Literacy History - Assignment 1

 

My name is Madyson LaManna, I’m twenty two years old and I am currently majoring in Media Arts. To some degree in my life, my experience with literacy has been a unique one. When I was very young, I had a few development issues in my physical abilities and having a delay in my speech skills. So alongside the various types of therapy I had to do, (walking, behavior, attention, etc.) I also took speech therapy. However, during my years in elementary school, as well as middle school, I was always a good reader and read above my grade level by two. Nowadays, I struggle to find the time to pick up a book and the attention span needed to complete even a chapter of a novel. I remember when I was little my dad was the one who read me stories at night, and how he made it more interesting with sound effects and acting out scenes. I loved every minute of it. As someone who was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD at a young age, I find it difficult to read people and situations in my real life, but so much easier reading and understanding fictional scenarios, characters feelings and the deeper topics that a story tries to convey. In a way, I’d like to think that some of the literacy fundamentals I learned through fiction I was able to apply to my real life and improve my social skills. Literacy has been a bumpy ride for me, but it goes to show how it is important for people to function in a society, and especially for people like me. Whether it is a fictional or non-fictional scenario, literacy is a core element of communication and language; a fundamental skill we develop in our younger years and fine tune as we age. I had to learn my skills in literacy differently than others, and I did struggle from time to time, but I learned eventually and it is because of my personal experiences that I value and appreciate literacy. Just like any other academic subject, such as math or science, literacy is all around us in our lives; whether we are speaking to someone, reading a sign or map, comprehending a movie plot, listening to the news or podcast, literacy is vital to us.