[cite]Posted By: bingaddick[/cite]Top post KB and very interesting about Irlen Syndrome. We are trying to get our son sensory testing to look at whether he has issues, hitherto not detected. The paediatrician will carry out the tests but not on the NHS because the local Healthcare trust wont fund it. I am wondering whether this testing will include testing for Irlen Syndrome. I'll ask.
After the issue with our Daughter was first detected by my wife, the school she atended at the time refused to acknowledge Dyslexia. We had to fund a private visit to a specialist in Maidstone to get her diagnosed officialy, just to enable her to get extra help.
We went to a session for parents of Dyslexic children, run by the charity and there were more teachers at the session than parents because it was the only training they could get on the subject.
At my Daughters secondary school a chance visit by a lady supply teacher who had also been diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome, recognised her difficulties and immediately contacted us with her thoughts.
Again we had to privately fund her visit to a specialist in Kent, because there was no help available and the revelation of the depth of the problem made us cry like babies. Not only was her reading an issue, but she couldn't make out telegraph wires, birds in trees, even flower colours for god sake. The guilt we felt, for allowing her to live with this problem undetected for as long as she did was immeasurable and certainly stays with me to this day.
But the specialist took her through a rigid regime of different and mixed coloured filters and the difference was mind numbing. It was almost like watching someone see for the first time. By diffusing the background light she could suddenly make out everyday objects the rest of us take for granted and more importantly she could bloody read without any difficulty!!!!!!
Getting the lenses or even contacts isn't cheap because they have to be specially made in California and her colours changed as she continued to grow, but cost is irrelevant.
Bing I doubt if the local healthcare trust will test for this because as far as I know it still isn't recognised, but believe me it works. A simple test by yourself with coloured overlays on white paper might give you a clue to see if it may be an issue with your son.
Good luck with it and if you need more info check out this site.
As i understand it (or dont) there are many forms of dyslexia. With me if i write say a report i have to leave it to one side even after spell check as i will have put within the sentances words that have nothing to do with the context, some words will be repeated several times one after the other and some words reversed. Of course spell check only works when a word dsnt exist, for example if i wrote polo instead of pool it wont pick it up. As for reading it "carefully" after i have just written it, that often dosnt work as i will "see" what i believe i have written not what i actually have. Then there is the brick wall when a simple word like safety is just not there i will know it begins with an s but ???? gone, i usually have to think of a substitute word and that goes it. In the OU i did well in the monthly course tests but the yearly exams i struggled. Dont think i scored over 65% in any. I could prepare and control my problem with the course work but in an exam i couldnt. I would dearly love to have met the arsehole of an english teacher who caned me upteen times re my spelling. Good luck to all the mums and dads above it cant be easy.
It first came to light with the school exams changed from being multiple choice into more tradtional writing exams. I went from being one of the better pupils to bottom of the class based on the adult exam style, before i was always able to identify words visually but i couldn't spell them or write them. I'd always been rubbish at spelling, really bad, we used to have a sponsored spell every year, every year i'd come bottom of the class, every year i'd get a comment from the teacher about being 'stupid' my Parents were even told i was "useless" and "good for nothing" by a teacher at a parents evening! To get over my awful spelling I was often told to use a dictionary, which isn't much use when you have no idea what letter the word started with in the first place!
I used to love reading, really love reading, however i did it by recognition of the word rather than being able to sound it out properly "Stop guessing" was what my Dad used to say when we were reading together, but once i knew the word and what it ment the word stuck. If i wasn't kicking a ball around i had my nose in a book but at the same time I remember being young and finding writing a sentance physically exhausting, i just wanted to burst into tears at the end of it. When my mum turned up at the school and spoke to the headmistress she was completly dismissed out of hand untill my mum pointed out that I couldn't name the months of the year in order or without missing some out aged 11... I was assessed and found to be Dyslexic (my mother now believes her father was also). My parents supported me to the hilt and got me a tutor and took my out of school Lunchtimes for extra work to try to get me upto speed with everyone else. Moving onto secondary school i was given extra tuition in English and despite the stigma attached to being 'special needs' i think it helped a little. The biggest change was the fact that computers were now accepted in Eduction, coursework could be done on a computer rather than written, complete with spell checks and the key strokes ment that 'b' and 'd' didn't get mixed up coming out of my jumbled head and onto the page. I passed my exams I moved onto University got a decent degree and found a job i loved.
