LITERACY

Early dyslexia testing is urged

* Pulitzer winner Mike Peters, a dyslexia sufferer,
was an adult before he knew he had the disorder

As a boy in St. Louis, he always struggled in school.

"I spent most of my time in school thinking I was just dumb because I couldn't follow the classes like everybody else," he said.

It wasn't until years after he won the Pulitzer prize for editorial cartooning that Mike Peters of the Dayton Daily News discovered that he suffers from dyslexia, a neurologically based learning disability.

'I'm proud of my learning disability. It turned me into a cartoonist because I paid so much attention to my visual side.' MIKE PETERS Editorial cartoonist for the Dayton Daily News.

"I was LD when LD wasn't cool," joked Peters, 54, who now lives in Sarasota, Fla.

Dyslexia, which interferes with the learning and processing of language, and other learning disabilities can be a factor in literacy problems.

Peters said he always had trouble with speaking - he stuttered - and writing while attending an all-boys Catholic military high school in St. Louis.

"Often, when you're a dyslexic, you can hear it and understand it, but you can't spit it back out (in writing) on the page like other people can," he said.

Despite his problems, he graduated from high school in 1961 and went on to get a bachelor of fine arts degree from Washington University in 1965.

Peters became aware of his disability in Florida in the mid-1980s. All three of his daughters have been diagnosed with dyslexia, which often runs in families. He said their early diagnoses helped to make school more productive and enjoyable for them.

Dyslexics often are very intelligent, although they have trouble learning. The International Dyslexia Association says dyslexics often excel in areas such as art, architecture, athletics, engineering and music.

Peters feels he gravitated toward visual arts because he was weak in speaking and writing. "I'm proud of my learning disability," he said. "It turned me into a cartoonist because I paid so much attention to my visual side."

Peters, creator of the comic strip Mother Goose and Grimm, loaned his character's name to Project READ for its "Grimmy Awards," which honor students and tutors in adult basic education programs. This year's Grimmy Awards ceremony is May 29.

The cartoonist said too many parents are reluctant to have their children tested for learning disabilities, the first step in getting help.

"They think it's some kind of bad thing," Peters said. "It's a fabulous thing - knowing where your strengths and weaknesses are. It's a great thing, and it does change your life."