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Researching dyslexia was a lot harder than Denki thought it'd be. He'd been looking into it for a while now and not much came up, with the use of quirks most of these symptoms can be helped in schools and often got picked up on quite early. Well, for some.
He'd been doing some research on a few different learning disorders for a while now, and he was fairly confident that this was the issue. He was an electric user, and the statistics said that electric users often go under diagnosed due to the way their brains worked. He'd always struggled reading and writing and hadn't really thought much of it, until he came across an article on dyslexia and decided to have a look. It explained a lot.
The easiest way to be diagnosed and receive help was through the school, paying out for an Educational Psychologist was too expensive for his parents to be able to afford. So, he decided to go to his english teacher about it.
"You don't seem to be struggling in lessons, Kaminari. I wouldn't have sorted you the type to have dyslexia." Minami-sensei said.
"But my grades are awful, and I really struggle reading information! The words shake so I cant-"
He was cut off my a loud sigh and the sound of books being dropped into a desk.
“I’ve worked with kids for years, some with mild dyslexia and others with severe dyslexia so I know what to look for. But if you really think that it's an issue then go to the councillor, she'll know what to do."
“Okay, thank you Sensei.” He walked from the classroom feeling annoyed, hopefully the councillor would listen.
———
Denki waited a few days before going to Mrs. Okumura, he'd never really spoken to the woman so he wasn't sure what to say. She mainly helped students with behavioural issues, and while Denki was loud, he wasn't badly behaved. "Mrs. Okumura, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, be quick though, there's a staff meeting in ten," Mrs. Okumura was sat at her desk, tapping away on the keyboard, paying no mind to the student in front of her.
"I was wondering if, erm, you could get me screened for dyslexia? I spoke to Minami-sensei and she told me to come to you about it." He shuffled on the spot, waiting for the answer.
"Your teachers haven't flagged this up before, I don't think you need a screening." Mrs. Okumura sat back in her chair and looked Denki in the eyes, "If it was really that big of an issue, it would've come up already. You've managed this long, haven't you?"
"I'm really struggling though, could we do one anyway? Even just to rule it out?" He asked, hoping to at least get some sort of positive answer.
"Kaminari, do you really want something like that on your record? If you've managed this far then there's no need to pin this down on you. Don't you agree?" Mrs. Okumura had a grim smile, she didn't seem like the sort of teacher you'd want to speak to.
"I- yeah, I guess so."
Denki left the office and walked feeling worse than usual. He should've expected it, really.
————
It was brought up casually in conversation to his parents, Denki hadn't planned to bring it up at that moment but seeing as it seemed like a good opportunity, he took it.
"Wouldn't your teachers have flagged it down by now though?" His mum asked.
"It can go unnoticed, neurological disorders are often overlooked in electric users since it’s expected of us to not be the smartest.” Denkis grades weren't perfect, but they were manageable, and to a teacher that was apparently fine.
"I can phone the school if you want, see what they can do." She sighed, as if this was the most inconvenient thing he'd asked in a while. To her, it probably was.
Denki knew what his mother's tone meant, he'd spent a lot of time around his parents so of course he'd know their mannerisms and what they implied.
She'd been there to take him to all his doctors appointments as a kid, the surgery he'd had as a baby and all the recent appointments concerning his hypermobility. His quirk had always caused problems, and she'd always done her best to help, but she always seemed adamant there was nothing wrong with him if it didn’t stare her right in the face. She would completely ignore all these issues if it meant that Denki appeared 'normal' to her work friends.
Every appointment it was the same, the tone of voice used was one that Denki hated hearing. It meant that he wasn't good enough, he wasn't perfect.
She'd probably phone the school, and if they didn't do anything then it'd be forgotten and not be brought up again for a while.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened.
———-
The final exams sat in the third year of middle school were important, so of course Denki was upset to see that he hadn't done very well. These grades would stay on his record forever and definitely affect his chances of getting into a good high school.
It was frustrating, he couldn't read, couldn't focus and couldn't write how he wanted to. Denki wasn't stupid, he'd managed to get an 8 (about a low A) in history, but that was mostly knowledge based! He found history interesting and could remember the information almost as soon as he first read it, and the essays were simple too. A 16 marker was just like a 12 marker but with a sustained judgement.
Literature was hard. He didn't understand how to structure any of the papers, words weren't easy either. Half of the marks on section B of the second paper were for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Unfortunately, Denki wasn't very good at any of those.
He was starting to get sick of it, it took a lot of effort to do what should be simple. With enough time in exams, Denki was sure he'd be able to do a lot better but unfortunately he always ran out.