The way i see it is my brain just works differently to other peoples, it works by visualisation i don't work things out in traditonal methods, but by 'seeing' changes in patterns or the missing links, for example I'll solve a soduko puzzle by seeing what the missing number is in the pattern not by any method of working out elements as others do... it's a more scattergun approach to thinking but i believe it has given me a real advantage in life. Yeah so my forum posts are littered with spelling mistakes and i'll make mistakes in birthday and Christmas Cards still but I'm pretty sure when my Parents we're told i was "useless" they didn't expect me to see as Head of Marketing at a multinational company in my early 30's.
The MP is a fool. The sooner a bunch of buffoons realise that a one size fits all approach to teaching doesn't work and hasn't ever done the better. And for any parents reading this with a Dyslexic child, it's probably tough on you when they are younger, but with your love and support their is nothing that your Child can't do as they grow up.
I was diagnosed as dyslexic in about 1993 as I used to write my N's backwards and put capital letters in the middle of words and my mum noticed that there was something up. she had to convince the school that they should assist me. I remember travelling to Victoria Station to go to this big posh victorian house where I had the test and remember looking at all kinds of different pictures, colours, memory tests, reading tests etc.
I excelled at reading, and when i was 8 apparently I had the reading ability of a 13 yr old, I still read really fast. I have a great long term memory and remember phone numbers and birth days of people I went to primary school with that I haven't seen or spoken to since I was 11. I am also able to process colours and pictures and put them in order when faced with tasks. I am also very organised because of my long term memory and can recall conversations from 6 months ago, dates, people, faces etc. I also have a great sense of direction, and if i've been somewhere once with a map, i can get there the next time without because I remember exactly the way I went the time before.
My main weakness or strand of my dyslexia is with short term memory. I am rubbish at mental arithmatic because I can't remember the numbers i'm trying to use to work out a sum if they're not written down in front of me. I would be rubbish working in a bar because I'd forget the whole round and would have to ask 4 times and probably still forget, but in a weeks time if the same person came in, i could probably buy them the whole round without them having to open their mouth.
My school were rubbish at recognising what I had because it was a girls grammar school which cared about league tables and not kids with defects. I got no extra help or assistance, although i know that i was entitled to at least 30 mins extra in all my exams but I personally didn't want to be seen as different so i refused, and I did ok.
what an idiot the MP is for suggesting it isn't real. How awful it must be for him as a perfect being to accept that other people may have defects!
I went on a one day awareness course a few years back and we did a few exercises and tests and it seems that many of the indicators of dyslexia is what I had a school eg reading age far ahead of writing, recognising words as a whole rather than breaking them down/sounding them out, more articulate verbally than in writing. Very mild I have to say.
Do any of you with dyslexia use mind maps? Really work for me because they are visual and not just lists. Found I could suddenly revised and pass exams. I wish I had known about them at school.
Also GH, do you try proof reading your reports backwards. Sounds silly but it stops you reading what your mind "thinks" is there and you notice more duplications or odd words.
my wife is a teacher and the schools AENCO (person dealing with those children with additional needs eg Dyslexia). Here view is that the mp is a bit of an idiot however the point about teaching methods he commented on has some validity. My wifes view was that the literacy side of things should be taught in a way that is dyslexic-friendly. Teaching this way will not be to the detriment of other children but will help the dyslexics greatly with less need for additional extra help from either school resources or from outside agencies.
