dyslexic palm cards

Joel has to give a 2 minute talk on a local WW1 veteran.  It is an excellent, though ambitious, task for an 8 year old and the whole family helped with the research (as we were asked to.)  [This website has service records for every Australian who served in World War 1.]

Unfortunately, we can't help Joel present the talk. His school has very high standards for oral presentations and the criteria sheet basically demands a creative, informative and flawless oration.  Creative, Joel can manage well.  Informative we can make happen.  Flawless is impossible.  Joel is not great at decoding words on a page.  If he sits and thinks hard he can make sense of a text, but reading words quickly, accurately and discreetly from tiny palm cards is just not possible for him.  So what to do?

Andrew recorded himself reading Joel's talk.  Joel listened to it many times (20+), but his memory isn't great and it became clear that palm cards were still going to be necesssary.  We tried getting him to read the talk from the sheet, thinking that since he had heard it so often it would be easy. But it was still very stilted and full of mistakes ("Why does the word young look so much like Europe?")

Joel suggested that he handwrite his own palm cards.  Being a too-involved mother at this point and knowing his spelling skills, I wasn't keen on the idea.  But no one had a better one so Joel made up his palm cards and after several rehearsals can now deliver a more or less fluent talk.

Here is the first palm card:

 

Can you work out how to read it?

Let me translate.

You might be wondering how I got these bandages.  It all started two years ago, on the 2nd of August 1915. I was a young 22 year old firefighter and I heard about the war raging in Europe. I decided to stop fighting fires and start fighting Germans instead.

The next couple are even better.

I traveled to our local war office and enlisted for service in the Australian Imperial Force.

I remember the day well. I stood up and took the oath:  I, Philip Dawson, swear that I will well and truly serve our Sovereign Lord the King in the Australian Imperial Force until the end of the War, unless sooner lawfully discharged, dismissed or removed. I will resist His Majesty's enemies and cause His Majesty's peace to be kept and maintained. I will faithfully discharge my duty according to law. So help me God.

I sailed to Egypt became a part of the first pioneers battalion. We were trained and then sailed to France to take part in the Battle of the Somme. This was going to be a very important battle. Some said that it would end the war. It didn't.