Learning Comes in Many Different Forms

Part two of The Road to Becoming a CrossFit Coach

My test results arrived again in an email but this time it read PASS! Now I could begin coaching and teaching the fundamentals. All that studying paid off which is what I should have done the first time. Did my friend pass too? The results were in and this time the result was FAIL, again. Something was wrong, it didn’t make sense since we were study buddies. We could repeat the material back to each other at nauseum.

How could I possibly celebrate? It was more like a punch in the gut! We went over the percentages of the tested topic results again and it didn’t make sense. After a few days my friend told me that learning and testing had always been difficult in school. It’s very difficult when some of the letters and numbers are reversed. The problem sounded like dyslexia to me. My husband had all of these horror stories about his own father who was corrected with various punishments because he suffered from dyslexia.

My friend is persistent and was already signed up for another retest. After thinking more about it there had to be something that CrossFit Headquarters could do for people trying to take the CrossFit Level 1 testing with a disability. The biggest problem is that my friend had NEVER been properly diagnosed or tested for dyslexia. What an amazing person to have triumphed over so much while having this problem.

After asking a few friends in the education field I was pointed to The International Dyslexia Association which gave me a listing of providers in our area. The provider would test my friend and give the results to headquarters in order to see what kind of help could be provided. The test revealed what my friend already knew. Even so, the results were a shock but after some long discussions we both realized that all of this happened to get to this point.

There are options and lessons to learn decoding to make things easier for someone who is dyslexic. The provider asked for more than the 60 minute allotted time to take the test. The third time taking the test resulted in

• 75 minutes to take the test
• A quiet room with a testing supervisor

And now we wait again for the results in the email. Surely there are others out in the great big world who might be hiding a learning disability. My friend allowed me to tell their story with the hopes that if you do have a disability, bring it out in the open and get help so you can live your dream. Don’t be limited by secrets, don’t be embarrassed because you learn differently. We all have our strengths! Let’s all keep our fingers crossed and say a little prayer because my friend will make an incredible coach!

When we get the word that they passed we will truly celebrate!

Update: 7/29/14

My friend got the test results via email, PASSED!

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