So whilst I agree that the MP is a dick for coming out with this, apart from the headline grabbing part of his piece there were some odd snippets that actually made sense.
[cite]Posted By: nth london addick[/cite]Getting my son a dog has made a huge diffrence to him his schooling and to us as a family, it was mentioned and researched to have more positives than negatives i just hope the bond between them grows and little JJ the staffie helps little Joe
Our ex-childminder's son was diagnosed with one of the conditions talked about on this topic (autism I think but I can't be sure) and they were advised to get a dog which they did - ironically also a Staff - and he's really repsonded well.
On the original topic, I've not read the article but reading the reactions it's clear the guy is a bit of an ass, regardless of whether or not he's trying to do something positive. It also makes me realise how incredibly lucky I am to have kids that are free of any of these conditions and it's also intersting to read all these accounts of how they've affected the lives of the people on here, directly and indirectly.
KB - I did not know that the condition you describe is called Irlen Syndrome. One of my best mates works for Norfolk County Council Children Services working in schools with visually impaired kids. It turns out he does the tests for Irlen Syndrome if referred by school so I'm following that up with him. Thanks for the information. I totally empathise with guilt you feel for not finding out these things earlier. We have similar issues with our Son. Actually it's because you care and you fight for your kids that you have helped to support your daughter through this.
GH - if ever there was a case for the abolition of corporal punishment in school, I've never read a better one.
T - Your post moved me greatly because I see echoes of what my son is going through in your posts. Thankfully we have found a school which can help him. My guilt is in not finding it sooner. What you have acheived gives inspiration to us to help our children to overcome their difficulties. My Son has been verbally assessed to be 13 years but his reading age is 6 years.
Kigella - I think what you say is probably right and couched in those terms, nobody would object because if teaching can be provided in a "dyslexic" way, then everybody wins. This bloke has just thrown any sensible debate out the window by the way he has presented his case.
Henry - I have never been tested for dyslexia. I am good at maths but I struggle with mental arithmatic. I love writing but I have the worlds worst handwriting. I have big problems with proof reading and often insert words which are completely wrong. On the other hand I am reasonable at spelling. I have a photographic memory for maps and consequently mind mapping worked for me.
I think in the main, as T said dyslexic people just have a different way of processing information. It makes me angry when people think they are somehow thick or lazy. In GH's days they would probably have seen mucking around and not concentrating as being the cause, and the lack of ability to read and spell as the effect. Fortunately in these more enlightened days we see the inability to read and spell as quickly as those around them as the cause, and the mucking around and lack of concentration as the effect.
very open and has given me alot of food for thought cheers folks never give up on your kids rights that what i have learnt from here it is a hard and up hill battle but we will get there in the end
It was extremely cathartic for me also. As a new parent myself, It's taken others on the whole thread to make me stop and think what my parents did for me when i was younger, I just moaned at them that i didn't want to be be doing extra work and wanted to be kicking around a ball with my mates at lunchtime instead. Next time i see them i'm going to thank them.
I have never been able to read a book everytime i start a page i scan it and cant remember what i read does my head in,even when i read newspaper i scan them .
[cite]Posted By: nolly[/cite]I have never been able to read a book everytime i start a page i scan it and cant remember what i read does my head in,even when i read newspaper i scan them .
You should watch the programme mate on Iplayer. She had never been able to read a book. It makes me angry that so many people were allowed through the school system it wasn't picked up, and its still happening now.
Graham Stringer's one of the worst gobshites in Parliament - everytime there's a transport improvement in London, he bleats about Manchester supposedly getting nothing. Of course, he's in a seat where you could stick a red rosette on a cowpat and it'd get elected, so we're stuck with him.
Wish I'd seen this thread earlier. If he was a Tory MP, he'd be rightly hung, drawn and quartered by now.
I know somebody with dyslexia who has to phone her boyfriend when she is at the cash machine so he can tell her her PIN. She got 3 'A's at A-level and is a complete star and a joy to know.
