DETROIT (WXYZ) — School was never a strong suit for Deon Butler. His intelligence lost in the pages of the curriculum he struggled to read.
“What is the problem with my brain, why I cant read?” Butler said.
Sports… His saving grace.
With a mandatory 2.5 GPA requirement keeping him from giving up.
“I came up with a strategy, if I show up to class every day that’s perfect attendance. That’s a D. If I participate, I’m outgoing, and if I show the teacher I'm trying that’s a D+. If I turn in my work no matter what, I can get a C,” he said of his strategy to maintain his grades.
That strategy landed him at Central Michigan University. A star athlete on the football team who was picked up by the Detroit Lions.
“That’s the thing about reading, you cant run from it, there is no running from it,” he said.
Butler says not being able to read the Lions playbook ultimately got him cut from the team — a nearly debilitating blow. But it wasn’t until 2019 when he found out his wife was expecting, he knew something had to change.
“I wanted to be that father that read to his daughter,” he said.
Butler hired a tutor, Susan Schmidt, who identified he is dyslexic.
“Some of the things they may have trouble with may be making the connection between the sound of a letter or the actual graphing or shape of the letter,” Schmidt said of dyslexia.
Schmidt, who is a veteran educator, says early intervention is key when treating dyslexia. A testament Caroline Caganov knows to be true after a year of fighting to get her sons diagnosed in the first grade.
“Even when I knew what was going on and I had a diagnosis I still had trouble getting him what he needed,” Caganov said.
Caganov, Schmidt and Butler are all fierce advocates of proposals making their way through Lansing aimed to better train teachers to spot reading disorders through advanced screenings and support.
“When children cant read, they cant reach the rest of the curriculum. We know prisons have a low literacy rate. Make the connection here,” Schmidt said.
Butler is now a motivational speaker teaching students it’s okay to ask for help and spreading awareness about dyslexia. After many painstaking hours or unlearning and studying, Butler can now check off one more accomplishment.
Now that he is able to read books to his daughter, Butler said reads to her “Everyday and in tears. It’s a dream come true.”
The proposals are currently sitting in the Senate Education Committee with lawmakers hoping to get it passed by early next year.
