If you have dyslexia, how do you cope/deal with your learning difficulties?

Question

Dyslexia creates many hardships, but the human spirit is strong and finds ways to make it in life even when severe difficulties are present. I am interested in knowing how dyslexics, young and old, face the problems that they have in school and everyday life.

Answer 1

There are a bunch of tips and tricks for our dyslexia peers. I am an ESE teacher. The trick for the letter b and d that I use and works wonders is like this.

Think of a bed. Yep a bed where you lay your head. Now let's look at the letters b and d. Notice the letter b has a hump facing forward and the letter d faces backwards. Put an e in the middle and you have b e d. Now imainge placing a little mattres on top of the humps of the b and the d. Now you can lay on your bed. If the b looked like a d and the d looked like a b it would look like deb. There is no way this could be a bed.

This is a trick I use and it works. It probably sounds confusing, but only because I can't draw it out. It's hard typing it out. Any way, just like any disability in ESE it is really all about the learning strategies. As an ESE teacher we enable our students by providing them with various strategies that they can use when learning.

Hope this helps... :)

Answer 2

Don't forget those who have dyslexia have things we are naturally better at such as spacial awareness.

It's not all a struggle

Answer 3

Both my daughter & I have dyslexia, we both still have problems with dyslexia but have learnt strategies to cope or manage the dyslexia.

I found out I was dyslexic when my daughter was diagnosed as having dyslexia, which explained my poor education, I was unable to read until I was about 15, however I left school with out having passed form 5, because I was made to feel stupid.

With support and learning how our dyslexia affects us, we found some strategies to help manage the dyslexia, especially when in the class room.

What we found help was the following;

Keeping a dictionary on hand to check words that we don't know or new words, and write them down in a note book to help remember them.

A list of the most commonly mispelt words, as well as list of words that dyslexics often mix up, because the sound the same, but are spelt differently e.g which, witch, flour, flower etc.

Where possible use a computer to do assignments etc, ensuring we use spell check to keep spelling mistakes in check.

When given an assignment start them as soon as possible, so you do a little bit each day, rather than leave it until the last minute.

If we have to hand write anything use the dictionary, and if unsure of how to spell a word.

For reading try different coloured overlays, to see if it make reading easier. My daughter wear Irlens lens which we noticed made a huge difference.

My daughter is a qualified Disability support worker, and I am a qualified Youth & Disability support worker, as well as a sessional teacher.

If it were not from the support of the lectures/teachers I would not have gained my qualifications, as a Youth & Disability support worker, they were supportive and would over look my mixing up similar sounding words, such as which, witch, flour, flower etc.

I use the above tips as well a few other in the class room to ensure my students learn as much as they possibly can.

I think the educations system does not support students with  dyslexia and Learning Disabilities, which is sad. As many of these kids are very smart, and just need to be taught in an alternative way.

Answer 4

I am not Dyslexic my husband is , he has a strong spirit, and a kind heart he may not be able to read or write but he is excellent on maths. i have been teaching him, he has improved slightly but he manages quite well, but he makes a marvellous father,husband and housewife has he does all my housework for me, while i do the easy tasks.

Answer 5

Since I'm both ADD and Dyslexic, I have coping skills for both of my disorders.  I always try to add music to anything I can. Spelling lists, phone numbers, addresses, all are easier to remember if you can add a beat or create a song to help you remember them.

I use a blank card to help me keep my place on a page in a book or I tend to wander all over the page and get my words mixed up. I also read with soft lights, bright lights can make the words on a page hard to read and create extra eye strain.

I try to keep calming colors around me and avoid lots of bright colors, blues and greens seem to help me stay calm and relaxed.

I also try to write everything down on a calender that I keep in my kitchen. One place to keep all the dates for due bills and any paperwork that I have to do makes it much easier than having to hunt all over for something I may have written on a scrap of paper in my purse.

When things get really confusing, like giving the kids medication, or making several recipes at a time, I make a chart and tape it where I'll need to see it several times over with the last time I did something and what I have to do next and when. I guess it confuses my husband, but it works for me.

And always remember, spell check is your friend. Even if you think you got it all right this time, a quick check and re-read can solve more problems than just trusting yourself. Plus, when you do get a green light with your spell check, it's almost like a little victory to claim.

Answer 6

This is a very good and important question!  

I was young, too long ago to have been assessed but I was dyslexic.  

I would imagine that many top-achievers have been dyslexic.  The mental gymnastics were probably useful in building strong minds able to cope with difficult situations; also in fostering persistence...  we'll see...

ANYHOW:

I remember using a series of mental tricks to mechanically think my way around various problems.  For instance my name has a lowercase d in it.  This letter is remarkably similar to the lowercase b.  I remember having to go through an exercise to come up with the proper way to complete my name.  The capitol letter B has two lobes.  Twice as many as the capitol D.  (the D and B face the same way)  The B gets to have it's lowercase complement face the same way; B b; whereas the D is not able to have it's lowercase complement face the same way.  The capitol B is stronger that the capitol D THAT was how I remember how to write my name!  A HUGE monologe to need to complete, just to write ones name.  If I did not do that exercise,  I wrote the b and then superimposed a d over it...

There were other things, but, given the number of times I had to repeat this, in school, it stands out.  

I believe dyslexia had a great deal to do with my not liking math.  Unlike language and words (which you can learn to spell in correct order) numbers can be rearranged and still be viable numbers.  32184 is an integer and so is 23148.  (it's hard to spot the "phoney" in a math problem)  whereas Davib is not a word and can be recognized...

I have marked this question and hope to gain new insights from the answers others give.  (my secret fear is that I will learn that the above examples have nothing to do with dyslexia and that they were actually mere proofs that I was stupib (sic)  which was always my sincere belief as a kid...

typical or non-typical?  we shall find out!

Answer 7

i was over 15 when learnt to read  spelling took ages  spell checker works great   took ages and lots of determination  but i don't get embarrassed and do have to do paper work in my job  .... i find short sentences  and easy small words

but i do have great p[eople skills

i only have probs with spelling and reading word not came across before

it dose run in familys

my 13 year old son  struggles

but in the rest of  his wiork  he dose great

i  use to find it a big prob but as got older its not that bad

and tex is easy  ... as most people understand tex and it aint spelt right lol

Answer 8

i have dyslexia and avoided work that had paper work attached

i am 46 now and am going for my MA but it is only because I got assessed in sept  i still find it really hard and avoid things that show it up

I bunked off school lessons except maths which i am very good In my assessment they said I had a very high IQ and i am using it all to cope with the dyslexia which as he said is making me average i can read as fast as everyone else and it is really happering me though I use a program called dragon naturally speaks ( it write what you say and word talk which reads  things for you