This Judge is just showing their ignorance on the subject. It seems to be the case with illnesses that are not visible at a glance. I'm a single parent to my 10 yr old son who is autistic. Some people looking in may think he's a bit of spoilt brat with no disapline or just put it down to bad parenting. So easy to stick a label on someone when you're ignorant of the situation.However, i must add that the perceptions of such people is not helped by the (so-called) parents out there who don't raise their kids properly, let them run ferile and claim their child has ADHD or some other condition either for an excuse for their lazy parenting skills or just another way of getting a few extra quid added to their giro.
[cite]Posted By: nolly[/cite]I have never been able to read a book everytime i start a page i scan it and cant remember what i read does my head in,even when i read newspaper i scan them .
You should watch the programme mate on Iplayer. She had never been able to read a book. It makes me angry that so many people were allowed through the school system it wasn't picked up, and its still happening now.
Going to try to catch up with this on Iplayer, thanks for the information Bing and I sincerely hope you and your son have had an enlightening and positive two years since this thread first appeared.
It is a stark reality and quite a depressing one, that when you consider what strides forward our society has made in so many areas over the past two to three decades that such a debilitating condition which effects so many, is still treated in a manner that would not be out of place in Victorian times. Schools in all areas are getting better, but society still has a long way to go.
Even now, having recognised my Daughters condition and taken steps to assist her with coping with it, she still suffers the stigma from general society that cannot or will not grasp the enormity of something which effects her daily life. The specially prepared coloured glasses which were so much of a revelation to her life as a younger lady are now languishing somewhere in her room as she battles within herself to be accepted in what is deemed to be normal social circles. She has decided that the drawback of not being able to read properly or see everday things that many of us will take for granted, is far outweighed by what she believes is the social burden of having to explain why she wears 'sunglasses' inside and in the middle of winter.
We hope that this period of social unacceptability and yes I suppose a lovely young womens vanity, will pass in time, but there are moments when I would fight the entire world, such is the frustration.
im had dyslexia problems at school there didnt spot i had it (the teatcher called me slow) i mum had to get me tested at home! and then had to go to my school with the papers saying i was dyslexic and make them get me a special teatcher! im abdult reading age know (35 years old ,lot of hard work getting there!) but sometimes its still with me! but i ask the question why o why did we vote for him!!!! if some did ( I DIDNT)
The program that Kara Tointon did was excellent, explaining the issues in a way which was accessible to all.
I'm seriously dyslexic, I struggle badly with reading, like Tara I haven't read a book cover to cover since school, and now I blag my way by skim reading stuff, picking out what I think are the key words, and then going on from there, 90% of the time I get away with it, the rest however causes big problems, and it's something I've had support on, but can't change. What does help is read back software, however it doesn't change the underlying issues with using what's in my broken short term memory.
My spelling, as you all know is shocking, and I hate spell checkers, they make a bad problem worse.
But the biggest problem is short term memory, I lose everything, my desk is a mess, my house would be if It wasn't for my other half. I can't retain numbers, I lose track of everything. One of the worst things is email, the constant barrage of stuff means you lose the little concentration you have quickly, coupled with working in an open plan environment. What is the worst problem for me at the moment? Really unsympathetic colleagues who don't see it as a huge problem, especially where I work now, I like the place, but it's becoming a huge issue for me, which I think will lead me to leave within the next 3 months.
Thankfully, I'm going to get some of the dyslexia training/support Kara had in the show, so things will hopefully get better.
I watched the show a while back when it was on BBC3. The thing I found really interesting was the view of the young kids who were fortunate enough to be in the dyslexia specialist school. In their previous schools they were kicked out the class and labeled as disruptive and stupid, whereas in this school they were thriving.
[cite]Posted By: Rothko[/cite]What is the worst problem for me at the moment? Really unsympathetic colleagues who don't see it as a huge problem, especially where I work now, I like the place, but it's becoming a huge issue for me, which I think will lead me to leave within the next 3 months.
