How does dyslexia and attention deficit affect Percy’s school attitude and self-confidence.

Percy Jackson: A boy with attention deficit, full of negative thoughts and with a grade never above a C- in school, it is really hard for him to concentrate and he probably will keep on failing in school tests. But if he develops good study habits and has more confidence, will he keep failing? Or he will ace his attention deficit and worries and do better in school?

Percy really struggles with schoolwork and focusing due to his attention disorder and lack of confidence. “But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life.” He is unhopeful about school because he can’t concentrate and learn properly, but Mr. Brunner expects him to have the same ability and or even better than the other people. Percy doesn’t see why others always see more in him than he does in himself.

Percy has attention deficit to deal with which makes him not do well in school, but it seems like if he develops good study habits, believe in his ability to improve and has more confidence in himself, he could do much better at school. He always says that he is a troubled kid, a student who never made a C- in his life and lack of confidence because he is in school with “normal kids.”

In “Percy Jackson: The lightning thief” chapters 1-3, captures what Percy thinks about his study habits and confidence:

“What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time is six years.” (page38)

“But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder and I had never made above a C- in my life.” (page7)

“He was he only teacher whose class didn’t put me to sleep.” (pg. 2)

He is honestly admitting that he is not a good learner, couldn’t concentrate, but he is not making any progresses and he is keeping on mentioning about dyslexia that doesn’t make him “everybody else”.

The video “3 tips to boost your confidence” explains how changing your mindset helps you in many ways. “If you are looking for a long-term change, consider the ways you think about your abilities and talents. Do you think they are fixed at birth, or that they can be developed like a muscle? When you faced with setbacks, if you have a fixed mindset, meaning that your talents are locked in place, you give up. But if you have a growth mindset, a challenge is an opportunity to learn and grow.” What it means it that a fixed mindset prevents you from keep exploring your mistakes, but a growth mindset helps you to grow and study. Percy has a fixed mindset, he thinks that he always gets a D for tests and he is never going to do well, which made him stopped studying and getting frustrated, if he develops growth mindset, he will try harder each time and challenge himself every test. In my personal life, when I failed on something and I tried to think that if next time there’s still a test like that, I will get higher grades or scores, which helps me to get rid of my frustrations and worries.

Besides changing the way Percy thinks, changing the way how Percy studies is also crucial, sometimes in my life, changing the way how I feel about learning and get away of things I don’t need during my study period really changes how I do in learning and studying. In the article “how to focus on studying” reframing your negative thoughts when studying could be necessary for Percy.

“Negative thoughts make studying all but impossible. If you find yourself frequently repeating self-defeating thoughts, try reframing them into more positive statements.” Which is saying when studying, and all thoughts about studying in your mind is pessimist, it prevents you from getting work done, but try to make pessimist statements to optimist statements. When Percy said, “My grades slipped from Ds to Fs.” Instead he should say, “My grades were not as good as last time, but I believe I could get a higher-grade next time.”

Another way to help Percy as a learner is for him to discover the what style of learner he is. In the document “Top 10 study tips” says “Most of us have a preferred way of learning. Get to know the learning style you’re most comfortable with and study in the ways you learn best.” Whether Percy is an auditory learner, who to learn by listening, visual learner, who prefer to learn by seeing or tactile /kinesthetic learners, who prefers to learn by doing. Myself, I am an auditory learner, I read better when someone is reading to me.

In conclusion, if Percy stops what he behaves before and continue to study with a growth mindset and positive study habits, he could get a higher grade than C-, have more faith in himself and change his thoughts about learning, despite his attention disorder and dyslexia.

“If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself.”