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Hi Friends,

Welcome to Minds Like Mine!

My name is Jacquelyn Taylor and I am 20 years old. I have been professionally diagnosed by a neuropsychologist with dyslexia and dyscalculia. I raise awareness about these disabilities on social media, and through public speaking presentations. 

As a young child, I desperately wanted to know people in my life, especially around my age, who had minds like mine (minds that think and learn differently). I often felt confused, isolated, and alone with my disability challenges because people typically did not openly discuss their difficulties. 

Since 2020, I have decided to speak publicly about navigating life with both of my learning disabilities. I make sure to speak about the strengths, as well as the challenges, and offer practical advice to teens, parents, and educators. Unfortunately there is no roadmap about how to navigate life with these disabilities, but I hope that my personal experience can at least offer guidance. 

This is a brief outline of my disability journey:

When I was in second grade, I had a learning disability evaluation done, at the request of my parents. The outcome of my evaluation was that I had anxiety, which was previously diagnosed. The school found me ineligible for special education. However, it was acknowledged that I had difficulties with directionality, spelling, reading, and writing. In hindsight, my anxiety was probably caused by my undiagnosed learning disabilities. 

In third grade (age 9), I had a private neuropsychological evaluation, arranged by my parents. The neuropsychologist diagnosed me with dyslexia. The school accepted this evaluation. Halfway through third grade, I was put into special education with an IEP (Individualized Education Plan). Throughout fourth-ninth grade I started many reading programs, but never finished any of them. These included: Spire, Wilson, Read180, and another program that was not evidence-based. Because I was bounced from program to program, I never learned to read effectively which caused me to fall significantly behind in my reading development.

Towards the very end of eighth grade, when I was 14 years old, my parents had me privately re-evaluated with the same neuropsychologist who diagnosed me with dyslexia. There were two main reasons for this. First, every three years a child with an IEP must be re-evaluated. This helps to track progress and make any necessary adjustments. It is also to check if a child still qualifies for special education services. Second, my high school hinted that I might lose the ability to stay in special education, with an IEP, because of my “good grades.” Before the re-evaluation happened, my mother relayed math concerns to the neuropsychologist who evaluated me. Through various tests, it was ultimately found that I had an additional diagnosis of dyscalculia. 

Throughout my ninth grade summer vacation, I started private tutoring for reading support. I was tutored using the Lindamood-Bell curriculum and did the “Seeing Stars” and “Visualizing, Verbalizing” programs. It was Monday-Friday, three hours every day. Before tutoring, I was reading at the seventh grade level and at the end of the summer I was reading at grade level! When I entered ninth grade, I continued the programs with specially designed instruction for 60 minutes each week.  

During my tenth grade summer vacation, I repeated the process of tutoring, but did both math and reading. The math tutoring program was “On Cloud Nine” by Lindamood-Bell. With this tutoring, I was able to significantly improve my basic math skills, mental math, mathematical reasoning, and multiple-step equations, to name a few.  I continued specially designed instruction for reading which was 60 minutes a week. My school then added math instruction for 90 minutes a week. 

My proudest accomplishment from everything listed above,  was being able to read a novel cover to cover and comprehend it for the first time in my life. I was 15 years old. Previously, I relied on my parents or an audiobook program called LearningAlly to complete reading assignments. 

The specially designed instruction continued for both reading and math in eleventh and twelfth grade. 

Currently, I attend college and am pursuing a bachelor’s degree in communications and public relations. I remain a fierce advocate for learning disability awareness and enjoy public speaking about these topics. I hope to use my lived experience paired with my curiosity to learn in order to create meaningful change. 

My learning disability advocacy journey on social media: 

My social media journey began during the COVID-19 pandemic. It was  my freshman year of high school, when I was fourteen years old. I started my TikTok account, @Jacquelyn_Elyse, to share my learning disability story in hopes of finding a community I could relate to. Through my videos, I speak honestly about my challenges and successes, offer advice, and create educational content to raise awareness about learning disabilities. 

Alongside social media, I have also given presentations about learning disability awareness and have written an article for Dystinct Magazine. I have been guest speakers for Learning Ally’s “Spotlight on Dyslexia”, Millersville University “Support Dyslexic Learners”, URI Tech Day, Education Week, and a PBS show called “A World of Difference.” It is my greatest hope to continue doing this as it brings me joy to share my experience, and offer a student-perspective, to educate others.