the other students that can write and read well. It isn’t fun being made fun of. it makes him sad that he can’t be like everyone else. He wants to know how it feels to be normal.
One day Caleb’s father notices that Caleb is feeling sad, so he goes up to Caleb and asks him what is wrong. “Dad, I don’t like school anymore. People treat me differently and I don’t understand why. I want to be normal. Why am I the one who has dyslexia?”
Caleb’s father sighs, “Caleb you shouldn’t talk that way. You used to love school. But you are right, You shouldn’t be treated differently because it isn’t your fault. Dyslexia is genetic. This means that it runs in our family. There is no way to prevent that.”
There was a long silence before Caleb's father said, “Did you know that there are famous people who have the same thing you do?” Caleb’s frown turned to a grin. “Albert Einstein and Leonardo Da Vinci had dyslexia just like you, and they became very successful in life. They are both very smart people.”
The next day in reading class, Caleb’s aide told Caleb about a special writing contest the school was having. Caleb immediately took out a piece of paper and told the aide that he was ready. Caleb knew this was his chance to show the kids in his school that he was capable of doing what they can do.
The next couple days, Caleb wrote‌ and wrote‌and wrote, using all the help he could get to write the paper. Caleb was just glad to be getting the chance to show people what he could do.
On Friday, the principal announced that there would be an assembly to show the winner of the contest later in the day. All Caleb could think about that day was the contest. That day to him was one of the longest days of his life.
The principal walked up and spoke for a while before mentioning the contest. Caleb didn’t listen to very much before he heard the words “winner” and “contest.” “The winner of the writing contest will be writing for the state to compete in the state competition. The winner is… Caleb!!! The whole school just stopped and stared at Caleb for what must have felt like forever. Then, everyone went insane, cheering for him in every way possible. Caleb had for once been admired for what he did and showed them he could do what everyone else could do. He was normal, and that was all he ever wanted to be. Caleb had just won the competition.