He's been told for years now that he didn't seem like he was struggling or that his grades were decent enough so there couldn't be a problem. Bringing this issue up to his mentor didn't help either, she claimed that he was just 'trying to find a reason' to explain why he didn't do very well. It was insulting, he knew he hadn't done great, but to hear a teacher use that and say it was an excuse? That hurt.
She’d given him a green overlay, having finally had enough of his constant whining that the words shook. It helped a little, but not much. Denki knew that each colour helped people differently, and green wasn’t the one for him. But without physically having them in front of him, there was no saying which one would work the best.
Denki had long since given up on actually getting anywhere with this, but he refused to drop it. One day he'd get diagnosed, and he'd write the pettiest email to his previous teachers letting them know all about his diagnosis and how they failed him. It would be rude, and unnecessary, but Denki thought that he had every right to be rude and petty.
———
“You’ve never brought this up before, how do you expect me to help?!” Denkis mother yelled from across the living room.
“But I have! I’ve been trying to sort this for years and I’ve been ignored every time, I’ve definitely mentioned it to you before but you refuse to listen!” He was on the verge of crying, what had he done to not deserve help he needed? Why did it seem like everyone else was getting support and help but he got missed off? He must’ve done something bad, because he couldn’t live with this any more.
“What do you want me to do? This has never been an issue and now you’ve bagged me over this for weeks!” She’d put the clothes she’d been sorting down to stare at him.
“I just want help! I want help and support, but you never seem to care.” Denki had enough of the conversation, so he walked to his room. She clearly wasn’t going to listen to him any time soon.
———
A few months into Denki's first year at UA, he decided that Aizawa-sensei was a lot better than the majority of his previous teachers. He listened to his students, and managed to help Bakugou get diagnosed with hearing loss so he could get hearing aids. If Aizawa helped Bakugou, then surely he'd help Denki too, right?
"Aizawa-sensei, can I ask you something?" Denki stayed behind after the final homeroom of the day, wanting to catch his teacher before he left to the dorms.
"What is it, Kaminari?" Aizawa was putting folders away on his desk, but looked up to Denki as he spoke.
"Well, I, erm-" Denki stuttered, trying to figure out how to say what he wanted to say. He'd planned this conversation out in his head many times, but he seemed to have forgotten every script he'd ever revised right in that moment.
"Well, I was wondering if UA offered dyslexia screenings? I tried to get this sorted in middle school but none of my teachers believed me, I know usually this is diagnosed at a younger age but I've suspected that-"
Aizawa cut off Denki's rambling and answered his question, "I can look into it. I'm sure Recovery Girl will have something, I'll get back to you tomorrow about it."
"Thank you sensei!"
———
The actual screening only took about forty minutes, Denki did it on a computer in Recovery Girls office. She was nice about it, and didn’t try to put him off like all his other teachers had in the past. Aizawa-sensei had been great, not once did he say that Denki ‘didn’t seem to be struggling’ as a reason to not get him screened.
The test included spelling questions, phonics and logical reasoning. There was a section on syllables that he definitely failed, he couldn’t count them at all.
Once he completed the computer test there was a sheet of questions on a tick box layout.
'Do you find yourself messing up simple words?'
He circled 'definitely'.
'Do you feel confident reading out loud?'
'Never' was the answer to that one.
'Do you enjoy reading?'
That was a 'sometimes'.
There were about 20 questions all structured the same, all with varying answered.
Recovery Girl let him try out different coloured overlays and he found himself finding the yellow one to be the most helpful, so she gave him one to keep in his blazer for lessons. She told him to go to lunch and check back in before his lesson, she'd check his results in that time.
———
Denki had been right.
The results said that he had signs of dyslexia. The test itself couldn’t diagnose but now he could be put forward to be diagnosed professionally.
It was almost irritating, he’d pushed for years and the test had only been forty minutes. Why couldn’t he have just been offered that in middle school? It would’ve solved so many ongoing issues. His grades had severely knocked his self esteem, and he’d been called an idiot by teachers and peers many times and now he knew why. Well, Denki had known already, he just had it confirmed now.
Was it bad to say that he was happy? He was so incredibly happy that he started laughing when he exited the nurses office. Now he knew that he hadn’t been making a big deal out of nothing. He was right this whole time! He knew, he’d always known.
Now he could get help, his papers could be given on different coloured paper, he wouldn’t be marked down on spelling and his teachers would understand!
He wasn’t an idiot, he wasn’t dumb, stupid or lacking, he just required extra support for some thing.
Hopefully now Denki would receive the help he deserved.