Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Gift of Dyslexia

So last night I won an award .... cant you tell I'm over the moon with this.... and I had to tell you 7 things about myself.... No: 2 was that I am Dyslexic .... Maxabella ask a few questions in her comment about this.... so I decided that it deserved a post ......

I'm not sure when it was that I realized that all the letters where jumbled up and back to front upside down and just basically messed up ... but I do remember the struggles I had in school.

When I was attending school the kid who couldn't do the work was the stupid kid, the one with the big D hat on sitting in the corner, they didn't test for dyslexia, not even if the problems seemed really bad.

Words and numbers always caused me a problem I would get them back to front, in the wrong order and English and Math were the bain of my life.

I always knew I wasn't stupid or slow, I always knew the answer to the question, I just couldn't write it down.
School didn't know how to handle this.

My parents hired a private tutor at one point in my school life.

I think it was lack of resources where the school was concerned, weather that be money, or just a lack knowledge that they didn't recognize the problem, and I know I wasn't the only one, there where other kids that I went through school with that had the same problems as myself..... but yet no one helped us.

Sad really, but that's just the way it was.

I didn't pass many exams, and if I did pass any believe me it was by the skin of my teeth.
The exams I did do well in where Arty subjects ...such as Dance, Fine Art and so on.

So at 16 I had been excepted into a prestigious Dance School in London, the only problem was I had to do my first two years on a foundation course doing A'Levels.

This was a joke to be honest, if I couldn't pass my school exams how was I ever going to pass higher education examines  .......

It must of been noticed pretty early on that I had problems...I hadn't entered this school through academic ability .... So I bet I shocked them fairly early on with my lack of skills ......

But again no one did anything I passed my A'Levels again by the skin of my teeth, and being a clever little thing I had chosen Art subjects .....

So when did they realized that I had Dyslexia ..... around 21 .....

I finished dance school and went into the family business which was hairdressing ... It was while I was in hairdressing school that a teacher asked me if I had ever been tested for dyslexia ....

I remember asking whats that ......I didn't even really know what the word meant.

So at the grand age of 21 I was finally tested for Dyslexia .... amazing really and it still shocks me that it took till I was 21 to find out why I couldn't read,write or do math.

So how do I cope with this...

Maxabella asked the two following questions.
"How do you manage to write so well, for instance? And does it freak you out a little that online is ALL words and letters?"

Well to start with it is sheer determination that I do what I do.... as far as blogging is concerned....

I found out quiet early on that I have an almost photogenic memory where certain things are concerned.

Example .... I can memorize streets where I live so I can find my way round ...
I wont know what a road is called (mainly cause I cant read the name of the street) but I will be able to get there from sheer memory if Ive done it once.

So where my computer is concerned I taught myself how to spell words by memory from where my fingers go on the keys I type without looking most of the time, Word by word I have memorized how to spell most words.... you might notice that I don't really use big words.... Im very basic in how I explain something...
Well I think I am.

I might want to say a big word but if I have not taught myself how to spell it I wont write it....another thing is I have memorized how most words should look when spelt correctly.

I have three spell checkers.... one on blogger one on the computer (its a special dyslexic one) and my husband.

The Internet was never scary really yes its all words but I have to say I love a challenge ....... and it has been just that .....

I still spell things wrong...My husband said he learnt to spell typonese before he meet me face to face (MSN messenger has no spell check)

One the funny things is I taught myself to spell want incorrectly and still spell it the wrong way now.... 
I always type wnat .... Amen for spell checker

Don't ask me to write you a letter.... me, pen and paper = what does that say.
My hand writing is very neat but I have only memorized words on a keypad

I read better now than I have ever done in my life, and I'm now 43 .....
There was a time in my life where I just wouldn't pick a book up.... but again I have made myself learn.... from sheer memory ....

Numbers are worse then letters.... I can do basic Math


For some reason I cant memorize numbers ..... and if you phone number was to be 123456 I would end up writing 342561 or something like that.....
I will hear the number but write it all in the wrong order.

