Reading disability(dyslexia)HELP

[Sally Olsen]

Sorry, haven't been at the computer for awhile. Wonderful discussion. Just to answer Andrew's questions as best as I can.

If you don't mind my asking, I'm interested in your own experience of perceptual dyslexia:
1) Is this a purely visual thing, or auditory as well?

I think that it is auditory as well. I can hear the sounds of the words more clearly in my own head when I am wearing the glasses. Before I used to skip over names altogether if they were long and just make an image of the person who had this particular formation of letters. I also read much more dramatically when I am reading aloud because I understand what I am reading as a whole. I think the buzzing or scattering of my thinking is cleared up some by the colour and I am more able to focus. For example before I got the glasses it would take me most of the week to read my articles for my Master's classes. I sometime would have to tape them to be able to get through them. Often the professor and the other students would question my summation of the articles and ask where I had gotten those ideas because they didn't read them in the papers. After I got my glasses I could read through the articles (usually we were assigned about 5 with about 10 pages each) in about two hours and felt I had really understood them. It doesn't seem to help my writing though.




2) Is the ordering of ideas affected with perceptual dyslexia?

I am not sure although I am more able to understand other's ideas. I don't really think it helps me order my ideas or slow them down but then I do notice that it is worse if I don't wear the glasses now and my writing style is terrible. I have always written very pleasingly by hand, I think because we used a very nice blue ink on slightly tan paper. Now that paper is pretty uniformly white and shiny white at that, I find it more difficult and I can't always find the right blue coloured ink in cheap pens.

I noticed that you were talking about background colours:
3) Do font colours affect a dyslexic's ability to read as well?

Yes, I usually change the computer if possible and have brown font on a turquoise background. Brown is the oppositie of turquoise on the colour wheel.

Yes, I would question if we are truly dyslexic if the colours do remedy the problems. It is a useful term though because it is probably the first step in identification and if people know about the colour test they can then recommend further testing. Otherwise, I don't know how people would be identified. For some students the problem is so dramatically solved that they never have any other problems as long as they wear the colours. Of course, that is not the case with all and the rest still need the help that teachers with this specialty provide.

My experience with Japanese was that I couldn't read the inside of the characters. There are so many little shapes inside a character and I could never remember whether it slanted up or down, or was thick or thin. I think though that someone who learned to write the language with the drill practice that I saw in most schools would know which part of the character to make first and it would be automatic, much like typing is to me now so that you are learning with another modality. In Japan, I reversed my characters or parts of them much to frustration of the kind man who helps you in banks and he would consistently erase my attempts to write my name and do it "right".

[fluffyhamster]

So you didn't spend much time practising the stroke order of kanji, Sally?

[Sally Olsen]

No, I guess not enough anyway. I decided to try to learn the language as orally as possible with the Roman alphabet. I learned to read signs on my train run and for things that were important for me to find. I guess if I were there longer I would have learned more. I learned pat phrases that got me through shopping and initial conversations with strangers who didn't speak English. I can understand a lot more than I can speak. But I don't feel panicky that I can't read or understand like I did when I first arrived. I did find a lovely little book that compared the characters to animals and that helped a whole lot but I think I learned about 25 characters well and have forgotten most of those now. My favourite method was to go to the Karaoke or to sing hymns with the words on the screen in Romanji. I did a little better with Cyrillic in Mongolia because it is so close to the Roman alphabet but never got to know the difference between the various "o"s. Greenlanic is so much easier because it uses the Roman alphabet but the "q" is difficult to say.

[Sathya]

Dear all,

I very recently discovered that I have a problem.I am 31 year old doing my Ph.D in Physics.My primary language is not English.

There are two problems.

1.Most of the times when I type I type ......for example..to write garden..
I write gadren...And many times I immediately notice my mistake and correct it..but even when I try to correct it I do it(gadren)again for another couple of times.

2. Though at a later reading I come to know that there are many typing errors I don't notice it for the first time.( I have even done some proffesional proof reading !)

3. Sometimes when I read my own writing (even several times) I dont recognise the errors. ( mainly errors like....wakling..for walking)

4. To know the spelling errors I will have to read it purely from proofreading point of view ( just the spelling part, without trying to understand the story)


Are these disabilities, if yes how do I correct them ?

regards
Satyajit

[Stephen Jones]

Making typos of this nature is exceptionally common. It is a motor skill fault.

Tne answer is simple; use a spell checker! They are pretty useless for bad spellers, and dangerous to boot, but are just the job for dealing with typos.

[Sathya]

Thank you for your reply

[Sally Olsen]

Sorry Andrew. I don't know where I went in Feb. 2004 that I didn't answer you back. I was just rereading this thread to try to help a student.

Yes, I do change the colour of the font to dark turquoise on the computer and it does help. But I can read black on white quite well too as long as I have the turquoise glasses. I get a headache without and often misinterpret what is written. I also like dark brown which I think is opposite of turquoise on the colour wheel.

As for a new definiton of dyslexic, I think it doesn't matter. If the students are referred as dyslexic and they have access to the Irlen test, then that is great. It is just one tool and if they are helped by it, they rarely come back for futher help so I guess are not truly dyslexic as you say. But until we get more comprehensive testing they will end up in that category forever which is a terrible shame. I have had frustrated students and parents crying because their child spent so many years in special classes or with tutors and in one hour, found the answer to the problem. I think it should be a standard test when you get your eyes tested too.

[eslweb]

I know I'm opening myself up to some abuse here, but my experience of Dyslexia is first-hand i.e. I am Dyslexic. I can only speak for myself and the other dyslexic students I was taught with, so here's what my experience is:

1. Dyslexia often affects short-term memory. In my case, that means I can forget things seconds after they've been said, but equally my long-term memory is very sharp and I can still remember many events from my early childhood. This means that once I've learned something it sticks with me for a very long time.

2. Dyslexia can also affect language processing, so visually p,b,d & q can often be mixed up. I believe in some cases it can also affect aural processing, so that sounds that are similar can be misunderstood, especially when the only difference is the voiced/unvoiced aspect e.g. P and B.

There are two pieces of advice that I'd give you:

1. Be patient and you don't demand your dyslexic students work at the pace of others, but equally don't be surprised if they suddenly catch up or learn certain things very quickly.

2. Also remember that no question is silly or stupid and if you get asked the same question again and again, it maybe because the answer has been forgotten or it maybe that the explanation wasn't understood. Be sure to clarify.

Like some of the other people have said Dyslexia can be a very general label for people with specific problems and I'd suggest the best place for further information is: http://www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/ The British society is very friendly, so feel free to email/phone them directly.

If you're outside the UK, try the International site to find a local equivalent: http://www.interdys.org/

James

[Sally Olsen]

Sorry that you think you will be open to abuse. I am afraid that it might be true of course, and in ways that you will never know directly.

Sheena Brown of UBC is doing a research on experiences of adults in special education programs while they were young and their experiences now and how they have learned to cope, especially if they are at university. If you would like to participate, I will forward her email or forward your email to her.

There are so few studies that I hope any of you with the challenges mentioned will participate. A doctor in Ontario calls it MTA - Multiple Talent Ability.

I saw a sign on the local printer's Bulletin Board the other day which was cute.

Dyslexics of the world
UNTIE

[fluffyhamster]

Something about dyslexia in Chinese and English:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/viewtopic.php?t=61725

I'll probably reply there first (if I have time); I've also posted the link on the 'Does Chinese take more brain power?' thread here on the AL forum.