JOHNATHAN VELTEN studies about four and

a half hours a day.

When Velten arrives home from school every day, he takes a 30-minute break, and then he hits the books.

His study regimen has been the same since elementary school. On average, he spends about four and a half hours a day on homework.

It takes Velten, a 19-year-old senior at Bishop Lynch, a little bit longer than most students because he has dyslexia.

The learning disability, which affects reading, was diagnosed when he was in first grade, which he repeated.

Starting in second grade, he worked with an alphabetic phonics tutor.

“You phonetically sound out words and decode them,” he says. “It’s what people naturally do when they read, but for me, I didn’t really do that.”

He learned years ago that he has to start reading assignments way ahead of the rest of the class to finish them at the same time. The worst part about having dyslexia was in fourth grade, when the teacher would ask students to walk to the front of the class and read one paragraph aloud. For Velten, it was torture. Everyone else could read the paragraphs, but when his turn came, he couldn’t pronounce words, and he stumbled around.

After a while, though, he says he figured out a trick. He learned the teacher’s system for calling on people to read, so he could count the paragraphs and figure which one he would be asked to read. While other students read their paragraphs, Velten wasn’t listening; he was reading his own assignment over and over until it was time to stand up and say it aloud.

That type of problem-solving has become part of his everyday life.

Certain tasks take longer for him. In middle school, he often would stay up until 11 or midnight doing homework, putting in six or eight hours. But he earned good grades, and he thinks that made high school seem easier for him.

And he doesn’t back down from challenges.

Velten is a good example for anyone struggling with learning disabilities, says Kristin Mannari, director of communications at Bishop Lynch.

“He was discouraged freshman year because he had to work so hard,” Mannari says. “But he has been steady and completely committed to academics.”

As a freshman at Bishop Lynch, he requested Coach Dunn’s history class because he knew and liked him from basketball camp at SMU. Counselors warned him it was a hard class, but he was determined to take it.

“At the beginning of the year, he helps you out a lot and gives you study guides for the tests,” Velten says. “But progressively, through the year, he expects you to become more and more independent.”

Velten says his parents always told him that as long as he tried and gave it his all, it would pay off, and now he sees that what they told him is true. School is not as hard for him as it used to be. Recently, he was awarded the rank of Eagle Scout, and he holds a first-degree black belt in karate.

Dyslexia, he says, is not a disability but a gift.

“It’s taught me to be dedicated to my work and figure out different ways to do my work,” he says. “Problem-solving comes naturally to me.”

Velten has been accepted to almost every college to which he applied, including St. Edward’s University, Austin College, Millsaps College and the University of North Texas. And several have offered him academic scholarships, he says. He hasn’t yet decided where to attend, but he wants to study pre-med or entrepreneurial business.