Posted: 3/9/2005 4:31:57 AM EDT
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Sitting here watching my 6 and 8 year old kids read books (they love to read) warms my heart. I've had moderate dyslexia all my life and it's made reading a bitch at times. It takes me aprox. 7-8 times longer to read a novel than it does the average person. I hid my dyslexia while in school and the military by studying twice as long as everyone else. Through perseverance, I've managed to overcome dyslexia and estabish two very successful businesses. I'm very thankful that my children are not plagued with this. |
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Gunner I know how you feel. In the 60's no one heard of having Dyslexia. I was sent to the retard class when reading and writing were taught in my classes. This started in 2nd grade and lasted to the begining of th4 grade. The " retard class" was a book closet with a few severely retarted kids. I would sit there with the two kids in hockey helmets drooling on me and each other and play games.  The school would stick the first year teachers in there who didnt know shit . The new teacher they stuck in there in 4th grade had some training and helped me develop a system so that in a few weeks with her help I was back in normal class reading my ass off. That year I top reader in volumes read( had to catch up) for my class. What a eye opening for a kid who would make the honor roll the next year. Reading was wicked cool.  Writing well is still another matter even today. This may sound silly but ARFCOM has vastly improved my writing skills. I still have trouble with numbers but the older I get the better it is. I still wear my retard badge with pride. Back then (grde school) the other kids were so cruel to all the people in that " class " it changed me for life. I got to know ALL the admin in every school I was at because I would not stadn by and let someone (retard,nerd geek etc.) get abused. In that way those few hours every week molded me into what I am today. I was lucky to have a teacher who helped me at just the right time. That happend over 30 years ago and I can still see that teachers face when she said " We are going to get you back into class". Ann Winezimmer I cant thank you enough. This post took about 20 mins to write. |
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I have dyslexia as well. I don't usually read things backwards but I often switch numbers back like instead of 32 it is 23 and I mis-spell words a lot too. Makes things a bitch, I just have to work harder than most to make sure I haven't fucked something up or make sure that in a formal letter or e-mail nothing is misspelled. When I was in grade schoo the teachers just though I was dumb because I would get very low test scores, but after a standardized test they saw that at age 11 I was at college level science and history/social science but age 8 in language skills. |
Great story! Thanks for sharing. Ahh the 60's.  I'm 42 now, so my story is similar. I didn't get put in the retard class, but my teachers constantly sent letters home complaining that "your son is smart, but he doesn't apply himself". I was tested several times and my IQ was well above average in every case so everyone just thought I was lazy.  My art teacher was very cool.She used to let me skip the art assignments and work on my homework in her class. She was great!  |
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I'm Dyslexic too. I do not think you over come it, you learn to cope or you make accomodations. I have as well. My daughter is dyslexic and my coping mechenisms do not have the same effect on her as they do on me. Long story short she has to paddle her own canoe. |
Wow, 20 minutes. You must be a poster child (adult) for perserverence. Kudo's to you. Wife has mild dyslexia, and was in special ed for awhile as well. Her mom worked with her for hours everynight for a couple of years. When my wife graduated college, her degree was in Special Ed. Problem was, nowadays, special ed is mostly those kids who should be in juvie, or in need of some serious discipline, not learning problems. Just as an aside. Scott Adams of Dilbert fame wrote some interesting stuff about dyslexia. Something along the lines that dyslexia was a timing issue for some, numbers read in order were processed out of order. He thinks it would be possible to expand the time frame from when they were read and when they are processed. Basically, along the lines of seeing into the future. Like reading the lotto numbers everyday and writing them down everyday. With effort, he thinks it might be possible to write down tomorrows numbers today, as long as you make sure to read them tomorrow. This is a 1 minute synopsis of what he wrote. It sounded incredible, but not entirely improbable. Odd, I know, but worth looking into. TXL p.s. Glad your kids don't have those issues, we are hoping for the same thing with our kids, as in, no issues. TXL |
I had the same remarks except they included " John needs to get along with ohters " .  Once I left that school I never told anyone for fear of the retard label following me. So later on when book reports or term papers needed to be over a few sentences or they started gteting into pages I would just say my dog ate it. The teacher knew I read or studied the subject or the book, so most teachers would let me give the report as a question and answer in front of the class. The teachers thought of it a punishment for not turning in a report or term paper. I looked at it as a saving grace. Needless to say I have no fear of public speaking. One english teacher figured it out and in 9th grade and was pretty cool about it. I think she may have told the other teachers, I dont know ?I never made honor role after 6th grade but I never failed a class either. In highschool I never handed in term paper and still could have gotten out a year early because of work study type extra credits. I am pretty lucky over the years most jobs have worked with me or I made a system to help myself. I tried to resign once at a decent job because I couldnt meet the deadlines for pretty simple month end numbers and yearly budgets stuff (speadsheets). I came out and told them why and my boss said no problem BAM here's a person to help you. I was the only guy in my position with an admin person to do that paper work. It was simple stuff I just get lost and start drowning. My present job the guys in my crews know and help me out alot. Its a give and take. I married a CPA  ,I tell her it was just so I could cover up my faults when it came time to leave the tip. 
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One thing to watch for in your kids is how they use a notebook. If I started a brand new notebook I would start writing from the last page. |
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I tend to use the wrong words even tho I pre-planned what i was going to say. Sometimes I miss whole words entirely. Said thing about it tho, After typing out what i have to say i can look at it and it looks fine and hit submit. Then I see it again and i can see the problem spots. Thus almost every single one of my posts has edits. Pre-Edit: So far this post Edit: Damn! |
I was roommates with a guy many years ago who was dyslexic. He was a state wrestling champ 2 years in highschool. He got a full ride scholarship to Middle Tennessee State University. He never learned how to deal with the dyslexia and couldn't make it in college. He dropped out in the middle of his second year.
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I learned how to read ok but still can not spell I notice it when you hand me a music book and say sing or read this and I can't do it. I did go back to my 25 year class reunion and tell all of my old teachers that I was not a dum shit or alow learner like the thought. I have to enter sales call notes in my laptop for work and last year they took away spell check so I had to tell my new boss after she became a spell nazi like some people on here. I have to use word with spell check and then past it here to not look like a dummy. I did fake it well enought to get a master degree from a major college. So how many words did I still misspell this time??? |
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ive been tested and told i have many dislexic tendencies. i dont think i was ever officaly diagnosed though. (reading and writing came slow to me) got over that in spades. but basic mathmatics is and has always been is a forign language to me. it's kept me from finishing college. |
Don't give up on college!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can do it. I did. So can you. Don't give up. |