So that's my crazy word with Dyslexia

You know .... you can do anything you want to do...if you really want it.



It is Flog Yo Blog Friday.... on Thursday ....
Join in have some fun and meet some new bloggy friends is basically the name of the game 

16 comments:

  1. We're two peas in a pod when it comes to this! Where'd you get the special spell checker?

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  2. Its was on my lap top when we brought it... I don't know the name of it off the top of my head but it was something we requested .... I had used it on my computer in the UK I'll see if I can found out what its called.

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  3. Sorry incorrect info.... it wasn't on this laptop it was my UK laptop that it was on... but I now have the same program on this one its called penfriend
    http://www.penfriend.biz/

    but there are some free ones out there to
    http://www.readplease.com/
    http://www.browsealoud.com/

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  4. I can't really relate to how frustrating that must have been, going for so long without anyone realising you were dyslexic.

    But you're doing pretty well to have a blog and to actively interact with the blogging community!

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  5. That is just amazing, learning to type that way, from memorizing the typed spelling of each word. What an accomplishment.

    I was just reading on another friend's blog that her granddaughter was diagnosed with a sensory processing disorder. It made me consider how amazingly complex the brain is and what we all take for granted.

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  6. Thank you for answering my questions, this is a great post and will give hope to many mums out there whose children have been diagnosed. You are just so determined and clever to have figured out a way around your learning disability. I would never have guessed that you had writing problems and I am really impressed that you have not let dyslexia stand in your way of becoming a bloggy friend to many. I'm just amazed!

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  7. That is extrordinary! I am truly amazed. Well done, you. A friend of mine who has dyslexia finds poetry easier to read than big slabs of text in a book. Not sure if you have had this experience (personally I think anyone who can understand poetry is pretty impressive!) Thanks for sharing this post. Happy FYBF too :)

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  8. Thank you ladies..... it that old saying.... if you want it go get it.... I have so many silly thoughts in my head that they have to go somewhere..... so I guess this was my want and I went and got it. Thank you for your encouragement it means a lot

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  9. good on you lady!! This is why it annoys me when people get so petty and start correcting people's spelling and grammar in posts on some forums, especially when its something that is being debated, and then it turns into a personal attack on someones spelling. We don't know who is writing, or what obstacles they're overcoming to get a message across, and how narrow minded is it to get on someones back about it, because more often than not it is easy to read what they are saying. What I don't like is when people can't be bothered to write words and write whole posts in text speak. I think there will be a generation of people who can only write in text speak. CU M8!!
    love ya lady, keep on blogging! miss you

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  10. Miss you to lady... and you have always encouraged me to write what it is I'm feeling weather I can spell it or not... and its you who first let me use a computer... remember it was then that I realized that I could spell better by memorizing the words.... so Thank you you helped me come this far ....Love ya loads

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  11. This is an amazing post! I am in awe of how you have taught yourself to read and type and make sense of the english language. I also want to thank you! five minutes ago I filled in a referral form for a student and I really was unsure just what to write when it said, what do you think is the concern? this child has trouble reading and understanding a question by himself and yet if I read it he can not only comprehend it but then give me a detailed answer orally. When I ask him to write the answer down he has a lot of trouble and often gives up. I could not work out at all what could be wrong. I'm now going to read up more about dyslexia!

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  12. I remember this post when you wrote it. It is a winner! Happy Weekend Rewind :)

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  13. I have to say, your determination stands out a mile and is really inspiring. You probably don't see it that way, but really it is:) Thank you so much for the insight, it will be incredibly valuable to me in the future:) Jen

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  14. My son got right through high school because he had the ability to learn from what he heard. We thought he just didn't like to read.

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  15. brave post....and such a valuable one...your accomplishments are fantastic -isn't it just amazing how the brain works!

    Gill xo

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  16. Thanks for sharing your story, you've done amazingly well to decipher your own methods of coping. Do you wonder if your brilliant memory is somehow linked with the dyslexia? There's so much we don't understand about how our brains work, isn't there?

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