Persistence and Purpose

I have recently spoken to groups of parents about my language learning disability. This is the introduction given to parents by Mandy Brent: 'Dominic Dimattina is a trailblazer for people with specific language impairment. Dominic's early language development was very delayed; he had poor comprehension and very limited spoken language in comparison to his peers when he started school. Despite this, his skills in other practical areas were within normal range; he was very sociable and...
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I have recently spoken to groups of parents about my language learning disability. This is the introduction given to parents by Mandy Brent: 'Dominic Dimattina is a trailblazer for people with specific language impairment. Dominic's early language development was very delayed; he had poor comprehension and very limited spoken language in comparison to his peers when he started school. Despite this, his skills in other practical areas were within normal range; he was very sociable and could concentrate well on a range of tasks. He appears in my book, Working Together in Chapter 6, Nurturing Self-Awareness, Empathy, and Resilience under the pseudonym "Dan", and the interview with his mother also appears there. We are lucky to have Dom's family here with us tonight. Dominic had many things in his favour. His specific language impairment was identified early. He had regular intervention in primary school, and he had committed parents. He was also blessed with an extremely persistent temperament. Despite this there were still many issues remaining in his post primary education and transition to the workforce. Dominic is now in his thirties and has made us as professionals rethink our recommendations and advice to students and parents. We are stopping too early is one of the important things to know; people can and do improve with practical intervention and mentoring. One of the advantages of working for a long time and being president of SPELD Victoria is that you get to meet people you have known as children who are now adults. It is exciting and humbling to hear their stories. I will hand over to Dom now to tell his story.'