Thankfully, I'm going to get some of the dyslexia training/support Kara had in the show, so things will hopefully get better.
Rothko, thanks for sharing that. How frustrating and upsetting it must be when people treat you like that?
It seems that either those with dyslexia are looked on as stupid which they ain't or don't recognise that some people have issues which need their support. That must be maddening.
My son as KB has alluded to is severely dyslexic. He also has some serious emotional and behavioural issues, some related to the dyslexia. He is at a school which specialises in dyslexia and other learning and behavioural issues. Its a private school but the state funds his placement.
Without going over all the old ground, when he went there for assessment prior to being placed, aged 9, he was assessed as having a reading age of .....well under 6. In fact he could recognise unaided no more than a handful of words and he couldn't write his own surname. They assessed his underlying reasoning age as 13. Indeed some of the answers he gave to some questions were considered by the teacher to be way above anything they would have expected at his age.
Needless to say he is doing much better now. Indeed he boards now five nights a week - another battle we won recently. The journey to and from the school was challenging and he had to leave at 7.00am and wouldn't be back before 6.15 most nights. He still has emotional and behavioural issues but he is moving forward. This term he has re-joined his peers for Maths after being miles behind when he went to the school. His reading is coming on and he's up to 300 words. He's chaotic disorganisation is improving and he turns up to lessons with the right gear now.
He has just got his first electric guitar and he is about to start lessons. He has been having drumming lessons now for more than a year and is doing very well. His music teacher tells us that he is gifted musically and we are trying to encourage him in this area.
The school is making a real difference for him and for the other kids there. The teachers are outstanding and the headmaster is one finest people I have ever met. I wish with all my heart that all children with dyslexia or other learning difficulties could have the level of support that he gets. We have fought like tigers to do this for him and I am a lot poorer financially for having done so even though the state covers the schooling costs. The time and effort has been huge but its been worth it. It angers me that in most cases children in similar circumstances are overlooked because they don't have the same level of advocacy as we have been able to bring.
Once I have regained the financial security that I have lost over the last six years, I am going to campaign for better support for other children with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties.
Comments
After the issue with our Daughter was first detected by my wife, the school she atended at the time refused to acknowledge Dyslexia. We had to fund a private visit to a specialist in Maidstone to get her diagnosed officialy, just to enable her to get extra help.
We went to a session for parents of Dyslexic children, run by the charity and there were more teachers at the session than parents because it was the only training they could get on the subject.
At my Daughters secondary school a chance visit by a lady supply teacher who had also been diagnosed with Irlen Syndrome, recognised her difficulties and immediately contacted us with her thoughts.
Again we had to privately fund her visit to a specialist in Kent, because there was no help available and the revelation of the depth of the problem made us cry like babies. Not only was her reading an issue, but she couldn't make out telegraph wires, birds in trees, even flower colours for god sake. The guilt we felt, for allowing her to live with this problem undetected for as long as she did was immeasurable and certainly stays with me to this day.
But the specialist took her through a rigid regime of different and mixed coloured filters and the difference was mind numbing. It was almost like watching someone see for the first time. By diffusing the background light she could suddenly make out everyday objects the rest of us take for granted and more importantly she could bloody read without any difficulty!!!!!!
Getting the lenses or even contacts isn't cheap because they have to be specially made in California and her colours changed as she continued to grow, but cost is irrelevant.
Bing I doubt if the local healthcare trust will test for this because as far as I know it still isn't recognised, but believe me it works. A simple test by yourself with coloured overlays on white paper might give you a clue to see if it may be an issue with your son.
