My New Samosa Strategy
I’ve got a new strategy for samosas. A strategy for samosas? Why on earth do you need one of those? A few weeks ago I went out for a lovely meal to celebrate curry week. I’m vegetarian so we chose a vegetarian mixed starter. It was very tasty – until I got to the samosa. The pastry was really crispy and crunched nicely when I cut one of the corners off. I was so busy chatting that it took me a moment to realise it didn’t taste like the samosas I usually have. There was an odd texture to it – one I’m not used to. There were little chewy bits in it!
I had already chewed it and swallowed before my brain processed what I was tasting. Luckily it was just a small piece and I took a pause to look more closely at the other part. In the dim light of the restaurant it didn’t look like a normal vegetarian samosa. My friend had a look and tasted it and confirmed my worst fears – that it was a meat samosa! The waiter was very apologetic when we told him. He told the manager who then came over and said we wouldn’t be charged for the starter.
We all have strategies for getting us through the day. Sometimes we learn them from other people, sometimes we read about them (usually on the internet these days!) When I first started teaching (31 years ago) there were very few strategies for working with children with dyslexia. Indeed it was very often not recognised. Nowadays there are loads of strategies to help with dyslexia and workplace accommodations can easily be made if you need them.
Like me with the meat samosa a dyslexic’s brain may take longer to process what they are seeing or see it in an entirely different way.
Here are just a few –
• Using a coloured plastic strip to place over the writing. These come in different colours to suit the particular needs of the person.
• Using a pale coloured paper (white can be too dazzling)
• Use matt paper that is thick enough that the text on the other side doesn’t show through.
• Using specific fonts designed for those with dyslexia (Dyslexie and OpenDyslexic can both be downloaded from the internet.)
• Avoid using text in block capitals as this can be harder to read.
• Allow your child to talk their answer instead of writing it down.
• Using audio books alongside real books.
• Using NLP techniques to help visualise words.
Above all your child needs to know that they are still creative, intelligent and can be as successful as anyone else. Maybe even more so. Famous dyslexics include Richard Branson, Albert Einstein, Henry Ford (of Ford cars), Walt Disney and Stephen Spielberg to name just a few.
There are lots of helpful websites out there too here are a couple in the UK –
www.bdadyslexia.org.uk
www.dyslexiaaction.org.uk
So I nearly forgot back to the samosa strategy. The manager told us they buy in the samosas in separate boxes of meat ones and vegetarian ones. They are cooked separately in the kitchen so the mix-up happened in the factory where they are made. (I was a little disappointed they are not hand made in the restaurant). So my new strategy? I’m going to cut off one of the corners and look at it first before popping it in my mouth! After all – mix-ups can happen anywhere!
If you’d like help for your child contact me at soo@nlp4kids.org or call 0785 144 7612
By Soo Matthews
www.westyorkshirechildtherapy.NLP4Kids.org