I have a patient who is dyslexic -

Question

- and she claims it is impossible for her to read or send text messages on a mobile telephone. I have never heard of this before. Is she telling the truth?

Answer 1

obviously,its hard enough to read the papers whats different about a mobile phone.

Answer 2

I am dyslexic and I can read and send text messages. But she may have difficulty with reading and texting.  She might be scared. You might try to suggest that she enter a reading program that will help her de-code words. A phonic program will not help. Dyslexics don't think that way and it gets confusing.

She Thinks outside of the box so to speak, which means she thinks driffently thant others.  

Answer 3

The way dyslexia affects each individual is very diferent.  I am dyslexic and I have come to the conclusion that it does not affect the skill of reading and writing directly, but it is the learning of reading and writing that is affected the most.

I have worked hard to over come my dyslexia to the point that some things that were dificult for me are now strengths.  I have learned many strategies.

What I have seen though in the education system though, is that when kids are taught to read or write, If they do not get it first time the teachers may only have one or two more attempts to teach them it.  So then they are sitting in lessons being taught stuff that they are not ready to learn yet.  I have heard of people getting to adult hood because noone has bothered to take them through the necessary stepping stones to get them writing or reading.

I do think that it is posible for most people without obvious learning dificulties to become literate but have to start right back at the basics, and many will be very fearfull of it and find it extremely stressfull due to bad memories of feeling stupid.

She may have not learned.  I would believe her for now, be understanding, and offer to help.  Find out what she knows and build from there.

that means does she know the letter sounds (not names) for each letter and what they look like upper and lower case, and then can see if she can blend simple cvc words(constanant-vowel-constanant)  then simple spelling rules/ letter blends.

It is not worth denting her ego to disbelieve her.  You could be the one to make a diference in her life.  If you fancy having a go, 'Toe By Toe' is a work book that is widely used and respected.  It breaks it down.  The only way that won't help is if she has a visual problem telling the difference between the letters or an auditory processing problem recognising the sounds in words.  But persevere.

Answer 4

Dyslexia involves difficulties with written language. As a text message is another form of written language, then some difficulty with reading such messages is kind of implicit.

In particular, people with dyslexia have difficulty with reading and spelling. I myself have difficulty reading some text messages, composed using the so-called 'txt speak', where words are abbreviated to such an extent that they are barely recognisable, and I don't have dyslexia.

Dyslexia has a massive impact on a persons' life - it affects everything from emails, cooking using a recipe, reading clocks, surfing the web, text messaging and so on. Whether or not such tasks are impossible can only be judged by the person themselves. If sending and reading text messages is impossible for your patient, the only recommendation I can think of off the top of my head is to simply use the telephone and call a person rather than try and send a text message.