Good luck with it and if you need more info check out this site.
http://www.irlenuk.com/
With me if i write say a report i have to leave it to one side even after spell check as i will have put within the sentances words that have nothing to do with the context, some words will be repeated several times one after the other and some words reversed. Of course spell check only works when a word dsnt exist, for example if i wrote polo instead of pool it wont pick it up. As for reading it "carefully" after i have just written it, that often dosnt work as i will "see" what i believe i have written not what i actually have. Then there is the brick wall when a simple word like safety is just not there i will know it begins with an s but ???? gone, i usually have to think of a substitute word and that goes it.
In the OU i did well in the monthly course tests but the yearly exams i struggled. Dont think i scored over 65% in any. I could prepare and control my problem with the course work but in an exam i couldnt.
I would dearly love to have met the arsehole of an english teacher who caned me upteen times re my spelling. Good luck to all the mums and dads above it cant be easy.
It first came to light with the school exams changed from being multiple choice into more tradtional writing exams. I went from being one of the better pupils to bottom of the class based on the adult exam style, before i was always able to identify words visually but i couldn't spell them or write them. I'd always been rubbish at spelling, really bad, we used to have a sponsored spell every year, every year i'd come bottom of the class, every year i'd get a comment from the teacher about being 'stupid' my Parents were even told i was "useless" and "good for nothing" by a teacher at a parents evening! To get over my awful spelling I was often told to use a dictionary, which isn't much use when you have no idea what letter the word started with in the first place!
I used to love reading, really love reading, however i did it by recognition of the word rather than being able to sound it out properly "Stop guessing" was what my Dad used to say when we were reading together, but once i knew the word and what it ment the word stuck. If i wasn't kicking a ball around i had my nose in a book but at the same time I remember being young and finding writing a sentance physically exhausting, i just wanted to burst into tears at the end of it. When my mum turned up at the school and spoke to the headmistress she was completly dismissed out of hand untill my mum pointed out that I couldn't name the months of the year in order or without missing some out aged 11... I was assessed and found to be Dyslexic (my mother now believes her father was also). My parents supported me to the hilt and got me a tutor and took my out of school Lunchtimes for extra work to try to get me upto speed with everyone else. Moving onto secondary school i was given extra tuition in English and despite the stigma attached to being 'special needs' i think it helped a little. The biggest change was the fact that computers were now accepted in Eduction, coursework could be done on a computer rather than written, complete with spell checks and the key strokes ment that 'b' and 'd' didn't get mixed up coming out of my jumbled head and onto the page. I passed my exams I moved onto University got a decent degree and found a job i loved.
The way i see it is my brain just works differently to other peoples, it works by visualisation i don't work things out in traditonal methods, but by 'seeing' changes in patterns or the missing links, for example I'll solve a soduko puzzle by seeing what the missing number is in the pattern not by any method of working out elements as others do... it's a more scattergun approach to thinking but i believe it has given me a real advantage in life. Yeah so my forum posts are littered with spelling mistakes and i'll make mistakes in birthday and Christmas Cards still but I'm pretty sure when my Parents we're told i was "useless" they didn't expect me to see as Head of Marketing at a multinational company in my early 30's.
The MP is a fool. The sooner a bunch of buffoons realise that a one size fits all approach to teaching doesn't work and hasn't ever done the better. And for any parents reading this with a Dyslexic child, it's probably tough on you when they are younger, but with your love and support their is nothing that your Child can't do as they grow up.
I excelled at reading, and when i was 8 apparently I had the reading ability of a 13 yr old, I still read really fast. I have a great long term memory and remember phone numbers and birth days of people I went to primary school with that I haven't seen or spoken to since I was 11. I am also able to process colours and pictures and put them in order when faced with tasks. I am also very organised because of my long term memory and can recall conversations from 6 months ago, dates, people, faces etc. I also have a great sense of direction, and if i've been somewhere once with a map, i can get there the next time without because I remember exactly the way I went the time before.
