Jonathan Mooney didn’t learn to read until he was 12.
Diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, he was labeled as dumb, lazy and at-risk. He left school during his sixth grade year because of anxiety and depression and had a plan to commit suicide. He hid in the bathroom in high school to avoid reading out loud.
While his dad gave him a 50/50 chance of graduating high school and a counselor predicted he would end up in prison, he graduated not just from high school but also an Ivy League college. He earned a literary degree from Brown University and wrote two books.
“I transcended those low expectations,” he said. “What ultimately holds kids like me back is the negative self concept. Building a more positive self concept, that’s what saved my life.”
Mooney, a speaker and advocate for kids with learning differences, told his story at a Struggling Readers Symposium held Sunday at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business.
He acknowledged that there are real neurological challenges that come with his brain, including the attention span of a gnat and spelling at a third grade level. But the challenges are offset by advantages that include creativity, innovation and a flair for entrepreneurship.
“We as a society are losing a tremendous amount of talent,” he said. “If a kid feels broken, that’s not a path to someone being successful. We need to spend less time trying to fix kids and more modifying the classroom.”
He wants schools and society to move beyond the narrow view of a good kid as one who’s compliant and sits still and of a smart kid as one who reads early and fast.
“The reality is there’s not one way to be smart,” he said. “It’s not the person who’s broken, it’s the way the person is treated.”
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