At just 17 years old, Ruby Grace Miller is on a literacy mission to help Kiwi kids around the country with an award-winning game she created. But behind the Christchurch teen’s success lies a journey of grit and fierce determination, born from her own experiences with learning difficulties.
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“Sometimes I do forget how much I’ve achieved, but I really enjoy making change in the community and never see it as work or effort, just that I want to make positive changes,” enthuses Ruby Grace.
Last year, she won the SquareOne Dragon’s Ben competition. Run by Jono and Ben from The Hits radio, with FIX, the educational card game she created. Since then, she’s won awards at a regional and national level.
For Ruby Grace, it’s proof that anything is possible if you focus on solutions instead of the problem. As her parents Amy-Beth and Gary always encouraged her to do.
“People have always said I’m a problem solver,” she says.
“Sometimes you have to be able to find a solution to your own problem.”
Learning, the hard way
At nine, she was diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disability that primarily affects reading and writing. Dysgraphia, a neurological condition that means she can’t write coherently. And auditory processing disorder, where the ears can hear sounds normally but the brain struggles to process them.
At first, she received the help she needed at school and by her last year of primary school. She was reading and writing at her expected year level. As she was doing so well, the learning support stopped.
Quickly, she started to struggle again, especially as she entered high school.
“My spelling is astronomically behind where it should be,” admits Ruby Grace.
“I know what I’m trying to spell but I can’t do it and I really struggle to read words on a page. “The classic one when I was younger and couldn’t read or spell a word was being told to look it up in a dictionary. But if I can’t read it or spell it, how can I find it?!”
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Out of the classroom, into her strengths
She has since discovered learning for her happens mostly out of the classroom, when she can read while swinging, for example, or by dictating notes into her phone.
“In the classroom, it can look like I’m disengaged, but I do nearly all of my work outside of school hours at home. “I used to be so embarrassed. I was seen as a smart student but I didn’t feel smart. Once I came to terms how I learn, I was able to soar a lot more.”
Ruby Grace has been diagnosed as gifted, and sits amongst the top students in the country for her oral expression and reasoning skills. She hopes FIX, the multi-sensory card game she designed using suffixes and prefixes to help learners make language connections in a fun and visual way, will help others avoid some of the hardship she’s endured.
Thinking back to entering the SquareOne radio competition, which focuses on fostering financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills in young people. Ruby Grace says she was drawn by the $10,000 prize package to launch a product.
One month later, she was invited to talk about FIX on the radio.
Ruby’s journey from inventor to avdocate
“I didn’t know how to react when I won – I just kept saying ‘thank you’,” says Ruby Grace.
After winning, she initially spent around 30 hours a week developing the game and says the mentoring support. Which was part of the prize, was invaluable as she worked on the prototypes.
Now the product is complete, she’s organising the manufacturing of it.
“My dream is to get it into every primary school across the country so every child who needs extra language and comprehension support can utilise it,” she explains.
Her win has also led her to discover a passion for advocacy. Ruby Grace recently ran a presentation at a teacher-only day for all primary educators in Christchurch. She’s quick to pay homage to the teachers who have supported her, too.
“I wouldn’t be here today without some of the phenomenal teachers I’ve had,” she shares.
In the future, she wants to dedicate more time to running workshops and trying to make tangible changes for struggling students.
“I hope I can help make changes in the system to let every child succeed and shine in their own right,” she tells.
Because for Ruby Grace, it’s not about being extraordinary – it’s about making sure no one gets left behind.
“Education is a corner-stone of life. And I want everyone to enjoy and succeed in it.”