My main weakness or strand of my dyslexia is with short term memory. I am rubbish at mental arithmatic because I can't remember the numbers i'm trying to use to work out a sum if they're not written down in front of me. I would be rubbish working in a bar because I'd forget the whole round and would have to ask 4 times and probably still forget, but in a weeks time if the same person came in, i could probably buy them the whole round without them having to open their mouth.
My school were rubbish at recognising what I had because it was a girls grammar school which cared about league tables and not kids with defects. I got no extra help or assistance, although i know that i was entitled to at least 30 mins extra in all my exams but I personally didn't want to be seen as different so i refused, and I did ok.
what an idiot the MP is for suggesting it isn't real. How awful it must be for him as a perfect being to accept that other people may have defects!
Do any of you with dyslexia use mind maps? Really work for me because they are visual and not just lists. Found I could suddenly revised and pass exams. I wish I had known about them at school.
Also GH, do you try proof reading your reports backwards. Sounds silly but it stops you reading what your mind "thinks" is there and you notice more duplications or odd words.
So whilst I agree that the MP is a dick for coming out with this, apart from the headline grabbing part of his piece there were some odd snippets that actually made sense.
On the original topic, I've not read the article but reading the reactions it's clear the guy is a bit of an ass, regardless of whether or not he's trying to do something positive. It also makes me realise how incredibly lucky I am to have kids that are free of any of these conditions and it's also intersting to read all these accounts of how they've affected the lives of the people on here, directly and indirectly.
thats bolcloks.
KB - I did not know that the condition you describe is called Irlen Syndrome. One of my best mates works for Norfolk County Council Children Services working in schools with visually impaired kids. It turns out he does the tests for Irlen Syndrome if referred by school so I'm following that up with him. Thanks for the information. I totally empathise with guilt you feel for not finding out these things earlier. We have similar issues with our Son. Actually it's because you care and you fight for your kids that you have helped to support your daughter through this.
GH - if ever there was a case for the abolition of corporal punishment in school, I've never read a better one.
T - Your post moved me greatly because I see echoes of what my son is going through in your posts. Thankfully we have found a school which can help him. My guilt is in not finding it sooner. What you have acheived gives inspiration to us to help our children to overcome their difficulties. My Son has been verbally assessed to be 13 years but his reading age is 6 years.
Kigella - I think what you say is probably right and couched in those terms, nobody would object because if teaching can be provided in a "dyslexic" way, then everybody wins. This bloke has just thrown any sensible debate out the window by the way he has presented his case.
Henry - I have never been tested for dyslexia. I am good at maths but I struggle with mental arithmatic. I love writing but I have the worlds worst handwriting. I have big problems with proof reading and often insert words which are completely wrong. On the other hand I am reasonable at spelling. I have a photographic memory for maps and consequently mind mapping worked for me.
I think in the main, as T said dyslexic people just have a different way of processing information. It makes me angry when people think they are somehow thick or lazy. In GH's days they would probably have seen mucking around and not concentrating as being the cause, and the lack of ability to read and spell as the effect. Fortunately in these more enlightened days we see the inability to read and spell as quickly as those around them as the cause, and the mucking around and lack of concentration as the effect.
Well done to everyone on here who posted and highlighted their own issues with this.
very open and has given me alot of food for thought cheers folks never give up on your kids rights that what i have learnt from here it is a hard and up hill battle but we will get there in the end
I watched the programme about Kara Tointon and her dyslexia last night. Very interesting and thought provoking.
I wondered if anybody else saw it. I remembered this thread and some of the contribution for Killers Beard and others.
You should watch the programme mate on Iplayer. She had never been able to read a book. It makes me angry that so many people were allowed through the school system it wasn't picked up, and its still happening now.
Wish I'd seen this thread earlier. If he was a Tory MP, he'd be rightly hung, drawn and quartered by now.
Going to try to catch up with this on Iplayer, thanks for the information Bing and I sincerely hope you and your son have had an enlightening and positive two years since this thread first appeared.
