Robert Blake, dyslexic

In 1994, Robert Blake was a guest at the International Dyslexia Assoc. banquet at it’s national conference in L.A. He had helped the local branch put together a calendar of celebrity dyslexics. When he was a child, his parents would put him in a closet for hours, even days at a time. (Could it be he was ADHD, too?) And he would spend the time making up plays in his head. He was very humble; and when he was given a plaque to thank him for his help to the local branch, he said “You deserve a plaque more than me. You are the ones who are in the trenches helping children overcome they’re problems. You are the ones who should be admired, not celetrities.” It was very touching.

L. Starr

Just makes the whole situation even more tragic.

And you have to wonder why, after all these years,
he did not have the skills or ability to cope with the situation
that led him, allegedly, to murder.

Anne

Let me take this opportunity to applaud and promote that annual calendar of accomplished dyslexics that the L.A. chapter of the International Dyslexic Assoc. It recognizes people from all walks of life who have succeeded in spite of struggles with their difficulties. It is easy to purchase through a call or letter.

Whether Robert Blake is dyslexic or not if he did commit murder whether or not he can read does not mean he doesn’t know killing is a crime.

My 10 yr old knows killing is a crime and he doesn’t read well.

When a mentally ill person does not receive proper treatment and is failed by society and committees a crime that is indeed very sad.

Robert Blake has had more opportunities than most of our kids ever will get. If he can’t read he had people around him that could.

Whether Robert Blake is dyslexic or not if he did commit murder whether or not he can read does not mean he doesn’t know killing is a crime.

My 10 yr old knows killing is a crime and he doesn’t read well.

When a mentally ill person does not receive proper treatment and is failed by society and committees a crime that is indeed very sad.

Robert Blake has had more opportunities than most of our kids ever will get. If he can’t read he had people around him that could.

Please! Don’t think for a minute I’m excusing Robert Blake for what he did.

But as far as his opportunities went - he had a really, really rough childhood,
but I still would not excuse what he did.

What I am interested in is how a severely dyslexic person is treated
by the criminal justice system.

Robert Blake has money and most likely will not suffer from lack of
representation and accommodations that he will need to defend himself.

But what about the rest of ‘us’.
What if our children were caught up in the criminal justice system and
could not read papers and reports to defend themselves?

They provide interpreters for those that don’t speak English, they have
signers for those who can’t hear. Do they have readers and scribes for dyslexic
people?

You know they plan for our children. Some states plan their prison space
from the numbers of third and fourth grade LD kids reported.
It breaks your heart. They look at theses LD children and plan to spend
their money on prisons to house them, not educational dollars to educate them.

Anne

“I have the right to fight for my life”
I found this to be an very interesting statement.

Anne,dyslexic kids don’t often get a scribe in school,let alone when they wind up in jail.

Reminds me of the saying,if a tree falls in the forest,and noone is there to hear it does it make a sound? (Something like that anyway.)

If you don’t know what your rights are,and they are violated,are they really violated?

It is a sad situation to say the least,and god knows he isn’t the first person to end up in jail,after being a victim of his own poor impulse control.Robert Blake has a long history of poor impulse control,battling mental illness,drugs,alcohol,and dyslexia. Let us not forget child abuse.

My grandmother had her finger broken in first grade,because she wrote with her left hand. This was to make her use her right hand to write instead.
I never forgot this when she told me as a child. It was a scary thing being the left handed sole in my family.I remember asking her what happened,she told me it got broken and it healed that way. Forever crooked. I asked her how she broke it ,she told me she didn’t her teacher did. Hmm,gee grandma why? Because I wrote with my left hand. THIS is what they did to kids back then.
You put a kid in a closet for days on end,a part of them stays there. Forever.
A part of Robert is still there,and the saddest part is he is back there again.
And people say,why do we have more kids diagnosed with all these dumb labels,we didn’t have them back in the good old days? What good old days?

God knows we need consequences to our actions,everyone does.What would this world be if we didn’t?
He murdered his wife. He goes to jail.

Aside from that,taking a minute to discuss his life,or children like him,consequences are imposed everyday. Not because they did anything wrong. Or did they?

I suppose it depends on whether they know,or their parents know,that they have the right to fight for their life.

Things are much better now,we have IDEA and 504,we have rights.. But if you don’t know it,and noone is there,can you hear them being violated?

So, why is this that some people carry such heavy burdens through life and others are born to a life of private schools, Harvard, med. school followed by a big house and a yacht?

While we are lamenting the tragedy some folks must call life, every wonder WHY people aren’t born in equal circumstances? Food for thought.

Ever wonder why people in the most priviledged circumstances still abuse their children?

I don’t believe people who do not have to worry about paying their bills,escape the pressures of life.
They just don’t have to worry about paying their bills. It doesn’t make their life easier,just elliviates one aspect of the worry. There is always more worries.

As me old Dad would say, all men are *not* created equal and
nobody ever promised that life would be fair.

It will be interesting, and could be precedent setting, how the
judge answers Robert Blake’s plea for bail regarding his dyslexia.

Which is different from his moral and legal culpability -
I think he’s guilty, guilty, guilty!

Anne

I recently worked with two fifteen year old boys who read only 2-4 grade level. Both, of course, were looking forward to the day they could drive. Both also thought they would not be able to read the drivers test well enough to pass. Since we had just looked into the situation for our son, I told them they could arrange to have the test read to them. I am sure that one of the boys never planned to take the test and thought he could just drive without a license. Your mind, like mine, can quickly jump to him being stopped by the police, etc., etc., and never telling them he couldn’t read. So many children and their parents don’t know what they can do to protect themselves.

Anne,

I guess I did misinterpret your post. Keep watching the news for what happens in Va with the mentally handicapped man on death row.

That’s okay, it is an emotional issue.

:-)

Anne

You are so right about the people who don’t know any better than to ask for help. Then there are those of us…who try to get help, and we get a reputation of being a b*tch. My son’s LD teacher’s wife is a friend of mine (we try not to discuss the school situation), but she told me the other day her husband said he needed to call me to set up an IEP meeting. He said mine had to be the last one, because it has to be perfect. I said what does that mean, I’m a b*tch? She said no, he just said you read over yours and you know what’s suppose to be in it and most of the other parents don’t have a clue. Isn’t that sad, so how fair are those kids being treated? Makes me want to be even more of a b*tch at my meeting. LOL
Oh and by the way, I still have no clue when my IEP meeting is, because they gave the notice of the meeting to my LD(very disorganized) son to bring home to me the first of the week and he’s forgotten it everyday. Shouldn’t that have been mailed? He’ll probably get detention for forgetting to bring it home.

This IEP, have it added - school must mail notice of IEP
Or give them a SASE! ;-)

Anne