It is a stark reality and quite a depressing one, that when you consider what strides forward our society has made in so many areas over the past two to three decades that such a debilitating condition which effects so many, is still treated in a manner that would not be out of place in Victorian times. Schools in all areas are getting better, but society still has a long way to go.
Even now, having recognised my Daughters condition and taken steps to assist her with coping with it, she still suffers the stigma from general society that cannot or will not grasp the enormity of something which effects her daily life. The specially prepared coloured glasses which were so much of a revelation to her life as a younger lady are now languishing somewhere in her room as she battles within herself to be accepted in what is deemed to be normal social circles. She has decided that the drawback of not being able to read properly or see everday things that many of us will take for granted, is far outweighed by what she believes is the social burden of having to explain why she wears 'sunglasses' inside and in the middle of winter.
We hope that this period of social unacceptability and yes I suppose a lovely young womens vanity, will pass in time, but there are moments when I would fight the entire world, such is the frustration.
I'm seriously dyslexic, I struggle badly with reading, like Tara I haven't read a book cover to cover since school, and now I blag my way by skim reading stuff, picking out what I think are the key words, and then going on from there, 90% of the time I get away with it, the rest however causes big problems, and it's something I've had support on, but can't change. What does help is read back software, however it doesn't change the underlying issues with using what's in my broken short term memory.
My spelling, as you all know is shocking, and I hate spell checkers, they make a bad problem worse.
But the biggest problem is short term memory, I lose everything, my desk is a mess, my house would be if It wasn't for my other half. I can't retain numbers, I lose track of everything. One of the worst things is email, the constant barrage of stuff means you lose the little concentration you have quickly, coupled with working in an open plan environment. What is the worst problem for me at the moment? Really unsympathetic colleagues who don't see it as a huge problem, especially where I work now, I like the place, but it's becoming a huge issue for me, which I think will lead me to leave within the next 3 months.
Thankfully, I'm going to get some of the dyslexia training/support Kara had in the show, so things will hopefully get better.
Rothko, thanks for sharing that. How frustrating and upsetting it must be when people treat you like that?
It seems that either those with dyslexia are looked on as stupid which they ain't or don't recognise that some people have issues which need their support. That must be maddening.
My son as KB has alluded to is severely dyslexic. He also has some serious emotional and behavioural issues, some related to the dyslexia. He is at a school which specialises in dyslexia and other learning and behavioural issues. Its a private school but the state funds his placement.
Without going over all the old ground, when he went there for assessment prior to being placed, aged 9, he was assessed as having a reading age of .....well under 6. In fact he could recognise unaided no more than a handful of words and he couldn't write his own surname. They assessed his underlying reasoning age as 13. Indeed some of the answers he gave to some questions were considered by the teacher to be way above anything they would have expected at his age.
Needless to say he is doing much better now. Indeed he boards now five nights a week - another battle we won recently. The journey to and from the school was challenging and he had to leave at 7.00am and wouldn't be back before 6.15 most nights. He still has emotional and behavioural issues but he is moving forward. This term he has re-joined his peers for Maths after being miles behind when he went to the school. His reading is coming on and he's up to 300 words. He's chaotic disorganisation is improving and he turns up to lessons with the right gear now.
He has just got his first electric guitar and he is about to start lessons. He has been having drumming lessons now for more than a year and is doing very well. His music teacher tells us that he is gifted musically and we are trying to encourage him in this area.
The school is making a real difference for him and for the other kids there. The teachers are outstanding and the headmaster is one finest people I have ever met. I wish with all my heart that all children with dyslexia or other learning difficulties could have the level of support that he gets. We have fought like tigers to do this for him and I am a lot poorer financially for having done so even though the state covers the schooling costs. The time and effort has been huge but its been worth it. It angers me that in most cases children in similar circumstances are overlooked because they don't have the same level of advocacy as we have been able to bring.
Once I have regained the financial security that I have lost over the last six years, I am going to campaign for better support for other children with dyslexia and other specific learning difficulties.